PRIORITIES: Brooklyn Nets Think They're ABOVE An Aggressive Tank | Why Poor Process Could COST Them Again

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On today's show, the nets think they're above aggressive tanking.

They're not, and I'll tell you why on today's episode of Lockdown Nets.

You are locked on nets.

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And on today's episode, the nets pick up their second consecutive win this time a 126-115

win over a depleted Memphis Grizzly squad.

And this is a result that is going to panic some nets fans because it's too straight wins.

It has done some serious damage to the net's place in the draft lottery standings.

They're a place in the tank race.

And my takeaway from this game is that the nets, as I've said throughout the season, do

not go to the same lengths as some of these other teams to tank.

And it seems like they feel like they are above aggressively or shamelessly tanking whatever

term you want to use.

And they're not.

And that's evident by the fact that you look at some of these other teams around the league.

You look at some of the best teams in the NBA who have tanks in order to get core pieces

that have now put them in contention.

The nets are no better than those teams.

They're no better than the San Antonio Spurs.

They're no better than the Oklahoma City Thunder.

They're no better than whatever other team you want to name, West Tank, to get a generational

talent that has put them in a position to contend.

And look, the nets in this game, they were frankly outtanked.

That's all it was.

They were outtanked by the Memphis Grizzlies.

And you look at it.

The nets won that game against the Detroit Pistons on Saturday.

They come back from 23 points down and they do everything they can to win that game.

They play Michael Porter Jr. 40 minutes.

They play other veterans heavy minutes.

They benched their rookies down the stretch besides Danny Wolfe.

And they go all out for that game.

And you look at it.

Now you have a game against the Grizzlies.

And the Grizzlies were completely depleted in this game.

They had their eight highest paid players out for this game.

They only had eight available players.

Walter Clayton Jr.

James Spencer, Gigi Jackson, Jalen Wells, Olivier Maxson's prosper,

Javon Small, Ryan Ruppair, Jumai Mashack.

Those are names that a lot of casual NBA fans would have no idea who they were.

And you look at the nets there without Michael Porter Jr.

Yegore-Johman and Terrence Van Logs, a DMPCD.

We look at it going into this game like I saw after that outcome against the Pistons.

I did the pod with Lucas Kaplan.

We talked about it and I said, if you're going to go for the win,

the way the nets did in that game, you better be really aggressively trying to tank during

a game against the Grizzlies where you already know that they're going to be very aggressively

tanking.

And the nets did not do that.

You look at it.

Nick Claxton and Deirons Sharp both play in this game.

And that group that I named the eight available players from Memphis, there's no center among

that group.

There's no traditional centers.

You look at it going in and I looked at the injury report the nets had with Michael Porter

Jr.

Yegore-Johman, being the only guys who were out.

And I said, Nick Claxton, Deirons Sharp, they're available for this game.

This is a net's win.

It's going to be a net's win because you look at it.

They're going to dominate on the inside.

And that's what happened in this game.

You look at it.

Nick and Deirons, they combined for 19, 8 and 5 in the first half on 7 of 11 shooting.

And Deirons finishes the game just completely dominated.

They didn't even play that much.

Nick played 21 minutes.

Deirons played 17, but that first half performance gave the nets a lead from which they never looked

back.

And you look at it.

It's just bad process.

It's just bad process.

There's no reason that Nick Claxton should be playing in this game.

A game where the nets just picked up a win.

They really need to lose this game.

They're going up against a team that has no centers and is taking very aggressively.

Nick Claxton shouldn't be playing.

Like I tweeted it out during the game.

You look at the 8 available players that Memphis had.

Their combined salary was $12.3 million.

Nick Claxton makes $25.4 million.

There's no reason for Nick Claxton, who was a $100 million contract player,

to be out there playing against a G league team where the nets are trying or the nets

should be trying to lose a game.

There's no sense in that.

And you look at it, like the process, it just, I've said it.

I said it on my last episode after the win over the piscons.

And it was something that I led with is that the net's tank process has oftentimes

left a lot to be desired last season and into this season.

And the process, it really shouldn't be that complicated at this point in the season.

It's, don't play your veterans massive minutes or bench rookies in pursuit of wins

as the nets did during that game against the Detroit.

And especially, hold out your top guys against other tanking teams.

And the nets, while they held out Michael Porter Jr. in this game, they refused to do that.

Like you look at it, this game was eerily similar to the game that they beat the Chicago Bulls.

In January or early February, the Bulls only available big men in that game were

Gershaw Nyabasele and Nick Richards and that's play Nick Claxton and they were on

sharp and they dominate them on the interior.

And that was the case from start to finish tonight.

And as I said, the process, it's just not great.

Like it's just bad process.

And you look at it and there's some fans who might say, like with all the guys that

Grizzlies had out, there's nothing that's could have done against this group.

Like there was no way that they're going to lose against this group.

That's bullshit.

Like it's just bullshit.

Like they, it would have been really hard to lose against this group.

I'll give you that.

But the nets have the same ability to tank as any of these other teams.

If you look at it, this now four games, like you talk about that Bulls game,

you talk about the Wizards game, you talk about the Pacers game,

the net's actually luckily lost and you talk about this game.

The nets have had multiple games this season, three really games where they've

played against almost complete G league teams.

And these are all other teams that are tanking and those teams are doing it.

The nets have the same ability to do it.

They just don't and they just won't.

So, you know, it's bad process and look like it's especially bad process

after the way that the nets handled that Detroit game.

I wouldn't have had an issue with the nets winning this Grizzlies game

if not for that Detroit game.

I set it on my podcast on Thursday after their 10th straight loss,

that loss to Miami, I said that I thought they would win this Grizzlies game

because I thought I assumed that they would lose the game to the pistons.

And this is a game where I knew that the Grizzlies would be

tanking really hard and the nets would probably not want to extend

the losing streak to 12 games.

So, I thought that they would win this game, but then they beat the pistons

and they go all out to win that game against the pistons,

playing Michael Porter, Jr. 40 minutes,

playing other veterans big minutes,

benching Nolan Troy for the entire fourth quarter,

playing him only three minutes in the second half,

playing Ben Siroff only four minutes altogether.

And Jordi had a pregame comment where he spoke about the value

of that win over the pistons.

And this is what he's had to say.

He said, I think when you compete at the highest levels,

when you really get better, Danny Wolf played great minutes,

so did Noah and Dayron.

We cannot forget that it's not just the rookies.

Sometimes when you don't play well,

I think the accountability of coming back and saying,

I have to be better.

That's also good.

That's how you get better too.

And that's the message from Jordi.

And look, I can understand it,

even if I don't agree with it,

like the nets had a chance to win that game against Detroit.

They went for it.

They thought that there was value in beating the top team

in the Eastern Conference, even if they were without

keep coming him in a Sar Thompson and other guys.

And look, I can understand that.

You had 10 straight losses.

You know, it's a morale booster for sure.

But the problem is the process, you benching the rookies

and riding veterans and route to that win.

But also the fact that you have this game

against the Grizzlies next on the schedule.

And you know with the way that the Grizzlies have been operated,

it's going to be a game that is really hard to lose.

So if you win that Detroit game, there's a really good chance

that you're going to have back-to-back wings

that can be detrimental to the draft lottery standings.

And look, like Jordi had, that quote, as I just said,

about the value and the value of competing

at the highest level, the value of beating a team

like the Detroit Pistons.

But my counter is, why is Nick Clarkson

playing in this game against the Grizzlies?

Why are him and Deironshark both playing?

My question would be, where is the value in Nick Clarkson

and Deironshark dominating G-leagers

in this game against the Grizzlies?

Which is what ended up happening.

And then that's pick up their second straight win.

And it's a win that can really be detrimental

to their tank race and the place in the draft lottery standings.

And look, I understand it's flattened out lottery odds.

There's no guarantee like anybody can move up

or anybody can move back.

As I've said a million times,

it's about the floor, you limit your floor

the higher up you finish in the draft lottery standings.

And it's also about just maximizing your odds altogether.

Like this 2026 draft pick is the best asset

that the nets have right now.

It's better than any other asset they have.

Player, draft pick, cap space.

This is the best asset they have.

And you should be doing all you can

within reason, I guess, like there are, you know, things

that maybe you don't want to go to certain lengths.

But you should be doing a lot to try to maximize this pick.

And the nets just have not gone to the same lengths

as these other tanking teams have said it throughout the season.

And they just continue not to do it.

You're looking at it after this game.

The nets were not too long ago, just a few days ago.

The nets were tied with the Pacers

for second place in lottery standings.

They were within striking distance of the Kings for First.

The Kings actually picked up a win the day of that piston

that nets went over the pistons or the day after.

So that's could have been within striking distance.

But as I said, they were tied with the Pacers for second.

They were right there, you know, behind the Kings for First.

That's over now.

They're not, they're two games behind the Pacers.

They're two and a half or three behind the Kings.

They're not catching either of those teams.

Like I just don't see it unless they find a way

to lose both of the games where they play the Kings.

I just don't see that happening.

So that's probably over.

The number one and the number two spot.

Now you're competing for three with Washington.

And potentially worried about falling,

past four, falling to five and letting the Utah Jazz leave you.

I think the jazz are actually beating

the Golden State Warriors right now.

So that's good for the nets.

But, you know, these back-to-back wins,

they can be really detrimental.

Especially when you look at the fact

that down the stretch of the season, the nets play,

the Kings twice, they play the Bucks twice.

We're going to be tanking by then.

They play the Wizards and they play the Pacers.

So maybe you can say that they have room

to make up ground in those games

if they can lose those games.

But I said it after that pistons game.

I'm going to say it again after this game with the lengths

that the nets are not going to lose some of these games.

These last couple, when you get to that point in the season

where you have all those games against those tanking teams

coming up, you better be going all out.

And you better be shutting guys down

and you better be rolling out lineups.

You know, like they did last season during the last two weeks

to try to lose those games.

And even with that, those other teams

are going to be doing the same thing.

So there's no guarantee that those are losses

and that's the reason why these back-to-back wins

against the pistons and the Grizzlies,

both of which were somewhat avoidable.

It could be detrimental.

And it could really come back to bite the nets.

But with that, that's all the talk.

I have about the tank race.

There were some nets who had positive performances

in this one positive developmental performances.

So I want to get into that Nolan Tore, Deirons Sharp,

some of the other net's prospects.

So I'll get into all that when I continue locked on nets

after a quick break.

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This is Nick Gangsta with the Lockdown Mavericks podcast.

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Coming back from the break on today's Lockdown Nets podcast,

talking about Brooklyn's second consecutive win this time,

126-115 over the Memphis Grizzlies at Barclays Center.

And I talked about the tank ramifications,

why I think the Nets process

less something to be desired.

But I will say that during that win over the Detroit pistons,

while they did beat the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

So for some fans, that was probably nice to see.

It kind of left a little bit of a sour taste in your mouth

because it was completely veteran driven.

Like for the vast majority of the contributions

that Nets got in that game, we're from veterans.

And that's not necessarily what you want to see

during a tank race, during a tank season.

If you're going to see wins,

you're going to want to see a lot of rookie contributions,

a lot of contributions from developmental prospects.

And while there were still veterans

that contributed during this win against the Grizzlies

that probably shouldn't have been playing,

the Nets did get positive performances

from some of their rookies.

And I want to start with Nolan Chorey

because Nolan, I thought, looks really good in this game.

He finishes with 17 points, four assists, one turn,

over six of nine from the field, four of five,

from three, one of two from the free throw line.

He was a plus 11 in 23 minutes best of any net starter.

And I just thought that Nolan looked really comfortable

out there today.

I'm a three point shooting was the main positive

because we know the three point shooting,

it's going to be a major swing skill for Nolan.

Like if Nolan doesn't turn in to a good

or high level three point shooter,

I think he can still have a role in the league

because he is such a blur.

He is such an elite advantage creator

and he has shown some passing abilities,

some better mid range scoring and finishing abilities.

So I think he can still have a role.

But if he can't shoot, like if he's not a good shooter,

I question whether he can have a starting role

because if he's not a good shooter,

he's not going to be able to play off the ball.

And if you get that elite high usage,

lead ball handler star type guy,

you're going to need somebody to play off the ball

alongside him.

So the three point shooting is going to be

a big swing skill for Nolan.

And tonight he was four of five from three

and he had some really tough makes.

Like he had two makes that I thought were really difficult.

He had a couple off the dribble, a couple off the catch.

I just think overall the shooting was a major positive

and then he was two of four from two,

four assists, one turnover.

I think that all of that was good.

So it was nice to see that from Nolan.

Danny Wolf, another guy I thought had a positive game

and a strung together, a few pods and performances in a row now.

And you look at it, Danny at 14 points,

nine rebounds, two assists, one turnover,

he had a steal, he had a block.

He was five at 12 from the field,

two of six from three, two of three from the free throw line.

So had a couple of shots that rimmed out on him.

But overall, I think that Danny is also starting

to look more comfortable and he's doing it

in a variety of ways.

I mean, the position and the nets are playing him.

It's not center.

He's playing that, you know, power forward wing spot.

And they're asking him to do some different things,

which is sometimes they let him handle in the pick and roll.

Sometimes they run him off the zoom or zoom or pin down options

and get him going downhill that way.

And he looks pretty comfortable doing that.

The other thing that he's needed to get more comfortable at

is playing off the catch and being able to catch, shoot,

catch, pump, fake, drive, make decisions kind of in that capacity.

And I think that he's looked better at that as of late.

And I think that he looked good at that tonight.

So I think it was also a positive Danny Wolf performance,

Drake Powell, another rookie.

He comes up and he had not a great game,

but I think it was positive overall.

Nine points, three rebounds, two assists, one turnover,

three of seven from the field, three of six from three.

That's nice to see from Drake play 26 minutes in this one.

So good Drake performance.

So I think those three rookies, you did see some positive

stuff from them.

And then Dayrun Sharp, I got to talk about him

because he is a veteran at this point.

But he was dominant in this game.

And this is another game coming off of a performance

where the net's closed with him over in a claxing

because he was giving Jalen during such a hard time

in that pistons game.

You look at it tonight, he had 19 points, five rebounds,

two assists, he had two steals, he had a block,

eight of 11 from the field, made his only three,

two of two from the free throw line.

He was a plus 16 in 17 minutes.

So really good day around performance,

really efficient day around performance.

And look, I said that the Grizzlies didn't have a center.

So this is obviously not as impressive for Dayrun

as that game against the Grizzlies

where he was really giving it to Jalen

during for extended stretches.

But still with that, like you want to see a guy,

when you're playing against inferior competition,

you want to see him dominate.

And Dayrun certainly did that, especially physically.

I mean, he was pushing guys around tonight.

And he had one play, he had a major highlight,

probably one of the top highlights of the net season

where he caught the ball on a,

the net's kind of a broken play,

the net's got it in transition.

He caught it, get it, had passed.

He took a few dribbles and Ryan Ruppair

was trying to contest him at the rim.

And Dayrun rises up from the middle of the lane,

goes up and throws down a poster dunk over him.

So it was a highlight.

The net's bench was on their feet.

They were loving it.

And Dayrun was really fired up after it.

So just overall, a really efficient Dayrun performance.

I think good performances from the net's rookies,

particularly Nolan Troy, who it was a bounce back game

for Nolan because Nolan was benched, as I said,

during that Pistons game,

he played only three minutes in the second half.

He didn't play any minutes in the fourth quarter.

And I mean, this is a Memphis Grizzlies team

that definitely was decimated, but still.

Like they had some decent guards.

I mean, they had, you know, a camspenser was out there.

They have, you know, Jalen Wells,

they have some other guys.

You can play a little bit of defense

who were active in this game.

And I thought that Nolan Troy looked really comfortable

and he looked really efficient.

Those were the only guys who I thought looked comfortable

and efficient for the net's.

And that's also got some high level performances,

particularly from Ocha Abaji,

who had his best performance of the season.

Zaire Williams continues to string together

some positive performances.

So I want to talk about what I saw from those guys.

Also Ben Seroff, the last net's rookies,

some of the struggles that we're seeing from him.

So again, it's all that when it closed out locked on nets

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Coming back from the break,

closing out today's locked on net's episode.

Talking about Brooklyn's second consecutive win

this one, a 126-115 win over the Memphis grip.

We're depleted, but I started talking

in the last segment about some of the positive performances

that we saw from the nets in this game,

positive developmental performances.

And there were some other guys outside of the rookies

in Dehran Charter, that Ochaia Baji,

turned in his best performance of the season.

You look at it, Ochaia Baji in this game

had 18 points, three rebounds and assists.

He had a block, two steals.

He was eight of nine from the field,

two of three from three finishes,

a plus 14 and 22 minutes.

So this was a season high for Ochaia,

it was his best performance as a net.

And it was his most efficient performance in quite some time.

And it's nice to see from a guy that the net's really got

obviously as a salary dump like the main reason

that Ochaia's here is because the net's got

the Raptor's unprotected 2032 second round pick

in order to take on his $6 million

expire in contract.

But with that, he's still a no risk flyer for the net.

Like, yes, you can say that that's

might have been more interested in getting that draft pick

than Ochaia himself, but still.

Like, he's a player who could have some upside.

He's a former first-round pick.

He's coming off a career best season last year with Toronto.

And you look at it, Ochaia's played well.

Since joining the net, he's strung together

some efficient and effective performances.

And you look at it like Ochaia, as I said,

last season with Toronto had his most efficient season

of his career.

He averaged 10.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists.

He was 49.8% from the field, 40% from three.

And you look at it, he really struggled

across his first 42 games with the Raptors this season.

He shot 18.5% from three.

That was by far a career low.

So he's in a big slump.

And then the Raptors end up trading him, obviously,

to get below the luxury tax and get some relief there.

And then that's end up taking a no risk flyer on him

with getting the draft pick alongside him.

And look, it's nothing crazy.

Like, it doesn't mean that Ochaia's going to be back next season.

It doesn't mean that he's long-term peace or anything.

But he has strung together positive performance.

I said, I said, 40% from three last season.

He was 18.5% with the Grizzlies.

He's now shooting 45% from three

across his first 11 appearances as a net.

And look, it's a small sample size.

He's 13 of 29 from three in 11 games.

But you look at it, it is high volume,

at least in the sense that he's attempting

over nine attempts per 100 possessions during that span.

So he's getting him up.

He's snapped out of a shooting rut, obviously,

a big time shooting rut that he was in with the Raptors.

And I talked to him after this win over the Grizzlies.

And I asked him, can a change of scenery

kind of help with that sort of thing?

You obviously career best shooting season last year,

struggles in the beginning of this year.

Can a change of scenery help that type of thing?

And he said, yes, getting into a different system,

getting into a different flow,

seeing the ball go through the hoop that can be helpful.

So Ochaia Baji, like a guy who obviously

there's a lot of questions about his future,

but he was a no-risk fire for the nets.

And you get him and he started to string together

some positive performances.

And he does have some good attributes.

Like, you look at him in the back court,

the things that the nets have been prioritizing,

good positional size, good positional versatility,

guys who can make things tough defensively,

and then guys who are committed to playing the right way

that they want to play offensively.

You look at Ochaia, like he checks a lot of those boxes.

Like, he's an athletic guy,

the obvious he can play with a little bit of force.

I talked to Jordi Fernandez about him after the game tonight.

And he pointed at some of the things

that he did during the Pistons win, particularly defensively.

Like, as the net's low man,

not some of their defensive rotations,

he said that Ochaia had four verticalities

during that Detroit game,

which means on the low man rotation,

like when guys are rolling to the basket

and you're kind of that help defender,

going vertical and being a deterrent at the rim,

like that athleticism,

that's some of the things that Ochaia can bring to the table.

And you look at the ways that he's made an impact as a net,

it's athleticism defensively.

Those verticality steals some of those things,

but also running the floor in transition,

being a cutter, being a play finisher.

Like, he's been able to do some of that stuff.

And if you can get a three point shot going,

you have a lot of tools that I think could be intriguing.

For a guy who's only 25 years old

and does have some pass pedigree.

So good performance from Ochaia Baji.

Other guy want to talk about positively

is Zaire Williams, who had his one of his best performances

of the season during the win over Detroit,

hit two clutch threes, biggest shots of the season

and some of the biggest shots of his career.

And tonight he finishes with 11 points,

four rebounds, four assists.

He was four seven from the field,

one of two from three, two of three from the free throw line

finishes, a plus 22 and 19 minutes.

Just another positive performance from Zaire Williams.

You know, we came off the bench in this one

and, you know, it was obviously a decimated Grizzly's team,

but still nice to see him be efficient.

And then last guy want to talk about his Ben Seraph,

who was the only rookie who I would say struggled

in a pretty big game in this one, Ben finishes

with four points, two rebounds, seven assists

to three turnovers, but one of six from the field,

oh of one from three, two of two from the free throw line.

He was even a zero.

He was the only player in the net second unit

that was a not a positive plus minus.

I mean, everybody else,

Dave Ronchart, plus 16, Ocha Abaji, plus 14,

Zaire Williams, plus 22, Jalen Wilson, plus 31.

And Ben is a zero.

So that kind of speaks to some of the struggles

that Ben has had and he had seven assists, three turnovers.

He could have had some even more turnovers.

He just, he doesn't look comfortable.

Like he had a few nice drives to the rim in this game,

but overall, like handling the ball,

I think he can initiate offense comfortably,

but it's really once he gets downhill,

like he can create some advantages,

but once he's getting into the paint,

he does not look comfortable trying to finish around the paint.

He does not look comfortable passing around the paint.

And then obviously, the three point shooting,

he doesn't want to shoot from three

because he just hasn't been a good three point shooter

in the NBA.

So I think the kind of both things,

working of Ben looking uncomfortable around the basket

and when he does get downhill and create those advantages,

looking uncomfortable finishing those plays

and also looking uncomfortable as a three point shooter.

Both of those things are kind of like compounding on one another

and Ben just doesn't really have a spot on the floor

where he looks comfortable right now.

I think I'll continue to get reps.

Maybe I'll be able to snap out of it,

but it does look kind of tough for Ben at the moment.

But that's all I got for you guys on today's episode of Lockdown.

That's if you guys do not already,

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Let's go back to back.

They're going to be back in action on Tuesday

against the Detroit Pistons.

There was also some big news today

that I didn't mention on this pod.

Intentionally, Yegor Jelman was ruled out for the season.

That's shut him down due to his plantar fascia injury.

So I'm going to have a bonus episode coming out Tuesday

during the day before the game against the Pistons.

Reacting to that news, telling you guys what I know about it,

what I think it can mean for Yegor moving forward.

So I've covered you all that and more.

When I'm back tomorrow, talking more Brooklyn,

that's basketball.

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