{"id":340433,"date":"2025-12-10T05:41:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T05:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/340433\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T05:41:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T05:41:12","slug":"noah-clowney-just-stopped-caring-before-finally-breaking-out-for-nets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/340433\/","title":{"rendered":"Noah Clowney ‘just stopped caring’ before finally breaking out for Nets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite several ankle sprains that put a limit on his sophomore season, there was no concern over Noah Clowney\u2019s development for Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw him as a part of our future,\u201d the coach said after practice on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the beginning of this season, the third-year forward got off to a rocky start due to what Clowney believed was being \u201c too conservative\u201d on the floor. <\/p>\n

However, following the Nets\u2019 0-7 start, the 21-year-old has found his footing and the team\u2019s belief in him is paying off.<\/p>\n

In the last 16 games, Clowney has averaged 16.6 points on 45 percent shooting from the field and nearly 40 percent from beyond the arc. <\/p>\n

In the first seven games of the season, he was only shooting 27 percent and averaging just 5.5 points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Noah Noah Clowney of the Brooklyn Nets drives down the court during the third quarter against the Jazz.
Charles Wenzelberg for The New York Post<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to mess up, so it got to a point where I just stopped caring. I was like, I\u2019m either going to look crazy or look good doing what I\u2019m supposed to do,\u201d Clowney said. \u201cI think my problem was at a time where I would be too worried about how I looked from the outside. I don\u2019t really care no more because I had to realize the only people whose opinion I really care about and how I\u2019m playing is my teammates and coaching staff that have seen me the whole summer. So, they know what I\u2019m capable of so they weren\u2019t having an issue with what I was doing. Just a matter of doing it and not halfway doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clowney is playing the most minutes so far of his NBA career, averaging 28 minutes per game, which has given him more opportunities, especially alongside Michael Porter Jr. and Nic Claxton in the frontcourt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NoahNoah Clowney of the Brooklyn Nets drives to the basket as Lauri Markkanen of the Utah Jazz plays defense. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Playing with the veterans has proved helpful for Clowney, who has scored big in games when Porter was hot, such as against Charlotte (18) and the Bulls (20). The trio has a +3.37 net rating in 304 minutes together, according to PBPStats.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always easier to play with Mike because of the gravity he brings,\u201d Clowney said. \u201cYou gotta respect him. If Mike is playing, the best defender is probably guarding Mike. I think he\u2019s a focal point, obviously. So, he\u2019s the focal point and I\u2019m not a focal point. It\u2019s a lot easier to get in the flow of the game and I think I\u2019ve been able to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haywood Highsmith was shooting free throws at the Nets practice on Tuesday, but there is no health update on the 29-year-old forward as he recovers from surgery on his right knee after a meniscus tear.<\/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

In October, he had a setback after experiencing swelling during rehab.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe like how he\u2019s progressing, we just don\u2019t have any updates,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cBut he\u2019s doing very well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite several ankle sprains that put a limit on his sophomore season, there was no concern over Noah…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[671,19506,355,978,99],"class_list":["post-340433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-jordi-fernandez","tag-nba","tag-ny-sports-minute","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}