{"id":255400,"date":"2025-11-01T12:06:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T12:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/255400\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T12:06:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T12:06:12","slug":"nets-not-ready-to-sound-alarm-on-noah-clowneys-slow-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/255400\/","title":{"rendered":"Nets not ready to sound alarm on Noah Clowney’s slow start"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a rough first five games for Noah Clowney, at least as far as his stat line is concerned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Through five games, the Nets\u2019 third-year forward has scored just 5.2 points per game and hit only 25 percent of his shots (3-for-8 from inside the 3-point arc, and 7-for-28 from outside the arc, both down from a year ago).\u00a0<\/p>\n

But head coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez isn\u2019t ready to sound the alarm just yet on the former first-round pick who showed signs of emerging into a threat last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a great summer, his body looks great,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said after the team practiced in Brooklyn on Friday. \u201cObviously, we want him to have a bigger impact as far as making things happen, [but] I\u2019m very happy [with his play].\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NoahNoah Clowney dribbles against Dyson Daniels of the Atlanta Hawks during the first half at Barclays Center on October 29, 2025. Getty Images<\/p>\n

He pointed to their most recent defeat, when Clowney hit just 1 of 7 field goals against Atlanta.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like he played very well,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cJust good shots didn\u2019t go in. The shots looked really good.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

His message to Clowney hasn\u2019t changed, at least on the offensive side of the ball.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cJust keep shooting it,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said of Clowney. \u201cDon\u2019t overthink it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NoahNoah Clowney dives for the loose ball in the first half of the game against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on October 27, 2025 in Houston, Texas. Getty Images<\/p>\n

But like just about everyone else on the roster, Fern\u00e1ndez said Clowney could use some work on defense, since the Nets have gotten torched in all five of their games so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI just need him to be better defensively and he embraced it,\u2019\u2019 Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cLast game, he was better.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Overall, though, the inexperienced Nets haven\u2019t gotten enough from the 6-foot-10 21-year-old.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need Noah,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cNoah is a big presence for our team. [He has] toughness, size, shooting, rebounding [and] winning plays. We need more verticality and he\u2019s a big part of doing that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ziaire Williams, who suffered a back fracture and a contusion on a hard fall in last Sunday\u2019s loss to the Spurs in San Antonio and hopes to be available Sunday against the 76ers in Brooklyn, is \u201cpretty close\u201d to returning, Fern\u00e1ndez said after Friday\u2019s practice in Brooklyn.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFollow all the basketball buzz in Brooklyn\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Nets by Brian Lewis, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s feeling good,\u201d the coach said. \u201cWe have to see how he reacts now, [see] how his body feels afterwards. If his body responds well, we\u2019ll make a decision.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

With rookies Danny Wolf and Nolan Traore working with the team\u2019s G League affiliate in Long Island, Fern\u00e1ndez said the duo would be able to get more work done there than with Brooklyn.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe development doesn\u2019t stop,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cIt\u2019s great for them now to get higher volume [and] more scrimmages\u201d as the Nets prepare for a back-to-back at home against Philadelphia on Sunday and Minnesota on Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been a rough first five games for Noah Clowney, at least as far as his stat line…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,5997,6184,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-255400","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-brooklyn-nets","11":"tag-jordi-fernandez","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}