""I think of Joe Harris. Joe Harris was, like, a disaster the first year. Like, 'Can this guy play in the league?' There were a bunch of guys in that bucket. We had the luxury of being able to throw them out there, though. There's no better development road than that.""
""This seems similar here, where they're like, 'OK, the best way to do this is to get these guys in an NBA game and take their lumps, and they'll learn.' And then year two they'll get a little better, and year three you hope you're in the playoff hunt," Atkinson said. "I would think that's the road map.""
Kenny Atkinson likens the current Nets rebuild to his 2016-17 Brooklyn team that started inexperienced players and accepted losses to accelerate development. The 2016-17 Nets went 20-62, yet players such as Joe Harris, Caris LeVert and Spencer Dinwiddie improved and the team reached the playoffs within three seasons. The Nets are in year two under coach Jordi Fernández and used the June draft to select five first-rounders—Egor Demin, Ben Saraf, Nolan Traore, Drake Powell and Danny Wolf—and retained all five. Brooklyn has not made the playoffs since 2022-23 after parting with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. Rookies Powell and Wolf missed the Barclays Center home opener due to ankle sprains, delaying their debuts.
Read at New York Daily News
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