In the wake of their ongoing zigzagging progress, there remains an unchanged regard for the Brooklyn Nets in the latest Power Ranking released recently by The Athletic for this 2023-24 NBA season.
The Nets occupy the No. 22 slate
In the newest Power Ranking tally of The Athletic, the Nets have taken a minimal downslide — going from last week's No. 21 post to now occupying the No. 22 spot.
Their categorization from this lowly position remains as it is. The Nets are still within the Tier 5 plateau of the league hierarchy (Looking to make the Play-In), and their current standing as the Eastern Conference's 11th seed with a 26-40 card (3.5 games away from the Play-In) just highlights this.
Late game heroes
As the theme of his latest Power Ranking piece revolves around clutch game context, Zach Harper provided his key insights into both Mikal Bridges and Cam Thomas, who have been the Nets' best and worst late-game performers.
Bridges has been the team's focal crunch-time player, with 102 points in 35-of-66 shooting (53.0 percent). On the other hand, Cam has been the unimpressive one with his 34 points out of 8-of-31 field goals (25.8 percent).
“Even though the Nets’ season has fallen apart, Bridges has still been ultra-reliable when it comes to clutch moments. His 76.3 percent free-throw shooting could definitely be better, but he has a ton of free-throw attempts too. Bridges rarely turns it over and always gets to a good spot on the floor to find a shot,” Harper wrote.
“Surprisingly, Thomas has been terrible in the clutch. He’s not afraid to take shots, but he also doesn’t take the best shots. I still like a player like him who can create an attempt out of nothing.”
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