Brooklyn Nets rookie Noah Clowney came into the 2023-24 season with the expectation of spending most, if not all, of the season in the G League for a team expecting to make the playoffs. However, after the All-Star break, Brooklyn needed Clowney on the floor sooner than anybody anticipated given where the season was headed.
“I was tired, you get tired for sure,” Clowney said during the Nets’ “Year 1” series in which each rookie spoke on their experience after the conclusion of the season. Clowney had a unique rookie season as he went from a player that was considered a project following his rough showing in the Las Vegas Summer League to a player who was instrumental to Brooklyn’s late-season push for the play-in tournament.
“Just preparing yourself for it,” Clowney said when asked what it was like to go back-and-forth from Brooklyn to the Long Island Nets, Brooklyn’s G League affiliate, sometimes within the same day depending on injuries. “Knowing that you going have to do it even more the next time. Probably more after that.”
Clowney, 19, played in 23 games (4 starts) for Brooklyn this season and averaged 5.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 0.8 assists per game while shooting 53.8% from the field and 36.4% from three-point range. In 15 games (all starts) for Long Island, Clowney averaged 13.1 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game while shooting 56.3% from the floor and just 28.6% from deep.
While his stats don’t stand out compared to some of the rookies at the top of his class, Clowney made quite an impact for Brooklyn down the stretch of a season where the team was hanging on to their play-in tournament hopes by a thread. Beginning on Mar. 21, Clowney averaged 8.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game and shot 52.7% from the field and 39.3% from behind the three-point line.
While Brooklyn saw Clowney as someone who could play some small-ball center minutes for the team when starting center Nic Claxton was resting, the franchise began to experiment with Clowney playing power forward alongside Claxton with some promising results.
In a 106-102 win over the Toronto Raptors on Apr. 10, Clowney and Claxton combined for 12 of Brooklyn’s 15 blocks, showing that both guys could play next to each other and still be solid on both ends of the floor.
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