Brooklyn Nets: Early 2019 NBA Summer League takeaways

The 2019 NBA Summer League is underway, and the Brooklyn Nets have four developing players in particular that are worth monitoring.

With new free agent signee Kevin Durant out until next season, the Brooklyn Nets likely won’t be competing for a title in 2019-20. For this reason, head coach Kenny Atkinson may place elevated importance on the development of young players. The NBA Summer League provides another avenue for this development.

(Credit to Basketball-Reference and NBA.com for statistics.)

There Nets have four players on the 2019 NBA Summer League roster that are particularly worth monitoring.

1. Jarrett Allen: As arguably the team’s best interior player, it’s fairly surprising that Allen is on the Summer League roster after two seasons of experience.

2. Rodions Kurucs: The 40th overall pick in 2018 got solid experience last season, appearing in 63 games.

3. Dzanan Musa: The 29th overall pick in 2018 spent almost all of last season in the G League, but the organization is optimistic about his development.

4. Nicolas Claxton: The 31st overall pick in last month’s draft has high upside and could definitely receive playing time this season.

Wins and losses don’t exactly matter in Summer League, but the team is 2-1 thus far. Brooklyn fell 96-92 to the Dallas Mavericks, beat a Croatian team 74-58, then beat the Washington Wizards 88-85 this past Monday.

Jarrett Allen

Allen’s development has been on display the last two seasons, so there’s no reason to make too much of a few Summer League games. He performed really well in the first contest, scoring 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting and snagging eight rebounds in 29 minutes. Game two wasn’t as impressive, however, as he shot only 1-for-5 from the field in 26 minutes.

Allen didn’t play against Washington, and he might not see many more minutes this summer (typical for better players in Summer League).

Rodions Kurucs

Kurucs showed flashes of scoring and passing during his rookie year, but his jump shot will likely be the key to unlocking his development. He made 58 of his 184 3-pointers last season (31.5 percent), but there is reason to expect improvement.

The 6’9″ forward has played really well thus far in Summer League, scoring 36 points on 15-of-21 shooting (71.4 percent) in the three games combined. The shot has looked good thus far as well, with Kurucs connecting on four of his seven long range attempts.

Nic Claxton

Claxton was initially eased into Summer League, playing only 13 and 15 minutes in the first two games, respectively. He didn’t do too much statistically (six points total) but showed some impressive flashes.

The rookie got more of an opportunity against the Wizards and took advantage, scoring 12 points on 6-of-6 shooting while adding seven rebounds in 20 minutes of play.

Dzanan Musa

Musa hasn’t been terribly efficient in the first two games, shooting 9-of-29 overall and 5-of-18 from beyond the arc. Even so, it’s probably healthy for Summer League players like Musa to push themselves in an expanded role, even if the results aren’t always pretty.

At the same time, Musa’s uneven performance probably indicates he’s not quite ready to contribute and will may see more time in the G League.

Brooklyn next plays Wednesday, July 10 at 5:30 p.m. ET against the Orlando Magic.