Why The Nets Aren’t Simply “Playing The Kids”

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There’s no satisfying some people.

A year ago, a sizable segment of Nets fans bemoaned the team’s unexpected competitiveness. Under then rookie Head Coach Jordi Fernandez, who squeezed out every ounce of the minimal talent at his disposal, Brooklyn won too many games for those fans’ liking, and then bad lottery luck saddled the Nets with the No. 8 overall pick. The season-long gripe was that a group of savvy veterans—and Fernandez’s insistence on playing them to boost his own reputation--spoiled a proper tank, and the resulting slot was the just desserts, no matter the NBA’s intention to deter the strategy by flattening the lottery odds.

Fast forward to the start of this season, and Fernandez is still playing his veterans under the theory that they give his club the best chance to win games. However, two big differences have factored into the equation: 1) this season’s group includes five drafted first-round picks; and 2) These Nets are not winning. They dropped their seventh consecutive game on Monday night against visiting Minnesota by a 125-109 margin. All but two of the defeats were by double digits.

So the complaint du jour after seven whole games isn’t about messing with the tank, but that Fernandez isn’t playing the kids enough. Why, the new beef goes, bother with guys who won’t be around for the long haul when you can use this time to see what you have with the rookies?

On some level, it sounds logical. I too have been scratching my head over some of Fernandez’s playing time decisions. For example, did we really need to see the Nets’ starters play out the string of a 20-point blowout by the Sixers on Sunday’s front end of the back-to-back?

However, after taking a deep breath and reassessing the situation, I’ve decided to cut Fernandez some slack here.

NBA player development isn’t just a matter of throwing kids into the deep end of a pool and telling them it’s ok to drown all season. Considering the importance of confidence to a player’s success, setting them up to fail this way carries risks. And with the Nets going nowhere this season, those risks are totally unnecessary.

These rookies are young enough where a little patience is justifiable. Of the five picks, three (Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, and Ben Saraf) are 19 while Drake Powell just turned 20 and Danny Wolf is the geezer at 21. For those puzzled why Traore, for instance, hasn’t seen much time on the court, here’s the list of 19-year olds taken after him at No. 19 overall who have received more minutes than him to date:

Hugo Gonzalez (Boston)

That’s it. The player for whom I pined instead of Demin at No. 8 overall, 19-year old Phoenix center Khaman Maluach, has played seven fewer minutes than Traore and was a DNP-CD three times in seven games. The Suns and their fans don’t appear as alarmed.

Does anyone really think Fernandez has been purposely holding Traore back? An NBA HC knows if a player is or isn’t ready to contribute. With Traore, it’s all about him learning to channel his plus speed—he may be fast, but he hasn’t shown he can play fast. He shouldn’t warrant a trophy every time he successfully brings the ball into the frontcourt without turning it over. Getting to the rim isn’t as noteworthy as finishing at the rim.

If anything, I thought Fernandez was too bullish on Saraf, starting the No. 26 overall pick for the first five games. Saraf’s skills, from ballhandling to shooting, clearly need work and his defense has been abhorrent. Ballhandlers don’t need screens to go around or through him en route to easy buckets.

Perhaps Fernandez was fooled by impressions of Saraf (and, in the same vein, Tyrese Martin) from preseason workouts and scrimmages when he should have taken into account the “Who were they were playing against?” caveat when making such evaluations. What Nets player has proven he can stop people from scoring? No wonder Saraf looked better then than when he began facing real NBA competition.

Unfortunately, injuries have delayed the process on the Nets’ three other rookies. It’s a distressing fact of life for all NBA teams. Powell has hurt his right ankle twice already, which is why he’s been limited to 12 minutes this season. Wolf’s ankle injury kept him out until Monday night, when he saw his first NBA action with 3:33 of garbage time. And Demin’s summer plantar fascia tear led the Nets’ Performance Team to start him out on a minutes restriction. He did just play both ends of the back-to-back, so maybe the ramp-up can be accelerated going forward.

If fans want to blame someone for the team not following their “Play the kids!” marching orders, blame General Manager Sean Marks. I continue to be disappointed with his Draft Day choices, but not because he took kids who need seasoning. Powell, with his athleticism and defensive potential, could prove to be his best pick at No. 22, but the others are so lacking in basketball and/or physical attributes that I worry that the class will go down in infamy, especially if Powell succumbs to a Dariq Whitehead-type injury curse.

But we’re far away from closing the book on that. You don’t make final judgements on players after seven games into their rookie seasons.

Unfortunately, these observable flaws are what is keeping Fernandez from elevating certain rookies over his veteran players who are more deserving of precious court time. Building a culture in a lost cause environment is difficult enough; good luck to any HC who loses the locker room.

As this season progresses, you will likely see a bunch of the Draftees--maybe all except Demin--get some reps at G League Long Island games. Don’t freak out--even Cam Thomas played two games there as a rookie and it didn’t cause him irreparable harm.

Over time, though, more rookies who have earned NBA rotation minutes will receive them. In addition to Demin, I foresee (if healthy) Powell, and Wolf sightings becoming more prevalent. Trades and injuries will open up more opportunities.

Maybe by then all Nets fans will be on the same satisfied boat as it crashes into the abyss of irrelevance.