\u201cBOX OFFICE!\u201d<\/a> at cameras the day after Brooklyn selected Mikel Brown Jr., and proceeded to mention how they should be the next team to be part of expansion. Darius Acuff Jr. could have a great career and we\u2019d be thrilled! But the focus in Brooklyn is on Brown Jr. \u2014 and only Brown Jr. No matter how much hype has been around this matchup.<\/p>\nIt doesn\u2019t need to be anything more or less than that. Keep an eye on how these two young floor generals attempt to set the tone early.<\/p>\n
Although it\u2019s lottery guards who have generated the headlines, Saturday\u2019s loss to Atlanta spotlighted two guys in the frontcourt who came to play.<\/p>\n
Chaney Johnson: The two-way forward was everywhere once again, racking up 20 points, 10 rebounds, and a whopping 5 steals. He\u2019s currently averaging 15 points and nine rebounds in Las Vegas Summer League, pushing the issue with high-energy on both ends of the floor.Danny Wolf: The second-year big led the scoring effort alongside Johnson, putting up 20 points of his own on an efficient 9-of-16 shooting.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, forward Joshua Jefferson made his highly anticipated Summer League debut on Saturday. The aggression was there, but so was the rust. He shot 1-of-8 from the field to go along with two turnovers in nine minutes.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re wondering why you didn\u2019t see Brown Jr. or D\u00ebmin in the box score on Saturday, it simply isn\u2019t worth overthinking. It\u2019s Summer League, and for the Nets, the priority is balancing development with keeping the franchise cornerstones in one piece. That\u2019s not mentioning they\u2019re playing extra basketball \u2014 only seven franchises (eight total teams) play in the California Classic before heading over the Vegas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the goal,\u201d Nets summer league coach Dutch Gaitley said.\u201cThe goal is a nice off-day \u2026 get some work in on Monday, and then we\u2019re ready to play the Kings and, hopefully, avenge our first loss of summer league.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the right move. Long-term evaluation is the name of the game here. Minutes need to be earned by others, and Saturday gave the staff another look at what Saraf and Powell can (or can\u2019t) do when they\u2019re forced to take the reins.<\/p>\n
Make no mistake, the main act returns tonight. But this is all exhibition, the Nets are not going to do anything that might jeopardize their future, particularly in back-to-backs<\/p>\n
Did you think you\u2019d wake up today and think about New York real estate? If your answer is no then you\u2019re probably having a less stressful day than Keon Ellis. Like most who move to New York, Ellis discussed what it\u2019s like looking for a place.<\/p>\n
Tip-off is at 6:00 PM ET. Join the Game Thread at 5:30.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brooklyn Nets got a bit of a reality check on Saturday night. After cruising past the Knicks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,1766,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-295833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-nets-game-previews","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}