With the Nets officially eliminated from contention for a postseason spot, attention has already shifted to next season.
They can claim all they want that they have two feet in the present, but they are already looking to the future. That means we’ll see how quickly Noah Clowney can fill the role. And how big a role it can play.
The Nets, who didn’t have a first-round pick in June’s draft (Houston owns that pick thanks to the James Harden trade), looked to turn things around with both of last year’s first-round picks. . They acquired teenagers Clowney and Darik Whitehead with the 21st and 22nd picks, respectively, making them the two youngest players in franchise history.
And while Whitehead spent most of the season sidelined, first with a stress fracture and then with surgery, Clowney has primarily developed in the G League. Now that the Nets are no longer treading water in a futile attempt to make the play-in and have finally accepted their fate, it’s time to experiment. Just to see what they have.
