Reece Beekman getting his shot as Nets fully embrace youth movement

With the Nets officially lottery-bound several games ago, these past few weeks of the season they’ve seemed free in fully embracing a youth movement. 

The past couple of games, Reece Beekman has been among those youths. 

With starting point guard D’Angelo Russell missing Sunday’s loss to Toronto — and logging just 12 scoreless minutes against the Timberwolves the game before that — Beekman got his first start. 

“First, it’s a blessing for this to be my first year and have a start in the NBA; that doesn’t happen a lot. So I’m just blessed to be in this opportunity,” Beekman said. “But it just took time to settle in [Sunday]. It’s a fast-paced game. I’m still learning in my first year. So, just learning different spots on the court, learning where to be effective and just try to make a mark on both ends of floor.” 

After not playing in seven of eight — five inactives and a couple of DNPs — Beekman played 17:51 against Minnesota.

He followed that up with being in the lineup against the Raptors and their ball pressure defense. 

Beekman had 14 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals. The latter tied his career high, and it was the first time he’d scored even in double figures. 

Maxwell Lewis had 13 points and four rebounds in 27:01. He’d logged a career-high 27:39 the game before against Minnesota. 

Drew Timme, a power forward inked from the G-League late last month, started at center and had 13 points and seven rebounds in the first start of his career. He has 58 points and 27 rebounds in his first five career games. 

The past five Nets to crack 50 and 25 in their first five tilts had been Terrence Williams (2009), Kenyon Martin (2000), Derrick Coleman (1990) and Buck Williams (1981). August company. 

Ziaire Williams had 11 points, four rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

But the defensive prowess was expected; what’s going to determine if he can get more than a veteran minimum in free agency is his improved shooting, something that has impressed coach Jordi Fernández.

Timme and Killian Hayes also improved their shooting this season, something Fernández said consultant Dave Love helped. 

“It’s really hard to coach shooting. That’s why we have in our coaching staff Dave Love. He’s a shooting specialist, actually Canadian. He can help us, he can help the coaches deal with all these things,” Fernández said. “So he basically teaches our coaches. And also those relationships with the players because he’s not always around. So I think Dave has been great with helping us gain that knowledge.”