In a tanking season that’s all about developing their youth, the Nets had just two of their five rookie first-round picks active Sunday in the Garden.
But a sixth young prospect is every bit as important.
Noah Clowney — still just 21, and younger than half the rookies in this draft class — had played the best basketball of his career over the past week — before a dud in Sunday’s loss to the Knicks — and given Nets fans another prospect to watch grow.
For the uber-athletic forward, that growth will need to be both mental and physical, quickly getting past mistakes and also getting back to his former defensive level.
“Yeah, the reality with Noah is he was the guy that made winning plays last year — winning play after winning play. And it can be a verticality, a charge, a rebound. And I haven’t seen it yet this year,” Jordi Fernández said of Clowney. “I know he’s got it in him. I know he’s worked on his body. It’s just a lot of times Noah needs time to process things.
“And again, moving quick from mistakes, it’s important because it affects you emotionally. And those are things that you gotta learn. I’ve been around very good players and Hall of Famers, and those guys make a mistake, and it takes them half a second to move on and make the right play the next play.
“And that’s really hard to do, for all of us. Sometimes I make the call, I’m still thinking about it because I made a mistake and I’m angry. And I’ve got to move on and coach the next play. So, he’ll be good. He’ll be great. We know that he can do it defensively, and he’ll impact the game not just with his shooting but also with his defense.”
For his part, Clowney has acknowledged that he’s had a tendency to overthink, though he said he feels he’s made strides in that area.
But as far as getting back to last season’s defensive form, that’s a work in progress.
“Yeah. Already, I feel like I’ve been doing good with moving on to the next play, personally,” Clowney said. “As far as the verticalities and all that, yeah, I can do better. And it’s something you’ve just got to do. Time things better, meet people earlier, things like that.”
Nets fans have fixated on their first-round class, with Egor Dëmin and Drake Powell active for Sunday’s game at the Garden, and Ben Saraf, Nolan Traore and Danny Wolf on G-League assignment. But Clowney is actually younger than Wolf, as well as fellow rookies Cedric Coward, Nique Clifford and Walter Clayton Jr.
The forward is still developing, having packed much-needed muscle on his willowy frame this summer and improved his driving. He started a fourth straight game Sunday at the Garden, and had averaged 17.0 points in 30.7 minutes over the first three, hitting 10-of-25 from 3-point range.
The steps are positive. But the Nets put him into the lineup to get his length and activity for their sieve-like defense; they need him to take steps on that end of the court as well.
“Yeah, I mean Noah always takes positive steps,” Fernández said. “I need him to be better defensively. And he knows it. His voice needs to grow, and embracing the contact.
“[Teams are] playing with the two bigs, and whether you’re the low man, whether your communication is on or off the ball, all those things. Because he’s really smart. He’s about the right things. He knows it. And like everybody else, needs to grow into that fast. And I know he will. So, I like his aggressiveness, how he shoots the ball. And you’ve gotta keep taking positive steps.”
How does Clowney do that?
“Trust your work. That simple,” Clowney said. “Trust what I did over the summer. Go hoop.”
