Tag: Training Camp 2023

Nets’ Jacque Vaughn says Ben Simmons ‘has had some really good days’

Now that the Brooklyn Nets are a few days into training camp, head coach Jacque Vaughn said that Ben Simmons has had some really good days.

Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons will probably be the most-discussed player on the Nets for the rest of this season because of the expectations that have been placed upon him now that he’s healthy. Most fans are just hoping that Simmons can play well enough to make them feel optimistic about this year.

Like Simmons said during Media Day on Monday, he is able to play in 5-on-5 and is able to participate in training camp like he needs to in order to get ready for the season. So far, it seems that everything is going well for Simmons thus far in training camp.

Brooklyn fans will get their first look at Simmons on the court with the current roster on Monday in the Nets’ first preseason game against the Los Angeles Lakers. Simmons will be able to show what he is able to do on the floor now that he is the healthiest he has been in some time.

Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn spoke after training camp practice on Friday about how Simmons has looked thus far in camp:

“I think overall, I’ll keep things pretty simple. You have an agreement with everybody: you perform, you get a chance to play at the end of the day. So, he (Simmons) fits into that bucket. What we’ve seen is his ability to push the basketball, do it over and over again, play with an extreme amount of pace. Get to the rim, play with force. All of the things that we were asking and searching for last year. That got revealed why those things weren’t happening. Good thing is, those things are happening. Now, it continues. First week of camp, get through that and continue to build. So far, he’s had some really good days.”

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Nets’ Dennis Smith Jr. says he’ll ‘be a dog every chance I get’

Brooklyn Nets guard Dennis Smith Jr. says after training camp practice on Friday that he’ll “be a dog every chance I get.”

Brooklyn Nets guard Dennis Smith Jr. has always been a competitive player, even back to his days as a youth growing up in Fayetteville, North Carolina. While his playing style now is different from what it was when he came into the NBA as the ninth overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, Smith is still competing all the same.

After reinventing himself as a defensive stalwart last season with the Charlotte Hornets, Smith is getting the chance to do the same thing with Brooklyn this season. Now that the Nets are moving on from the Kevin Durant/Kyrie Irving era, the team will need to hang its hat on the defensive end, which is perfect for Smith.

Smith is arguably the best defensive guard on the roster and that alone could be enough for him to see consistent playing time in the early going. During training camp this week, Smith has been trying to earn as much playing time as possible and he has been raising the intensity level for everyone else to follow.

Smith talked on Friday about what he is looking to do during training camp and he had some interesting things to say:

“Just a level of competitiveness. I’m gonna be a dog every chance I get. I’m gonna compete, I’m gonna fight, and I want to win games. I don’t want to lose and I think that’s going to rub off on guys. Dorian (Finney-Smith) (is) the same way. So, we both bring that to the team and you can’t help but follow suit.”

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Nets’ Nic Claxton on Spencer Dinwiddie: ‘that’s my big brother’

Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton, in a show of their strong chemistry, called Spencer Dinwiddie his ‘big brother’ when asked about him.

Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton has seen his career take a turn for the better last season when he achieved career-highs in almost every statistical category. Claxton has shown that he is more than ready to step up for the Nets during his time and he gives some of the credit to another veteran on the team.

The Nets recently posted on their social media account a video of Claxton speaking after Thursday’s training camp practice. In the video (posted below), Claxton refers to guard Spencer Dinwiddie as his “big brother” and that he would always be Dinwiddie’s “rook.”

Claxton came into the NBA as the 31st overall pick of the 2019 NBA Draft, Dinwiddie’s second-to-last season during his first stint in Brooklyn before becoming a member of the Washington Wizards heading into the 2021-22 season, and while Claxton and Dinwiddie have not played together for the entirety of Claxton’s four seasons in the league, Claxton clearly has a strong connection with Dinwiddie.

This is just one example of how close this current Nets roster appears to be heading into this season. All of the players have had nothing but praise for each other and reports describe a team brought together by the concept of improving every single day and enjoying the season.

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Watch: Nets’ Ben Simmons shoots lights-out from the free-throw line

Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons, who has struggled from the free-throw line for his career, may have made significant strides in that area.

Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons has a 2023-24 season where the NBA world is expecting a wide range of outcomes from him as he works his way back from a nerve impingement in his back that ended his 2022-23 season prematurely in March. Video from Wednesday’s training camp practice could be a sign of things to come.

On Wednesday, Erik Slater of ClutchPoints posted a video of Simmons shooting free-throws. While a player shooting free-throws isn’t particularly groundbreaking, for someone like Simmons, a career 59.1% shooter from the charity stripe, what he did during this particular foul-line shooting sequence was something to behold.

In the video, posted below, Simmons shot 10 free-throws in a row, which is common for most players to do to see how many you can make out of a certain number of shots. Based off Simmons’ career numbers, it would be reasonable to expect him to make somewhere between five and six shots.

However, not only did Simmons make more than five or six shots, he made every shot that came his way. It’s still early in training camp for the Nets, but if Simmons can bring this improved shooting to the regular season, he can at least be on the floor in late-game, clutch situations.

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Nets’ Trendon Watford knows being ‘versatile’ is his way onto the court

Brooklyn Nets forward Trendon Watford has a shot to earn rotation minutes and for him to do that, he has to use his positional versatility.

NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets forward Trendon Watford, like many of the other free-agents that were brought in this summer, will be looking for a way to break into the Nets’ usual rotation and carve out a consistent role. Watford seems to understand that the secret to him getting more minutes is taking advantage of his ability as a versatile big man.

“I pretty much talked to coach Jacque (Vaughn) just about the positions I played in Portland,” Watford said during Monday’s Media Day. “My best attributes is just being able to play both positions and being able to do multiple things,” Watford continued.

As of this writing, Brooklyn has gone through two days of training camp and one thing is certain: the Nets need as much as they can get from every guy on the roster if they are going to beat the odds this season. Every player from incumbents like Mikal Bridges and Nic Claxton to new arrivals like Watford will have to consistently do what they’re good at if Brooklyn is going to make it back to the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season.

“Being a versatile guy that can do multiple things at multiple positions at the four and the five,” Watford said to describe what kind of player he is. The former LSU product knows what he brings to the table for Brooklyn, but also mentioned that he doesn’t expect to be pigeonholed into one position in the frontcourt. “I wouldn’t say that he (Vaughn) necessarily talked to me about putting me at just one position.”

From hearing what Watford said, it seems that he has multiple ways to help the team. If he isn’t able to be a viable backup at center Nic Claxton and Day’Ron Sharpe, then he could be someone who can contribute at power forward.

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Nets’ Ben Simmons gives his take on Brooklyn’s offensive style

Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons gave his take on how he sees the offense looking like during the early days of training camp.

The Brooklyn Nets began training camp on Tuesday and now that this roster will be able to spend time together a lot sooner than the February trade deadline, all of the players and coaches will be able to work on how they want to play for this upcoming season.

With the moves that Brooklyn made this offseason, exchanging shooting for athleticism for the most part, it looks like the Nets will have to be more of a team that relies on transition offense and quick actions within the half-court to score its points. Ben Simmons has thrived in that style of offense throughout his career because of his ability to handle the basketball, get up the floor quickly, and find the open man for surgical precision passing.

Now that Simmons is healthy and is fully recovered from the nerve impingement in his back, he can be on the floor in a position to compete for the starting point guard job. With Day 2 of camp done, he gave his thoughts on what he believes that Brooklyn’s offense should look like once the season starts and Erik Slater of ClutchPoints was able to get Simmons’ answer (video below).

To hear Simmons tell it, it looks like Brooklyn wants to create early scoring chances in transition and run efficient offense. He also mentioned that all of the players on the floor want to move the ball so the Nets’ offense may be hard to cover once they get their offensive scheme down to a science,

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Nets’ Lonnie Walker IV is ready to go for training camp

Brooklyn Nets guard Lonnie Walker IV comes into training camp with a chance to earn some minutes and this video shows that he’s ready to go.

Brooklyn Nets guard Lonnie Walker IV is in Brooklyn on a one-year, $2.34 million deal after having a standout 2022-23 season for the Los Angeles Lakers. Walker comes into Nets training camp with a chance to earn playing time within the usual guard rotation given how much depth Brooklyn lost this summer.

As it stands, Walker will be competing with Dennis Smith Jr. and Cam Thomas for floor time and it’s reasonable to assume that one of Ben Simmons or Spencer Dinwiddie will be part of that competition as well. Where Walker can set himself apart is playing defense and shooting the three-ball well.

Walker, standing at 6-foot-4 and 204 pounds, had a great year shooting from behind the three-point line (36.5%) last season. However, for his career, he is shooting just 34.9% from beyond the arc. While that is considered below league average, Walker has a chance to build on the perimeter shooting success that he had last season and the video below shows that there could be some carryover for him.

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Nets’ Jacque Vaughn ‘appreciates’ being head coach for Brooklyn

Brooklyn Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn finally gets to lead the Nets starting with training camp and he’s appreciative of the opportunity.

Brooklyn Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn has had an interesting journey to becoming the leader of Brooklyn’s organization. After coming to the Nets to be the top assistant coach for Kenny Atkinson before the start of the 2016-17 season, Vaughn first became the head coach for Brooklyn, on an interim basis, in March 2020 after Atkinson was fired.

However, later that year in September, Steve Nash was hired as head coach, forcing Vaughn back to the bench as an assistant coach. Vaughn got another chance to be the head coach of the Nets when Nash and Brooklyn parted ways in November 2022. Vaughn went from being the head man, in interim, after Nash’s departing to being was named the permanent head coach later in November and receiving a contract extension in February 2023.

Since February, Vaughn has been in charge of a team in transition from being centered around Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to a squad with a promising future. After nine seasons with Brooklyn, Vaughn will be getting his first chance to lead the Nets starting with training camp and he’s relishing in the moment.

“I’ve really come to appreciate each of them (past coaching experiences). They all feel pretty good. I woke up this morning and said ‘I’m lucky to be coaching this league,’ one of 30. I think I keep that perspective. I give these dudes all the juice that I have and we’ll do it again the next day. It’s pretty cool to have some rookies involved. I think that’s always cool to be able to lay a foundation for what their career looks like, be responsible for that. But, to guide a group, there’s definitely an appreciation.”

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Nets’ Cam Thomas ‘hopes’ to have more playing time this season

Brooklyn Nets guard Cam Thomas, speaking at training camp on Tuesday, isn’t sure if he’ll get more playing time, but he’s ready either way.

Brooklyn Nets guard Cam Thomas is arguably one of the most talented players on the roster as the team heads into the 2023-24 season. Brooklyn began its training camp on Tuesday and while there will be plenty of battles to watch out for, Thomas will most likely be in a similar position that he was in last season.

Thomas, who will turn 22 years old on Oct. 13, will most likely be one of the players who comes off the bench for the Nets and will probably be tasked with scoring as his main job. A significant part of Brooklyn’s fanbase has been clamoring to see Thomas get more playing time within the usual rotation.

The Nets have made a lot of moves this offseason in an effort to change the identity of the team to one based on youth and athleticism. While Thomas fits both of those attributes, he still faces an uphill battle because of the amount of depth added to the team, especially in the backcourt.

Thomas spoke at camp on Tuesday and when he was asked if he has any indication of if he’ll garner more minutes this season. This is what he said:

“I would hope so. But you never know. You just need to stay ready at all times, whatever the role is. If it’s still the same role or if it goes up more, I’ll be ready for it, no matter what. So, I’m just gonna stay ready at all times, no matter what the role is.”

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