New York Notes: Sharpe, Nets Offseason, Towns, Knicks

Nets center Day’Ron Sharpe will hit restricted free agency this summer. Lucas Kaplan of Nets Daily predicts that the big man, who has developed his game considerably under first-year coach Jordi Fernandez, will be re-signed by Brooklyn.

Kaplan observes that Sharpe has grown significantly in traditional actions near the basket, is able to hold his own defensively when he is switched onto guards, and has evolved as a rebounder and defender.

Across 50 games this year, the 6’11” big man averaged a career highs of 7.9 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 1.8 APG, 0.8 SPG and 0.8 BPG in 18.1 MPG. Kaplan believes that Sharpe, still just 23, could have a chance at evolving beyond being a career backup.

There’s more out of New York:

• The Nets have an intriguing summer ahead of them, as Keith Smith of Sportac outlines in his new offseason preview. This will represent the club’s first full rebuild cycle with a high lottery pick. The Nets boast $54.5MM in practical cap space. Smith predicts that Brooklyn will ink Sharpe to a three-year, $30MM deal.
• With their first round playoff series against the lower-seeded Pistons knotted at 1-1, the Knicks have their work cut out for them to advance this year. Stefan Bondy of The New York Post outlines three key issues New York needs to address in this series.
• The Knicks need to re-focus All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns in their offense against Detroit, opines Fred Katz of The Athletic. Towns did not even try to shoot during the fourth quarter of New York’s eventual Game 2 defeat on Monday. The Pistons have found some success pinning a smaller defender, often forward Tobias Harris, on Towns for much of their actions. “He’s getting touches. He’s making the right play,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “If he’s getting double-teamed, I don’t want him to shoot the ball over three people.”