Brooklyn Nets rookie Mikel Brown Jr. is nearing a return from an ankle injury that has held him out for the start of training camp. The No. 6 pick won't play in Brooklyn's preseason opener on Tuesday against the Charlotte Hornets. However, head coach Jordi Fernandez told ClutchPoints the Nets expect him to play at some point during the preseason.
“I believe [he'll play during the preseason]. That's the plan, but we've got to see what the next step is,” Fernandez said after Monday's practice.
Brown rolled his ankle during the week leading up to Nets camp. Roughly two weeks after the injury, he's progressed to contact drills with coaches.
“I’m getting back on the court, and I’m moving way better. I’m starting to get to full speed now, starting to get a little bit of contact in as of right now in my workouts and stuff like that,” Brown told the New York Post's Brian Lewis at Sunday's Nets Fan Fest. “But as of now, I’m just leaning on my performance staff to put me in the best situation possible.”
Brown's debut will be highly anticipated after he became the Nets' highest draft pick of the Brooklyn era.
Despite missing the second half of his freshman season at Louisville due to a back injury, the Orlando native impressed at Summer League. The rookie point guard averaged 15.0 points, 4.0 assists and 1.3 steals in 21.7 minutes per game across four Summer League outings.
Mikel Brown Jr. nearing return from ankle injury as Nets open preseason
While Brown hasn't been able to participate in training camp practices alongside his teammates, he's taking mental notes from the sidelines.
“I'm just taking a deeper dive into film, really just going back and watching the practices, watching the install, really just trying to make it second nature to me so when I come out on the court, when I get back to playing, I'm already knowing what I need to do,” Brown said. “So really just throwing myself deeper into that film and asking more questions. But shoot, on the level of quarterback, I don't know. They get new installs every single week. So that's a different type of process, but to be compared to that is great.”
A large portion of the Nets' roster will be competing for rotation spots during preseason action. Brooklyn's has a widely accepted projected starting lineup of Brown, Egor Demin, Michael Porter Jr., Julius Randle and Day'Ron Sharpe. However, the second unit is less clear.
Nolan Traore, Ben Saraf, Keon Ellis and Terance Mann will compete for backcourt minutes with the second unit. Meanwhile, Noah Clowney, Danny Wolf, Josh Minott, and Joshua Jefferson are competing for minutes at forward.
Fernandez is looking forward to seeing which players can earn their roles.
“Just to be ready to compete,” the coach said of his message to players entering preseason games. “After we put all of this work in and all the energy that we used in the gym, we got better as a group, and now we're ready to play against somebody else. So the competition continues now. You've been competing against your teammates in practice here, and now you get to play against somebody else, but you're still competing for minutes, for rotation minutes, starting minutes, all that stuff. So it's a great part of the process and starts tomorrow.”