Brooklyn Nets’ player development on display early in Las Vegas Summer League
Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images
The fate of the Brooklyn Nets’ rebuild doesn’t hinge on Keon Johnson, but his success could indicate organizational progress to be proud of. We won’t remember Brooklyn’s start to the 2024 Las Vegas Summer League when they’re making their all-important draft pick next June, or at any point in an upcoming regular season sure to feature one of the NBA’s worst records.
It won’t make any free agents more likely to come to the borough in the coming seasons, nor sway the bounces of ping-pong balls.
Their 97-95 win over the Indiana Pacers on Friday may not actively sway the franchise’s fortunes, but it is hopefully a sign of things to come in their rebuild, an indicator of what we can expect both on the collective and individual level.
Let’s start collectively, and let Brooklyn’s assistant coach, Summer League Head Coach Steve Hetzel, tell it: “They never quit, down 15, fought as hard as they could. Scrapped, clawed ... There’s a lot to clean up, but I’m very happy with with their effort. They never gave in.”
Las Vegas is chock-full of players who will never give in this time of year. Most Summer League hoopers are fighting for their professional lives with each possession, but there was a stark difference in how the Nets responded to a deficit when compared with the Sacramento Kings. A game earlier on the same court, Sacto fell down by double-digits early but never made a dent.
Noah Clowney turned up his defense on Jarace Walker and really went at Indiana’s 2023 lottery pick, Jalen Wilson emerged as a vocal leader on the floor and in timeouts, while Dariq Whitehead continued to D up — despite his shot wavering. And Keon Johnson played an under-control game, even when down, that had the audience of Cox Pavilion murmuring to themselves.
All four spent considerable time on the Long Island Nets roster under head coach Mfon Udofia this past season and Brooklyn’s Summer League coaching team led by Steve Hetzel. Could the Nets’ refusal to lie down be the first positive out of the Nets development structure, something every good rebuild needs to rely on?
Clowney, who spoke Brooklyn practice on Saturday, seems to think so: “I think coaching, and even the staff in Long Island — all the staff, front office, whatever it may be — I think they all put you in uncomfortable positions and make you get comfortable in ‘em. They build your confidence from there. And it’s the same work we put in Brooklyn we put in there.”
Also, Johnson has clearly put in that work, evidenced by his 14-point, six-assist performance, including the game-winning bucket.
KEON JOHNSON WINS IT FOR THE @BrooklynNets ‼️ pic.twitter.com/ceSJznjMf7— NBA (@NBA) July 13, 2024
Johnson is an unrestricted free agent with no guarantee that he’ll return to Brooklyn on the two-way contract he worked under last season or a standard deal. The Nets currently have 14 players under contract, all but one of whom (Mamadi Diakite) are fully guaranteed.
Johnson has always been an ultra-athletic slasher with little pace on offense and not the greatest shooter on the floor. Though he still has a ways to go, Saturday was an eye-opener for many hoop-junkies in the stands who rightfully remember Johnson as an out-of-control hyperathlete who was rarely the epitome of team basketball.
The former Clipper and Blazer still took advantage of his athleticism to get to the cup, shooting 7-of-10 inside the arc, but in a game with a gazillion turnovers, he coughed it up just once next to six assists. His decision-making against a Pacers team with real NBA players on the roster was not only improved, but impressive. He passed up good shots for great ones, even if they weren’t his.
Said the 22-year-old Saturday: “I’m starting to put myself in better positions, where I can show what I can do with the ball in my hands and also playing off the ball. I feel like, really, each day in this summer, I’ve been constantly getting better at playing off the ball and just playing with space.”
He then added: “For me, knowing that I’ve always tried to go fast, play fast, I just realized different ways I could play with pace in pick-and-roll roll or whenever I have the ball in my hand.”
Johnson may yet turn out to be something, and teams consistently take chances on that athleticism and prospect-pedigree. Johnson, after all, was a consensus five-star guy coming out of high school and was taken six spots ahead of Cam Thomas in the 2021 Draft. But it’s that improvement he describes that could elevate him from a bargain-bin option to a commodity one that this coaching staff in Long Island and Brooklyn can be proud of.
Steve Hetzel coached Johnson as an assistant in Portland. Hetzel has seen the difference perhaps more than anybody else: “Like I’ve spoken before, it’s growth. He’s maturing as a player, the game is slowing down for him, which is allowing him to slow down on the court and he’s making these positive plays.”
Johnson, in many ways, is emblematic of Brooklyn’s Summer League, the very start of a long road back to NBA relevancy. Can he become a truly valuable NBA players, much less turn the team around? Probably not. (But Sean Marks & co. was able to find a couple of such players in Joe Harris and Spence Dinwiddie their first time around.)
Still, Johnson’s play bodes well for not only himself but the infrastructure of the organization, which includes Long Island, a resource Brooklyn has long relied on, even as they were fielding rosters full of superstars.
Keon Johnson isn’t going to be a focal point for the Brooklyn Nets — hell, he’s not an unrestricted free agent as we speak — but in evaluating the futures of guys like Clowney, Whitehead, Jalen Wilson and whoever the Nets add to the young core, it’s hard to be anything but encouraged, two days into 2024 Las Vegas Summer League and two weeks into the rebuild.
Keon Johnson’s ‘maturing as a player’ already evident to Nets in NBA Summer League - Brian Lewis - New York Post
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