Cam Thomas Cooks! Nets blowout 76ers

Cam Thomas Cooks! Nets blowout 76ers

The Brooklyn Nets thump the Philadelphia 76ers on the road and a sequel to A Star is Born is created we dive in on cam Thomas coming up next you are locked on Nets your daily Brooklyn Nets podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team Everyday yo ah yes my friends it is the lockon Nets podcast right here on the locked on podcast Network it’s your team the Brooklyn Nets every single day over there is Doug Nory I’m Adam arre we thank you as always for making us your first list of the day we are 100% free

On all those great platforms and let you know today episode is brought to you by LinkedIn LinkedIn jobs helps you find qualified candidates that you want to talk to faster post your job for free at linkedin.com lockon NBA that’s linkedin.com lockon NBA to boast your job for free turn terms and conditions

Apply and Doug Bradley Cooper step aside it’s cam Thomas time baby cooking in Philadelphia 40o Burger 136 121 cam Thomas the entire story here I mean he’s he’s he’s pushing up against Superstar here I like he’s or star at least he’s the numbers when he gets out there and

Gets really started to cook they he Rivals just about any scorer in the league he drops 40 tonight and 14 of 26 gets to play a lot of minutes because they bench with pretty short but he’s it’s like just the right time to leave him in the game because he’s got a lot

Of points let’s just see if he can pile on the game’s over it’s going to be easy maybe we can get to 50 right something like that if he really you know just keeps chucking but it’s just a further Testament that the Nets have something here it’s something we have known and

Been confused about for a while about you know sort of like why the rotation minutes seem to come and go but this was just another even against the short-handed sixer team it’s just still 40 Point 40 points is 40 points in the NBA I don’t care who’s on the other side

Of the Court it just doesn’t matter yeah maybe sometimes it’s fractionally easier to do it but just not many guys can do it and he’s just done it a lot and we’re we’re at a point now where he is just this is actually not even hyperboy he’s

Just one of the best very best uh you know pound-for-pound scorers in the entire game 36 minutes 14 of 26 from the field five of 11 from Beyond the AR got to the line eight times knocked down seven of those and also kicked in five assists along the way to a 40o

Performance and being a plus 23 for the Brooklyn Nets to your point man we see a lot of this and we’ve discussed it why wasn’t Brooklyn doing X or JV right jack vaugh what’s the deal who cares anymore right because now he’s here now he’s established now the stat lines are

Showing up and whether it was by Design or out of necessity he’s in the starting lineup and he is showing you games like this man he’s in there taking them over and we’ve talked about the the ancillary parts of his game first and foremost he’s a bucket getter and you saw him do

It in all three phases on the offensive ENT tonight and it’s okay so and going into this game he was 15th in the league and in points per minute right so like he’s top 40 in points per game but it’s really only because he hasn’t played

Enough minutes right and then if you if you back it out to like or you push him to 33 minutes he enters the top 20 easily but if you break it down just by points per minute he is uh 15th overall although that was going into this game

So I have to rerun it real quick but there’s probably a good chance with the 40 tonight in 33 minutes or 36 minutes that probably pushes into 14th range let me give you the list of guys that are above him in terms of points per minute

In the NBA this season you had to have played more than a 100 minutes Joel embi Luca SGA Giannis Steph Mitchell joic Booker Kevin Durant Dar on Daron Fox Brunson Kyrie barely makes it because he just played enough minutes uh Tatum Trey young I that’s like the all NBA I’ve

Heard of most of them I’ve heard of most of them that’s the all NBA team basically and at worst the allstars like that’s the very best players in the game if you just get to play this many minutes and score this many points you are just among the best players in the

Game and like and he’s it feels almost crazy to say it at this point I mean it does and it doesn’t because we’ve seen it kind of going on for a while now and only been confused about the rotations but when you read it like this over a

Long a large sample size with efficiency numbers that aren’t horrible it’s just the list it really starts to really drill it down for anyone who might not be believing that he’s just like a really really special scorer yeah you can go all the way back to when you talk

About in this recent run here all the way back to January 19th because prior to that he had some games where he struggled a little bit 9 to 21 7 to 20 from the field starting on the 19th 13

Of 18 8 of 17 6 of 11 7 of 15 11 of 19 8 of 16 11 of 19 and then tonight I mean obviously explosive right 26 attempts because he’s going for it a bit but 14 of 26 just to your point you know one of

Of the things that we highlighted along the way of waiting for him to kind of get these consistent minutes was reminding hey go back to LSU man this is a guy he’s a starter right and there’s always going to be an adjustment if you try to turn him into something that

Maybe he hadn’t been for his collegia career now you have two years and you’re trying to adapt that you have two years and you’re trying to expand his game a little bit we’re not really going to talk about that he had five assists tonight and could have maybe had eight

Because he set guys up really well but we should talk about that yeah yeah I tell you right now that part of it you know we’ve said this we’ve highlighted it whether or not the Nets were slow to get him into this expanded role you you have very clearly seen the difference

This year versus last year or even in this game versus the first game of the season you’ve seen a difference in the way that he approaches the offensive end he’s still looking to get his he’s still looking to heat check himself at times when he gets the ball in his hand

Especially above the arc there you see him his head is up looking for where other players are where are his teammates rather rather than being you know ball Centric where’s my Defender and how do I go attack him so the game is expanded and all you can do is be

Excited about the fact that we can probably see now over another 30 plus games this year there’s probably a little bit more there’s probably a little bit more we can get excited about including converting if his teammates knocked down a couple open triples tonight we’re talking about a career

High and assist to go along with the 40-point performance yeah look month over month during the course of the Season he’s increased his assists per game right like it’s not a huge number but it’s 2.6 for the month of January and he starts off in his last two games

You know he’s averaging four and a half assists per game if this is the part of his game we we’ talk long talked about if he can unlock this part right like running pick and roll understanding quick you know if he’s gonna get trapped or blitzed and then be able to pass out

Of it or just say hey my first initial action has kind of gotten roadblocked like now it’s time to pass quick we’re starting to see many more reaction time even like the the little pick and pop he ran with Giles near the end of the game right like gets into the

Lane pops it Giles hits the three and it’s like okay this is I mean that actually was I thought like really high level because he is clearly in a place where it’s he’s incentivized to keep scoring right like you got a lot of points you have a lot of points here and

Every point after this starts to get into the you know Elite category of got few guys that have done it for him to kind of even pass out of that action just means that it’s instinctually coming easier and we’ve already seen it and once he unlocks this part even on

You know 20% more or something like that he just becomes even that much the other shots will be easier because you have to defend against that like you can’t just you can’t just double team him and know that nothing’s gonna happen it’s like we’re we’re getting into really special

Territory here and it’s just really really cool to watch yeah the fact that he’s able to hit the high difficulty shots that’s fantastic but but there’s a world where right now 50% of his shots are high degree of difficulty that’ll get closer to 30 as you start to have

These other aspects of your game come in because then you have to respect it’s it’s not just going to be about him it’s going to be about what he can set up including by the way just quickly before we move into a lot of other players including Ben Simmons getting back on

The court tonight you mentioned about those blitzing actions I think the next phase of that is going to be not only getting the ball out of his hands when the double team comes but then what’s your action after that because when you get two guys coming at you and

Especially if you get it into say a Ben Simmons or someone with decent to higher level ball handling now you’re talking about making yourself available on back Cuts getting towards the basket and finding yourself some easy access as well so excellent excellent game Superstar level game from cam Thomas

We’ve seen it before that now marks his seventh career 40 plus point game just 22 years old coming up here in a second it was the return of Ben Simmons it was a dominant in a Joel Lim idless game performance from one Nick Claxton we’ll cover all of the key contributors here

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All right so as we continue our postgame coverage of the Brooklyn Nets a dominant performance not only from Camp Thomas but the team overall as they take down the 76ers on the road 136 120 Victory uh 121 Victory excuse me remind you go over to weot nets.com where you can pick

Yourself up a free ebook five stories in five days all about key moments throughout the Brooklyn Nets franchise history even going back to those Jersey days and it’ll also keep you up to date on some of the new features we have rocking over there so check out weot

Nets.com now the other thing that happened here Doug was good performances from everybody else let’s let’s talk about Ben Simmons here because the old the old dial the meter up dial it back down dial it back up again he he obviously had the knee contusion concerns comes back plays in this game

And gives you another type of performance that is at least encouraging do you where do you stand now after the Elation of that first game are we now just in the territory of hey keep showing me good minutes show me the pace and all those things right like and

I’m not trying to downplay it but it’s like but that’s where we’re at now right show me another game three four five six seven eight in a row and we can start to Envision this actually having an impact on the back half of this season yeah

Look we said it for forever like the Nets are clearly better with him on the court right I don’t think that’s that’s unsalable at this point especially with their current roster they need him in a way that they just I mean they need anybody like you know live bodies as

Much as possible they particularly need his set of skills he’s been I think plus 25 in the 32 minutes that he’s been out there on the court since returning from injury the pace is lightning fast the energy level everyone seems to sort of like level up from an energy perspective

When he’s on the court um I don’t think that this I think the I’m really glad this performance didn’t happen first I’m glad the other one was sort of like the first game and I’ll get my camera working back here it again in a sec but

Um I’m GL I’m glad that this was the first game and not the other one if I’m going to take one dig at this it’s going to be that 14 minutes and zero shots is like you know kind of concern territory but in terms of like just

Overall just a performance I mean the Nets just clearly need them of course right we we we talk about as you say pushing pushing the tempo finding open Shooters you know there’s one thing and I’m going to put this into the category of things that they need to continue to

Work with and grow from we said it when he came back in the first game uh going back a couple of last week that it on the offensive end when it’s in transition and when he’s pushing Tempo it’s obviously a very good thing you did get some sample size tonight and it’s

Not to knock him it’s just as a reminder hadn’t played a lot with Cam with Cam Johnson you’re still trying to figure yourself out when they got into those halfcourt sets there was in one play you got something that I really liked and then the reminder of something that

Needs to be worked out he came out and set the screen for cam Johnson and it was right like Ben Simmons is a physical presence when you want to set those screens does a great job with it the problem was sets the screen cam Johnson Works around the curl he goes towards

The basket and so do all the Defenders because Ben Simmons ends up just kind of in no man’s land right and figuring out that spacing when you do not get out in transition that’s something that was already there we talk about it when claxon’s on the floor with him if

They’re ever going to share the court but in these moments even when you have all the shooters and should have all the spacing he just either one of two things has to happen he needs to be ready for a lob ready to attack the rim or get

Completely out of the way because it actually does start to bog things down in there just something you want to see growth on here going forward yeah exactly right so he’s do he does all the things that you the Nets desperately need right like I said like getting out

Getting the pace up right being a ball distribution first looking for Shooters all the time head on a swivel knows where every guy is even when everyone’s moving at full speed rebounds the the best thing you can have like specifically with transition and catching teams in transition is having

Your primary ball handler rebound right like if you have your primary ball handler grabbing the rebound pushing Pace like that is one of the best ways to really crossmatch people to death and we’ve seen that like you know Westbrook was always great at this even Harden was

Great at this for times right like they worked to get him on the on the Block to get rebounds and then he’d be able to kind of start moving the ball up the court and really evaluate everything like Simmons does that as good as anybody else in the game but it’s so

Funny when you look at the statline or just watch the game be played because you’re just it’s always GNA stand out that there’s this one glaring deficiency I think for the current way the Nets are constructed is just fine probably right like I I think it’s just it is what it

Is at this point do do we need to get to like five shots per game to like at least keep everyone a little honest I mean of course it’s not and he had a couple of turnovers tonight where where he had the opportunity to go with the

Basket and it ended up getting congested right and that’s what it was it was like oh that that’s right you still have that chance just go to the rim even if you get fouled you go to the line you miss them all it doesn’t matter it’s still

Foul piling and just putting that in the defense’s mind yeah right and so like just keep like it needs to get there it has to be more than zero let’s put it that way 14 minutes and zero shots I know what you’re saying because like the the the the scoreboard ends up looking

Or the stat line ends up not telling you the full story you had to kind of watch that it was there was you know at least a little bit of an effort it’s still not enough but that’s okay I like they when you and that’s why when you have guys

Like cam Thomas when you have guys like male Bridges who can be three level scorers it does mitigate that sum if it was just pace and space just Shooters around him I think it would be a little more glaring the fact that it’s too scorers with him right like I think

There’s a you know difference between Shooters and scorers cam Thomas and bridges are scorers and that will mean it’s like not as big of a deal but for the Nets to kind of hit like a next little level here he needs to he does need to shoot at least at The Rim right

Like at least try to dunk a couple times uh like that just that just has to happen but overall though I think this has been as good as you could really probably hope for his return mostly just because he’s played right and like he’s act out there playing minutes and that’s for him

Unfortunately it’s the most important thing right now only other sign from him to uh plays 14 minutes tonight as you say okay you know we’re not going to really get too dialed in on the minutes just yet but did have now the nine rebounds excellent the four personal

Fouls right so there are these little moments where three fouls going back to the game against Utah as well in just 18 minutes so trying to strike that balance that was a concern for him at the start of the season and even going back to last year there just seems to be maybe

It’s just an eagerness on on the defensive end to say I know I can shut these guys down you overcommit a little bit or there’s also been I think some frustration fouls where it’s just I should I should be able to be there maybe it’s physically or otherwise right

I want to get to that spot I can’t get there so I’m gonna go ahead and grab this dude because I know I should be there yeah I think there’s like a little muscle memory from his past where he’s like yeah like where he’s been able to

Defend guys in a certain way and he just clearly is just a step slower now I like that’s that that’s obvious he’s not as fast as he’s still fast he’s faster and more you know uh more springy than a lot of other Nets guys but he’s not at the

Level he was before and I think it could be partly having lost a half half step which it’s obvious that that would happen it’s also just hasn’t spent a lot of time on court so your timing’s all off right like your timing is just off because you just haven’t been on the

Court in a long time that’s just been a consistent problem for him as well because he hasn’t been able to stay on the court for long periods of time and so I I think there’s a probably a double bottom line of things happening here but again you hope against hope that those

Things are able to sort of solve themselves by just playing more minutes but I where we’re going to keep fingers crossed territory from here to the end of the season coming up next obviously we have to talk about the double double that was Nicholas Claxton and then a

Little bit of Spice from one male Bridges this guy’s playing with a bit of an edge over the last handful of games you’ll love to see it especially as he steps onto the court in Philadelphia where Once Upon a Time he played for Villanova we’ll dive in on that

Narrative coming up here in just one second all right before we get to that happy Super Bowl Sunday to all who celebrate from FanDuel America’s number one sports book look Super Bowl Sunday it’s coming up folks we’re about a little more than a week away it’s all about scoring the

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Not only a locked on Nets podcast but also live on YouTube where we always appreciate everybody coming in especially for Saturday Night Special a 13621 victory for the Brooklyn Nets maybe if we have enough time probably for an off day what does it mean the Nets are winning some basketball games

It’s almost like we can’t remember they were capable of doing that inside of this one though Nicholas Clon stepped on the court tonight looked across said no Joel embiid looks like it’s my time to shine oh what’s your name there Reed yeah you’re gonna you’re gonna go ahead

And you’re gonna taste this I we’ve said this a lot throughout this season Nicholas Clon there’s something going on inside of his head maybe that he wasn’t didn’t make all defensive team a year ago right doesn’t get recognized the way he should has big contract potentially coming there are just moments when you

See this switch switch with flip with him excuse me and he’s like yeah I’m going to all of a sudden get like pretty aggressive about everything that I’m doing on the court and you see that by the way tying it to Ben Simmons Nicholas Clon is a guy four four four four four

Attempts four makes right ends up going and getting to the line by the way six times and knocking down four of those as well kicks in 15 rebounds four assists in this game 12 points a plus 18 I mean that’s the type of box score right there

For him obviously no Joel embiid but that’s an all phase impact the same thing we talk about cam Thomas same thing you talk about Ben Simmons just spatialist awareness yeah I got the ball in my hands but is there an easier play for me to make here for somebody else I

Loved loved the game tonight from claxon I was just cting up here he had 15 uh yeah he had 15 rebounds and the entire uh Sixers starting lineup had 16 rebounds is that right oh no no they had 15 they had 15 rebounds also so um yeah

It just tells kind of the whole story he was all over the place with the boards that was by the way that was only in 26 minutes for him right like he was just re a total rebounding monster I still by the way sorry I I I I hate to leave out

Four blocks including one that was 18 in below the rim but he chose to aggressively slap off the court and like into the third row yeah look I I like that he has a chip on his shoulder not many of these nets guys do like he definitely plays with a chip on his

Shoulder like you know just takes a little extra beat when he lets you know when he dunks you know just gets you in your face for an extra half second kind of like begging for the tea at times and just and you know has gotten it for just

Kind of just I don’t know I don’t know if it’s celebrating I’m I’m all fine with this it’s like totally harmless but he definitely has that in him I think like the next thing we need to see from him he just has to probably play more minutes um I get that sometimes late

Game stuff is a little hard for him because of the fouling and that you don’t want to get to the line with him so he’s not gonna probably ever be like a 35 minute per game guy but his impact on the court he’s gonna be super

Interesting when we get to the end of the season with what the contract thing him with his like what happens with him right like daron’s been out for a while he’ll return I don’t think he’s too far from returning and like I don’t know if we haven’t forgot

About his performance but the sharp was so good that they was like willing to start saying like hey you know what is it is claxon just going to command more on the market than the net should maybe sign him for it’s a testament to how good he is it’s not a knock against

Claxon at all but I think that’s G going to be one of the more interesting sort of offseason subplots is like sort of where they see I mean assuming he makes it through the trade deadline which I think he will but the you know just like

It’s just be a subplot of like sort of where he lands because when he has games like this you’re like man I mean this is like sort of elite stuff that he’s bringing to the table I don’t know if it’s consistent enough but he definitely

Has it in him and so and and because like his ceiling is so high with with some of this defensive stuff and getting on the boards it’s just gonna be interesting I I just don’t probably to wait till the offseason to figure out where we finally land but this is

Clearly one of his best performances yeah he’s got four out of his last five games double double performances uh going back to the Minnesota game where they lost obviously but 11 and 16 from there and then also gave you 17 and eight the game prior so and there’s double doubles litter throughout the

Month of January so like you say consistency and bringing it Forward tonight was a good night for him I don’t want to I didn’t want to get too far into the final segment without getting to Mel Bridges because I mentioned it they’re leading in I like I like a

Little bit of like chippy male brid there there there’s clearly something here he’s talked about it we’ve seen him in post games talk about being frustrated right moments where he knows that it’s his responsibility he needs to play better there’s two things that I want to tie in here one the chippiness

The defensive AGG getting into with maxi a bit like I I just I like that he’s there to step up and want those kind of challenges and it looks like he’s a little more dialed in on that end and I think a part of that has been that him

And cam Thomas who I’ll admit started the season I said you know are these guys going to be able to play well together it was clunky when they tried it then they got completely away from it you’ve seen them start to play and share the court really well together and

That’s affording I think male Bridges to on a possession to possession basis kind of pick his spots where what am I dialed in on I’m dialed in on the defensive end for these possessions I’m dialed in on a specific aspect as opposed to feeling

Like he maybe has to do it all good game from him overall tonight you know we’ve watched every Mel Bridges game since he became a net can you remember a time where he got into it with another player like I was really trying to think about

It I really couldn’t and I there was a time where I thought he there was a time he got a technical and I was like oh the ref really must have screwed up here like if Bridges gets frustration towards the ref we’ve seen a little bit of but

Not a little bit and and but but toward another player I really couldn’t think now he’s like a universally sort of like loved guy in the NBA right this is why he’s a good a great asset to have on the team this is why the team kind of hit a

Home run in in getting out of the KD deal bringing him in because in addition to being like just you know a really really good player he is just sort of the consumate professional seems like he’s just kind of universally liked right just like good guy like good gets

Like a lot of good guy points but I just really could when he was mixing up with maxi it was like like an out of- Body Experience like I couldn’t remember but I was just going to ask you if you remember seeing I I just couldn’t

Remember a time where I where he really started mixing up with a player which actually made me feel like Maxi really did something no it’s only only with the refs where he’s been like hey like you seem like it boiled over of like that’s clearly a foul call and maybe that sense

As all players do I’ve risen to a level in the NBA that I just I should be getting some of these calls here I should not be getting treated like the eighth guy coming in off the bench here I’m a starter I’m the face of this team

Right now there’s been that but no there’s never been and to your point I think they they said on the broadcast that Maxi is kind of that pest kind of he was holding him like he was kind of like arm baring him like a little bit

And I think that’s where it started they were trying to get him in the post and I think he kind of locked up his arm and I don’t I guys really don’t appreciate that because you can actually dislocate stuff like if you are locked up on your

Arm like you your action yeah the guys will get really mad about that o l went through this for a while like there’s guys that will just do it and it gets guys just don’t like it because you use the force against it and you dislocate

Your shoulder stuff like that but I yeah it was just interesting to watch I like it let’s get a little chippiness let’s get a little attitude on this team like they need they need this it’s funny too because I’ve been thinking about this watching some other teams I was watching

Memphis the other night and I was thinking you know sometimes we say I think sometimes we give the Nets an excuse and say oh you know they don’t have as much talent as some of these other teams right like they’re not they’re not as talented they don’t have

As much high they don’t have no there’s no real Superstars I know we just talk about cam Thomas but you know they don’t have but then I was bu of Memphis the other night I was like man these guys just fight all the time like they’re just it doesn’t matter it’s like you

Know it’s it’s you know Vince Williams and right and there was Scotty Pippen it’s you know Jacob Gillard like these guys they’re just like all out there fighting so hard and staying every game so I was like I don’t know if we see that all the

Time from the Nets I thought we saw that early in the year where they really fighting I think they sort of got away from it with during a slide and I don’t know anything that can kind of kick them into gear on just being like hey this

They still playing a season here we’re still in the NBA like let’s go like let’s get chippy like let’s get mad I I don’t know they they just have to I think they just I think I’d like to see it more is what I’m saying like just get

Physical even if you’re like a little slighter than the other team it’s it’s going to be good for the team to do it yeah I don’t mind and by the way in the last couple of games against was against Utah I think yeah I think it was against

Utah and then and then tonight’s game the other teams have I think tried to be a little more over physical with the Nets right and say ah we feel like maybe we can push you around so I think there’s been a little bit these last few

Games of yeah maybe it is that narrative ah this team they kind of roll over right you beat them up a little bit they’re not the biggest team in the world and they don’t really answer that Bell and I will tie it back to not to

Put too much on you know what Ben Simmons return is meant but we highlighted the comments how the team how the players feel about him he seems to be a well-liked guy in that locker room yeah maybe you know the Ben Simmons return if you go back to the start of

The season and what everybody thought it was going to be there’s something there right at least in the short term you get this little bump of everyone going hey Ben’s here 18 minutes 15 minutes if he can get up to 20 right like that’s a really a really um impactful Point

Coming out of this losing run of saying okay we can get this thing back on track right and you need to kind of just leave whatever you’ve got left because the deadline’s coming we’re hearing the rumors is doe going to get sent out is Royce not going to be here right so

You’re probably fighting for yourself and also for the guys that you feel like you want to keep a part of this team I know that’s like cliche narrative building but I think if if you’re if you’re players in that locker room that like playing with one another and feel

Like the season has not gone according to script from where you think you are from a talent standpoint and sometimes you just need like a little shot in the arm like sometimes you start winning you’re like oh that feels good like let’s keep doing that like being serious

Just like it takes as much as just like oh it’s hard to see it we’ve lost a lot of games you know and it’s hard to sort of get yourself out of it once you do it’s like not too dissimilar than just like I’ve missed a lot of my shots I

Just hit one and now I know what it feels like again right and now and now it’s sort of a away you go and I wonder if the Nets are budding up against that kind of territory here where it’s like oh okay we remember how to do this we

Have the talent to do it and we have a guy that maybe we can rely on on cam Thomas to get us buckets when we need it and sometimes I mean that stuff’s really really really pays off all right we’re going to get out of here STI around a

Few Nets have won three out of four come on stop it stop it we getting too excited all right uh we’ll stick around here in a little bit in for YouTube If you have a question throw it in at locked on Nets we’ll try to get to some

Before we get out of here on a Saturday night in the meantime make sure you go to we got nets.com gotten great feedback from this and I really appreciate everyone that’s gotten this and sent a message uh to us about the stories that you know net stories from history

There’s going to be more coming tons more stuff coming from we got Nets go to weot nets.com grab that free ebook this is Cam Tom to his teammates to his coaches to the organization and frankly to the world all you got to do is trust

Me that’s all you got to do it’s also Jackson Maine oh one of the alltime great poets we’ll back again tomorrow in a moment on YouTube talking more Brooklyn nuts basketball basketball basketball basketball basketball basketball basketball basketball yeah oh it’s the post podcast podcast where the podcast ends and then the

Podcast begins as Doug said stick around for a few minutes minutes here you guys kind of know the deal on the weekend Saturday Night Special we’re not going to be ride or die until the wi hours of the morning but 150 plus going strong

Shout it out if you have a comment or a question or a take maybe you’re just Overjoyed here hold on now correction uh the Nets have won three out of four no very good John with Cam Thomas starting that is correct so by the way the old hat narrative that when cam

Thomas starts and scores 40 points or scores more than 30 points or scores more than 10 points the team loses guess what is also being bucked as we speak well that was just always the stupidest thing like I that was just always I always just that a lot of things drive

Me nuts that was that was something that that drove that drove me nuts that particular narrative it’s like it just can’t be true and and if you and if you watch the games which we all do here right everyone on YouTube and I hear

It’s like I watch the games a lot of the context around a lot of those points were just like he was the only guy in the court like that Bucks game it’s like hey you want to play with all the bad players hey go go score a lot is you

Patty Mills good luck on defense right like it’s like it was all these kind of situations I we’ve always thought that was really really silly but good to have a good laugh about it now of course uh I had one here here we go hey blah uh

Lonnie Walker is the perfect Sixth Man you can put him in anywhere and be the backup to either cam Thomas or male he also plays very well with both uh with both as well too and contributes a lot with Ben yeah I mean listen when you

Take flyers on guys like this like this is the Hope like right you bring them in on a one-year deal they’re people I’ve already seen a lot of fans saying like what are you going to do what’s it going to look like in the offseason you’re automatically going to bring him back if

He’s going to knock down his highest career three-point percentage that he has yeah guess what it’s gonna be really functional and by the way they asked him uh at halim uh going into the break about like what it is playing with Ben Simmons and as you would expect he goes yeah it just

Makes the spacing a lot easier and it reminds you that if you find yourself the pocket there’s just another guy on the court here who is Elite at wanting and finding you in those spots so yeah great season he’s been absolutely Lucas Kaplan and Net’s daily Friends of the

Podcast made a good point about Lonnie um and it’s like and it’s like not too dissimilar than MC Bridges and cam Thomas except that he doesn’t get like the same kind of attention it’s like he’s a great second side action guy because if you if you’re first action

Shuts down then because he can score at three levels right because he can get into the mid-range then he just is like a sort of a good not like a break glass in case of emergency but like good end of shot clock guy right because it’s

Like the first action got shut down if we can swing swing and get it over to him then all of a sudden like we can still get a good look and that’s an those are guys are really important to have because it’s probably just it’s

It’s cam male and him as guys who can do that like end the shot clock I get the ball in his hands with five seconds I have a chance to get something good right like and that’s just a really important guy to have coming off the

Bench and so yeah that’s he’s been he’s been super encouraging and if you think back to last season uh now you mean you had Seth Curry you kept into the deadline but but you know Joe Harris these guys they weren’t as athletic they couldn’t get their own spacing

Necessarily the same way and they weren’t as productive as they had been earlier right so this is the new younger next wave that really helps balance balance out your rotations here let’s hit a few quickly before we get out the door John frequent flyer one possible trade discussion with Spencer dwy and

Surprisingly CLA of the Hawks for dejonte Murray and Clint capella so Brooklyn wouldn’t lose draft picks is that plausible plausible on paper sure I don’t know I I think we have to see where those rumors settle about LA and what they wanted to do the most linked was obviously D’Angelo Russell ending up

On the Nets as kind of the byproduct because Atlanta didn’t want him I also don’t know like would you would you want Clint capella on the Brooklyn Nets with dejonte Murray like what does that look like to you in Li of saying get through this season if you planed on if you plan

On wanting to bring back Clon like I don’t think I would be short excited about getting Murray and taking capella and giving up CLS I think this would be an improvement for the Nets I don’t know I don’t think the Hawks would do it but I think this would improve the Nets in

The short term I don’t you commit more money to deante um I don’t know if they could actually make that work financially actually um but i’ have I’ll have to look at that and because I just think they don’t send enough money out the door and deon’s already on like a 26

Or something I I can’t answer the full question right now but I think that like I think clearly that would make the Nets better um I don’t think it’s no it’s interesting though and we’ll have we have a couple of off days and we’re going to dial in before the deadline

Comes up here you respond to this one first uh from the Iceman are these guys just extra hyped because Ben is playing so they score over 13 points in two games this season what do you think or does he just give them Rhythm for the

Game I I’ll just I think it’s Rhythm but but is that your what’s your take on them offensively being better in spite of having a guy that doesn’t shoot okay well for starters the one of the reasons that were able to score so much is because the Sixers were out without uh

Joel embiid and Tobias Harris so like and and Batum they were out three three fifths of their starting lineup including the MVP favorite if he had played enough games didn’t play sizable guys right that create problems for scoring yeah like super long big guys like in Batum and Harris like that’s

Three fists of their starting lineup so I we we really glossed over that and this was you know Marcus Morris and Paul Reed and moama coming off the bench I mean it’s just like it’s such a downgrade now that being said the that’ss crushed them and so that’s a

Good sign so I think it’s a mix of things I think it’s getting a little more comfortable playing together Simmons clearly gives them the shot in the arm but they were Off to the Races before Simmons even got in the game here I think it’s just mostly I think it’s

Just a Confluence of factors but I I would be remiss to we did really didn’t mention we’re 36 minutes in and didn’t really mention who didn’t play for the Sixers here and I think that like that’s pretty important but overall yeah I think Simmons gives him I think Simmons

I suspect if if you ask them it would say something like Simmons gives them the feeling that they can go up a step right like that the team can be you know X better than it was because he just offers something different I think there probably is a lot of Merit to like

Understanding that for the team I tend to agree quick Touchback just onto that trade scenario it it would it would work to take out uh send out 20.3 million for Spencer Den Wy 9.6 currently on claxon Clint capella makes 20.6 and then the 18.2 million of Mur would fall

Underneath the exception from Joe Harr I think they’ be in the tax they would be in the tax and i cho about that but you you you know you can facilitate it and the the direct cap number would be a plus 8.8 million for the Brooklyn Nets

But that has a tax apron implications and all that stuff as well yeah so I think that that would be a no um I think it’d be a no from both sides for that reason actually like I think it’ be no because of the talent and no because of

The money going maybe the last one here with uh Michael I don’t think a rebuild is necessary think they need a consistent point guard I don’t want the Brooklyn Nets to look like the Charlotte Hornets what do you guys think well we’ve uh we’ve talked about this we’ve

Had some lengthy discussions both here and over on Twitter with some high ranking uh Nets coverage parties about how there there’s there’s a many different ways to go about fixing your team making yourself competitive it should be a combination of of the draft of free agency of going getting stars of

Trades if you told me right now that that a rebuild is not necessary what is your end goal championship then you probably should consider the rebuild route because there’s a lot of variable short-term about what this team is and then being successful including Ben Simmons getting hurt in the next

Three games and not being available right so I I think it’s still the most viable option and I don’t think they’re really at a huge risk of becoming the Charlotte Hornets because you actually said this Doug full credit to you when you look at certain teams because well they’re horribly run organizations like

Some of the worst teams are are awful and make every wrong decision that’s not the do me a favor and make sure I stay brief on this because I could go for a long long time on this and I have been like all weekend on this on this like

Particular thing from fans who you know don’t want to look at down the barrel of specifically trading brid Bridges back to the rockets for those picks and like sort of controlling your own draft Pi I’m not gonna get all the way back into that but I’m gonna say this about what

You said everyone in that scenario that I’ve seen that pushes back against it always gives me the worst examples the Hornets I’m not giving this question a hard time it’s it’s literally everybody it’s the Hornets it’s the Pistons and like you know the Kings that’s not even

A good example anymore but they’re like what I don’t want to turn into that but never brings up all the examples where it just does work to draft your own guys and be good forever which is like way more examples of just turning over this sort of talent pool and the reason that

Those teams end up being examples is because their management sucks like it sucks like I can tell you 15 not 50 10 moves the Pistons made in this time that were like made no sense even when they did it’s like Marvin Bagley contract trading for James wisman trading W

Sadique Bay like all these moves that just make no sense and so of course you’re going to get stuck the Hornets never want to spend any money they never like they don’t do any scouting like they have like the cheapest they they they chins out and everything right like

In terms of like just like not wanting to spend money and you know and then they’ve got they’ve also had guys that get hurt but like it’s also just like an organization and that never wants to spend plus they have like Geographic disadvantages it’s just like not a good comp right it’s

Just like not a good comp for like what and no one ever wants to look at these teams that have turned it around fast is right like the Rockets turned it around really fast here right OKC and plus all the teams that just drafted Superstars that like hate to break the news here

That are all at the top of the standings and you don’t have to draft in a lottery every time but you do have to draft and the Nets are in this scenario where they’re not close like they’re thinking about unloading because everyone’s like oh the Nets have lots of graffics yeah

But they’re about to spend them all on on spend a lot of that was the biggest thing to me that that so sorry one more thing one more thing and I was really gonna stop is that I Nets fans are clearly doing this one thing they’re double counting the draft picks they’re

Like oh Nets have a lot of draft picks they’re like yeah but you’re about to use them to facilitate the move to get in a superstar like or Superstar adjacent guy and now you will not have those you can’t count the picks twice you can’t use the picks to bring in

Someone and also draft with them and so and they just don’t have enough to do both they really don’t have enough to do both I know they have a pick but they don’t have enough to do both and so please just look at why those situations

Are the way they were they had bad management that made bad decisions that You’ have to trust the Nets would not do that and so I don’t know that’s it so soapbox down I I just I I get worked up about this particular topic and by the way and I don’t see any

Other really hard-hitting ones here or comment in there before we get out the door I I also had the thought too when that discussion was going on because you’re correct right well we’ll trade away seven picks and then we’ll also draft all these other players that’ll fill this thing out with what pick

Exactly reminder being here though remember whether at the time we agreed going getting James Harden was the right move you know you know how they got that Jared Allen Caris LeVert these are guys that went out what were they they were draft picks for the Brooklyn Nets that

They became valuable assets and they were able to use them to facilitate those trades so the other layer of this is like it’s not just about having the draft picks and drafting young Talent it’s also about building them up and then making the choices what guys are

Going to be a part of the core what guys can we move to bring in a star right like there are it’s just it’s nuanced I I hate to break it to you these are nuanced things that happen here it’s not just this black and white scenario and

That’s where this discussion felt like it’s lived well it’s either stars or it’s the draft or you go and cre for them you know one or the other this was just the right question to have me go along on this but like so there’s only three ways there’s three ways to acquire

Players in the league these there’s literally only three you draft them yep okay you trade for them or you sign them as free agents that’s it there’s no other way there’s no other way to to get a team a player right you need to have a basically a healthy mix of all three

Because the and knowing that free agency around the top tier player is basically impossible anymore the best players do not hit the best players do not hit free agency and so that at that point it’s two ways it’s trade for them or draft them the best way to keep the players

Long term through their build up and their Peak is to draft them because you can you have you know insane advantages around what kind of contract you can sign them to the amount of money they can make these guys by and large have stayed with their teams right you get

The longest Window Control when they’re drafted low contract cost and then one big deal for the best players exactly you can do it other ways you can do like the Clippers and kind of like piece it together through guys that the tail end of their Peak and and into their

Downslide but and still kind of like hope that you can get through for the most part though you basically have to at some point along your life cyle cycle draft a lot not always in the lottery but you have to to take lots of bites at

The Apple with drafts to to get those guys in the door cost control them and then fill it out with superstars or like really make a splash the Nets are doing the opposite right now they’re really haven’t drafted very much they have some that you know cam Thomas is clearly a

Total home run Claxton sure dayon they have they’ve done it some it’s not gonna happen here for a couple years because of the Houston picks right and so you have to try to figure out and it’s not like they have a superstar one a guy which is what you do

Which is what you have to then unload the draft picks for the next guy yep so this is my only thing it’s like because what happens is if you keep going through the cycle without Drafting and giving it away your return each time will get a little less and a little less

And a little less and a little less and then you bought them out and then you have to do it anyway right yeah you have you have no but and when you go to do it now you don’t have the picks because you us them for for the shot you took and

Then the timeline gets further away cuz now you’re just playing the waiting game right you’re waiting for your pick to return to you also last very last thing I swear to God on this I’m also not for just blowing it up either I think there’s like a

Huge engagement piece where I want the team to be good too y like you know if it was like Donovan Mitchell and like you know we add like you know a big wing and it’s cam Thomas and it’s like Mel it’s like the team’s good and they’re

You know fourth fifth fourth seed third you know in the East like I’m I’d sign up for that too like I’d rather watch a good team also I’m just understanding that the that that that that you pay the bill comes due at some point yeah and it’s just like when you’re willing to

Have the bill come due that’s all my last note here and Ian brings up he makes the comment of look we’re in the process of building a good team where they’re all friends they will become a great team together and a great team will always be a team of great players I

I I will there’s a little bit of cliche at the back end of this thing that uh you know a great team will beat a team of great players especially by NBA standards typically the model is the best players win the most that that’s that the NBA is topheavy in that regard

It’s why you need to have the Superstar s I’m not against as Doug just mentioned there sometimes when we’re making the point about what the other version of this thing is it makes it come across like we’re saying that that’s what we feel is the automatic answer you can

Paint a picture where they go and get Donovan Mitchell in the off season and they do move X Y and Z and it looks like what tell me that scenario right where they trade with Houston they get all their picks back and it looks like X there are many different routes to take

Here and I would be fascinated I said this a handful of years ago about the Knicks the Knicks spent years we wait until Giannis wait until Kevin Durant maybe LeBron they were always tied to what superstar they were going to give everything up to get and then finally three seasons ago they stopped

Doing it and they just started Drafting and building and then they went and they got Jaylen Brunson who looked like ended up being kind of an elite onea and maybe is kind of right there on the Superstar level or at least for that team and then

They made the little trade with RJ Bear right they pieced it together without totally dismantling what they look like in the years to come you need to to be practical and you need to be sound and by the way Shawn marks is a GM for the

All the things he’s messed up he’s been bad at the superstar version of the team he’s been pretty darn good at the building and finding quality through the draft and through the free agency so you have to trust what your best version of your team is with who you have in the

Front office as well yeah look you got to get lucky like you gota like guys have to be better like they did it want like they you know Bridges is better than everyone thought he was going to be you got to have Atlanta trade you Trey young for LCA right like yeah

Yeah know brunson’s way better than anyone thought right like that that is like the best contract in the league right now or one of them right he’s he’s amazing and like sometimes you got to have this stuff kind of work out in your favor but you also just have to

Understand that yeah I just I guess I just want to say like that I I’m just don’t be again I would never go back to the beginning I just wouldn’t look at the worst versions of these things and say that’s why you shouldn’t try something like you should always look

Should not trade for a superstar right why why why should you not trade for for superstars look at the Brooklyn Nets Kevin Durant Kyrie Irving James Harden it didn’t work at all you should never do that no you should you should still go for it if the opportunity knocks and

It’s right you should of course go do it look at the Lakers went and got ad got LeBron what did it get them a championship right like and even high level playoffs and Eastern Western Conference finals and finals appearances right like to just to illustrate your point right there there are bad versions

Of chasing Superstars as well but that’s the Spectrum it all lives on a spectrum and also too because I just saw a commentary I just went away with that it said something about like you know you don’t want to form big three kind of Championship things see that’s like

Misnomer too because the like if you had a chance right now to put Luka Giannis and joic on the same team as your big three uh I think that would work right so once you can agree that there’s like three great players that can work together and win a championship then you

Just have to agree that it just depends on the players right was actually this wasn’t the right three players for your Superstar yeah CU like no one would ever be like oh we got Luca Giannis and yic it’s like that big three doesn’t work work it’s like I think that would would

Be okay right like I think that would win a couple of games right like so once but so I guess I’m saying that as an exercise to say once you understand that and can to agree to that idea then you can now go down the list of like where

It starts and stops and like where like where it works and where it doesn’t work right like that’s all and like I just want people to be open to those ideas uh we’re gonna get out of here as you can tell Doug and I we’re interested in this

Conversation we like having it um a reminder as Jonathan asks hey big deadline special on Thursday Doug and I are going to connect on the back end here and we will we’re going to be doing something when it comes to the deadline we’ll obviously have our ear to

It if it seems like the Nets are rumbling and are going to make moves whether they’re high level or even some of the rotational players we’ll obviously be in covering all of that so be sure you tapped into us at Adam arre at Doug Nori at lockon nets over on

Twitter Doug is on fire over there my goodness what a journey he’s having on social media these days uh in the meantime though uh I’ll just I’ll take care of this duck you get us over on YouTube at lockon nets you subscribe you turn on the alerts so you know we’re

Going live live it’s a little bit old hat but if you’re on a platform for a podcast where you can give a festar review do it Doug doesn’t want anything less I would take a four and a half or 4.75 Doug wants five or bus do that for

Us really supports our show and obviously we got nets.com free ebook five stories in five days and alerts and updates on all the new great content we have coming up down the road go ahead Doug take us out all right thanks so much everybody for joining here on

YouTube live really really appreciate it we are going to get out why you laughing nothing no cuz I you were done you were all set you were already well you said well when you well just to be fair to me when you said don’t worry I go Doug I

Got this and then you talk a lot and then you in my mind when you say I got this is just a little you know inside baseball here when Adam says I got this any reasonable person would say I’m done talking so at the end of you know we’ll

Be back again next time talking more brookly so when Adam shoots it back to you when I and makes fun of you and laughs because you catch off guard because he set it up with that being said much appre I say I’ll spike it but

Then at the last second I just go ahead and I said I said be quiet be quiet I’m going to do I’m going to do the thing you said you were going to do really appreciate everyone here jumping into YouTube um always hard to jump out when

There’s so many people in here because it’s super fun after a win but we’re gonna get out of here we’ll be back again next week talking more Brooklyn that’s basketball basketball basketball basketball basketball basketball basketball basketball yeah

Cam Thomas and the Brooklyn Nets look strong on the road against Philadelphia. With Ben Simmons back following a one game absence Brooklyn was once again off to the races.
Mikal Bridges played with an edge, Nic Claxton took advantage with Joel Embiid sidelined, and made it an easy victory on Saturday night.