3 Takeaways from Brooklyn Nets Media Day 2025
Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images
It’s training camp meaning the season is close and Collin Helwig’s “3 takeaways” are back. It’s easy, and frankly understandable, to make a mountain out of a molehill with anything that was said this Monday at HSS Training Center.
Not counting the Paris Olympics, it’s been 170 days since we last saw the Brooklyn Nets in action and the Olympic contingent was limited to the new head coach’s work for Team Canada. It’s been 106 days since the NBA Finals ended. Needless to say, our basketball stockpiles are at their driest right now — and when there’s nothing but puddles seeping into the bottom of that barrel, any tablespoon of basketball-related content you scrape out will surely taste like a full glass to unquenched lips.
Metaphors aside, that’s exactly what NBA Media Day gave us this week. Nobody put up any shots. Nobody bounced the ball unless it was for a few social media promotional GIFs. Nobody got out on the court unless it was for the official team photo.
Be that as it may, Monday still gave fans their first bit of Brooklyn Nets content geared directly toward the 2024-25 campaign. It was a teaser trailer for the film that is the season to come, and even if that ends up being the horror flick many expect it to be, admit it, it made you a little excited.
So with as much caution as we can, let’s dive in. We didn’t learn what kind of defensive scheme the Nets will run this year, who’ll be the starting point guard, or where anyone expects to be traded. But we did learn a few things.
No Tank Talk
The rhetorical gymnastics performed by identified rebuilding teams is always a sight to behold on media day. This goes for all sports at the professional level.
Questions about expectations for the season have to be asked. Answers projecting a willingness to win have to be said. But under it all, there’s an unsaid, mutual understanding that you can only put so much stock in any statement made during the exchange. It’s a charade that continues during the season’s early week and slows with each loss. “We want to win” statements morph into “We want to get better every day.” Then, it finally all ceases once the team meets its elimination.
Well, that is, unless you’re Jakob Poeltl, who could not have cared less about any of the above while taking the podium in Toronto this week.
He can say that? pic.twitter.com/B3P8oalJax— (@ogchabzo) September 30, 2024
I don’t doubt Brooklyn’s desire to both win and get better every day, but I also believe they understand that the latter is more likely than the former, especially when you consider where the team is at in terms of talent in a league that’s never been more loaded with it.
Having said that, the Nets still did everything they could to give an opposite impression. Brooklyn played the role of a competitive team on media day to a tee, calling out its league-low 19.5 over/under win total for the season and shooting down any “rebuild” narratives like Arthur Morgan with Dead Eye enabled.
Dorian Finney-Smith: "I don't look at it as a rebuild; I'm trying to win. Especially if Ben is Ben, I feel like we've got a good chance to win some games." Day'Ron Sharpe adds he feels the low win projections are disrespectful. #Nets— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) September 30, 2024
Notorious tanking teams of the past like the “Process” 76ers didn’t sound that defiant on Media Day before their first season as expected basement-dwellers. Nobody said it “makes no sense to try and win every single game,” like Poeltl did, either.
Whether this was an acting performance worthy of academy recognition or an early sign of the team’s vigor as a scrappy unit that surprises everyone and makes the playoffs or play-ins remains to be seen. But the point is, the Nets in no way sounded like a tanking team on Monday, even in the wake of an offseason that absolutely invited them to.
Everyone and their mother expects the Nets to leverage their situation for a high draft pick eight months from now. They probably still do. But that’s not the team’s goal, at least not in October.
This Team Doesn’t Lack Confidence
Cam Thomas is the expected breadwinner for the Nets this coming season. It was all too fitting for him to give us something to commemorate on Media Day as well. When sitting with the YES Network’s Frank Isola and Chris Shearn, Thomas was asked about the competition he sees from opposing defenders. The Bayou Bucket didn’t give an inch.
“No,” said Thomas, when asked if there’s “one guy” who sticks out as someone who’s difficult to score on. “It’s just mainly team defense for me. Most people have been doubling and when I have the iso everybody load up, so I can get the ball in my hands.”
“So the answer is nobody?” Isola followed up.
“No, it’s nobody,” Thomas answered. “It’s really individual. I mean, usually team defense. Honestly, I think at practice, it’s harder. I feel like my guys in here defend me better, so, you know, that’s it.”
Cam Thomas discusses being consistent, the vibes on the Brooklyn Nets this season, being one of the longest-tenured players on the team, what he needs to improve on, and so much more. pic.twitter.com/nyWpvarG5t— YES Network (@YESNetwork) September 30, 2024
While confidence has never been something lacking from Thomas, it’s a welcome sight at the cusp of a campaign where everybody expects the team to run things through him.
Ben Simmons echoed belief in himself as well. We haven’t had as many big Ben10 moments in Brooklyn as the team, he, or anyone outside of Philadelphia has hoped for at this point, but the three-time All-Star was quick to remind everyone of the ones that we have seen nonetheless.
“I think people forget me as a player when I’m healthy,” Simmons said, speaking on his health and role with the team. “You know, I can play basketball, I’m pretty good right?”
Ben Simmons:“I think people forget me as a player when I am healthy. I can play basketball. I'm pretty good.” ️pic.twitter.com/h8GQV51gO2— BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) September 30, 2024
It’s easy to sound tough before the season starts, just like it’s easy to talk when you’re up. I don’t think Simmons or Thomas would disagree with that. However, it’s a difficult thing not to note in the parameters of a media day.
Simmons could have said something along the lines of “Let’s take this day by day,” or “I’m just going to be the best player I can be,” but he didn’t. He chose to remind everyone of his prior form. If he truly did not believe he could bring that All-Star version out of himself again, it wouldn’t make any sense for him to remind everyone of its existence.
Thomas could have said — well — actually if Thomas had said anything other than that it would have been totally out of character for him. But regardless, between him, Simmons, and even Sharpe taking offense to Brooklyn’s projected win total, there’s reason to believe these Nets are confident going into the upcoming season, even if analysts and sportsbooks are not.
No Guaranteed Roles
It’s no secret that Brooklyn’s star power has dwindled over the past few years, but even after the big three fallout, it was still easy to infer what main players the team would build its rotation around. As a result, starting five position battles were few and far between.
But now, with the team committed to a rebuild and carrying several players on a similar skill level, we’re gearing up for a positional war, and Jordi Fernández just fired the “shot heard round Brooklyn.”
“I’m not guaranteeing anything to anyone,” Fernández said last week, speaking on the upcoming season with Sean Marks. “No minutes. No spots. Nothing.”
The new Nets coach then doubled down on the openness of his rotation, specifically at the point guard spot during media day.
“I want to be put in a tough spot,” Fernández said of deciding between Simmons and Dennis Schröder at the point. “These are two really good players. They both want to start, and that’s what I want. I want to create healthy competition within the group, and then from there, make me decide.”
Jordi Fernandez on the Nets’ starting point guard battle between Dennis Schroder and Ben Simmons:"I want to be put in a tough spot. These are two really good players. They both want to start, and that's what I want. I want to create healthy competition within the group, and… pic.twitter.com/LnHwkRKhB9— Erik Slater (@erikslater_) October 1, 2024
Every team wants to foster some internal competition to bring out the best of its players, but Brooklyn seems to be taking things a step further. The Nets repeatedly expressing their plans to create such an environment argues it will be a focal point, rather than an ancillary component, of their season.
Players seem on board as well. Noah Clowney, who’s gearing up for just his second NBA season, and Trendon Watford, a soon-to-be four-year veteran, both supported Fernández’s comments.
On Jordi Fernández saying nobody is guaranteed opportunityNoah Clowney: "It don't really concern me. You should never be promised minutes anyway. So go into camp with the mindset. 'I got to take what I want.'"Trendon Watford: "I love it."— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) September 30, 2024
On a team with little expectations, an approach like this fits the bill. It’s your job as the coach to experiment with players and figure out who you want to keep aboard as a building block for the future and who might better serve you as trade bait. Giving younger players the opportunity to play big minutes and develop is paramount as well.
Nonetheless, this is still worth noting, as it’ll be a new experience for Nets fans. As a bonus, even if the team falls out of playoff contention fast, the internal competition should provide some season-long entertainment ... until the Draft Lottery in May.
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