Nolan Traor\u00e9 has always been fast enough that defenders couldn\u2019t ignore him. Now he\u2019s asking them not to ignore the moments he actually slows down. One pull-up 3-pointer during Monday\u2019s win against the Washington Wizards captured the dilemma perfectly.<\/p>\n
Traor\u00e9\u2019s explosive first step gives defenders a reason to back off. As the 20-year-old\u2019s jumper develops, he can make them pay for that space. Duck under a screen and risk a 3. Fight over it and try to stay in front of him. Pick your poison.<\/p>\n
The second-year guard attacked Washington at the rim and from the perimeter, scoring 13 points in his first 10 minutes off the bench. He finished with 17 on 6-of-8 shooting, including 2-of-4 from deep, as Brooklyn improved to 3-0 in the preseason with a 131-122 victory.<\/p>\n
Alongside Drake Powell, Noah Clowney, Chaney Johnson and Moe Wagner, Traor\u00e9 took the first crack at running Brooklyn\u2019s reserves and played with conviction. His drives, transition finishes and willingness to pull up gave the second unit another source of offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, offensively he was elite. I mean, he touches the paint almost whenever he wants and he\u2019s been very efficient,\u201d head coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez said postgame.<\/p>\n
Traor\u00e9\u2019s scoring has climbed with each appearance. He had 10 points against the Charlotte Hornets, 12 against Philadelphia 76ers and 17 Monday. Through three games, he\u2019s averaging 13 points while shooting 65% overall and 57.1% from 3-point range. The percentages come from a small sample, but the confidence behind the attempts is clear.<\/p>\n
For the second straight season, Traor\u00e9 is the youngest player on the NBA\u2019s youngest team. However, youth guarantees him little in Brooklyn\u2019s rotation. General manager Sean Marks made that clear at Media Day, saying playing time would have to be earned, regardless of age. The Nets drafted Mikel Brown Jr. into a backcourt already featuring Egor D\u00ebmin and Ben Saraf, leaving several young guards competing for minutes and chances to run the offense.<\/p>\n
Traor\u00e9\u2019s case begins with the burst he brought to the league. He can get into the lane and send defenders scrambling. The work is in making more of those openings, adding the strength to hold his path through contact and the shooting touch to keep opponents from waiting for him near the rim.<\/p>\n
Both improvements have taken sustained work. He spent much of the offseason in the gym, getting stronger and refining a jumper that had begun to improve late in his rookie season. At Media Day, he described simple adjustments to his existing shot, with an emphasis on making the release repeatable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was more focused on just having the same form every time, basic stuff,\u201d Traor\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n
After Thursday\u2019s win over Philadelphia, Fern\u00e1ndez singled out shooting coach Dave Love and assistant Corey Vinson\u00a0for their time with Traor\u00e9. He wanted the young guard to keep shooting, keep playing fast and continue getting stronger. Four days later, Traor\u00e9\u2019s growing comfort from the perimeter was evident.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like his aggressiveness shooting the 3 and shot looks very confident,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said Monday.<\/p>\n
Traor\u00e9 spent part of his rookie season starting for Long Island, where extended minutes helped him grow comfortable as a primary ball handler. He later showed he could run an NBA offense and reach the paint without letting his pace get away from him. This summer\u2019s emphasis was on expanding the ways he could finish.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think going to Long Island helped me a lot. Confidence-wise, as you said, you get to play against great players, play a lot of minutes and it really helped me finish the season in a really good way,\u201d Traor\u00e9 said at Media Day.<\/p>\n
Brown recognized those strengths, too, praising Traor\u00e9\u2019s playmaking, pace and ability to touch the paint when discussing Brooklyn\u2019s point guards. With Brown still awaiting his preseason debut, Traor\u00e9 has been the first guard off the bench ahead of Saraf, while D\u00ebmin handles the starting point guard duties.<\/p>\n
The opening-night depth chart remains unsettled, and Brown\u2019s return will make the competition more complicated. Traor\u00e9 has made an encouraging start. His best argument is to keep producing whenever Fern\u00e1ndez gives him the ball.<\/p>\n
Still, keeping those minutes will also require better consistency on defense. Fern\u00e1ndez praised his offense Monday and pointed to lapses on the other end, an especially relevant concern after Washington scored 72 first-half points. Brooklyn tightened up after halftime. Traor\u00e9 still has to make his presence at the other end as dependable as his work with the ball.<\/p>\n
The improved jumper and strength are giving defenders another reason to worry about Traor\u00e9. His task now is to give Fern\u00e1ndez more reasons to leave him on the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s just a couple of hiccups that I think he could have been better, but I know he is tough and he\u2019s up for the challenge,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nolan Traor\u00e9 has always been fast enough that defenders couldn\u2019t ignore him. Now he\u2019s asking them not to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3767],"tags":[7,670,247,3803,6,671,3545,3971],"class_list":["post-857891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn-nets","tag-basketball","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-brooklynnets","tag-nba","tag-nets","tag-nolan-traore","tag-preseason"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117433978309202015","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857891","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=857891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}