PHILADELPHIA — Brooklyn Nets rookie Noah Clowney made a big impression on Brooklyn’s fanbase with how he played towards the end of a disappointing season for the franchise. As the Nets sought to give some of the younger players like Clowney more playing time with the amount of injuries piling up, the organization saw some encouraging performances.
“We got potential,” Clowney said after Sunday’s 107-86 loss at the Philadelphia 76ers in the final game of Brooklyn’s 2023-24 season. Clowney put up 16 points, four rebounds, and two assists in the season finale to continue his strong ending to a promising rookie season in the NBA.
“We got a lot of potential and we have to unlock it,” Clowney explained of how much potential he believes that the Nets have. “Obviously no one comes and plans on having another season like this one. I think we learned from it, grew from it. But, the amount of losses we had was just too many. But, I think we learned from it, grew from it, and I think we have potential to be a much better team than I think we displayed.”
To Clowney’s point, the Nets experienced more losing this season than expected given that Brooklyn began this season with a 13-10 record that included some tough, close losses to some of the better teams in the league. However, since then, the Nets were unable to recover from a five-game losing streak that seemingly demoralized the players for the reminder of the campaign.
“It’s good for my confidence knowing I can compete at this level,” Clowney said of what he makes of his performance towards the end of the season. “Obviously I know I need to improve in various areas, but just knowing I can compete with these people.” In April, Clowney averaged 12.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game while shooting 60.4% from the field and 47.1% from three-point land.
Going into his second season, Clowney, 19, said that he will play in the summer league for the Nets. He did not have the best performance in the summer league as he averaged just 4.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 22.6% from the field and 23.5% from deep.
“I’m just excited to hoop,” Clowney said of playing in the summer league. “I got the best job in the world, to be honest.” One of the interesting things about Clowney and Brooklyn is whether he will be playing power forward next season assuming that starting center Nic Claxton re-signs with the team in free-agency this offseason.
“I think we can be elite defensively,” Claxton explained. “I think we both have things we can work on, but specifically, defending quick guards is something we have to be better at. This summer we’re going to work toward it. And just being able to drive the ball through contact, closeouts, things like that when I’m playing on the perimeter more.”
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