NETS INSIDER

  Photo by Doug Bearak All it took was 18 minutes for Ben Simmons to wind up back on the injury report. According to the latest update released by the Brooklyn Nets, Ben Simmons has been downgraded from probable to questionable with a left knee contusion. The Nets face Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns at Barclays Center on Wednesday night.  Brooklyn has sorely missed Simmons' play making ability, but his inability to stay healthy makes him an unreliable option for the team this season and moving forward.  If Simmons is unable to go, that will drastically reduce the Nets chances of pulling the upset against friend turned foe Durant. While the team is not characterizing Simmons injury as anything to do with his nerve impingement, the franchise has toyed with and played around with injury updates surrounding Simmons.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out and whether this injury is totally unrelated or stems from his chronic back issues that he has had the p...

 Playing in his first game since November 6th against Milwaukee, Ben Simmons looked even better than Nets fans could have imagined. In 18 minutes of play, Simmons registered 10 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds, while going a perfect 5-for-5 from the field.  Brooklyn steamrolled Utah 147-114 behind Mikal Bridges' 33, while Cam Thomas added 25. It will be fascinating to see how Brooklyn handles Simmons' minutes with a game Wednesday against Kevin Durant and Phoenix. Simmons' nerve impingement has been characterized as a potentially chronic issue that could reoccur anytime. It's unclear whether extra rest days and a lighter workload will minimize the risk of reaggravating the condition or have no impact.  That part of the equation will have to be a wait and see experiment. It's something to monitor, but Nets fans at least can be somewhat encouraged by Simmons impact on the floor in his limited playing time on Monday. 

  Another Nets nightmare almost played out again in Saturday night. After jumping out to a 28 point first half lead, Brooklyn gave nearly all of it back. It was the latest in a slew of games where the Nets jumped out early and shrunk in big moments. Jacque Vaughn's crew was lackluster, committing careless turnovers and showing Houston to chip away at the lead.  Cam Thomas popped off for 37, Mikal Bridges and Dorian Finney-Smith added 19 apiece.  Brooklyn welcomes Houston to Barclays Friday looking for two in a row. 

There aren't many smiles right now in Nets World, but the outsiders are laughing at Brooklyn's futility. A record of 4-17 over the last 21 games is not just bad, it's downright embarrassing.  Not since the 0-18 start to the 2009-10 season where the franchise was playing the string out in New Jersey have things looked this bad.  Yes, there was a rebuild under Kenny Atkinson in Brooklyn, not one but two failed Big Three star experiments. But at those three junctures the Nets defined a direction, no matter how misguided it was.  All-in for three aging stars, all-in for three prime stars with supersized egos and break it all down to reset the organization and the culture.  Brooklyn now find itself in NBA purgatory. With Houston owning the Nets picks and swaps through the 2027 NBA Draft, there is no incentive for the Nets to tank.  If you look up and down the roster, it's hard to fathom how this team could be a whopping ten games under .500 just after the midway poin...

  Mikal Bridges had two free throws to tie the game with 2.4 seconds remaining, but couldn't deliver. The Nets top scorer missed the first attempt and intentionally missed the second with Brooklyn down 96-94. A lane violation by Dorian Finney-Smith and failure to foul on the ensuing position was all she wrote.  Brooklyn showed grit and fight by coming back from double digits and taking haymaker after haymaker from the Timberwolves. Karl Anthony Towns led all scorers with 27, Anthony Edwards had 24 while Cam Thomas paced the Nets with 25 and Bridges added 21.  Minnesota poured in 50 points in the paint and Brooklyn had difficulty dealing with the size and physicality the Timberwolves brought.  Despite a spirited effort and comeback attempt, the Nets are now 4-17 in their last 21 games. Brooklyn travels to Houston on Saturday night to face the Rockets looking to end a three-game skid.

  Who is the leader of the 2023-24 Brooklyn Nets? It isn't Spencer Dinwiddie, whose minutes have been shrinking, and body language is showing signs of frustration with limited playing time.  The same can be said for Cam Thomas, whose answers with the media are becoming shorter by the day as he gets frustrated with losses piling up and his minutes shrinking. Jacque Vaughn is alienating veteran players and young guys alike as the locker room has been tuning out the coach that is already under siege.  Sean Marks has not made public comments since before the season started and while owner Joe Tsai has been present a handful of times this season, he's given no clear direction for the franchise.  All signs point to this being selling season ahead of February's trade deadline for the Nets, but with Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson as centerpieces, a complete rebuild isn't exactly in the cards. So, will Marks be able to pick up the pieces from this season, add draft capital, wh...

  The Nets have played in eight different arenas since the franchise's inception in 1967. That's an average of a new home every seven years. So by that math, the Nets are overdue for a change in city and venue. Brooklyn lost for its 16th time in its last 20 games and suffered yet another late game collapse on Tuesday to the Knicks. The Nets forfeited double digit leads and eventually lost to Portland, Miami, Los Angeles Clippers and Knicks over the last ten days. The Nets were in the driver's seat against the Knicks but fell apart down the stretch with questionable lineup decisions, shoddy shot selection and just overall poor basketball. Knicks fans took over Barclays Center in full force and have now won four in a row in the area rivalry. Mikal Bridges, who scored 36, was booed on his home floor for missing a late free throw.  So with a Knicks takeover in Brooklyn, a max exodus of stars over the past few years, a billionaire owner in Joe Tsai, who lost a chunk of his large...

Watching the Brooklyn Nets is like the movie Groundhog Day: different day, same ending. Replace Billy Murray's funny moments with head scratching Jacque Vaughn coaching decisions and frustration from Nets fans.   The Nets were outscored 32-18 in the fourth quarter against the Knicks at Barclays after blowing an 18-point lead on Sunday against the Clippers and ending that game being outgunned 22-0.  On Tuesday, Mikal Bridges carried the day offensively with 36 points, Cam Johnson added 19 and Nic Claxton had 8 points and 17 rebounds. Johnson started the first quarter strong, but he missed a potential game tying three inside of ten seconds and faded in the second half. Spencer Dinwiddie played 19 minutes, dealt out three assists and grabbed zero rebounds and produced no points. Julis Randle and Jalen Brunson poured in 30 apiece to help New York grind out a victory.  The Nets have now blown double digit fourth quarter leads against the Heat, Blazers, Clippers and Knicks...

  The Brooklyn Nets were in full control of the Los Angeles Clippers until they weren't.  After building a 18-point lead with seconds left in the third quarter, Brooklyn watched that advantage not not only evaporate, but eventually turned it into an 11-point Los Angeles win.  Mikal Bridges led the way with 26, Cam Thomas had 20, while James Harden paced the Clippers with 24 and 10, while Kawhi Leonard added 21. Ty Lue coached circles around Jacque Vaughn, who allowed the Clippers to stage a 22-0 run to end the game. It's inexplicable some of the lineup changes that Vaughn made as well as his lack of commanding the huddle and coordinating a semblance of an organized offense. The Nets have now squandered three winnable games over the last week-plus by losing to Portland, Miami and now the Los Angeles Clippers with a Thunder win preceding that stretch and Laker win on Friday night. Had the Nets made a few lineup adjustments and different play calls, but they may be riding a ...

The Nets looked to be on their way to a 15th loss in 18 games early on at Crypto.com Arena, but they flipped the script on the Hollywood Lakers and turned a slow start into an explosive second half. Brooklyn outscored Los Angeles 38-22 in the third quarter with Cam Thomas pacing the Nets with 33, Spencer Dinwiddie coming alive for 19 and Nic Claxton notching an impressive 22 point, 14 rebound double-double in the contest. LeBron James had 24 points and 11 rebounds, Anthony Davis had 26 and 12 boards, while DeAngelo Russell poured in 20. For Brooklyn, Lonnie Walker IV and Dennis Smith Jr. had spirited efforts off the bench with 15 and 11, respectively, to go along with a great deal of hustle plays. The Nets earned their biggest win in franchise history at the Lakers home court with a 130-112 triumph. Brooklyn will be back in the same arena on Sunday to take on the Clippers as it looks for a Los Angeles sweep. 

Jacque Vaughn may have signed a multi-year extension less than a year ago on February 21, 2023, but early returns for his tenure as head coach have been less than promising.  Yes, Vaughn was head man when the Nets won 12 straight games last season , including an 18 -2 stretch with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving leading the way. However, everything went south from that point on with Vaughn.  The Nets stumbled into the sixth seed in the conference in the aftermath of the Irving and Durant trades.  Brooklyn was swept with relative ease by the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the 2023 NBA playoffs.   Vaughn also took over as the interim Nets head coach back in 2020, during the NBA bubble season with the team being swept out of the first round by the defending NBA champion Toronto Raptors.  Vaughn has an 0-8 playoff record and has been reluctant to play young budding star Cam Thomas, whose offensive prowess is unmatched, but his defense needs some improve...

  If the regular season ended today, the Brooklyn Nets would not only be out of the playoffs, but out of the play-in game all together.  That's how far this team has fallen after a promising 13-10 start to the season, rife with surprise performances and team-centric basketball. Since that point, Brooklyn is 3-14 with bad loss after bad loss piling up, none worse than Wednesday night's near buzzer beater by Anfernee Simons in Portland. Jeremi Grant led the way for the Trailblazers with 30, while Mikal Bridges was the lone Net to top the 20-point plateau with 21.  The Nets led 83-74 entering the fourth quarter before the Blazers went on a late-game run to take the lead. Cam Johnson tied the game inside of five seconds remaining, but Simons floater over Nic Claxton with just .02 seconds remaining proved to be the game-winner.  Brooklyn has now last back-to-back games it should have won due to offensive and defensive breakdowns in clutch moments.  Jacque Vaughn rele...

  Donovan Mitchell stole the show in the NBA's Paris Game 2024 with 45 points, 12 rebounds and six assists as the Cavaliers cruised to a 111-102 victory over the Brooklyn Nets.  Once again, the Nets were lackluster offensively with careless turnovers, poor shot selection and lack of ball movement among their many problems.  Mikal Bridges tallied 26 points, Cam Thomas 26 and Lonnie Walker IV 20. The Nets surrendered 43 free throw attempts to Cleveland and provided little resistance on the defensive side of the ball.  Former Nets Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen tallied 21 and 12 points, respectively. The Nets had a fun trip overseas in an international showcase via social media, but chock up another one in the loss column.  With Paris Fashion Week around the corner, no player was happier to up his Instagram game than Simmons.  Simmons told reporters this week that he was 'close' to returning but when pressed on when he replied simply with: 'no timetable.'...

The Brooklyn Nets have led a wandering existence and author Rick Laughland chronicles every up and every down throughout the course of the franchise in his book: A History of the Nets- From Teaneck to Brooklyn.  The Nets author will be holding an exclusive book signing at the Grand Opening of The Barnes and Noble in Ledgewood, New Jersey on January 17th from 5PM-7PM.   Admission is free and readers can meet the author and purchase a copy to be signed and personally dedicated!   Nets fans, basketball fans, New Jerseyans  and Brooklynites don't miss this opportunity to relive the franchise's most impactful moments, from the author who chronicled it all!  Nets Book Signing Event Details!

 The Brooklyn Nets lost yet another game to an NBA bottom feeder in the Portland Trailblazers on Friday night.  Mikal Bridges came up clutch with a game tying basket with just seconds remaining in the fourth quarter but Malcolm Brogdon drained a pair of threes that put Portland ahead for good in overtime.  Bridges went for 42-points but the Nets could not best a young Blazers squad led by Afernee Simons who dropped 38.  Cam Thomas played only 18 minutes and was not relied upon down the stretch as Jacque Vaughn went with a defensive-oriented lineup by becoming Thomas and Spencer Dinwiddie.  The Nets now sit at a measly record of 16-21 and are sinking in a crowded Eastern Conference. With a murderous schedule ahead, it begs the question, will the Nets be sellers ahead of the deadline? It's pretty clear with how things have transpired over the last month in Brooklyn that the Nets and Sean Marks will be in selling mode.  Look for pieces like Royce, O'Neale, Din...

 The Brooklyn Nets led by as many as 32 points on Friday night at Barclays Center against Oklahoma City before surviving with a 9-point victory.  The Nets losing streak ended at five games as Nic Claxton and Spencer Dinwiddie added 23 apiece. Cam Thomas chipped in 19 and Mikal Bridges 17.  Brooklyn got off to a strong start in the first half but stumbled to the finish line in the second half. Sloppy execution down the stretch saw Brooklyn's lead shrink to only six points, but It held on for a 124- 115 win. The Nets are ecstatic to be back in the win column and head coach Jacque Vaughn can loosen his collar a bit.  Brooklyn welcomes in the Portland Trailblazers to Barclays Center on Sunday looking for its second consecutive victory. 

  The NBA handed down a $100K fine to the Brooklyn Nets for  resting four rotational players in a narrow loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on December 29. Brooklyn rested Cam Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith and Nic Claxton, while Mikal Bridges played just 12 minutes to extend his consecutive games streak.  The NBA has a load management problem and made the Nets an example by levying the fine against Brooklyn. A second offense would result in a $250K fine and each additional offense will produce an additional $1M fine on top of it.  A league investigation revealed there were no injuries that precluded the players from participating. While Bridges' absence could be excused, the notion of resting multiple healthy players goes against everything the new CBA intends to avoid.  The real losers in this equation are the hard working fans who paid money to see their favorite players.  Hopefully, the Nets and the other 29 teams are all on notice that these type of deceitful t...

  The Brooklyn Nets are falling fast. Jacque Vaughn is pushing all the wrong buttons as leading scorers Cam Thomas and Mikal Bridges are both mired in shooting slumps. Brooklyn's 3-point shooting has gone down the tubes and its perimeter defense is nowhere to be found. The answers may not be on this roster although the absence of Lonnie Walker IV and Ben Simmons has not helped the team's cause. To make matters worse, the team the Nets lost to 112-101 on Wednesday night, the Houston Rockets, will hold the Nets lottery pick if Brooklyn continues on this downward spiral. Sean Marks is at a franchise crossroads. Does he make a fifth coaching change of his tenure that started in 2016? Does he build around Bridges and Thomas or decide to blow up the current core and build from the ground up? All the answers will come into view later this month as the trade deadline draws near. For the time being, the Nets are playing an unwatchable brand of basketball over the past two weeks and if t...

  There's no sleep in Brooklyn for Jacque Vaughn as his seat is getting hotter with each passing day and as the losses pile up. The Nets are now 3-10 over their last 13 games and another heartless effort on Tuesday created more turmoil in Nets World. Brooklyn had an off shooting night at 25.6 percent from 3-point range and 35.7 percent from the field. Cam Thomas was scoreless twenty minutes, which is astonishing for such a good bucket getter. Cam Johnson, Mikal Bridges, and Day'Ron Sharpe were the only players in double figures.  The Nets play Houston on Wednesday night and look to right a sinking ship.