The Most Interesting Man In Nets’ Draft Class

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A couple of minutes into the second quarter of Friday night’s NBA Cup match at Barclays Center, Detroit superstar Cade Cunningham attempted to turn the corner on a pick-and-roll against Nets wing Drake Powell. Following screener Isaiah Stewart’s roll to the basket, Cunningham went to work on Powell in isolation.

Defending the crafty Cunningham is difficult for even the game’s most stout veterans, never mind a skinny 20-year old rookie like Powell. Once Cunningham gets into the middle of the paint, he can then use his body to create space and is money on the pull-up jumper. You have a better chance at a stop if you make him shoot from angles. But if you get too close, he’ll either slip past you for a layup or draw a foul. Sometimes both.

Powell, though, was unfazed by the assignment. As Cunningham weaved across the foul line to the left elbow, Powell used his 7-foot wingspan to keep him from getting a clean look, staying down on the first pump fake and avoiding contact after another.

Cunningham eventually gave up and passed off so he could relocate into the left corner. Powell again managed to stay attached, getting around another Stewart screen as Nets center Day’Ron Sharpe loomed in drop coverage. The defense forced a Cunningham shot from the baseline that rimmed out.

Powell grabbed the board and pushed the ball upcourt in transition. After a few passes, he got it back out high and burst past a gambling Detroit Ronald Holland II. Instead of recklessly taking the drive all the way into trees awaiting under the basket, Powell pulled up for a floater over Stewart that went through the hoop to pull Brooklyn within two points.

After Nets forward Noah Clowney cooled off from a scorching 13 points on 4-of-5 three-point shooting during the opening 8:15, that Powell sequence was perhaps the highlight of a very forgettable evening—one of many still to come for Nets fans—that ended with the Pistons cruising to a 125-107 victory.

It encapsulated why I had pegged Powell, selected No. 22 overall in June’s NBA Draft, as the pick with the most upside among Brooklyn’s unprecedented five-pick first-round haul. I had a hunch that his ability to pressure ballhandlers without overfouling would make him an instant favorite with Nets Head Coach Jordi Fernandez, thereby accelerating his development over others who currently lack the necessary NBA traits. That Powell has already earned Fernandez’s trust to take on that level of a defensive task in Game 9 spoke volumes.

In the teeny-tiny sample of his three games tracked by NBA.com, Powell is allowing opponents to shoot 5-for-13 (38.5%) as the nearest defender, the best mark among Nets who have taken the court in non-garbage time minutes. Cunningham was tagged with an 0-for-2 with no shooting fouls drawn.

Unfortunately, injuries have delayed Powell’s takeoff at different points. He missed the entire NBA Summer League in Las Vegas while tending to left knee tendinopathy and then twice sprained his ankle in the first two weeks of the regular season. Hopefully the fact that he was forced to sit out only two games after the most recent incident is a sign that the damage isn’t a long-term concern.

For these upcoming reps over the next three-plus weeks (as per the ultra-conservative Nets Medical Report) with leading scorer Cam Thomas sidelined by (another) hamstring strain present a terrific opportunity for Powell to begin the process of growing his all-around game.

Unfortunately, Powell didn’t get the usage he probably deserved during his sole collegiate season at North Carolina. He was more often told to stick to the corners, where he converted nearly 38% of his three-pointers on 2.6 attempts per game.

The relatively paltry 7.4 points per game scoring average made Powell a bit of a polarizing prospect within the Draftnik community. But in this instance, Nets General Manager Sean Marks deserves credit for first making the pre-Draft trade with Atlanta to obtain versatile wing Terance Mann AND the No. 22 pick for a reported $1.1 million cash payout (plus the salary cap space utilization to rent the $47 million owed to Mann over three seasons) and then taking the flyer on Powell. Among the Flatbush 5, as NetsDaily.com calls them, Powell was the only one who I felt at the time had the goods to guard in this league right away.

Now, once Powell has earned the right to stay on the court, Fernandez is surely going to encourage him to expand his offensive bag, giving him more chances to operate as a facilitator as the pick-and-roll ballhandler and a green light to hoist from beyond the three-point arc. Think Keon Johnson with a better stroke and basketball IQ.

In that regard, it’s been a slow start, though hardly unexpected for such a young player. The ankle woes took Powell off the floor after short runs in his first two games and then he turned the ball over three times in his 27 minutes against the feisty Detroit defense. He has yet to knock down a three-ball in three attempts this season.

Still, there are signs of growth potential. Powell’s first step and 43-inch vertical leap will allow him to develop into a penetration threat—once he works out the kinks in his handle that make him lose control—which is a skill this Nets roster generally lacks. And he made 3-of-6 from deep in the preseason, which showed that his shot isn’t broken like fellow rookie Ben Saraf’s.

Nets fans have few reasons to follow this team this season. Three of the five rookies appropriately suited up for G League Long Island on Friday night in lieu of riding the pine in Brooklyn because they aren’t ready for NBA speed. No. 8 overall pick Egor Demin, 19, is more advanced, but his athleticism deficits make his development into a winning player less reassuring.

Clowney and Powell—that’s all I see at the moment who have the best odds at becoming what Marks calls “The Next Nets.”