Nets Notes: Thomas, Young Players, Wilson, Arena

Nets guard Cam Thomas wasn’t one of the 11 players from 2021’s draft class who signed a rookie scale extension prior to Monday’s deadline, but if he can consistently play like he did in the team’s regular season opener on Wednesday, he should have no problem cashing in as a restricted free agent next summer.

As Steve Lichtenstein writes on his Substack, Thomas racked up 36 points despite frequently being defended by Dyson Daniels, but it was his other contributions that were even more encouraging. The 23-year-old, viewed by critics as a one-dimensional player, filled up the box score by also contributing five rebounds, three assists, and three steals in his 34 minutes of action, and earned praise from head coach Jordi Fernandez for both his shooting efficiency and his performance on the other side of the ball.

“It was great, very efficient, shot over 50 percent from the field and from three, five rebounds,” Fernandez said, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscription required). “And I thought that his physicality defensively was there, too. He worked on both sides of the floor.”

Thomas made just 7-of-17 shots from the field in his second game of the season on Friday, but hit 3-of-5 three-pointers and once again contributed in other ways, grabbing six rebounds and handing out three assists.

Here’s more on the Nets:

• Although the Nets traded away Mikal Bridges over the summer, the team didn’t fully tear down its roster, with veterans like Dorian Finney-Smith, Dennis Schröder, and Cameron Johnson remaining in Brooklyn. Still, as Lewis writes in a subscriber-only story for The New York Post, the club is carving out plenty of minutes for its younger players in the early going this season, with Thomas, Nic Claxton, Jalen Wilson, Ziaire Williams, and Noah Clowney all part of the rotation.
• While not everyone from the Nets’ current group of youngsters will be part of the team’s long-term core, Wilson recognizes that there’s an opportunity for those players to show they deserve to be in the club’s plans. “Orlando was at a point in time where they were young and they lost a lot of games,” Wilson said, referring to Brooklyn’s Friday opponent. “The same guys came back and they’re just getting better. So you see the process; we’ve just got to buy into it, continue to grind, continue to show up even when days may be tough. And that’s part of the process really.”
• Fernandez is giving Wilson, who scored 16 points on Wednesday, a mandate to improve on defense and is confident the 23-year-old will show more on that end of the court. “Every time I challenge him and I tell him, he always responds,” Fernandez said, according to Lewis. “So I know J-Wil will be a very good player on both ends, a two-way player. But that’s what I’m going to demand. If I see one day that he’s not, I’m going to let him go. And that goes for everybody, too.” Wilson doesn’t have a fully guaranteed contract, so he’s still vying to earn a full-season roster spot.
• BSE Global, the Nets’ parent company, announced a five-year, $100MM plan to “enhance (the) fan experience” at Barclays Center, which will include upgrading the arena entrances and installing a new state-of-the-art sound system, among other changes.
• As we relayed earlier this afternoon, the Long Island Nets agreed to acquire Colin Castleton‘s returning rights from the South Bay Lakers in a deal that sent the No. 5 pick in today’s G League draft to L.A.’s affiliate, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report (via Twitter)