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NBA analyst John Hollinger did not hold back on the Brooklyn Nets' draft class' performance in the NBA Summer League.
Brooklyn was active in this year's draft, selecting five players in the first round. Four of them took part in the summer games, but Hollinger said their displays left a lot of room for improvement.
“Four of the Nets’ five first-round picks played in Vegas (we never saw Drake Powell), and wow, this was not good. Two of the three worst-performing first-rounders by PER were Nets imports Nolan Traoré and Ben Saraf, while fellow first-rounders Danny Wolf and Egor Demin weren’t much better. Given that many league observers already had questions about Brooklyn’s choices and strategy on draft night, this was not a great kickoff,” Hollinger said.
“While some of these struggles can be written off as shooting variance, Traoré, in particular, looked overmatched. The guard prospect didn’t have a single steal or block in his 67 minutes and only shot 7 of 23 from the field in his three games. Saraf had identical shooting numbers but at least spiked his box score with some promising defense and playmaking.”
Hollinger even pointed out one aspect of the team's draft class, which was the poor fit.
“One other thing that became obvious while watching these guys try to play together was how poorly they fit with one another. All four of the first-rounders who played are guys who need the ball in their hands to be effective but aren’t particularly threatening from the perimeter. That often resulted in situations where somebody like Saraf or Wolf was in the corner as an alleged floor-spacer,” he said.
What lies ahead for Nets this offseason
If John Hollinger can notice the flaws from the players in the Summer League, the Nets can certainly see it too.
They progress through the offseason with plenty of questions to answer as they navigate through their rebuild. They haven't returned to the playoffs since 2023, still figuring out the core of players to build around.
While they have Cam Thomas and Michael Porter Jr. as their key talents, Brooklyn is still in the early stages of building a solid squad as next season will be tough for them. A lot of challenges will come their way, and it will be up to them on how they approach it.
