Sufficient time has handed. Noah Clowney has taken a transparent leap this season, and the third-year ahead is rising as one of many Nets’ extra profitable player-development tasks. His summer time spent including power is clearly paying off.
Clowney is averaging a career-best 12.2 factors and three.5 rebounds with a 51.6 efficient area aim proportion on 6.4 3-point makes an attempt per recreation. Since changing into Brooklyn’s full-time beginning ahead on Nov. 3, he’s performed 31.2 minutes an evening and made the a lot of the alternative, posting 16.5 factors on a 43.9/36.8/77.8 taking pictures line. It’s additionally no coincidence the Nets’ defensive depth has risen sharply since Clowney entered the beginning group.
“Just trying to be aggressive,” Clowney mentioned. “Helps me, helps my teammates. That’s really it.”
Whereas there’s nonetheless extra to be desired from Clowney as a rebounder, his offense has genuinely blossomed. He’s utilizing his stronger body to assault the rim with actual pressure. He’s letting it fly from deep freely and confidently. And his confidence retains rising as head coach Jordi Fernández continues to provide him the minutes and runway to play by means of errors.
This rise didn’t all the time really feel inevitable. Clowney spent most of his first two seasons bouncing between Brooklyn and Lengthy Island, logging sporadic minutes whereas struggling to discover a constant offensive identification. The Nets repeatedly pointed to his youth and long-term upside, however there have been stretches when it wasn’t clear if or when the instruments would translate. His body wasn’t fairly prepared for NBA physicality, and he typically seemed rushed or hesitant on each ends.
However take a look at him now, and it’s laborious to overlook how far he’s come.
Clowney progress was on full show Monday, when he poured in a career-high 31 factors with seven made 3s in towards the Knicks, an evening when he greater than held his personal towards All-Star middle Karl-Anthony Cities. The 21-year-old was the Nets’ solely constant supply of offense within the loss, and he went 6-for-6 on the free throw line.
“That just tells you the impact of his game when he’s on the court,” Fernández mentioned. “His presence was great, and I [could] see his face how locked in he [was]… You start to see the growth, and its growth. That growth has to be by everybody. I’m really, really proud of him.”
Clowney’s barely of authorized ingesting age, and if issues are already beginning to click on for him, it’s straightforward to really feel optimistic about the place he’ll be by recreation 82 — and much more so in just a few years as he positive factors reps and grows into his prime. If he stays constant whereas persevering with to evolve defensively, followers have each cause to marvel simply how excessive the ceiling may be for the previous first-round choose.
The query now isn’t whether or not he can do it, however whether or not he can maintain doing it. Clowney’s flashed actual two-way capacity, and the Nets need to see him carry this stage of play by means of the lengthy haul. That’s the place the subsequent stage of his growth begins. Brooklyn believes he’s solely scratching the floor, and the duty now shifts to constructing on this momentum evening after evening.
“He’s had a good stretch. The challenge for me and him is sustaining it, improvement,” Fernández mentioned. “Don’t just feel good about it. And the most important thing is giving the team a chance to win games, and that’s how we’re going to keep getting better.”
