NBA SIMS LEAGUE
NSL Insider - Team by Team: Brooklyn Netsby KLEMMELO, updated on Wednesday, October 30 2019, 09:54 am EST
Culver looks to be a great young prospect, taken in the top five of the most recent rookie draft. Zubac and Cauley-Stein are good, youngish Cs with a lot of size and length and might still have some growing to do. Breece has a slew of unsexy wings at his disposal, but each have some great traits – Dotson is a microwave off the bench, Bullock is elite at threes, Holiday is a great defender and Dudley just seems like a nice guy that everyone likes; chemistry at 100. Mills is a great backup and one of the best bombers in the league. Starting power forward looks somewhat underwhelming in a vacuum, but when you analyse the fit next to Drummond, those players will be maximised in comparison to their natural skillset, and that’s good news.
Which brings me to my next topic… Andre Drummond & Kemba Walker Make no mistake, this team is theirs. They have been surrounded by shooting wings and some raw younger talent and will get to play as many minutes as they wish. Both incredibly durable players, they fit together incredibly well and are both enhanced in their abilities by what the other player brings to the relationship. Andre Drummond One of the best big men in the game and still young, Drummond is great, but a bit of an enigma. Sure he stuffs the rebounds column like Gilbert Arenas stocks handguns (plentiful), but does his play style contribute to winning basketball? Is he overrated, or underrated? He has plenty of time to prove the pundits right or wrong, and at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter because he is a great basketball player. He is truly elite at rebounding, dunking, finishing inside, blocking, stealing and defense and athleticism for a big but just overall, which is why he is so dominant on the court. His body moves with a level of fluidity that eludes most professional athletes and especially most big men. This gives him a huge advantage on the court and is a big reason why he averages close to 20 rebounds a game and steals and blocks combining for 3-4. For this upcoming season, keeping in mind Drummond’s natural development and the need/want from this team for him to be ‘the guy’, I am envisioning 21 points, 16 rebounds and 4 combined steals/blocks per game from Drummond, pushing him close to the DPOY award. Kemba Walker Walker is a below-average in height point guard with elite skills, motor and intangibles. The dude is a winner. The dude gets better every off-season and lifts his game and output for his team. He is lethal from every range now, whereas the knock on him coming out of college was that he couldn’t hit the long ball. Now, he pretty much scores from wherever he wants and zips around screens and opponents to open up scoring pockets all over the floor. He has a super quick, smooth release, which makes it easy for him to get off good looks in a fraction of the time that it takes most to wind up and let it fly. His height works against him on the defensive side of the ball but his engine, quickness and heart allow him to stay with his man and play the passing lanes for steals. He is incredibly reactive and instinctual in these lanes and will frequently steal it in the back court and go coast-to-coast for a bucket. With Drummond, Walker will form an absolutely lethal pick and roll scoring combination. Kemba’s ability to score from slivers of space is great, but with Drummond setting bone-crunching screens, he will have feet and feet of space to get off a clean look. If the defense collapse onto him, he just has to lob it somewhere near the rim to a diving Drummond for a crushing slam. Drummond can reach more space than almost all players in the league and will finish better than almost all of them at the rim. With low usage, role players surrounding him, Walker will have his pick between an open look or an assist on every possession they run properly. I expect very gaudy numbers for both Walker and Drummond. Very. Team Forecast In the weaker Eastern Conference, I feel confident saying the Nets are a solid playoff team. However, they need to address their depth issues and bring in some more talent. Perhaps trade one of their back up Cs, who carry some trade value, to acquire a starting small forward. I see All-Star seasons for Drummond and Walker, so that’s fun. Good luck, breece. |
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