As the Brooklyn Nets continue their rebuild, Long Island will play a big part in their plans.
Things are looking pretty different for the Brooklyn Nets these days. Familiar fan favorites are off to new destinations and new, younger talent are coming in to make names for themselves as they begin their NBA journey. Brooklyn will likely be the NBA’s youngest squad. It will make for an exciting time for Brooklyn fans as their team embarks on a new era. Part of that excitement, that development will take place in Uniondale on Long Island.
The Long Island Nets have been in operation for about a decade. As it happens, that’s about the same amount of time Sean Marks has been General Manager of the Nets.
“Long Island, they are exactly the same as the Brooklyn Nets,” Marks told the media at the introductory press conference on Tuesday. “Maybe in a different infrastructure and a little bit further away, but we wanna make sure whenever our players from Brooklyn spend time in Long Island, there’s nothing amiss.”
That’s been the mantra for Long Island since the G League franchise started up: Keep the systems identical so that players will be able to move seamlessly between Nassau Coliseum and Barclays Center. The offense and defense are the same as is the jargon. There’s also free movement by basketball operations staff going both ways along the Long Island Expressway. In addition to getting minutes, players will get a chance to enhance or learn new skills.
“So it’s clear communication between the two groups,” emphasized Marks.”Matt MacDonald, our GM there, has done a heck of a job in helping to develop them. Mfon (Udofia), our head coach down there, same thing.
“I think the proof’s in the pudding,” he argued. “When we’ve looked back and seen some of our guys over the last few years who have developed and spent a lot of time in Long Island and then all of the sudden come up to Brooklyn and next thing you know they’re starting for us or playing meaningful minutes in Brooklyn, you can see there’s a development path and a development track there.”
Indeed, about half the current roster has spent time in the G League proving ground. On the current Brooklyn roster, Nic Claxton, Cam Thomas, Day’Ron Sharpe, Dariq Whitehead, Noah Clowney, Jalen Wilson, Keon Johnson, Drew Timme and Tyrese Martin (although Martin was only there for Media Day, spending all of his two-way playing time in Brooklyn.) Some were on there on two-way contracts, some on assignment during their rookie contracts.
Marks said that he expects that his five first round picks, an NBA record, will likely get time in the G League. Getting bigger minutes in Long Island than they could’ve gotten in Brooklyn will be crucial.
“I assume some of these guys will definitely spend some time in Long Island” he said in answer to a NetsDaily question. “We’ll have to see how the season sort of plays out and what minutes are there for everybody, but as the same time, as Jordi mentioned, it’s an environment of competitive nature out here. So that’s what we want to see. These guys go compete. There’s no promises given to anybody, let alone the draft picks or all of the guys we currently have on our roster. Go compete and may the best man win.”
In addition to the five rookies, the Nets have two players on two-way deals who can expect to move back and forth; Tosan Evbuomwan and Tyson Etienne. Both players were signed late in the season.
Player development may very well be the biggest measure of team success this season. So Long Island will play a bigger role than any time since they first took the court in 2016. Jordi Fernandez is confident despite a lot of doubt from pundits and league execs.
Player development is going to be important. We’ve been very diligent. The coaching staff has done a great job making our guys work, and those guys have improved, and we believe they’ll do the same thing.”