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Nets electric scorer mired in shooting slump since return from injury

 


Cam Thomas is a walking bucket. So when the Nets second year guard is struggling finding his stroke, it begs the question: what's wrong?

In his four games since returning from an ankle sprain, Thomas has shot 7 of 23 for 20 points, 3 of 10 for 7 points, 7 of 19 for 17 points and 7 of 20 for 19 points.

That's a combined 24 of 72 from the field and 15.8 points per game. The struggle is real for Thomas. 

It's likely a simple case of catching his rhythm, but certainly something to keep an eye on as the Nets travel to the Valley of the Sun on Wednesday night to take on Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns. 

Former Net escapes scary injury with minimal damage

Mention Kyrie Irving and foot injury to a Brooklyn Nets fan and they will immediately hang their head in frustration. 

Of course, their thoughts will immediately go to the Game 4 in the second round of the 2021 NBA playoffs  injury when Giannis Antetokuonmpo slide under Irving on a layup attempt and caused the then-Nets point guard to severely turn his ankle. 

Irving was lost for the remainder of the playoffs and Brooklyn lost a devastating Game 7 with Kevin Durant's toe touching the line on a potential game winning three.

Flash forward 2 and 1/2 years and Irving is on Dallas after demanding a trade from the Nets. 

Now with his new club, Irving suffered what looked like it could be a horrific foot injury on Friday night against the Portland Trailblazers.

Luckily, Dallas' point guard avoided a worst case scenario. 



Nets shockingly lead all NBA teams in this statistical category

 


When you think of the Brooklyn Nets, you probably think of a gritty team full of selfless players who are overachieving through 20 games this year. 

Led by Mikal Bridges and Cam Thomas, the Nets have a fun, up-tempo style of play that makes heads turn and lights up the scoreboard. An overlooked factor for this Nets squad is the fact that it astonishingly leads the entire league in rebounds per game at 48. Just last season, the Nets ranked second-last at 40.5 per contest.




It's a remarkable turnaround to go from virtually the worst rebounding team in the league to the best, but that's exactly what the Nets have done. 

Led by big men Day'Ron Sharpe, Nic Claxton and veterans Dennis Smith Jr., Spencer Dinwiddie and Cam Johnson, Brooklyn is attacking the boards with ferocity. 

Much of it has to do with an organizational philosophical change from a 1 through 5 switching defensive scheme last year, to a drop defense with hints of matchup zone sprinkled in. 

The personnel has changed over drastically as well with divas Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving playing elsewhere, and the 2023-24 version has adopted a hard hat mentality to gang rebound and do the dirty work. 

Brooklyn is one-game out of the No. 5 seed, held by the Knicks, as they're crowded among other Eastern Conference squads looking to reach the top six. 

As long as the Nets are able to shake the early injury bug that has plague virtually every player on the roster outside of Nic Claxton, there's no reason to believe the Nets rebounding prowess will change for the worse anytime soon. 

Injury bug ravaging underdog Nets as another player is sidelined

 


The Brooklyn Nets can't seem to stay healthy. Between Ben Simmons's nerve impingement, Nic Claxton's ankle injury, Cam Johnson's knee, Dennis Smith Jr.'s back, Cam Thomas's ankle and now Lonnie Walker IV's hamstring injury, it's amazing that Brooklyn is just one game out of the sixth seed in the East. 

Walker will miss Wednesday's contest in Atlanta and while the majority of the Nets starters, sans Simmons, has returned healthy, the Nets x-factor and sparkplug off the bench is the latest name to be sidelined.

Brooklyn knows a thing or two about injuries derailing a season, just ask Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden about that. 

Luckily, the 2023-24 Nets run nine players deep and have the requisite depth to overcome a few injuries. 

This year has seen an inordinate amount of injuries afflict the team this season, so Jacque Vaughn will need to go into his bag on tricks and use his bench to make it out of a tough stretch of upcoming games will Walker working his way back. 

Nets disrespected in latest NBA Power Rankings



 NBA.com released its Week 7 Power Rankings, and while the Brooklyn Nets jumped up three spots, their place in the league pecking order seems somewhat disrespectful.

The league webpage cites, Ben Simmons' injury status and all the inferior teams the Nets have beat on the schedule as reasons as to why they landed where they did at No. 19 overall. 

The Warriors and Clippers, respectively, are ranked just ahead of the Nets despite both clubs fashioning sub .500 records. 

Jacque Vaughn and crew will gladly take this recent slight as motivation to fuel the remainder of the campaign. 

While Brooklyn might not be ready to mix it up with the heavy weight title contenders, the emergence of Cam Thomas, the continued development of Mikal Bridges as a option 1B. and a supporting cast that runs nine deep and can shoot the lights, make the Nets a team to watch.


 

One interesting note from the NBA.com piece is that the Nets are 10-1 when they surrender less than 120 points this season with their only loss coming on opening night to Cleveland. 

The Nets prolific offensive scoring was not something on many pundits radar as the team is littered with outstanding individual defenders, but that has taken a backseat to a run and gun offensive system predicated on volume threes. 

Brooklyn's schedule gets a bit tougher over the next nine games as they play eight on the road including a West Coast swing in Sacramento, Phoenix, Denver, Golden State and Utah before coming home December 20 to play host to the Knicks. 

If the Nets are able to tread water of this tough stretch, they may continue to slowly climb up the Power Rankings ladder.   


Adidas, Durant trade barbs over Anthony Edwards' new kicks

 Anytime a Nets fan hears Kevin Durant and big toe in the same sentence, it triggers the painful 2021 Game 7 playoff loss to the Bucks. 

But in this instance, Durant was speaking on Anthony Edwards new she's put out by Adidas. 

Durant was overly critical of the new shoes and the manufacturer, Adidas, took exception in a since deleted tweet. Durant is no stranger to online beefs, but the shoe giant had a comical explanation for coming at the NBA superstar.

Nets commit unforgivable coaching gaffe in lackluster loss to Hornets

 


Cam Thomas returned to the Nets on Thursday night after missing the last nine games with an ankle sprain. 

The Brooklyn Nets indicated that Thomas would be on a minutes restriction, but with Brooklyn stuck in a tight contest with Charlotte down the stretch, Thomas was not on the court for the most important minutes. 

Thomas poured in 26 points in 25 minutes, but the Nets lost 129-128 as Cam Johnson missed an open 3-pointer just before the buzzer sounded.

It's incomprehensible how the coaching staff prevented its best player from being on the floor in clutch minutes and with the game on the line.

Even if Thomas was limited to 25 minutes, the coaching staff should have budgeted the minutes to allow him to be on the court for the final five minutes. 

The Nets paid the ultimate price as they were handed a loss and denied their fourth win in a row. 

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