Big Nets (Finally) Win

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Michael Porter Jr. is a premier NBA shooter. On a Nets squad that lacks highly skilled offensive options, the seventh-year veteran will have the opportunity to break his career-best mark of 19 points per game set during his sophomore campaign with Denver.

But if you’re expecting Porter to show the same level of competence and, frankly, diligence on the defensive end, you’re going to be disappointed. Despite being listed at 6-foot 10, he’s not a rim protector—he set his high in blocks during that same 2020-21 season with a mere 0.9 per game. More problematic has been Porter’s efforts as a help defender, which is kind of important to Brooklyn’s defensive game plan because center Nic Claxton can be found anywhere on a given possession from out on the perimeter to chasing blocks in the paint.

It took Nets Head Coach Jordi Fernandez a few games, but he may have finally found a livable solution to these issues by starting Noah Clowney as the nominal power forward the last two games, allowing Porter to move down to the 3 position where he isn’t needed as much for interior help responsibilities. Fernandez dropped the traditional point guard from the starting five, utilizing a combination of Terance Mann and Tyrese Martin to set up the offense.

One of the results was that Clowney, still only 21, responded from a slow start to the season with his two best all-around performances. He followed up a 15-point outing in Monday’s competitive home loss to Minnesota in a game Porter missed due to personal reasons by putting up a season-high 17 points on Wednesday night in Indiana. That helped the Nets secure a 112-103 victory, their first of the year after seven straight defeats, over the injury-depleted Pacers. Not that they were directly connected, but Porter used the extra freedom to drop 32 points in the win.

If the Nets hadn’t gotten that one, the losing streak could have taken on a life of its own, like the 2009-10 squad that started 0-18. Not only could frustrations and doubts sink in to further weigh down the NBA’s youngest team, opponents would also go into each game with greater awareness of the ignominy from potentially becoming Brooklyn’s first victim.

Many folks forget, though NetsDaily.com regularly reminds them, that Clowney, Brooklyn’s 2023 first-round pick (No. 21 overall), still qualifies as “young”. Clowney may be in his third pro season, but around half of the 2025 draftees are older than him. It kind of takes the sting off the disappointment from last season’s struggles, which extended into the first five games of 2025-26.

After starting the season by misfiring on 18-of-22 three-point attempts, the 6-foot 10 Clowney found his stroke in the last two games. In addition, he made a number of big plays in Indiana that showed off his versatility to help out the attack in the wake of the first quarter hamstring injury to leading scorer Cam Thomas. Perhaps none were bigger than when he drove into the paint and found Martin in the right corner for a three-ball that put Brooklyn up, 107-98 with 1:36 remaining.

That sequence hinted at the next step in Clowney’s development. As his marksmanship in his role as a stretch-4 improves, opponents will look to take that away. That means he must become consistently productive when driving closeouts—not just finishing in the paint, but also kicking balls out to spaced shooters when overwhelming help defense makes forcing a fling towards the basket impractical.

On the other end, Clowney will hopefully gain strength as he matures, which in turn will make him more impactful protecting the paint. He has yet to block a shot or even take a charge this season. Per NBA.com’s tracking, opponents are shooting a robust 72.5% from inside six feet when Clowney is the nearest defender.

He’s still more of a deterring presence than Porter. The Nuggets knew about Porter’s limitations as well—they were a different team when Aaron Gordon wasn’t manning the 4, going 17-14 during the 31 games Gordon missed last season. Denver also defended and rebounded better when he was on the court versus off, per NBA.com.

Here’s another fringe benefit from Brooklyn playing bigger: In the last two games, Claxton’s primary assignments weren’t even centers. He was often seen guarding Minnesota’s Julius Randle on Monday and then Indiana’s Pascal Siakam on Wednesday. Having Porter as the secondary big would have made that a scarier proposition.

I’m not suggesting that Brooklyn is about to embark on a run that will upset its tanking mission now that Clowney will surely get more opportunities in the starting five going forward. Obviously, Wednesday’s Pacers bore little resemblance to the squad that went to the NBA Finals in June—they had so many guys out of the lineup that they were allotted a hardship exemption to sign Cody Martin off the street only hours before facing Brooklyn. And then Martin actually got nearly eight minutes of playing time. Still, Indiana boasted the only All-Star on the court in Siakam and a few others who contributed to the Finals run. I’ve seen better Nets teams lose to a lot worse.

And when the Nets surrendered an incomprehensible 41 points in the second quarter, the game took an all-too-familiar cringeworthy turn. Fortunately, the defense tightened after intermission and you could faintly hear the collective exhale as the Nets walked off the court when the final buzzer sounded.

Not a big win by any means, but a win perhaps spurred by playing bigger.