Tag: Brooklyn Nets

Shaq explained why Rudy Gobert and Ben Simmons are the worst NBA players ever by doubling down

Shaq wants these NBA players to step their game up.

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Shaquille O’Neal recently went viral for comments he made about Rudy Gobert and Ben Simmons, and he is already doubling down on it.

During a conversation with Complex Sports, the hoops legend was asked who he felt was the worst NBA player of all time. O’Neal immediately said it was Minnesota Timberwolves big man Rudy Gobert.

He added that Ben Simmons, who like O’Neal played college basketball for LSU, is “another bum” as well. According to O’Neal, guys like Gobert and Simmons are ruining the pay scale for other players and he doesn’t “respect” guys like that.

Shaquille O’Neal vs. Rudy Gobert: A detailed history and timeline of their beef

O’Neal recently appeared on USA TODAY’s Sports Seriously with host Mackenzie Salmon and he was asked about the comments. Here is what he said:

“It’s also personal motivation. So now Rudy and Ben: Show me what you got. See, like, people don’t understand the things I’m saying no on TV, it’s the same things I said to my players as a leader. Young man … you’re getting paid $20 million, you ain’t doing nothing. Step your game up. The outsiders that what we know, they’re like ‘oh, he’s hating.’ No, I’m not hating. I’m telling you the truth. And if you don’t like the truth, that’s something you got to deal with. So now, it’s out there. It’s viral. So show me what you’re going to do, Rudy and Ben. Shut me up.”

Gobert responded to these comments from O’Neal, adding that he is “sad to see” O’Neal was “triggered by another man’s finances” despite all of Shaq’s personal accomplishments on and off the court.

But based on O’Neal’s comments to Salmon, it seems obvious that Shaq is simply trying to motivate Gobert to strive for greatness so that he be the best version of himself.

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Ziaire Williams: ‘It almost feels like I’m a rookie again’

Ziaire Williams, the Brooklyn Nets’ newly acquired wing, has shown glimpses of his potential as he navigates his early years in the NBA. Standing at 6-foot-9, Williams’ combination of length, versatility, and athleticism positions him as a …

Ziaire Williams, the Brooklyn Nets’ newly acquired wing, has shown glimpses of his potential as he navigates his early years in the NBA. Standing at 6-foot-9, Williams’ combination of length, versatility, and athleticism positions him as a prospective piece that could become key for the Nets’ rebuilding efforts.

Williams began his career with the Memphis Grizzlies, where he appeared in 150 games through three seasons averaging 7.5 points and 2.6 rebounds. His best season was his rookie campaign, when Williams averaged 8.1 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 62 games in 2021-22.

In a chat with HoopsHype, on behalf of Herbalife, Williams opened up about his NBA journey, sharing how he’s focused on leveling up his game and looking forward to a fresh start in Brooklyn.

Nets’ Cam Thomas embracing role increase after Mikal Bridges trade

Brooklyn Nets guard Cam Thomas knows that his role will be even bigger after the Mikal Bridges trade, but he seems to be ready for it.

Brooklyn Nets guard Cam Thomas has been seeing his role change drastically from the 2022-23 season with the superstar era and last season with a team in need of scoring. After the Nets traded Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks last summer, Thomas is set up for an even bigger role heading into the 2024-25 campaign.

“Just knowing that and embracing it. Attacking it head-on. I’ve kind of been having those roles [as the leader of the team] ever since I was in high school and college,” Thomas said when asked about his role after the Mikal Bridges trade recently in an interview with Curtis Rowser III of SLAM magazine. Last season with the first time in Thomas’ three seasons that he had a consistent role in the starting lineup and he thrived as a result.

“So, I’m not really worried about it,” Thomas said. “I’m just excited to get it going and to try to do it in the League. I’m not really worried about it at all; I’m just ready.”

Thomas went from averaging 10.6 points and 1.4 assists per game during the 2022-23 season to dropping 22.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per contest while shooting 44.2% from the field and 36.4% from three-point land. After leading the Nets in scoring last season, Thomas will be expected to do that and more for a rebuilding Brooklyn team that will have even less established production.

Thomas previously spoke on how the offseason has been going for him and how he has been working to improve his skill set so that he can be even more effective. From the comments that he made about embracing his leadership role, Thomas sounds like he’s ready to be the best player for a Nets team that has always hoped that he could fill that kind of role.

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Nets receive lower grade for Kyrie Irving trade after re-evaluation

The Brooklyn Nets are getting a lower grade for trading Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks during the 2022-23 season for good reasons.

The Brooklyn Nets began their process of entering a rebuild during the 2022-23 season when they traded Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks. Though Brooklyn only ended up trading Irving because the two sides could not come to terms on a contract extension, it seems that the trade doesn’t look as good more than one year later.

In a recent article by Bleacher Report’s NBA staff in which they re-graded some of the biggest trades in the league over the past five years, the Nets did not come out as good for the Irving. In fact, compared to the grade they received when the Irving trade initially happened, it seems that Brooklyn is receiving a significant downgrade for the deal.

When B/R first gave their grade of the Irving trade, the Nets received an A+ due to their return of guard Spencer Dinwiddie, forward Dorian Finney-Smith, a 2029 first-round pick, and second-round picks in 2027 and 2029 in exchange for Irving and forward Markieff Morris. However, with the re-grade, the Nets are now getting just a B for the deal.

This makes sense given that most around the NBA agreed with the Nets trading Irving away given that he was mostly unavailable for Brooklyn due to injuries and extracurricular activities that happened during his tenure.

Where this grade ends up changing for both sides is that Irving ended up re-signing with the Mavericks following the 2022-23 season and played a huge role in Dallas getting to the NBA Finals for the 2023-24 season before losing to the Boston Celtics in five games.

With Dinwiddie no longer with the Nets and Finney-Smith most likely playing for another team at some point during this upcoming season, there is still time for the grade to improve depending on the return. So far, Brooklyn was able to use Dinwiddie to acquire Dennis Schroder from the Toronto Raptors last season and could use Finney-Smith to get one first-round pick and possibly a young player as well.

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Nets’ Nic Claxton does not receive a vote for NBA DPOY by ESPN

Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton did not receive a vote to win the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award for next season by ESPN.

Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton will be coming into the 2024-25 season with a new contract and with a different coaching staff that wants to get the best out of him. While Claxton has stated plenty of times over the past few years that his defensive prowess is underrated by the rest of the NBA, it seems that his voice remains unheard.

ESPN recently put out an article where their NBA experts made their picks for which players should win certain end-of-season awards such as the Defensive Player of the Year award. When it was time for the experts to put their votes together for the award, Claxton did not receive a single vote for the accolade.

This shouldn’t be surprising for the simple fact that the Nets are not expected to be very good next season now that the franchise is going through the rebuilding process after trading Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks. With Brooklyn projected to win around 20 games next season, it’s clear that the NBA public as a whole is out on the Nets being competitive and for good reason.

Ever since the 2022-23 season when Claxton’s name was first generating buzz for his play on the defensive end in support of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, Claxton hasn’t been able to get the benefit of the doubt from the voting public. That isn’t sure to change unless Brooklyn is better than expected, but Claxton will still look to be the best version of himself either way.

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Nets’ Cam Thomas discusses offseason progress, skill set improvements

Brooklyn Nets guard Cam Thomas recently did an interview with Curtis Rowser III of SLAM magazine to discuss his offseason and skill work.

Brooklyn Nets guard Cam Thomas is heading into an important season for his career as he is eligible for an extension this summer and will be a free-agent next offseason if the extension doesn’t happen before then. Now that Thomas is essentially destined for another starring offensive role, he recently talked about what he is doing this offseason to prepare.

“It’s been good. Just laying low, resetting, getting ready for next season. It’s been real good,” Thomas said in an interview with Curtis Rowser III of SLAM magazine about how the offseason has been going for him so far. Thomas will be one of the most interesting players on the Nets this season given what is expected of him for this upcoming season.

“I usually try to go with a clean slate because you never know,” Thomas said about how he approaches every offseason. “Stuff changes from year to year, like coaches, schemes, etc. This summer was probably the longest I took off—about two or three weeks. Then I got right back to it.”

What makes Thomas so interesting to the Nets fanbase and media is because of how his career has changed along with how the organization has changed over the years. Thomas went from having an inconsistent role in the rotation during the superstar era of Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving to now having full rein of the offense for a rebuilding franchise that needs him to be a scorer and playmaker.

Thomas knows that his main contribution to the Nets will be what he does with his scoring, as evidenced by his 22.5 points per game last season that led the team despite having to share the scoring responsibilities with players like Mikal Bridges and Dennis Schroder. He had this to say about how he approaches that reality:

“I just want to keep working on everything. Last summer, I tried to put more emphasis on catch-and-shoot shooting, and I think I was way up in the League percentage-wise on catch-and-shoot [this past season]. So, just continue to work on that and fine-tuning the skills I had coming into the League, like my off-the-dribble stuff and finishing around the basket, [while] still improving on catch-and-shoot, trying to have the best percentage in the League.”

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Nets get even better grade for Kevin Durant trade after Mikal Bridges deal

After the Brooklyn Nets traded Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks for quite the haul, their trade of Kevin Durant is looking even better.

The Brooklyn Nets have been one of the more interesting teams in the NBA in recent memory and not for all of the best reasons. After the past two seasons, Brooklyn have traded three superstars along with a valuable two-way player in Mikal Bridges, but they’re at least getting their praises for their return.

In a recent article by Bleacher Report, their NBA staff decided to regrade some of the biggest trades that have happened in the last five years. As every Nets fan knows, Brooklyn has been involved in some of the biggest trades over the past couple of seasons, including trading Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns.

As a recap of the trade, the Nets received Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder, Cameron Johnson, 2023 first-round pick (Noah Clowney), 2025 first-round pick, 2027 first-round pick, 2028 first-round swap, 2029 first-round pick while the Suns received Durant and TJ Warren.

While many had said at the time that the Nets do not do a good job of managing their superstar era of Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden since all of the stars requested their own trades before anything substantial happened.

Given that Brooklyn was able to get so much for Durant and then get so much for Bridges after trading him to the New York Knicks last month, the franchise is now looking like one of the best organizations in terms of getting equitable returns for their players.

As a result, Bleacher Report gave the Nets an A++++ grade because of the combined returns for Durant and Bridges and now, Brooklyn is set up well for the next few years in terms of draft capital. Here’s what Dan Favale had to say about the Nets’ grade:

“Bridges was just flipped to the New York Knicks for five additional first-round picks and another first-round swap. Brooklyn was also able to leverage Phoenix’s 2027 and 2029 selections into regaining control of its own first-rounders for 2025 and 2026.

All told, the Nets basically turned KD and two swaps into seven extra first-round picks, the return of the rights to a pair of their own firsts, another two swaps and Cam Johnson. (Crowder was also used to scoop up seconds from Milwaukee in 2028 and 2029—another savvy move).”

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Nets’ Dennis Schroder fires back at Suns’ Kevin Durant’s Team USA photo

Brooklyn Nets guard Dennis Schroder is speaking his mind on Phoenix Suns superstar Kevin Durant viral Team USA photo after winning the gold.

Brooklyn Nets guard Dennis Schroder is fresh off leading Germany through the 2024 Paris Olympics while also being regarded as one of the five best players to play in the tournament. After Germany was defeated by Serbia in the bronze medal game, Schroder commented on the differences between European basketball and American basketball, something that Phoenix Suns superstar Kevin Durant responded to in his own way.

While it seemed that the back-and-forth between the two NBA players would end there, it looks like Schroder has more to say about Durant responding in the way that he did. Schroder, who streams on Twitch, recently discussed Durant’s photo showing the members of Team USA with their gold medals after beating France with the caption “entertainment and IQ.”

On his stream, Schroder called Durant “weak” for saying what he said given that Durant is held in higher regard in the NBA space than Schroder is. It seems that Schroder did not appreciate Durant taking a shot at him on social media, something that Durant has been known to do throughout his career.

“They won, and Kevin Durant tweets, ‘High IQ and entertainment.’ For me, that’s just being weak,” Schroder said. “You’re that type of a star, and you have to say something to a person like me who not even meant it to be negative. It was just what I see from both sides, you know what I’m saying? I didn’t appreciate it.”

As a recap, when Schroder was asked about the differences between American basketball and European basketball, he said that European basketball is “no entertainment, it’s straight IQ basketball. Straight coaching.” Durant may have taken these comments from Schroder as a slight implying that European basketball is how the game is supposed to be played while American basketball is just for entertainment and no substance.

Seeing as both guys don’t hesitate to speak their peace, this could be something that last into the regular season.

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Nets’ Jordi Fernandez talks Nic Claxton being a priority this summer

Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez says that center Nic Claxton was a priority this summer and explains their growing partnership.

The Brooklyn Nets made some big moves this offseason when they hired former Sacramento Kings assistant Jordi Fernandez and re-signed center Nic Claxton to a four-year, $97 million deal in free-agency. While Fernandez was joining the team for the first time, he had no doubts that Claxton was someone he wanted on the team no matter what.

“He was our priority this summer. He’s a big part of what we’re trying to do age-wise and how he’s progressed all his years,” Fernandez said in an interview with HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto when asked about Claxton. There was plenty of chatter over whether the Nets would be bringing Claxton back to Brooklyn due to his next contract projected to be around $25 million per year.

“Me and the organization believe he’s still getting much better and can be a Defensive Player of the Year,” Fernandez explained. “He’s a good playmaker and can be an even better playmaker. We’re excited about his development and that he’s a part of the organization for a long time.”

When Fernandez was introduced to the media earlier this summer, one of the more interesting things he said during his press conference was his belief in Claxton having the ability to be a Defensive Player of the Year kind of player. With the way that Fernandez has been talking about Claxton, it seems that the two are destined for a fruitful partnership.

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Nets’ Dariq Whitehead keeps a good perspective on injury recovery

Brooklyn Nets forward Dariq Whitehead did not play like he wanted to during the Las Vegas Summer League, but he still believes in himself.

The Brooklyn Nets are heading into a rebuild where they will be prioritizing the development of their recent draft picks and the other young players on the team. One of the players on the roster that Brooklyn will be keeping their eyes on is 2023 first-round pick Dariq Whitehead, a player who is still working his way back from injury.

“I’m just happy to be up and down running up and down the court. Last year, I was here on the boot and stuck in crutches,” Whitehead said at the Las Vegas Summer League last month when discussing his shooting struggles. In his first appearance in Vegas since he wasn’t able to play during his rookie season because of his recovery from foot surgery, Whitehead did not play like many Nets fans had hoped on the offensive end.

“Just being able to be out there with the guys and not watching them is a huge blessing for me,” Whitehead explained. “I just don’t want to hang my head on making shots and missing shots right now because I want to make sure I work through things. I know once I get going and get fully my legs back under me, I’m going to make shots. That’s what I do.”

This summer, Whitehead played four games for the Nets in the summer league and while he looked to be mostly back physically, he still shot just 14.6% from the field and 5.0% from three-point land. While Whitehead didn’t play this summer like he had hoped, it’s good to know that he still has the confidence in himself to do his job.

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