The Brooklyn Nets\u2019 final Summer League game \u2014 two leagues in two states, eight total games over 16 days \u2014 wasn\u2019t much of a contest as Brooklyn kept all of its eight contract players on the bench in street clothes vs. the winless Oklahoma City Thunder. The remaining seven players, several destined for the Long Island Nets, were enough to defeat OKC, 108-90 Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Count Summer League head coach \u2014 and Nets assistant \u2014 Dutch Gaitley among those impressed\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery player today was in double figures today except for one,\u201d said Gaitley of the group. \u201cOur culture is about getting one percent better every day and those guys worked. Even if they weren\u2019t playing, they were great teammates on the bench. They came in before games. They came in on days they had we gave the other guys rest and they worked. I\u2019m very appreciative of everything they did and I\u2019m happy they were able to show out today.\u201d<\/p>\n
The win, which was up against the FIFA World Cup on local TV in New York, mean the Nets would finish the Las Vegas Summer League with a 3-2 record and their two leagues with five wins and three losses. The Nets played three games in the California Classic in Sacramento, winning two of them, prior to traveling to Nevada.<\/p>\n
While Brooklyn did not get any bling in either league\u2014 Chaney Johnson did lead the Vegas Summer League in steals at 3.3 per, the Nets experience had to have been seen as an overall positive for the organization. Both last year\u2019s lottery pick, Egor Demin, the No. 8 pick, and this year\u2019s Mikel Brown Jr., the No. 6, played well and gave fans a first, if limited, limited look at the two. Their play, both individually, and strong personalities won them the nickname, \u201cAura Bros.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to the lottery picks, three other first rounders from last year \u2014 Drake Powell, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf \u2014 sat, as did the two two-ways already signed, Chaney Johnson and Tyler Bilodeau, plus the Nets other first rounder from June, Joshua Jefferson. Grant Nelson, who played for Long Island and Brooklyn last season, was officially a DNP as well. Although on the Summer League roster, the 7-footer from North Dakota was never scheduled to play in either league, recovering from a procedure to treat his jumper\u2019s knee issue. He was seated with the team in both leagues.<\/p>\n
All that gave a number of young players, some with promises of Exhibit 10s and\/or a job in Long Island, a chance and the Thunder were no match. The Nets were out in front, 37-22, at the end of the first quarter. OKC was the only winless team in Las Vegas at 0-5. Very few of their youngsters made the trip.<\/p>\n
For Brooklyn, one big story was that Dion Brown, a 6\u20194\u201d combo guard out of St. Louis, finished with a triple-double: 16 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists to go along with two steals and shooting splits of 42\/67\/100.<\/p>\n
Brown, reportedly is in line for an Exhibit 1o signing. That could include an invite to Brooklyn\u2019s training camp and preseason come October. But it basically ensures that Brown will wind up on the Long Island roster, assuming he doesn\u2019t get other, more lucrative offers. Brown spoke post-game, saying the accomplishment is helping the transition from college shooting guard to NBA (and\/or G League) point\u2026<\/p>\n
Brown was one of seven young Nets who wound up in double figures by game\u2019s end. John Ukumadu , a 6\u20197\u201d wing, finished with 23 points, having scored 12 early in the Nets first quarter blowout.<\/p>\n
Also putting up numbers were former St. John\u2019s wing Aaron Scott with 15, starting center Dain Dainja with 14 points, nine boards, three steals and three blocks. Duke Brennan, out of Villanova had 12 points as did combo guard Hunter Sallis. Dwight Murray completed the list with 10. According to reports, at least two of the group will get to sign Exhibit 10 deals: Brennan and Sallis. Don\u2019t be surprised if Dainja with his 260-pound frame and 7\u20197\u201d wingspan, winds up at Nassau Coliseum as well. Only PF Ben Humrichous didn\u2019t reach double digits. He had six.<\/p>\n
Teams can sign up to six Exhibit 10 deals but can only designate four players for assignment to Long Island. In the past, the Nets have signed players to Exhibit 10s, then waived them near immediately, to take advantage of that disparity and add to Long Island\u2019s roster.<\/p>\n
The high scorer for Brooklyn in the two leagues was Demin, who averaged 23.0 points in two California Classic games and 21.0 in Vegas. He finished second in the Classic and 12th in Vegas. The big difference between last year\u2019s summer performance and this was that the 6\u20199.5\u201d guard-forward was healthy and that he used his newfound muscle to drive the paint \u2026 and finish.<\/p>\n
In addition to Demin and Brown Jr., the other big standout over the course of the team\u2019s eight games was not one of the Nets six other draft picks over the last two years, but Johnson, the undrafted 6\u20197\u201dtwo-way. He averaged 14.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in Sacramento and 13.0 points and eight rebounds in Vegas, the third highest scoring average on the team in both leagues. His 3.3 steals per game in Vegas led the league and he shot better than 60% overall and 50% (4-of-8) from deep. While some of the Flatbush5 may have disappointed, the 24-year-old Johnson had a breakout, particularly on defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the type of defender he\u2019s capable of,\u201d said Gaitley.<\/p>\n
The next time players wearing the Nets\u2019 black-and-white colors will take the court will be in early October for the NBA preseason. So far, only one date has been publicized: October 14 vs. the Heat in Miami.<\/p>\n
Box Score: Brooklyn Nets 108, Oklahoma City Thunder 90<\/a> – NBAGame Highlights: Brooklyn Nets 108, Oklahoma City Thunder 90 (Video)<\/a> – NBA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brooklyn Nets\u2019 final Summer League game \u2014 two leagues in two states, eight total games over 16…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":812708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,157715,85],"class_list":["post-812707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-nets-scores","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812707","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=812707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}