NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets forward Noah Clowney, like some of his teammates, has been having the best season of his career thanks to being thrusted into a more prominent role within the rotation. Brooklyn has been relying on Clowney to be the second option on the offensive end with guard Cam Thomas out due to injury and Clowney has been taking advantage of his offseason workouts.
“Me and the people I’m training with, we just knew after last season, when I was healthy and I was shooting the ball well, team start closing out and running me off [the three-point line],” Clowney said following Tuesday’s practice. Since the beginning of last season, Clowney is shooting 34.3% from behind the three-point line on 5.9 attempts per game, showing that he can be a threat from deep when his shot is flowing.
“So, it was like, what’s the next step? You gotta be able to put the ball on the floor,” Clowney continued. “My goal was to become a threat in transition, not trying to play one-on-one in the half-court still, but, in transition, now you [the opposing team] got to get back, you got to load up. That makes everything easy for everybody else. Mainly, I was getting comfortable, [improving] my handle, finishing around the rim.”
Clowney, 21, is averaging 13.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game while shooting 41.7% from the field and 36.1% from three-point land this season. With Thomas having played just eight of Brooklyn’s 23 games this year, Clowney has been asked to step up his game on both ends of the floor and he has had some explosive performances alongside forward Michael Porter Jr., the Nets’ leading scorer.
Clowney has scored at least 20 points four times, including an outing against the New York Knicks on Nov. 24 when he dropped a stat line of 31 points, four rebounds, and three assists while shooting 9-of-17 from the floor. As head coach Jordi Fernandez mentioned on Saturday, Thomas will be out of action for at least the next two weeks so Clowney will have to continue his development along with making an impact on the floor for a Nets team looking to win more games.