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Brooklyn Nets: Summer League schedule set, team coming together

By Phil Watson

Brooklyn Nets Theo Pinson. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images)
Brooklyn Nets Theo Pinson. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Brooklyn Nets will participate in the largest NBA Las Vegas Summer League field ever, with 32 teams playing 83 games over 11 days beginning July 5.

With the NBA Draft now out of the way, the Brooklyn Nets will likely get their first looks at big man Nicolas Claxton and guard Jaylen Hands beginning July 5 when the Nets open play in the Las Vegas Summer League.

The NBA announced the Summer League schedules on Friday, with sessions set for Utah and Sacramento before the main event gets under way in Las Vegas.

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The Las Vegas session, set for July 5-15, will include teams from all 30 NBA clubs as well as the national teams from China and Croatia in what will be the largest session in Summer League history.

Every team will play five games — four already scheduled, plus at least one additional game either in the tournament phase or consolation phase. Games will be played at both Cox Pavilion and the Thomas and Mack Center.

The Nets will open play against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday, July 5. Here is their full schedule (all times Eastern):

Friday, July 5: vs. Dallas, 7 p.m., Cox Pavilion (NBA TV)
Sunday, July 7: vs. Croatia, 4 p.m., Cox Pavilion (NBA TV)
Monday, July 8: vs. Washington, 5:30 p.m., Thomas and Mack Center (NBA TV)
Wednesday, July 10: vs. Orlando, 5:30 p.m., Thomas and Mack Center (ESPNU)

Consolation games will be played on Friday, July 12 and Saturday, July 13 at Cox Pavilion, with the tournament quarterfinals beginning July 13 at Thomas and Mack Center, with semifinals set for Sunday, July 14 and the championship game to be played on Monday, July 15.

Last year, the Nets’ entry went 0-5 under assistant coach Jacque Vaughn, but there were three undrafted rookies that wound up seeing NBA time last season.

Theo Pinson wound up with Brooklyn on a two-way contract that was converted to a full deal at the end of last season, while Yuta Watanabe turned his strong play with the Nets into a two-way contract with the Memphis Grizzlies and Tyler Davis began the season on a two-way deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder before he was released in late December.

Additionally, Kamari Murphy — undrafted in 2017 — and Jordan McLaughlin, undrafted last year, spent all of last season with the Long Island Nets in the G-League, helping the team reach the G-League Finals for the first time in franchise history.

This year’s draft picks, Claxton (No. 31 overall) and Hands (taken with the 56th pick), should be in tow when the session begins in Las Vegas, as neither will encounter difficulties faced by 2018’s draft picks — Dzanan Musa and Rodions Kurucs — in securing buyouts from their European clubs.

Musa was going to be held out of Summer League last season as part of Brooklyn’s plan, as the 19-year-old had played in 71 games for Cedevita in 2017-18. Kurucs, however, couldn’t secure his buyout from FC Barcelona until the final day of Summer League and did not play.

Both figure to be on the roster in Las Vegas this year, per Nets Daily, as well, under director of player development Adam Harrington. Michael Scotto of The Athletic reported earlier this week Harrington, also a Nets assistant coach, will have the helm in Vegas this year.

Nets Daily also reported that Jarrett Allen, a two-year veteran, plans to play in Vegas. He played in two games last year after missing the 2017 Summer League with a foot injury.

According to various reports, four players have already committed to the Nets for the Summer League, including veteran Jaylen Morris, who attended Molloy College on Long Island and paid his way into a Long Island Nets tryout in 2017.

He played four games with the Milwaukee Bucks last season and got into six games with the Atlanta Hawks in 2017-18. In the G-League last season, he started the year with the Wisconsin Herd while on a two-way deal with the Bucks before finishing with the Erie BayHawks.

He averaged 14.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.2 steals in 35.3 minutes per game in 33 games last season in the G-League, shooting 51.2 percent overall and 30.5 percent on 3.9 3-point attempts a game.

After going undrafted on Thursday night, Virginia Tech’s Ahmed Hill is reportedly headed to Brooklyn for the Summer League, as well.

Hill started 115 of 134 games for Virginia Tech over the last four seasons and as a senior averaged 13.1 points and 3.9 rebounds in 35.3 minutes per game. A 6-foot-5 guard from Augusta, Ga., Hill shot 44.3 percent overall and 39.1 percent on 5.5 3-point attempts per game for the Hokies, who reached the Sweet 16 before dropping a heartbreaker to Duke.

C.J. Massinburg, who was the Mid-American Conference Player of the Year last season at Buffalo, also announced via Instagram he was coming to the Nets.

Massinburg averaged 18.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.2 steals in 32.1 minutes per game as a senior, shooting 46.4 percent overall and 39.9 percent on 6.7 deep tries a night.

Buffalo went 59-13 over the last two seasons and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament each year.

The One Legacy Sports agency tweeted out congratulations Friday to Georgetown’s Kaleb Johnson.

Johnson is a 6-foot-7 wing who did not see a lot of playing time last season for the Hoyas after starting 30 games as a junior. He averaged 4.4 points and 2.9 rebounds in 12.8 minutes per game as a senior, shooting 59.8 percent overall, but only going 3-for-6 from 3-point range.

There have been no reports yet on Brooklyn’s trio of draft-and-stash players.

Juan Pablo Vaulet, a 6-foot-6 wing from Argentina who made it back from knee problems to play 27 games for Penarol in Argentina’s top domestic league, averaged 13.2 points and 7.1 rebounds in 26.3 minutes per game, shooting 51.8 percent overall and 25.0 percent (11-for-44) from long range.

Aleksandar Vezenkov, a 6-foot-9 forward from Bulgaria (via Cyprus), played 53 games with Olympiacos in Greek domestic and Euroleague play, starting 18 times and averaging 5.7 points and 3.4 rebounds in 14.4 minutes per game on 51.3 percent shooting overall while hitting 32.6 percent on 1.7 3-point tries a game.

Isaia Cordinier, whose rights were acquired in last July’s trade that sent Jeremy Lin to the Atlanta Hawks, returned after missing the 2017-18 season following knee surgery to average  10.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 25.3 minutes per game for Antibes in France’s top league.

He shot 48.2 percent overall and 33.3 percent on 2.8 3-point attempts per game. But the 6-foot-4 guard signed a two-year deal with JSP Nanterre in France, as reported by L’Equipe on June 5. The contract does, however, allow him to come to Brooklyn.

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Cordinier made the move to Nanterre to remain in the Jeep Elite League after Antibes was relegated to the second-division Pro B circuit for next season.