Inside The Nets

Three Takeaways From the Brooklyn Nets’ First Preseason Game

The Brooklyn Nets started their preseason with a 106-115 loss against the LA Clippers.

Wilko Martinez Cachero

Oct 8, 2024; Oceanside, California, USA; Los Angeles Clippers guard Terance Mann (14) passes the ball around Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons (10) in the first half at Frontwave Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Oct 8, 2024; Oceanside, California, USA; Los Angeles Clippers guard Terance Mann (14) passes the ball around Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons (10) in the first half at Frontwave Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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Preseason is a strange time in the NBA.

Team identities are still being established. Roster roles need to be figured out. Rotations are scattered and often won’t resemble anything close to their eventual patterns. Rookies and young players get longer leashes than coaches might otherwise permit. Some flashes are real, but many are unsustained.

All of this happened in the Nets’ preseason opener against the LA Clippers, in which the team’s starters did not play after the first half. It’s good to exercise extreme caution with preseason. Broadly, it’s a time of trial and error as teams ramp up towards the regular season (and now the NBA Cup). 

But with this being the first taste of Jordi Fernández as the Brooklyn Nets’ head coach, this particular preseason game against the LA Clippers understandably carried a greater element of interest.

The game ended 106-115 to the Clippers — but the focus should be less on the result and more on the process that this budding Nets team is taking. Here are three takeaways from the team’s first preseason contest:

The Two Point Guards

Brooklyn started two point guards in Ben Simmons and Dennis Schröder, alongside Cam Thomas, Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith. Simmons played as the center in half-court offense most of the time, screening often and facilitating from around the elbows, but his role on defense was more switchy.

In 13 minutes, Simmons finished with two points (1-for-5 from the field), two rebounds, three assists and one steal. Schroder had 10 points, three rebounds, five assists and two steals in a little more than 16 minutes. Neither played after the second half, as was the case for all of Brooklyn’s starters.

Again, the sample size was so brief that any conclusions are tough — and unfair — to decipher. That said, the idea of using Simmons screening, rolling and playmaking out of set spots in the half-court seems clear. Schröder can certainly fit alongside that, and provide more of a scoring punch to accompany the Australian point guard’s facilitating. 

Perhaps more interestingly is how future lineups with Simmons and Schröder together will be configured. On Tuesday night, it was Finney-Smith who toggled between playing as more of a wing or more of a forward on both ends. 

The former Mav is a willing three-point shooter, but also a versatile and stubborn defensive presence who can guard up and down positions. Last season’s indicators would say that Finney-Smith is a better fit next to Simmons than any of the other Nets’ frontcourt options — but it’s far too early to say under new head coach Fernández.

Nic Claxton, Trendon Watford and Day’Ron Sharpe all missed Brooklyn’s preseason opener with hamstring issues, and Sharpe is already certain to not feature in the first few games of the regular season. Noah Clowney played vs. the Clippers, but not in the Nets’ first unit.

Ziaire Williams Relishing His Second Chance

Ziaire Williams ended up playing the most minutes of any Net, finishing his night with 22:57 of court time. 

The buzz around Williams has been strong since before the start of training camp, and the former Memphis wing has admitted himself to seeing an opportunity for a fresh start in Brooklyn. The Nets only exchanged Mamadi Diakite and the draft rights to 31-year-old overseas veteran Nemanja Dangubic for Williams, which already seems shrewd. 

Brooklyn currently has lots of guards for preseason — Simmons and Schroder, of course, but also Cam Thomas, Shake Milton, Keon Johnson, Dariq Whitehead, Killian Hayes and Amari Bailey. It also has an array of bigs, albeit with current injuries, in Claxton, Clowney, Sharpe, Watford and one could even throw Simmons in that bucket again. But outside of Cam Johnson and Finney-Smith, there are very few wings.

Bojan Bogdanović could eventually beef up that position once he is healthy, but he’s likely not a part of the Nets’ long-term plans. Williams, on the other hand, has a chance to be. He’s still only 23 years old and in a new context under a new coach that could provide a new lease on his NBA life.

What Will the Final Rotation Look Like? 

The Nets are derided as having one of the worst rosters in the NBA and, once the dust clears, it’s very likely that Brooklyn will indeed end up with one of the worst records in the league. However, the competition for playing time will be interesting to monitor. 

Assuming that all five of tonight’s starters are regular rotation players to start the season, the additions of a returning Claxton to start at center already ratchets up the rotation to six spots. It seems like Williams will continue to get a chance to prove himself, bringing the rotation to seven men. Most NBA head coaches don’t get past eight or nine players in the rotation, one of which will certainly be a backup big (or maybe two, depending on the night) between Sharpe, Watford and Clowney. 

Clowney, in particular, has a great chance this preseason to solidify himself in Fernández’s plans. The other bigs will be missing, so he needs to prove that he’s ready for more responsibility in his second NBA season. 

The former Alabama big finished with three points, three rebounds and three assists versus the Clippers. He missed all three of his attempted three-pointers, but had a few moments of rim protection and two-way activity. 

Jalen Wilson, fresh off being the Summer League MVP, might need to fight to carve out a regular season rotation spot. He was definitely a focal point of the Nets' second unit on Tuesday, and will probably get to play a fair bit to start the year. Bojan Bogdanovic’s eventual return will put pressure on him, though.

As for the rest of the Nets’ backups, Keon Johnson scored 14 points on 5-for-13 from the field, Jaylen Martin added 11 points and four rebounds on 5-for-8 shooting while playing in the frontcourt and Dariq Whitehead finished with three points in 11 minutes.

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Wilko Martinez Cachero
WILKO MARTINEZ CACHERO

Wilko is a journalist and producer from Madrid, Spain. He is also the founder of FLOOR and CEILING on YouTube, focusing on the NBA Draft and youth basketball.

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