Mikel Brown Jr. is itching to play. Two days into his first NBA training camp, the Nets rookie is getting in whatever work his left ankle allows.<\/p>\n
Brown remains limited after rolling the ankle last week, though he has progressed to non-contact work and stayed involved in practice as Brooklyn brings him along carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been doing non-contact. He\u2019s in good spirits. He\u2019s engaged with the practices,\u201d head coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez said Wednesday. \u201cHe\u2019s learning what\u2019s going on, getting the reps that he can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown had returned to the court for shooting and light movement by Monday\u2019s media day, when he said his recovery was moving quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m doing everything possible to get back on the floor and I\u2019m back on the floor shooting and moving around a little bit,\u201d Brown said. \u201cIt\u2019s coming along well. I\u2019ve progressed very fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
That progress has yet to include contact work, leaving Brown to maintain his conditioning away from live action.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s staying in shape, getting on the VersaClimber, getting on the bike, lifting weights, doing what he can to be ready to go once his ankle gets better,\u201d Michael Porter Jr. said.<\/p>\n
Julius Randle, entering his 13th NBA season, has already found himself reminding the 20-year-old guard that September is no time to rush a recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s dying to get out there,\u201d Randle said. \u201cHe wants to play, he wants to hoop, but it\u2019s a long season, you got to take care of your body, and I try to tell him that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown entered camp competing for minutes among Brooklyn\u2019s young guards. With his chance to make that case in full-speed practices temporarily on hold, he\u2019s stayed involved from the sideline, following the action and talking teammates through it, Randle said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s still very much into the practice and you feel his presence there,\u201d Randle added.<\/p>\n
That communication matters for a young point guard expected to organize his teammates. Brown can keep developing that part of his game even while he waits to take every rep himself.<\/p>\n
The interruption follows a college season already disrupted by injury. A recurring lower-back issue cost Brown 14 games in his lone year at Louisville, including the final six. He recovered before the NBA draft process, and there had been no reported recurrence before his ankle injury entering camp.<\/p>\n
Brooklyn hasn\u2019t announced a timetable for Brown to resume full participation. Fern\u00e1ndez sees his response to the setback as part of his development.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think mentally that\u2019s going to also be a positive thing for you is how you overcome adversity and how you fight through it,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cIt defines who you are. And those are the type of players and people that we want in this organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, Brown\u2019s work is rehabbing, staying in shape and learning alongside his teammates until his ankle lets him do more.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re attacking the rehab and taking it a day at a time,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mikel Brown Jr. is itching to play. Two days into his first NBA training camp, the Nets rookie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":847787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3767],"tags":[7,670,247,3803,39997,6,12,671,25812],"class_list":["post-847786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn-nets","tag-basketball","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-brooklynnets","tag-mikel-brown","tag-nba","tag-nba-draft","tag-nets","tag-training-camp"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117361925415543604","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}