There is only one member of the Brooklyn Nets on CBS Sports’ ranking of its top 100 NBA players.
That honor goes to Nic Claxton, who is ranked at no. 91 — a drop-off after coming in at no. 79 before last season. The Brooklyn big is lauded for his “switching, ground coverage [and] rim protection,” just as he was praised for his Defensive Player of the Year potential the previous season, but CBS wants to see more from Claxton with the ball in his hands on higher volume.
New Nets head coach Jordi Fernández appears ready to give the Nets’ star big a chance to tap into the ball skills he has previously shown. In his introductory press conference, Fernández said Claxton would be used in pick-and-roll, applying pressure on the rim and also more often playing out of dribble hand-offs.
“Lately in the NBA, it’s been a style that has been very efficient and it helps us with ball movement,” Fernández said. “When everybody touches the ball and everybody is involved, everybody is happier and you’re harder to guard.”
While in college at Georgia, Claxton was often allowed to playmake and facilitate for others, even being used as a defacto point guard here and there, but he has been confined to a more traditional sort of role for a center since arriving to the NBA.
The 41-year-old Spaniard also called Claxton a priority for the organization, which was echoed by Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks and later reflected in Claxton’s 4-year, $100 million contract signed earlier this summer. Similarly, Fernández said he believed in his Defensive Player of the Year potential. As of now, Claxton appears to be the only surefire long-term piece for the ongoing Nets rebuild.
Ahead of the 2022-23 campaign, the Nets big was joined on that list by Mikal Bridges, who CBS ranked as the 29th best player in the league. For this season’s list, after Brooklyn’s meandering record and an entire year of being his team’s go-to option rather than a secondary or tertiary two-way wing, Bridges dropped to no. 41.
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