Rumors

If this is going to be a lost season — sacrificed in hopes of growing — then the Nets need to give playing time to a 20-year-old who still has room to grow. “Yeah, we know what he’s able to bring to the table,” Cam Johnson said of Clowney. “He can shoot the ball. He understands the game. He’s growing in that department. And you know, for him to come back and have an impact like he did, I mean, it’s tough. Anybody who knows [realizes that].

New York Post

But Brooklyn still trailed by as much as 21 and saw Clowney leave with a lower back injury in the third quarter and Lewis, who arrived with Russell and was making his debut, have to be carried off in the fourth with an apparent knee injury.  “The toughest part of today is seeing one of your guys going down. We’re all, thinking about the kid, Max,” head coach Jordi Fernandez said. “We don’t know the extent of the injury. Obviously, we’ll MRI, but all our group was thinking about him, and we’re sending all positive energy. “So, that’s what’s more important. The rest of the game doesn’t matter right now.”

New York Post

“I think the thing that helped our defense is that I was smart. Later in the season, I caught on,” Clowney told For The Win. “Not only can I do what I’m supposed to do but I can talk to my teammates and tell them what they need to do as well. I feel like it helped our defense a good bit.”

For The Win

Despite the elite statistical company he keeps, Clowney is currently projected outside the lottery at No. 26 overall in our latest consensus mock draft. But it doesn’t bother him. “I think I can play with anybody. I can do whatever is asked of me at multiple positions,” Clowney added. “I can make shots and do what I do and do what nobody else wants to do — help win. Whatever it takes, really.”

For The Win