The ‘annoyingly good’ Drew Timme longs for a place on Brooklyn Nets

“I want to stay here. I think I belong here.”

Here’s a couple of numbers for you:

1. The Brooklyn Nets currently have 17 players on standard NBA contracts. That counts Cam Thomas as well as Day’Ron Sharpe and Ziaire Williams, both of whom have agreed to two year, $12 million deals but have yet to ink them. Among the 17, four are non-guaranteed. There’s also two two-ways. So 19 total. The team can bring 21 all told into training camp and don’t have to get down to 15+3 till October 21.
2. Drew Timme is a 6’10” big man who went from the Stockton Kings to Long Island Nets to Brooklyn last season. Timme who turns 25 before training camp is currently the second leading scorer in the NBA Summer League at 26.0 — on 62.2% shooting. He is one of those four on a non-guaranteed deal, in his case for $1.9 million. If he doesn’t survive training camp, he gets nothing.

Timme who averaged 12.1 points, 7.2 assists and 2.2 assists in nine games at the end of last season, is happy with how things are going but aware of roster math. He also knows that for the sake of his NBA career, he has to put all those numbers aside and just keep playing the game, keep fighting for a roster spot.

“No, not really. I’m honestly [still fighting],” Timme told writers after his 30-point efforts vs. the Washington Wizards. “I mean, it’s great and I love it, but I’m fighting. I’m competing. I want to stay here. I think I belong here, and I’ve got to prove it every single day that I do belong here.

“So it’s all about just fighting that battle every single day. And I like it. I like being the underdog. I like having to force my way into a situation. So, it’s fun.”

So far, so good. In addition to his numbers in two SL games, he’s won some supporters, from the fans at Thomas & Mack Center who chanted “MVP” as he once again was clutch for Brooklyn Sunday night to Kendrick Perkins and Fran Fraschilla who tweeted out their impressions of his play vs. the Wizards, as Brian Lewis wrote Tuesday…

High praise. Then there was the poster dunk! The play started with Timme’s no-luck behind- the-back, through-the-legs pass to Tyson Etienne who tossed a pocket pass to Timme as he cut down the lane, caught a body and dunked over the Wizards’ 7-footer Alex Sarr…

It seemed a shame he only got two points.

“I’m not gonna lie, I did not know I made it. It’s not really what I’m known for. But I get up every now and then, and everyone was like, ‘Oh!’ I was like, ‘s—, did I make that?’” Timme recalled with a grin. “And then I was like, ‘OK, OK.’ So, it was a fun surprise I guess.”

It showed that Timme has one big quality that the Nets love, as shown by their five first . round picks: a high BBIQ. Steve Hetzel also pointed to the Nets belief in his leadership potential, putting him on court with the four of the five rookies on the roster.

“Yeah, they said be Drew Timme,” the big man said of the Nets coaching staff. “And every day Jordi’s telling me to get up 10 3s a game. I’ve never been known to get up 10 3s in a game, but I tried my best [Sunday]. I think I got like five or six up.

“So, to have a staff — and especially the boss man — have that much confidence in you, it really helps. And it’s something that I’ve been working on every day and trying to add to my game. And when you have a guy like that really pushing for it … it makes it easier, you know?”

One of the five, No. 8 pick Egor Demin praised his teammate.

“Man, he’s an amazing player,” said rookie Egor Demin, Brooklyn’s first lottery pick in 15 years. “I feel like guys from the other teams are a little bit, how can I say, underestimating him. He does everything to prove them wrong. His impact on the offensive side of the floor and defensive side of the floor, it’s amazing.

“That’s a great, great, great experience to have a guy like that on my team…well, be on his team, I would say. Again, I’m just hearing more stories now from people who know him from Gonzaga, being annoyingly good. And right now, those two games, he’s annoyingly good, I would say that.”

“Annoyingly good” works as a definition of Timme’s game. He knows the nooks and crannies — those small, hidden spaces, the angles — of the paint game, having honed it at Gonzaga where he was a three-time consensus All-American selection, including first-team honors as a senior in 2023 and the winner of the Karl Malone Award, given to the college game’s best power forward. In 2021, he was the anchor of the Bulldogs team that went 31-0 before losing in the national championship.

He knows what he has to do to survive, starting with simply surviving through October. He appreciates all the praise, noting that it’s been a change from the narrative that followed him after Gonzaga when despite all those accolades, he went undrafted.

“Man, that’s super cool,” Timme said. “Especially from a guy who’s played that long and been around the block. You know, that’s super cool. And that’s what I’m trying to get to. That’s the dream and that’s the goal.

“That hasn’t quite been the narrative since I left college, that I can play in the league and deserve a spot or whatever. So, the kind of sudden narrative change, it’s good because you’ve seen what people say about you earlier. And then now to see that narrative kind of flip, man, it’s pretty cool. And I’m just grateful for it.”

Of course, even if he makes it through roster math, he’ll have to deal with roster crunch. Is he a power forward or a center? Where to the minutes come from? As Lewis noted: “[I]n the regular season, Brooklyn will have Nic Claxton starting at center with re-signed free agent Day’Ron Sharpe also expected to see significant playing time. The Nets are heavily invested in both.

“At 6-foot-10, 235 pounds, Timme is likely a more natural fit at power forward, which remains a position of uncertainty for the Nets. Noah Clowney needs plenty of development, Michael Porter Jr. is probably better-served as a tall small forward and Wolf seems almost certain to spend time with G League Long Island.”

Steve Hetzel called Timme a “rock” on the Summer League roster. Considering that the Nets are likely to be the NBA’s youngest team next season, that’s a big positive.

“Yeah, we asked him to be the rock, the leader, that the ball would go through him, to be the steadying force,” said the Brooklyn assistant who’s coaching the summer leaguers.

“A lot of these guys have never played against NBA competition. He’s played in the G League the last couple of years. So, he’s gotten those reps. He played with us at the end of the year. So yeah, we put a lot on his shoulders.”

There’s a lot there already, of course, but he’s dusted a lot off those shoulders already. After going undrafted, his first G League stint with the Wisconsin Herd ended with surgery on a broken left foot. He was cut by the Sacramento Kings in training camp the next year and was treading water with their G League club in Stockton when the Nets traded for him, believing in his potential. His scoring average went from 11.9 to 23.9, his 3-point shooting from 12.5% to 38.5% and he won his latest accolade, second team All G League.

Two Nets players have won Summer League MVP since 2021, Cam Thomas and Jalen Wilson. Could Timme be the third (the Nets would have to win some games, first.) That would be great, but for him, getting the next chance at the NBA would be bigger.

• How Drew Timme’s summer league breakout has opened NBA eyes and complicated the Nets’ roster plans – Brian Lewis – New York Post
• Ex-Gonzaga star reacts to Kendrick Perkins ‘changing narrative’ on his NBA status – Erik Slater – Clutch Points