Misplaced within the Nets’ Dennis Schroder commerce — and the high-level affect on tanking and the draft — are the younger guards going out, and coming again in.
The Nets introduced again two-way guard Reece Beekman from Golden State, and waived Yongxi Cui — now out for the 12 months with a torn ACL — to make room.
“When you’re able to acquire a young guy that we’ve been studying for a while, going back to his college days, the group here has been focused on [Beekman] and bringing him in and taking a good close-up look at him,” GM Sean Marks mentioned.
“So from a defensive standpoint, we’re going to miss some of the things with Dennis leaving, and hopefully when Reece comes in here, he can pick up the slack. And he’ll have every opportunity like the rest of these guys to go out there and compete, earn minutes and be a part of this rotation, hopefully.”
He’ll virtually need to.
Schroder will likely be changed by Ben Simmons, however the Nets don’t have one other confirmed level guard.
Shake Milton and Keon Johnson are backup off-guards, and Killian Hayes has not impressed taking part in for G-League Lengthy Island.
The 6-foot-3 Beekman is an undrafted rookie however has outperformed Hayes within the G League.
He’s averaging 18.7 factors on 51.5 % capturing for Santa Cruz, 7.3 assists (ninth within the G League), 5.2 rebounds and a couple of.8 steals (third within the league).
“Yeah, excited to have him,” coach Jordi Fernandez mentioned. “Defensive-minded player; I think he led his conference in steals. A point guard that will help our ball pressure, our activity on defense, playmaking, running the team. So, excited to have him. He’ll get here soon, so we’ll get to work with him soon.”
Beekman was simply the third participant to ever win back-to-back ACC Defensive Participant of the Yr awards, and has carried that into the G League.
With the rebuilding Nets, he’ll get a reliable shot within the NBA.
Hayes is the larger participant and larger title, however is capturing simply 30 % from deep for Lengthy Island and 60 % from the charity stripe.
Cui was waived to make room for Beekman.
Milton is primarily an off-guard, however has logged 40 % of his minutes this season as a degree guard.
That might rise within the fast future.
“Just continuing to do what we do: Get out, play fast, play with pace, pace and space. Get in the lane. Create for myself, create for others,” Milton mentioned. “[Schroder’s] points for sure, something that we’re gonna miss. But he also [had] around seven assists a game. And then also he was the leader when it came to picking up full court. So those are important things you’ve got to pick up on, too.”
Monday marks the return of Cleveland’s Kenny Atkinson for the primary time as a head coach for the reason that Nets fired him.
