Noah Clowney didn’t dress up his outlook on Brooklyn’s crowded training camp rotation. He kept it short and blunt.
“Let the best man win.”
That’s the reality facing a Nets team that is no longer simply handing out minutes in the name of development. Clowney started 60 games and averaged 27 minutes last season, but this year he knows the lane is tighter.
If he wants a bigger role, it won’t come from reputation. It’ll come from defense, smart decisions and keeping the ball moving while other players do more of the scoring.
Brooklyn enters the season off a 20-62 finish, and general manager Sean Marks and head coach Jordi Fernández are pushing for growth that shows up in the standings, too. The roster has been reinforced by Julius Randle, Keon Ellis and Moritz Wagner, and the Nets now have eight players acquired through the past two drafts. That gives Fernández more choices - and the young core more competition.
At media day Monday, Marks made the message unmistakable.
“Nothing’s going to be handed to these guys,” Marks said. “I think you can win through development, and you can develop through winning.
And both those things go hand in hand here. So, it’s important for guys to feel like what it takes to win.
They need to be held accountable.”
For Clowney, that means earning every minute in a deeper rotation.
“I think we’ll make each other better in the process, but at the end of the day, probably nine, 10 people are going to play every night,” Clowney said. “So, if you want your minutes, you have to take them.”
Josh Minott has already seen how opportunity can shape a player’s confidence. In 16 Brooklyn games, he averaged 10.8 points in 19.3 minutes, and that run gave him room to show what he can do. Now he expects a different kind of job, one built more around defense, cuts and screens while others carry the offense.
“I’m fully bought in on the goals of the team, and I understand that my role’s very likely going to change from what you guys saw, which I don’t fear at all,” Minott said.
Marks believes last season’s struggles should leave this group better equipped for the challenge. The players have already felt the NBA’s size, speed and physicality, and they entered the summer with a clearer sense of what it takes to survive and thrive. The next question is which of them can become part of the long-term picture.
“We’ve always said over the course of the last couple of years, it’s like we’re looking for the next Nets,” Marks said. “Who are those guys? So, we have a training camp and another year to figure this out as we build.”
The veterans in the room are going to shape that answer. Randle arrives with three All-Star selections and 12 seasons of NBA experience.
Ellis brings playoff experience and point-of-attack defense. Wagner adds another proven big man.
Michael Porter Jr. remains one of Brooklyn’s main offensive weapons.
Their presence raises the standard for everyone else.
“Those kids are not 19 years old anymore,” Fernández said. “They’re 20 and they look older, they look stronger and they’re committed to show up in camp and fight for spots.”
The veteran additions are expected to do more than compete for minutes. Brooklyn also wants them teaching, guiding and steadying the room. Terance Mann said the new pieces are “exactly what we needed.”
“More guys with the experience, like I said before, to help us win that come from winning situations,” Mann said. “So, they’re going to be able to regulate the locker room and not make it like high school all the time, but a little more serious and just help these guys with their future.”
Clowney is already getting a front-row lesson from the player who may eat into his minutes in the frontcourt. Randle has spoken to him about what was asked of him early in his own career, before he earned more freedom in his game. Going against Randle in practice has given Clowney another way to learn.
Drake Powell said Randle used a play in practice to drive home how quickly games can swing and why every possession matters.
“I think it’s just important to value each possession that you have,” Powell said.
Powell believes that kind of daily battle will leave Brooklyn better prepared once the games count. Ben Saraf called the competition healthy. Both players spent the summer working on the consistency their coaches wanted, knowing the deeper roster would make playing time harder to find.
“Everybody needs to fight for his minutes and I’m ready for it,” Saraf said.
Fernández knows the pressure goes both ways. If players do their part and prove they’re ready, he has to reward it.
“If you are that good consistently, don’t worry that I will see that,” Fernández said. “I may make a mistake, but my job is not to make two or three.”
For the Nets, the old approach of learning through heavy minutes for young players has given way to something sharper and less forgiving. The development is still there, but now it has to happen inside a real fight for playing time. And that battle doesn’t end when camp does.
“You take advantage, then it comes, can you sustain it?” Fernández said.
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