The latest chapter in the Cam Thomas saga provides more than a modicum of hope that the Nets and their high scorer will get things done.
Keith Smith, writing for Spotrac, unloaded his Summer League notebook Monday after talking with Eastern Conference coaches and executives during the Summer League. In doing so, he provided a big dump on how the Brooklyn Nets see their off-season so far. The biggest news: Brooklyn loves Cam Thomas … always has.
“We love Cam. We think he’s one of the best scoring guards in the league, and an underrated playmaker. We’ll see what happens, but our feelings about Cam as a player and person have never wavered. We love him,” Smith quoted a Nets coach, not further identified told Smith. The veteran NBA writer did not say when he got the quote, whether it was before of after his series of tweets attacking NBA writer Zach Lowe and the consensus that he’s a “low calories ball-hog.”
Thomas, of course, remains a restricted free agent, one of the biggest in the NBA and social media has been filled with speculation that the Nets front office may be low-balling him or at the least not engaging in “significant” talks yet as Jake Fischer of The Steinline reported the day before Thomas’ tweets.
Smith also quoted the coach and a Nets front office executive on a number of developments in Brooklyn’s draft and free agency, from Michael Porter Jr.’s scoring potential to how pleased they were with Egor Demin’s performance.
Asked about the two players the Nets picked up in salary dumps: Porter Jr. and Terance Mann, the front office executive had this to say.
“We’re transitioning our roster, of course. We’re going to play a lot of young players. But we need some vets to balance that. And, of course, we need to score some points,” the executive said. “Porter will help us a ton there. I’m not saying he’ll win the scoring title, but I think it could be close. And Terance will help with everything. He’s such a good connector. He’s going to help our young ballhandlers a ton with learning the NBA.”
MPJ spent most of his six-year Nuggets career, including the team’s championship season in 2022-23, as Denver’s third option behind Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. He averaged 18.2 points last season on 50/40/80 shooting splits.
A coach also confirmed that the Nets wanted Egor Demin to prioritize shooting over playmaking, an experiment that the coach said worked. Demin shot 43.5% from deep on 7.7 attempts per game.
“Yeah, his role here (Summer League) was WAY different than what we’re going to ask him to do in the regular season. But that’s what this is for, right? We tasked him to shoot it from deep and to shoot it a lot. He did exactly as he was asked,” the coach said. “We know about the playmaking. This was a chance to see if he could get his shot off against NBA-level defenders. He did and those shots went in a lot too. We couldn’t be happier with his work here.”
Smith asked as well about the overall strategy of drafting five first rounders rather than consolidating some of them. Indeed, the Nets went into the day before the Draft with four first rounders then added another that night, adding to the surprise. The executive admitted the decision came after attempts to trade at least some of them.
“Kind of crazy, right? But the value to trade those picks against the players we could get just wasn’t there,” the executive said. “Now, we have to be very intentional this year. Being as young as we are is pretty fragile. But we’re excited for the challenge.”
The executive also told Smith that the organization believes that there is enough difference among the point guards to dismiss concerns that the team duplicated skillsets. He also noted that both Ben Saraf and Nolan Traore were “wiped out” after long seasons. Traore finished his season at Saint Quentin in France three weeks before the Draft while Saraf played in the German League championship final the day after the Nets took him.
“A lot of people see them as being similar players, and that’s somewhat fair. But we think they can play together. Look at OKC and Indiana. They play a lot of ballhandlers and creators,” said the exec. “We’re not too worried about the shooting here (Summer League). Both guys just finished up their seasons overseas. They were both pretty wiped out.”
The executive also explained to Smith how while Day’Ron Sharpe and Ziaire Williams remain unsigned, the Nets plan on bringing them back.
“We want to be careful that we aren’t just casting off every guy who isn’t on a rookie deal. That’s not good for an organization to get that kind of rep,” the executive told Smith. “Those guys and their reps put their faith in us to use our flexibility this summer, while still taking care of them.
“We’ve still got some cap space, but there’s a clock on that. But we love both Day’Ron and Ziaire and everything they were for us last year and before. We’re young, obviously, but we want some young vets to show the new guys the way. Those two are a big part of that.”
According to reports, both players have agreed to two-year, $12 million deals with a team option on the second year but Sean Marks & co. are holding off on signing them. They reportedly want to see how best the team can use its cap space … and room MLE in the final days of free agency. The same issue applies to Thomas. As for the executive’s comment on that how there’s a “clock” running on their signings, Smith noted how Brooklyn remains under the salary floor.
As Smith explained, if a team has not reached the salary floor by the start of the regular season, a cap hold for the difference is put on the team’s cap sheet. The Nets have until October 21 to get above the floor. They’re currently $17.5 million short and that calculation already includes both the Sharpe and Williams deals.