Nets’ loss to Raptors tightens grip on sixth spot in lottery standings
The Nets game against the Raptors on Sunday had all kinds of lottery ramification. And both lineups showed it.
For months, Toronto has craftily massaged its endgame rotations to tank.
But with the sixth spot in the lottery standings at stake, both teams put forth lineups more befitting Las Vegas Summer League.
Playing without their entire starting five, the Nets even handed Drew Timme and Reece Beekman their first-ever starts.
And in the end, they fell 120-109 before 17,007 at Barclays Center — a loss that will feel like a win to the pro-tank crowd.
This is really Year Zero of the Nets rebuild, suffering for the chance at a high lottery pick next month.
The Nets are 25-53 — just 16-43 after a 9-10 start — and seem all but assured of going into the lottery with the sixth-best odds.
Fifth-place Philadelphia has lost 11 straight and is determined to not win for the rest of the season.
And after Saturday’s loss, the Nets lead the seventh-place Raptors by 3 ½ games with just four to play.
Sixth appears a fait accompli.
With the likelihood of finishing fifth, the Nets would have a nine percent chance to win the lottery and claim Duke star Cooper Flagg as well as a 37.2 percent shot at a top four pick.
Their most likely landing spots are seventh (29.8) or eighth (20.5). The Nets also have three more first-round picks, from the Bucks, Suns and cross-river rival Knicks.
With starters Cam Thomas and Noah Clowney already ruled out for the season, Cam Johnson (back), D’Angelo Russell (ankle) and Day’Ron Sharpe (knee) were all hurt Saturday and Nic Claxton was simply rested against Toronto.
The Nets were led by Timme, who was just signed from the G-League on March 28. Standing in for Claxton and Sharpe at center, he had 13 points and seven rebounds.
Beekman got the nod at point guard and had a team-high 14 points and five assists but posted a horrid minus-26.
“They’ve been put in situations that they haven’t before, and I think that’s always a positive when you have to perform outside your comfort zone,” coach Jordi Fernández said of the inexperienced guards. “If a mistake happens, it’s not on them. As long as they try hard, it’s on me because I’m putting them in that place.
“It’s good to see what we have. We’ve been put in situations that I’ve been running plays for players that with a full roster probably I would’ve not done it. … But then they get to show you a lot of things and that’s how you see development in a different way … I think that’s all a positive. Players teach us in what positions we should put them, and you have to just be ready to watch them do their best.”
What the Nets did was trail by 23.
They allowed a 12-4 run in the first quarter, then surrendered 12 unanswered later in the period.
The Nets watched the Raptors put eight scorers in double figures — led by Jonathan Mogbo’s 17 points and 11 rebounds — including all five reserves who saw action.
Against Toronto, they shot 10-for-35 from deep with 23 turnovers.
“Very happy with how the season has gone, from the relationship with ownership, front office, the direction of the vision, the plan, the execution, where we are at, very, very, very happy with us. We have a very important summer in front of us, for obvious reasons,” Fernández said, in an understatement.
“As far as myself — learning every day. I think that’s been my approach since Day 1. You don’t know what this job is until you do it, the amount of things you have to deal with — like media twice on game days. But I think you learn, you learn every single day, and that makes you a better coach, and you’re more prepared than you know the day after. I believe that next season I’ll be even better because I’ll have more days and more games under my belt.”
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