Last Wednesday, the Nets earned their first win against the fourteenth-seeded Indiana Pacers. However, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. After only six minutes of play, Cam Thomas went down with a hamstring injury. He was helped to the locker room and did not return for the rest of the game. It was later determined that he will miss 3–4 weeks. With Thomas out for the next few weeks, some of the Nets’ rookies will have an opportunity to prove themselves on the court. What will the next few weeks look like for this team without their number-one option? What is stopping the Nets rookies from clicking?

First, we have to talk about Cam Thomas. Before his hamstring injury, he was averaging around 21/1/2. He is expected to return in 3-4 weeks. Although Cam is out, this is good preparation for next season. Thomas is expected to hit free agency next summer. His contract this year was meant to raise his stock to get a better offer next year. As of now, I expect Thomas to have any interest in playing for the Nets going forward.

On the offensive side, Michael Porter Jr. has been the one to step up and take over the scoring load. Since the injury, MPJ is averaging 28/7/1. In his absence, rookie Egor Dёmin took over the starting role. Still, we are not seeing much production from any of the rookies. Some even are being moved down to the G-league. In Ben Saraf’s G-league debut, he dropped 21/4/3 with 2 steals. Proving that he belongs in the NBA, he might just need some more experience though. Cam Thomas’s absence might be his chance to prove himself on the court.

Coming out of the draft, the Nets were looking like a heavy pass-first team. They drafted players like Egor Dёmin, Ben Saraf, and Nolan Traoré. The problem is, the play with the highest assist average on the team is Nic Claxton. For reference, HE IS A CENTER. Not to mention he is only averaging 3.7 assists. This is by far the worst in the league. Statistically, they have the lowest assist average in the NBA right now. When you put MPJ and Cam Thomas on a team, that’s pretty much what happens. Every player going one on one with their defender is not an NBA level offense. Watching a Nets game is basically the same thing as watching an AAU game except the players are seven feet tall. Jordi Fernández needs to find a way to improve this because if the Nets want to be successful in the future, the rookies need to learn how to play in a real NBA offensive system.

I’m excited to see what happens over the next few weeks. I am expecting mPJ to continue the scoring load. You never know, Dёmin could step up, Drake Powell might get more minutes. The Nets are unpredictable. Let’s see what happens!