Thursday’s loss was stuffed with teachable moments for the Nets’ younger roster, and Nolan Traoré discovered himself on the middle of one in every of them.
Because the groups left the court docket, Jordi Fernández lingered, teaching the French guard with urgency, arms stretched extensive and frustration exhibiting as he spoke at Traoré on the way in which to the locker room. Traoré struggled by way of the evening, taking pictures 1-for-8 and ending with three factors, two assists and two turnovers in 26 minutes off the bench.
The second didn’t slip previous the YES Community cameras, which caught the change in 4K. And when requested about it afterward, Fernández defined precisely what he was attempting to drive residence.
“I need him to use his superpowers and touch the paint, and it felt like he got caught shooting the unders, and a lot of times they’re going to go under [the screen] because that’s what they want you to do,” Fernández stated. “But if you keep shooting and missing, sometimes if you keep doing the same thing and seeing the same results, I think that’s the definition of insanity.”
Brooklyn was severely short-handed towards Houston, lacking three starters, together with main ball handlers Egor Dëmin and Terance Mann. With Michael Porter Jr. additionally sidelined by sickness, the Nets had been brief on group and creation, inserting much more accountability on Traoré to regular issues offensively.
That accountability didn’t go away when the photographs stopped falling, which is why Fernández’s message centered much less on outcomes and extra on decision-making.
“I know how good he is,” Fernández stated. “He can play pick-and-roll, he can touch the paint, he can reject pick-and-roll, he can play with a pass. And two assists to two turnovers is just not good enough. That’s why I needed him to understand I need more. I’m OK with a pull-up 3. I don’t love it because he hasn’t shown that he can make it consistently. He can shoot as many catch-and-shoot 3s as he wants. But I just didn’t think he played the game the way I want him to play the game. And if he gets one percent better tomorrow, that’s what I want to see.”
Traoré’s uneven evening got here after a stretch the place he had carved out an actual function within the rotation since Dec. 21, following a productive run within the G League the place his confidence, tempo and playmaking had been on full show. Since sticking with the Nets, he’s proven flashes of why the group believes in him. His pace within the open flooring, his willingness to push tempo and his capacity to arrange an offense when issues get chaotic.
That’s additionally why the leash stays longer than the field rating would possibly counsel.
“Nolan is very good when we can play full court,” Fernández stated. “With that, you need stops. When you’re taking the ball out of the net or you don’t rebound, it’s going to be hard to use what he does best.”
These alternatives aren’t going away anytime quickly. The Nets will once more be short-handed Friday evening towards the Washington Wizards, with Cam Thomas and others unavailable on the second evening of a back-to-back. That actuality all however ensures Traoré will proceed to see significant minutes, supplied he stays poised, receptive and aligned with what the teaching employees is asking of him.
Contained in the locker room, that course of hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“Nolan’s great,” Thomas stated. “Fast. Pushes the ball, gets us into sets. It’s going to be really good. Sometimes it just takes time, but he’s been really good, productive. So, really happy to be playing with him. We’ll see where it goes.”
