Nets Wise To Go Back To Old Ways Of Going Young

BrooklynNets.com

I was hoping the Nets would go younger this offseason to jump start the franchise’s rebuilding stage—as opposed to the fool’s gold path of overpaying for a star who at best could get them to a six seed—and boy, did they commit to youth with their two first-round picks in Thursday’s NBA Draft.

According to NetsDaily.com, Dariq Whitehead (No. 22 overall) and Noah Clowney (No. 21) are the youngest and third youngest selections, respectively, in Nets Draft history. To balance things out a bit, Brooklyn tabbed Kansas forward Jalen Wilson, 22, in the second round.

As such, it would be unfair to expect a pair of players who will turn 19 this summer and a No. 51 overall pick to make major impacts on the 2023-24 Nets. To compound matters, both first-round kids have work to do before they can be deemed NBA ready, which is the case for most players selected in this That’s still preferable to some of the scenarios that had been floated on social media, whether it was emptying the tank to acquire guard Damian Lillard (though ESPN reported that Portland never made him available) or even using both picks to trade up for someone like Duke center Dereck Lively, who went 12th to Dallas. My intel on Duke players was that Lively, while lengthy and jumpy, had little feel for the game, particularly on the offensive end. He’s also going to be a project, so why not secure two bites at developing your flawed Draft apple instead of one?

As I noted in my prior Draft preview post, the main issue with Whitehead was an injury. Many college players feel pressured to perform when they’re not 100 percent, which can lead to poor tape. That appears to be the situation with Whitehead, who went from being a top 2/3 high school recruit in the country to posting middling (other than excellent three-point efficiency) numbers as a freshman last season.

You would think that Brooklyn General Manager Sean Marks gained comfort from Whitehead’s surgeon, Dr. Martin O’Malley, the Nets’ house doctor, about whether the 6-foot 6 wing can regain his explosiveness from before the right foot injury, similar to how the Nets secured the services of Caris LeVert when foot woes sent his draft stock plummeting in 2016. 

If O’Malley’s work can be trusted and Whitehead’s foot heals correctly, then the Nets potentially got a steal. He’s got an NBA body and a smooth stroke. 

I’m less excited about Clowney, though nothing about his professional story should be ruled out. He’s at that tweeter size—not big enough (yet—he could grow into his 6-foot 10, 210-pound frame) to guard NBA 5s and not offensively gifted enough to play the 4. 

The book on Clowney is that he is a voracious rebounder, especially on the offensive glass and isn’t shy about taking three-pointers, even though he only converted on 28.3% of them as an Alabama freshman last season. He also fouls a ton. Hmm, sounds a little like what we have seen from Nets center Day’Ron Sharpe, who has not yet shown he can be the answer to the Nets’ backup center problem after two seasons in the league.

Whether Clowney—and Whitehead for that matter—can make it at this level will depend on whether the Nets can rejuvenate their development program that was fairly successful during Marks’ first few years on the job before the organization’s short-lived transition to a superstar era.

In those old days, Brooklyn rebuilt from a much worse foundation to a point where the league’s top players considered it a desirable destination by developing young and less heralded players they drafted like LeVert and Jarrett Allen and those picked off the street like Spencer Dinwiddie and Joe Harris. It was painful for those few years—as well as the subsequent ones when the big bets didn’t pay off—but you can’t argue with the process.

I hope they follow through with going back to that process. For while these particular picks might never pan out, the logic is sound.