{"id":52529,"date":"2025-11-26T04:05:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T04:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/52529\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T04:05:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T04:05:10","slug":"drake-powell-showing-nets-just-a-tantalizing-hint-of-what-he-can-bring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/52529\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake Powell showing Nets just a tantalizing hint of what he can bring"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the losses pile up for the Nets \u2014 and despite Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez\u2019s best efforts, they undoubtedly will \u2014 the organization can only hope that at least some of their current young players become key parts of a more promising future.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the way Drake Powell has played for the past two-plus weeks, after coming back from a sprained ankle, has been a bright spot in what will be a long season in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s third pick in the past draft \u2014 coming by way of a draft-rights trade with the Hawks \u2014 played arguably the best game of his young NBA career in Monday\u2019s loss to the Knicks.<\/p>\n

In fact, Powell\u2019s two best showings so far have come against the crosstown rivals, each one ending in defeat.<\/p>\n

On Monday, he tied his career high with 15 points and added four assists and a steal.<\/p>\n

Perhaps No. 8 pick Egor D\u00ebmin will end up having the better career at point guard, or Nolan Traore, the 19th pick, will emerge from the G-League and develop into something as a Net.<\/p>\n

Maybe Ben Saraf or Danny Wolf, picks No. 26 and 27, will also turn into something.<\/p>\n

But for now, Powell, selected No. 22 after one season at North Carolina, where he impressed with his defense<\/a> and showed raw potential on offense \u2014 plus plenty of athleticism \u2014 has most looked the part of an NBA player.<\/p>\n

And Fern\u00e1ndez is confident there\u2019s more on both sides of the game for the 6-foot-6 20-year-old.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we go, he\u2019s gonna continue to understand the league [and] the schemes, especially defensively,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cI consider him a very, very good defender with a really high ceiling defensively and I\u2019m gonna keep challenging him to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where there figures to be the most growth, though, is on offense, which was to be expected after his lone season at Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n

\"NetsNets guard Drake Powell (4) is guarded by New York Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) and guard Tyler Kolek (13). IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

Against the Knicks, he hit 5-of-10 shots from the field, including 2-of-6 from 3-point range.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got to keep trusting his shot,\u2019\u2019 Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cHe\u2019s got to be comfortable shooting a little bit faster. That just comes with time and work. I think he\u2019ll be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

On top of the numbers, Fern\u00e1ndez seemed most pleased with Powell\u2019s style of play.<\/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

\u201cI\u2019m happy with how he looked out there,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cHe looked free out there, having fun [and] playing really hard. We\u2019ve got to continue taking really positive steps with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Powell has been at his best when facing the Knicks, he\u2019s been solid consistently.<\/p>\n

Over his past nine games since returning from the ankle injury<\/a>, he\u2019s played over 21 minutes per game and averaged 8.0 points, 2.3 assists, 2.2 rebounds and a steal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m out there playing basketball, trying to be aggressive and trust myself, my teammates and coaches,\u201d Powell said. \u201cVersatility is a big thing for me and I do my best to make the right basketball play.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

And he credited assistant coach Corey Vincent, part of the team\u2019s player development staff, with aiding his adjustment to the league<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have multiple film meetings and they\u2019re very important to me,\u201d Powell said. \u201cI want to continue to buy into those. I think that will help translate onto the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether that translates into winning eventually is up to Powell, his other young teammates and \u2014 most likely \u2014 some players who aren\u2019t in Brooklyn yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the losses pile up for the Nets \u2014 and despite Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez\u2019s best efforts, they undoubtedly will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,355,99,21,9,24,63,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-52529","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-brooklyn","9":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","10":"tag-brooklyn-nets","11":"tag-brooklyn-news","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52529","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=52529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}