3 Takeaways from the Brooklyn Nets’ mini road trip

Yes, they still play games in the week leading up to the trade deadline. And the Nets have even won a couple of them.

The Brooklyn Nets winning their last two games — even with one coming against a top gun in the Wild, Wild West — was a garlicky breadcrumb at best in the absolute feast of NBA news placed before us over the weekend. Tasty, but a mere morsel.

It slammed onto our plates without warning. Although Zach LaVine has been a trade candidate long enough to make himself more synonymous with that term than the Chicago Bulls, the Doncic-for-Davis swap hit like a buffet that fell out of the sky.

It was an all-too-tasty meal for those wearing purple and gold — and something unthinkable to stomach for those (remaining) fans in Dallas. Shoutout to Rob Pelinka for obeying the all-mighty Magic Conch, I guess. (This is a Sponge Bob-themed takeaway. Deal with it.)

But even though the Brooklyn Nets, who are used to being in the eye of the storm, took a step back as a whirlwind of NBA hysteria passed by, what they did out on the hustings away from all the tornado trackers is still worth noting. Here’s what we learned on their quick getaway.

Point Guards are still our Anti-Tanks

“Ben Simmons” has been a punchline for just about every Brooklyn Nets joke over the past two years — and every shooting-related one since about 2020. Low hanging fruit or not, that discourse might lead the casual fan to believe he’s an omnipresent negative on the court. The last two games, however, proved that inevitably false.

It may have been easy to look good against the Charlotte Hornets, shorthanded on talent and health last Wednesday, but Simmons still did so, playing well on both sides of the ball after missing five straight games. He put up a 10/6/2 game while shooting 4-of-6 from the field. His inside pressure on the offensive end and presence at the other helped Brooklyn outscore Charlotte 54-34 inside, where the Nets have been getting bludgeoned of late…

While Simmons’ 2/4/5 stat line against Houston won’t raise any eyebrows, he finished the game as a +5, reducing his turnovers to a single one after giving it up four times to the Hornets. His vision at times had Brooklyn’s offense looking its best in months and paved the way to a win even if the box score indicates otherwise.

Russell, on the other hand, gets his bad PR just by being one of The King’s recent exiles. With LeBron James possessing the game’s largest stan following and Russell reportedly sent fleeing LA-LA land as the result of royal rebukes, the negative noise around him might’ve made you believe he’s cooked as well.

But DLo promptly put up 6/7/7 and 18/3/1 games on the road, giving Brooklyn what it needed from a facilitator in one game and then as a scorer in the next, finishing as a collective +34.

With these two 28-year-olds at the helm of the Net offense, Brooklyn also kept things in order turning the ball over just 18 times total in their last two games. That’s the fewest they’ve had in a two-game stretch all season. During Brooklyn’s nightmare run where they lost 12 of 13, they averaged 16.4 giveaways per game, clocking in as the second most of any team in the league.

Although Ziaire Williams discovering his stroke, Day’Ron Sharpe looking like his pre-injury 2023 self, and Nic Claxton waking up all factored in last week, there’s one position, the 1, that manned by two guys has been pumping the tank’s breaks right now … whether it’s by running the offense or merely keeping it from falling apart.

Shot-Making Brings it All Together for Ziaire

Speaking of Williams, he sure picked an odd time to dust off his shooting stroke. The ex-Grizzlie has brought strong defense on and off-ball all year — though his offense has remained inconsistent.

But even with insects buzzing around his ears and space engine exhaust filling his lungs, ZW somehow managed to do it all in his last two. Williams dropped 13 points along with three dimes and two steals in Charlotte. Then, he went for 21/1/8 in Houston, just missing his season-high by a bucket. He also blocked two shots and came up with a steal in that one.

The numbers stand out on their own, but Williams’ efficiency takes things a step further, as the swingman posted 52/45 splits on the road. Sure, it’s a small sample size, but also, not really. Williams had double-digit shot attempts in the two games, having done on only nine other occasions this year. He also took 10+ shots and shot 50% or better in back-to-back games for the first time all season in this stretch.

None of this came at the expense of Williams’ strong defense either, with him bringing still that ball pressure Fernández raves about to the table each night. But the shot-making also opened up opportunities for him to attack closeouts and find teammates — and sometimes even still score in the process. He deservedly played 30+ minutes in two straight games for the first time all year.

Who from this team will still be around when the Nets contend again has been a popular question in Brooklyn, as it is with all rebuilding teams this time of year. The fact that there’s almost never a definitive and reliable answer is what makes the question so captivating.

Sometimes it’s Tosan Evbuomwan in whom fans see developing into a (very) poor man’s Sabonis. Sometimes it’s Tyrese Martin who we visualize as the next great sharpshooter off the bench. Whenever he’s healthy, it’s Cam Thomas we laud as the game’s next great scorer.

Over the last two games, though it’s undoubtedly Ziaire Williams who we’ve anointed as a two-way spark plug. If he can keep doing it, maybe he’ll be someone to latch on to.

Center Play is Improving from All Angles

There’s a laundry list of reasons why the Brooklyn Nets sit well outside the playoff picture right now — the largest being that they’ve done everything they can to signal a tanking strategy short of announcing it on the YES Network. But Nic Claxton’s impact, or lack thereof, is up there too.

The team’s big offseason expenditure came into the road trip averaging his fewest points per game in a season in three years, as well as his lowest field goal percentage for a season ever. The latter number being just two years removed from a campaign when he led the league in that stat remains most alarming.

Averaging just 1.1 blocks per game as well, his rejections are nearly half of what he averaged each of the last two seasons.

All of those facts are still true for Clax, but his trip away from The ‘Clays helped him cut into them. He averaged 14.5 points and 6.5 rebounds during it while shooting 60% from the field. He also came up with six rejections vs the Hornets, notching a season-high and coming up just one short of a career-best mark for a single game.

Brooklyn’s big man production didn’t end with him either. Day’Ron Sharpe enjoyed a strong road trip, primarily vs Houston. Yes, of course, we’ll talk about the triple he nailed, but Sharpe also dished two assists, blocked a shot, and pulled down four boards en route to a 13-point night where he shot 6-of-8 from the field, his physique filling a big part of the paint….

Whether due to past injuries and/or a coincidental slump, both centers seemed to play well in a multi-game stretch for what seems like the first time ever in their collective Brooklyn tenure. The Charlotte game was the first time all season both players were a net positive on the floor. Yes, it was the first time all season one coming in for the other did not hurt the team!

Sure, the Hornets do not exactly represent the NBA’s best and brightest, certainly without LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller. But you already knew that, and it’s not like the Nets are that much better.

Even though people aren’t as into wins around here as much as they used to be, a win is a win, and a tonic which is exactly what this is in terms of development.