Nets teenager Noah Clowney is still one of the youngest players in the entire NBA, but he says he doesn’t feel like a rookie anymore.
It’s not surprising.
Clowney, who enters the Nets’ second summer league season on Friday, has already played under fired head coach Jacque Vaughn and interim manager Kevin Ollie and is set to play under Steve Hetzel in Las Vegas before newly hired head coach Jordi Fernandez makes his official debut in Brooklyn.
That’s not even a mention of the fact that the face of the franchise, Mikal Bridges, was traded.
“They say you’re a rookie until you play 82 games, but I’m not a rookie anymore,” said the 6-foot-9 Clowney, who will be one of the stars of the Nets’ summer league team.
At just 19 years old, he was the fifth-youngest player in the league last season.
Clowney, who was selected 21st overall out of the University of Alabama last year, has appeared in 23 games, averaging 5.8 points and 3.5 rebounds in 16.1 minutes per game.
But with the Nets falling out of contention late in the season, they turned to their young player, and he delivered.
Clowney is averaging 13.5 points, seven rebounds and 2.2 blocks over the past seven games while making 8 of 17 3-point attempts.
He blocked seven shots against Toronto and provided excellent rim protection alongside recently re-signed guard Nic Claxton.
season. Noah K. Murray, New York Post
“It’s great,” Clowney said of Claxton returning on a four-year, $100 million contract. “It’s great. I want Claxton back. We could play together on the court and we could do a little bit and obviously we could get better. We could be a really good team playing together. I was excited to see him sign.”
But Bridges’ departure came as a shock.
“I was playing pool with my family – eight-ball, ping-pong – and then I saw the news on my phone about the trade,” Clowney said. “The next thing I thought was … I was shocked. Obviously, I’m not in the front office, so I don’t know what’s going on. But I think Mikal should be kind of proud, on some level, of being traded for five first-round draft picks.”
Clowney may be inexperienced, but he’s not too young to not recognize a golden opportunity when it presents itself.
“This is an opportunity [for me] So I can’t [waste it]”I’m not going to talk shit about anything,” Clowney said. [Bridges]”That’s my dog. I love him. But as we move further into rebuilding, it’s a great opportunity for me and I have to try to make the most of it.”
“My main goal is to build the team with what we have now. I’ll leave the player selection to the people who make all the decisions. I’ll just try to do my part, play hard and be passionate about everything I do, so my chances will be fun.”
Fellow second-year pro Darik Whitehead had just two 24-minute cameos before undergoing season-ending surgery but has been fully cleared to play in summer league.
“No, we’re going to put him in at this point,” general manager Sean Marks said. “He hasn’t played consistently in two years, so we’ll have to hold him back a little bit. But at the same time, we know this young man is itching to go out there and play and get back in shape, so it’s going to be exciting for us to see how it goes.”
Marks was hopeful Trendon Watford would stay.
The Nets can match any offer to the restricted free agent.
