If there’s one factor new Nets ahead Darius Bazley goes to do in Brooklyn — it’s play some protection.
Bazley, the versatile, prep-to-pro ahead who signed a one-year cope with the Nets this offseason, says he’s excited to carry his sport to New York.
“This is like the Mecca of basketball,” Bazley mentioned in his introductory interview with reporters on Thursday. “So simply taking part in in entrance of followers that respect the sport, that love the sport of basketball, love the game.
“I think it’d be really fun.”
Bazley mentioned he doesn’t have a relationship with Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn, however famous he labored out with Nets ahead Cam Johnson this summer time. He additionally says he has a relationship with each Mikal Bridges and Ben Simmons.
And for the 6-foot-8 ahead who has performed minutes at each the 4 and 5 in his four-year NBA profession, protection would be the calling card that earns him common minutes in head coach Jacque Vaughn’s rotation.
“Being able to match-up one through four, one through five, guard bigger wings, be able to guard smaller guards, as well — I’m looking forward to that,” he mentioned on Thursday.
Out of highschool, Bazley skipped faculty and opted to go for the G-League, then skipped the G-League to arrange for the NBA Draft. He went twenty third total to the Utah Jazz within the 2019 NBA Draft however was later a part of two draft-night trades — first to the Memphis Grizzlies within the Mike Conley deal, subsequent to the Oklahoma City Thunder in alternate for ahead Brandon Clarke.
He averaged a career-high 13.7 factors and seven.2 rebounds throughout his second season in Oklahoma City. however the Thunder ultimately opted to maneuver on from the athletic ahead, buying and selling him to the Phoenix Suns after the Kevin Durant deal.
Bazley averaged 5.4 factors and three.4 rebounds for the Thunder within the first half of the season and was not an everyday member of Phoenix’s rotation after the commerce.
He hopes to indicate extra of his sport now in Brooklyn, however says successful is precedence No. 1.
“Offensively, just getting my athleticism into the game, being a knock-down shooter and just having fun playing. The main goal is to win, not for me to — I’m not going into the season [thinking] how can I insert my game?” he mentioned. “These are all things that come with it, but it’s not my main focus. No matter what, though, defense for sure.”
And to win, Bazley believes the Nets must play quick, which seems to be an space of emphasis for the entrance workplace given their offseason acquisitions.
Bazley is the third new free agent the Nets have welcomed after coming to phrases with each Dennis Smith Jr. and Lonnie Walker IV on one-year offers. Both Smith Jr. and Walker IV are recognized for bringing athleticism and scrappy protection to the backcourt.
They venture to backup a beginning lineup of Bridges, Johnson, Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith and Nic Claxton. Simmons stays a wild card given his again harm historical past. As of Summer League, he had but to return to taking part in five-on-five basketball.
“To me, personally, I think there’s some core things that should just happen no matter what throughout the course of the game to give yourself the best shot at winning,” Bazley mentioned on Thursday’s name. “Us having the taste of youngness and also like that veteran presence with some older guys, just fast, playing hard. Defensively, playing hard, getting after it.”
Bazley tasks so as to add depth to the Nets’ frontcourt. Nic Claxton performed the lion’s share of the minutes on the 5 in Brooklyn, and third-year huge man Day’Ron Sharpe’s minutes venture to extend this season as the one true rebounding machine on the roster.
Bazley is a profession 31% three-point shooter however shot 37.7% from downtown final season. He shot the three at a 40% clip throughout his first 36 video games of the season for the Thunder. That proportion plummeted when he arrived in Phoenix, largely outdoors of the Suns’ rotation.
The Nets, nevertheless, might not ask Bazley to shoot many threes. His function will probably be taking part in lockdown protection and injecting vitality and athleticism into his minutes on the ground. He joins a crew that may get pleasure from its first full offseason after the pair of midseason blockbuster trades detonated Brooklyn’s championship hopes.
What’s left now could be a younger crew re-tooling round its budding star, Bridges.
“The young core, with also a veteran presence as well. Just watching them a little bit in the playoffs. Also just throughout the course of the season. The new team that they had towards the end here, they looked like they had fun,” Bazley mentioned. “They looked like they played hard and together. It was just something I wanted to be a part of.”
“When it all came down to it, Brooklyn was the place to be.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com