The NBA is officially BACK! Things look quite different from the last time we saw you for the games that mattered, but we’ll have you covered on all things Brooklyn Nets here on Netsdaily. Buckle up!
The Charlotte Hornets will join the Nets in this adventure. Charles Lee is entering his second season with the club and is hoping to enjoy more success than last year. The team has a fair share of young talent and hopes to be able to surprise some along the way.
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No Haywood Highsmith. Otherwise, a clean slate. Will the Nets draft anyone in either direction before the game?
Josh Green and Grant Williams are out.
The NetsDaily team hosted a roundtable discussion where we discussed the upcoming season and some pressing issues on our minds. Check it out!
Nic Claxton will be key this season. The big guy is healthy and hopes to look like his 2022-23 self who was a stealth All-Defensive Team candidate. When Claxton is able to blow up coverages, handle switches, and be a great pick-and-roll partner with his guards, his value skyrockets.
Michael Porter Jr will make his regular season debut with the Nets. MPJ will serve as the Nets’ No. 2 scoring option behind Cam Thomas, and the team will need a lot from its new acquisition. There are plenty of Nets players who have things to prove, and Porter Jr. might be at the top of the list. His reputation has been damaged in recent years, and he will need to have an excellent season to silence these criticisms. It will start with better work on defense. He was almost non-existent on that front in preseason and now that games have stakes, poor efforts will become even more damaging if he’s not careful.
Brandon Miller is back and hopes to build on a shortened sophomore season. Miller was limited to just 27 games last season as he required surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right wrist. Before his injury, he had increased his three-point attempts from around seven threes per game to almost 11 per night. For Miller, these increased three-point attempts make him a more dangerous scorer and if he can improve his efficiency from deep while continuing to be a great finisher at the rim, things will improve for the potential star.
We’ve been talking about rookies all summer, and tonight we’ll see Charlotte’s newest recruit! Kon Knueppel finished fourth overall and had a quality pre-season. If the Nets had better luck in the lottery, he might have been someone the Nets would have chosen. However, that never happened since Knueppel was gone by the time Brooklyn was in contention in the draft. The player they did Get is looking to feel more comfortable now that he’s on the field. Egor Demin is back in action after being out for most of the preseason due to a foot injury. We will see how Jordi Fernandez uses him and the minutes he plays tonight. The first match is always nerve-wracking, so if it starts slowly, don’t worry too much. We have 81 more left!
Player to watch: Lamelo Ball
There has been so much discussion about whether Lamelo is a “winning” player. It’s a side conversation as to whether he can actually stay on the field. He only played more than 70 games once in his career, and that was the only season he was named to the All Star team. Charlotte can’t plan for the future if he doesn’t see what his engine can do with the players around him. More at Yahoo SportsDan Devine wrote about Ball and the Hornets in a big season preview:
They need Ball on the court not only because he’s their primary ball handler, their most gifted playmaker and their best scorer, but also because they need to see if what they’ve put together around him is as sensible and cohesive as what the Pistons put around Cade last season. They never really had a chance to figure it out last season, even when Ball was healthy; The Hornets have lost more games to injury than any team outside of Philadelphia, according to Spotrac injury data, with Ball, Brandon Miller, Grant Williams, Tre Mann, centers traded from Mark Williams and Nick Richards, and almost every other player, even theoretically, expected to provide significant minutes for Charlotte missing notable stretches of time.
While Ball missed significant time with ankle issues and attractive swingman Miller, the No. 2 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, sat out the final three months of last season following wrist surgery, the Hornets’ prized young players shared the floor for just 828 minutes over 39 games combined over the past two seasons, according to PBP Stats. Hornets president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson said during media day that Ball and Miller are fully operational and ready to enter training camp. If they can stay this way throughout the season, I hope Charlotte can begin to seriously evaluate whether they are capable of serving as the engine for a turnaround.
Ball is only 24 years old. However, you begin to wonder if he will be able to bring all of his incredible talents together and embark on a special race. Charlotte hasn’t made the playoffs since the 2015-16 season, and while it seems unlikely they’ll return this season, they might be able to surprise everyone if Ball has an All Star season.
Cam Thomas is the centerpiece of the Nets offense and he enters tonight hoping to get off to a strong start to the most important season of his career. We all know about the summer drama and the inability of him and the team to agree on a contract extension. Thomas hopes to lead this Nets team to a respectable season while showcasing his all-around game. The Hornets were one of the worst defensive teams in the league last season, and we all know Thomas can get hot at any time. If the stars align, Thomas can create a memory that Nets fans will never forget.
Starting the season with Vince Carter? It works for me!
