Breaking Down Nic Claxton’s Unique Skill Set | Nets Film Focus

Breaking Down Nic Claxton’s Unique Skill Set | Nets Film Focus

in 2024 Nick Claxton continued to prove why his talent is as rare as you’ll find in the NBA let’s break it [Music] down I’m Lucas Kaplan and welcome in Nets film Focus there is a reason that at Jordi Fernandez’s introductory press conference with the Brooklyn Nets the incoming head coach singled out Nick Claxton as a player he’s excited to work with he fits perfectly uh what we want to do moving forward simply put there are not a lot of players in the league like Brooklyn starting center on both ends of the floor still like many centers his impact starts with an ability to protect the rim and because of his athleticism and length he can block shots in a lot of different ways sometimes it looks more traditional like meeting a driver and drop coverage right there or rotating over from the Block to absolutely stuff Kevin Knox on the rooll but other times claxton’s block shots come from a rare intersection of an ability to cover ground and genuine defensive instincts for example on these blocks claxon is coming from the top of the key and timing his jumps perfectly certainly a non-traditional route for a shop Locker to take but one he executes beautifully cla’s ranked fourth in the NBA among qualified players in Block rate this season at 6.2% and that’s after leading the league in said category in 2023 at 7.1% but that slight drop off was a small price to pay for major improvements elsewhere Nick posted the lowest foul rate of his career since a rookie season in which he played under 200 total minutes he also posted career bests in everything boards defensive rebound rate offensive rebound rate total rebound rate you name it the separator though as it’s always been for Nick Laxton is his ability to guard on the perimeter to switch out and defend anybody the NBA has to offer a highlight of this season for me is when the Nets decided to put Nick on Luca donic straight up against Dallas forcing an airball right there then he gets through the screen and blocks Luca shot strong off the glass we also saw clack’s guard Giannis in ISO blocking that layup attempt but he’s still quick enough to guard a guy like Trey young forcing him into a turnover here and I just want you to look at how quickly he moves his feet guarding one of the shiftiest guys in the NBA in Tyrese Maxi his presence can be felt all over the defensive side of the ball in addition to stifling all sorts of opponents on the perimeter team shot just 63% at The Rim when Claxton was on the court this season that’s more than 5 percentage points worse compared to when he sat per cleaning the glass and offensively while Claxton was still the alleyoop threat that we’ve known him to be throughout his career he flashed some skills on that end that head coach Jordy Fernandez is excited to work with in 2025 and the way we can play through him obviously is’s very good in pick and roll he’s is quick to the rim he puts pressure on the rim but also his ability to play the dribble handoff game which as you guys know lately uh in the NBA is a style that has been very efficient and it helps us with ball movements indeed Jordi Fernandez is not lying when he says that Nick can pressure the rim his dexterity and his ball handling skills are just superb for a guy nearly 7 ft tall here the Nets are running a handoff for him 30 ft from the rim this this is an inverted pick and roll where the smaller guard sets the screen and Nick particularly likes these because he can get to the rim so quickly maneuvering around shed Homen here for an offhand and one and speaking of that dribble handoff game Nick is particularly Adept at faking these dunking over wemi there and bodying up Dom Barlo to finish again it’s because he can get to the rim so quickly here just using two dribbles to cover 20 ft and as you might imagine this ability translates nicely to the full court where Nick can get a board and get the transition attack started himself here he beats Nika yic up the floor and this causes all sorts of confusion for Denver ultimately ending in a layup for Nick we saw this guard likee ability from CLA more than ever in the 2024 season in fact a career- high portion of his buckets came unassisted meaning he created them largely without the help of a teammate the ball in his hands and while this part of his game was mostly confed to running the floor and cealing mismatches as we see right there Nick Claxton did have his most successful postup season as a pro on Nick’s postup opportunities that led directly to a shot the net scored 1.25 points per possession a Mark that ranked in the 86th percentile among all NBA players per cgy Sports clearly the foundation is there for the sort of post and dribble handoff Hub that Fernandez has discussed and in terms of playmaking it’s a sign that Nick Claxton posted a career high assist rate in 24 while we know Claxton can score out of the short roll maneuvering around smaller defenders in front of him it was nice to see him make reads like that a lob to a baseline cutter or here holding the ball until a cut opens up to the basket this could be another skill that Nick continues to develop and would that really be a surprise considering how versatile his game already is probably not certainly Nick Claxton excels at many of the standard big man activities like finishing at The Rim or blocking shots down low but he is anything but a traditional big man his ability to guard on the perimeter and to handle the rock on offense make him a multifaceted threat whose presence can be felt no matter what the game plan is no matter who the opponent is thank you guys for watching and stay tuned for more

In episode 5 of Nets Film Focus, Lucas Kaplan breaks down the tape from Nic Claxton’s 2023-24 season, focusing on his elite rim protection, ability to guard on the perimeter, and the playmaking growth he showcased on the offensive end of the floor.

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