Brooklyn Nets Summer League Recap: Who Impressed & Who Disappointed?

Brooklyn Nets Summer League Recap: Who Impressed & Who Disappointed?

Heat. Heat. N. [Music] [Music] What is going on, Brooklyn Net fans? Hello everyone and welcome back here into another edition of the Brooklyn Boys Show right here on this Thursday, July 17th, 2025. Make sure you smash that like button and hit subscribe on your way into the building. It’s completely free and it helps us grow significantly right here on the channel. Today we are joined by a very special guest, the host of the KM Dam show on WFAN. The great Keith McFerson graces us with his presence right here on the program. Keith, summer league’s wrapped up. Preseason training camp ahead for Brooklyn. How you doing? Oh, Keith, we can’t hear you. Think you might have been muted there. Okay, can you hear me now? We got you. Sorry about that. Yeah, I think it just muted, you know, in between. Um, but hey, good morning. Thanks for having me. I appreciate you having me on this show, the Brooklyn Boys. I’m going to definitely start watching and listening and following you guys. I brought out the old school talking Nets headband. Oh yeah, baby. And uh, yeah, I used to do Nets podcast every two games. I used to be uh one of the leaders as far as Nets content creation when they did have KD and Kyrie and even Harden and uh Ben Simmons. But yeah, now we’re in an interesting space with the Brooklyn Nets. I just was reading that they are probably going to be the youngest team as far as average age in the NBA and they’re a team that people don’t know what the starting five is going to look like. They’re still trying to figure some stuff out. So yeah, coming off of summer league and the Nets getting their first win and uh you know a a pretty much a statement win I would say too from what you saw out of their top pick and uh Igor Deon and then Danny Wolf as well. Um I think you know at least that gives some Nets fans some good vibes heading into training camp. You mentioned two of the rookies there, two of the five Nets first round draft picks this year and Danny Wolf uh Jourman. Obviously, they selected three more rookies. Drake Powell, unfortunately, did not play any summer league due to a knee injury, but we did see Ben Saraf in action. We did see Nolan Trayor in action. What I kind of want to get into first, which rookie were you most pleased with throughout their summer league performance? I mean, the number eight overall pick, uh, you I always say Igor Demond, but I know there’s a pronunciation key for his name. Say his name how you just said it. Jaor Gman. Yang. Jaor Jim. Yeah, I’m not Russian. I can’t hit that. His name reads Eigor Demond. But yeah, you know, so many people were saying this kid can’t shoot and then he kind of caught fire yesterday. Um knocked down some threes. Um I’m I’m very interested to see what he can do as I feel like they kind of overdrafted him. That’s what everybody said. like no one expected him to go top 10, but when you overdraft a player, that means you have an idea of where you want him to be or you have a plan for that specific guy where you’re like, that’s our guy. I don’t know if it’s this year for him, but um yeah, I think he’s he’s got to lead the way. He’s got to be the point guard of the future. And I did see, let’s see, what is this? Um yeah, ESPN put out a projected depth chart and they had him as the starting one. So, we’ll see. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, this is someone who coming out of college is known for his playmaking ability, known for his ability to make everyone around him on the floor, you know, better players. Not only was he pretty solid from downtown yesterday, but during the the Wizards game on Sunday, he shot the three ball at a 44.4% clip. In college, he shot the three ball at under 30%. I said when the Nets drafted him, if he is able, if he’s not able to develop a shot from downtown and not being able to, you know, consistently hit shots from inside the field, I think he’s going to be a backup point guard. But if he is able to improve his shooting, he is able to be, you know, shooting the three ball at a 35 36% mark in the NBA regular season, I think he’s going to be a very, very good point guard at this level. I think his mechanics are set. I just think the Nets need someone to come and develop him and give him the opportunity to take these shots because at BYU they utilized him strictly as a playmaker. They didn’t really give him full autonomy to, you know, cut one loose from from downtown. So, Jagor is certainly going to be interesting. See how he develops in Brooklyn. Now, on the flip side, I want to get into a rookie who maybe disappointed you. Ben Saraf, there were some games he was okay. There were some games where he struggled. Danny Wolf, there were some games where he looked lost. And then yesterday, obviously, had a pretty big game. We both agree that Jaor had a very strong performance throughout summer league. Which rookie disappointed you the most, Keith? I think a I just reading Ned’s Twitter, um, Ben Saraf, but like I I tried to tell some people to that, yo, this why’ they waste a pick on this? I’m like, dude, they they drafted five first round picks and you guys read so much in summer league. It’s a developmental league. They’re playing against other players that are developing. Guys are going to have bad games. It’s just that you get to see them on TV now. Once upon a time, you didn’t get to see You know what I’m saying? Like you got to kind of relax. These games won’t mean anything in the grand scheme of their careers. The best players in the NBA, you know, it’s funny when you go back. I I just saw them pull up Giannis dominating summer league and I was like, I don’t remember that at all. Um, but then Danny Wolf is another one. He actually had a great game yesterday where I think that kind of back some people off as well. 18.6 six rebounds, four assists, and you’re kind of seeing the potential of him to play the five stretch five like a big that has his skill set um in this NBA. Not not comparing him to Joic, but you like, you know, we’ve seen that be successful. Not comparing him to Carl Anthony Towns, but we’ve seen that have some success. Absolutely. I mean, Danny Wolf is a guy, I think the first three summer league games, seemed like he was getting his footing on an NBA court competing against NBA level competition. I mean, this is a guy who, I think, turned the ball over six times during the OKC game last Thursday, the first summer league game. Struggled defensively, had four plus fouls in almost every uh summer league game. So, Wolfe certainly had his struggles, but the way I look at Danny Wolf is a guy who I think can fit really nicely next to Nick Claxton on the floor. I think this is a guy who, like you mentioned, Keith, can be a stretch five for you, but I view him more as a four next to Claxton, who can shoot, who can um facilitate the offense for you. So, I’m really looking at Danny Wolf and saying I think he can play next to Nick Claxton. I don’t think he’s anywhere near a starter at the NBA level right now, but I think he has the tools, the skill set to develop into a nice rotational piece for Brooklyn this season. There it is, the summer league recap for the rookies. You mentioned Ben Saraf as your most disappointing player. I’d have to agree with you. I mean, this is the guy I had the lowest expectations for uh after the draft. This is someone who was the third guard they selected out of five draft picks. I expect him to spend a lot of time in Long Island this season and develop. It’s not a wasted pick though, like you mentioned, cuz never put too much in summer league. Look, last year Jaylen Wilson was the summer league MVP. There’s a chance he might not even crack Brooklyn’s roster this season. So, summer league, you know, it’s it’s a time for for fans to overreact. you know, is this guy a bust? Is this guy going to be the next Luca Donic? That’s what summer league is for. And obviously preseason and training camp um up ahead. What should fans really be looking for throughout the preseason? We obviously kind of have a list that, you know, summer league isn’t the most important thing. Preseason is more important than summer league in my eyes because then you start to narrow it narrow it down to guys who are really really competing for roster spots and competing for the final spots. What should fans be looking out for in particular throughout the preseason? uh some growth from last year, some some identity. You know, that’s another thing about summer league. These guys are it’s it’s essentially pickup basketball. These guys, they just met each other. They literally just met each other a month ago. It’s not even Jordy Fernandez who coaches the team by the way, dude. It’s like uh people read too much into it. It’s hard. Like if you’ve ever played pickup basketball with strangers, it’s just like you don’t know where guys are going to be on the court. That’s why there is so many turnovers. That’s why some guys do look so bad and out of place. But like once you get into preseason, you want to see growth from guys from last year. You want to see the Nets develop an identity and a playing style. And they’ve talked so much about how they want to play fast, how they want to play in transition, how they want to move the ball. Uh if if we’re not seeing that, then I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know what to expect from this team. I want to get excited around this this team, but they they have to win some games. They have to develop an identity. They have to have some players that stand out and like I already said, they’re going to be super young. If you see them getting dominated, it’s just going to be another season of like, okay, are we tanking for the next prospect? Are we just going to lose out and not even do that correctly? Yeah, it’s this is going to be a really interesting year for Brooklyn because it’s going to be year two of the new head coach in Jordy Fernandez. There are a lot of new pieces and for a team that, let’s be honest, Keith, doesn’t have all that much established talent, they’re a pretty deep team. Like, there aren’t too many roster spots up for grabs right now. They have a lot of guys who I think can play rotational minutes for this team. So, it’s going to be interesting to see what Brooklyn’s able to do in preseason because there are a lot of NBA caliber players who do take the floor for Brooklyn in the preseason. Like you mentioned, they have time to kind of gel. They have time to play together. They can build that chemistry. So preseason certainly going to be interesting for Brooklyn. They’re playing two games in China this preseason against the uh Phoenix Suns, the first team to do that in NBA history. So that’s going to certainly be a a fun series to look out for. Keith, the Nets have two of their three two-way contracts taken up already by Tossan Wma and Tyson Etien. Nobody really caught my eye in the summer league and I was like, you need to hand that guy a two-way. First name that comes to mind would be Drew Timmy. But Drew Timmy, the Nets already exercised his team option, so they can’t convert that into a two-way deal. Team option, not no guaranteed money at all. Just a quick one-year deal. So, they can’t convert Drew Timmy into a two-way deal. Same for Tyrese Martin. Same for uh Jaylen Wilson. Same for Keon Johnson. That said, do you have anyone in mind who you think should be a strong candidate to land the Nets final two-way deal? I don’t know. I was looking at Nets Daily today, and I just started thinking about that. Nets Daily put out, “The Nets have 17 players on standard contracts, including all three restricted free agents, of which are non-g guaranteed. They have two two-ways as well, neither guaranteed. That’s 19, two short of training camp limit. They also have a minimum of 22 million under the cap and 8.8 million uh room mid-level um room mid-level exception.” Um so, they’re not done. And and I don’t know I it’s hard to it’s hard to it’s hard to like pinpoint what exactly the Nets are doing. Uh Shawn Marx is cooking he’s working on something. I don’t know if he’s cooking up a good meal or not. But yeah, I don’t know. They they they just come off as super mid. I don’t know who they’re going to go get. Are they going to go add a veteran? Are they going to go add somebody else to add some age to this team? I don’t even know who’s out there right now. Um but I I mean I hope they they can just put together a team that can compete. I have no leads to where they’re going next. Yeah, absolutely. And and this team, I think the problem is they’ve they’ve picked so many different directions to go in. I don’t think it’s clear really what direction Shawn Marks is going in. Who expected this team to select all five of their use and utilize all five of their draft picks on draft night? No one did. Like, and the biggest thing is you can’t even play these five rookies together on the court just because they bring like too many different skill sets. They don’t gel together. you like your starting five for example, Keith, even if you tried to tank this year, you couldn’t just put all five of those rookies in the starting rotation because they don’t play well together. You drafted three guards, you drafted one big, you only have one forward. So, yeah, I mean, it’s not clear what direction Brooklyn’s going in. And someone who’s played a huge role in kind of Brooklyn’s identity over the past few years, who remains on the restricted free agent market is Cam Thomas. And I feel like if I asked you this question when the offseason kicked off, Keith, it would be and obviously you wouldn’t even think about it, just a yes with with a ton of passion and that same for me at that time as well. Now it’s starting to look like Cam Thomas potentially on the move. Do you think Cam Thomas ultimately returns to Brooklyn, kid? Yeah, I think he does and I think he has to for a couple reasons. It’s funny you mentioned Jaylen Wilson as a summer league MVP. I was talking about him on the fan and I also went back to Cam Thomas. Like I think Cam Thomas is a fan fa favorite and I think Cam Thomas is just a walking bucket. Um I I think that like you have these fans that are so uh upset and disappointed over how things have gone over the last few years. If Cam Thomas isn’t happy and he isn’t back after missing like 70 games last year, whatever it was, like um yeah, I think they got to bring that guy back. He is the like the the star player that like at least people have his jersey and you know I know you went and got Michael Porter Jr. and there’s got to be some thought about hey there’s only one ball you know these guys both can can chuck it up but I think they got to get it resolved with Cam Thomas. What I like about Cam Thomas too is that he was around KD, Kyrie, Harden. Like he he got to see what those guys were like very young and he’s kind of come into his own and he’s already broken some records and I just feel like he is drafted, developed, and homegrown. You have to continue with him. Um, if you want any excitement or buzz or the fans to fuel anything around this team, you can’t punch the fans in the stomach again and and and not get the deal done with Cam Thomas. I mean, this is a guy who you utilized an end of the first round pick on just a few years ago out of LSU. He came in, he’s exceeded expectations. I still hold the belief that he’s back in Brooklyn. I thought it was going to be a three, fouryear deal at the start of the offseason. I think you’re looking at a one to twoyear deal right now. I just And I think Cam Thomas would walk if the market was any better. There is no market though right now in free agency. It’s a bad year to be a free agent. I think Cam Thomas wants a one-year deal with a player option. I don’t think he just wants a flatout one-year deal because, you know, coming off a season like he did last year playing only 25 games, it’s really really risky to enter this season with a one-year deal. So, I think he wants a one two-year deal, maybe a one-year deal with with a player option for the 2026 2027 season. I think the biggest reason the Nets really haven’t made a move to resign Cam Thomas and I completely agree that scoring is that’s the only thing Cam Thomas can really do, score. I think we can agree on that. But it’s still a valuable asset to have someone on your team who can get you points from anywhere on the floor, wherever you need it. That’s still such a valuable asset. I think the biggest holdup is I don’t know if Brooklyn thinks Cam Thomas can be, you know, a starting shooting guard, perhaps a starting point guard on a championship winning team. I think that’s the hold up here. But I think it would be very dumb for to to let uh Cam Thomas walk just because like you let Cam Thomas walk, this team is not competitive in any games this season. This team is not scoring over a 100red points at all. Like you have Michael Porter Jr. who I think can get you 20 22 a night in Brooklyn, but Cam Thomas I think can get you 25 27 a night and he’s going to be really able to command this offense. You know run the pick and roll off a guy like you know Danny Wolf, Noah Clowney, Don Sharp. So I think Cam Thomas needs to be back on this team this year if they want to remain competitive in in matchups overall. Uh, I want to what I want to wrap up with here, Keith, is you mentioned you don’t really know what this team is going to do this year. Tanking, not tanking. Where are they ultimately going to finish up? The overunder is currently set at 19 and a half games, one for Brooklyn this season. You taking the over? You taking the under on that? I’m taking the over, man. I just like I I’m so down on the team. I used to go to all the games. I like I said, I used to do these podcasts every two games. We used to do events and like they have taken us from up here to so like like they got to win some games this year. Like they got to figure it out with Cam Thomas. I just had a thought when you were talking about him. I’m like, you know, Jordy Fernandez comes in and maybe he doesn’t fit his style of play and and maybe he doesn’t fit his identity and how the team wants to play, but they got to figure it out. like you said that place, you know, we need Cam Thomas um to score buckets to rally the fans. So, yeah, come on. They can’t win 20 games this year. They got to win 20 games this year. And if they don’t, uh it’s going to be a long wasted season, back-to-back seasons. And like coming off this draft, nobody’s going to have any faith that they’re going to be able to tank properly. The lottery ball is going to bounce their way that they’re going to have a good draft in 2026. And you’re gonna hear people really calling for Shawn Mark’s head as they’ve been multiple times over the last few years. But like now if they’re not able to compete, it’s business, right? You got to get people to come to the Barkley Center. I hate to bring up the, you know, team that plays in Manhattan, but the run that they’ve been having over the last four or five years, like I know what the Nets think about as far as being cross town rivals or being in the same city. You know, there was a point in time where the Nets were going to the playoffs and they weren’t. And the Nets were proud about that. That when April came and the season ended that they continued in the postseason and the other team didn’t. So, if you were in New York and wanted to see playoff basketball, you had to go to Flatbush and Atlantic. They have to get back to being competitive because if they don’t compete in this market, they will continue to be washed out. those young fans that have Durant jerseys and Kyrie jerseys and had their sneakers and were coming out there thinking, “Hey, we’re going to have this group for four years.” That got cut short on them. And those kids, they’re kids. They’re quickly picking up a number 11 blue and orange jersey and begging their parents to take them to the world’s most famous arena. So, the Nets have to come back this year, be somewhat competitive, find an identity, and and rally their fan base. Absolutely. And I’m I’m the most anti-tank person you will meet. I don’t understand tanking. And I I I understand, you know, you want to get the highest draft pick, but I This is the question I asked every single person I’m talking about when they’re pro tankers. When has tanking worked in the NBA? When is tanking single-handedly brought a team to the NBA finals, won a team a championship? It hasn’t. So, why are the Brooklyn Nets going to be the first team to try to experiment and, you know, break that leaguewide trend? One thing I will add before we do wrap up about what you mentioned there with Cam Thomas playing from Ka with K uh Kyrie and K uh Katie, excuse me. I mean Katie and Kyrie are very very I think petty players would be the word to use when it comes to contractual negotiations. Cam Thomas being mentored by both those guys. I mean don’t you think he’s picking something up from their strategies as well? I’m sure he’s going to want to, you know, optimize every single penny out of this current contract. and restricted free agency is still in in in kind of this gray area right now because Josh Giddy of the Chicago Bulls is still on the restricted free agency market. Jonathan Kaminga is still available. We heard the Nets floated around as a team interested in Kaminga. Obviously, uh Cam Thomas being one of them. And then Quinton Grimes who played for the 76ers last off uh last season is also still on the restricted free agent market. So, a lot of moves to be held before the start of the regular season for Brooklyn. And I think this is really going to determine return Cam Thomas returning what direction this team wants to go in this season. But Keith, nevertheless, I can’t thank you enough for joining me right here on the Brooklyn Boys Show. You got any final thoughts here before we wrap up? Uh yeah, have me back on once we get into the season. Hopefully, we come out of the starting blocks, get out of the gates fast, and win some games. And uh yeah, I’ll be definitely paying attention to the Nets this year and just fingers crossed that they’re competitive and that they’re working on something in Brooklyn that we can be proud of. Keith, appreciate you joining me. Follow Keith. He does great work. Listen to his show WFAN. Follow him on all social media. Mick Ferson Brand on YouTube. Keith does such incredible things and one of, you know, only a handful of Net fans in this world. So all the Net fans, you know, shoot him a follow. Support. Yes, is more. There’s plenty of us. We don’t need anymore. Let them all be Knicks fans. Where the Knicks are right now, they’re setting themselves up for disaster, failure, cuz it’s Eastern Conference Finals. Go to the finals or nothing. And there’s going to be a ton of hurt and pain when they don’t get that done. You already know. Brooklyn rise to the top. Be the top team in New York. That’s what Jordy Fernandez and Shawn Marks are thinking. Appreciate you all tuning in. Make sure you smash that like button and hit subscribe for Keith. I’m your host, Connor Long, signing off. Have a great day everyone.

Brooklyn Nets Summer League Recap: Who Impressed & Who Disappointed?
WFAN’s Keith McPherson joins host Connor Long on The Brooklyn Boys Show to break down every key takeaway from the Nets’ 2025 Summer League run. From Nolan Traore’s flashes of brilliance to struggles from other prospects, the duo dives into who helped their stock and who didn’t. Was this a glimpse of Brooklyn’s future or just summer hype? Don’t miss this must-hear Nets recap.

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