Summer League Nets HC Steve Hetzel Breaks Down Final Game

Brooklyn Nets Summer League head coach Steve Hetzel, usually an assistant coach for bench boss Jordi Fernández, broke down his team’s season finale.

“For us, one of the biggest focuses after we played Oklahoma City the first night was to be more organized offensively,” Hetzel said. “It's as simple as just getting to the spots on the floor that we need to so we can run certain actions, and that took giant leaps.” 

The Nets dropped their Friday night consolation game to the Philadelphia 76ers. The final score was 87-83. Tyrese Samuel led Brooklyn with a 19-point, 12-rebound double-double in about 29 minutes of action. He was 8-for-10 from the field. None of the Nets’ five first-round picks featured against the Sixers, although Hetzel touched on their Summer League adjustment curve.

“We have three rookies that are used to having the ball in their hand in Egor and Ben and Nolan, and so it was an adjustment for them because it was a new system, but once they started to pick it up, I thought the offense got progressively better,” Hetzel said.

The Nets’ last game in Las Vegas was unfortunately marred by two late injuries. Quincy Olivari, who finished with 18 points, left the game with an injury after completing a tough and-1 play with about three minutes left in the fourth quarter. 

After that, Caleb Daniels went to the ground with less than one minute to go in the last period. Daniels was tended to by Nets staff before being escorted off the court in a wheelchair. The 26-year-old went undrafted in the 2023 NBA Draft and played for Belgian club Oostende last season.

“You just feel for him,” Hetzel said. “He plays so hard, he is so coachable. He's very, very very good at a lot of different things. He can shoot the ball, he can rebound, he can defend.” 

In addition to Egor Dëmin, Nolan Traore, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf, Drew Timme and Tyson Etienne also didn’t suit up for Brooklyn. Timme averaged 25.3 points, eight rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.7 ‘stocks’ per game in Las Vegas. He was previously the recipient of Hetzel’s praise.

“We asked [Timme] to be the rock, the leader, that the ball would go through him — to be the steadying force [since] a lot of these guys have never played against NBA competition,” Hetzel said.

Etienne, a New Jersey native who also played part of his high school basketball on Long Island, featured in seven games for the Nets last season. He averaged 7.9 points, 1.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 0.5 ‘stocks’ on 32.7/29.5/80 shooting splits.