On the Monday before the Wednesday draft back in June, word began to filter out that the Brooklyn Nets were indeed planning to defy convention and use all five of their draft picks, then four firsts and a high
second, shocking draftniks who thought they would move up. Indeed they tried, but found the price was just too high. So they were choosing quantity over quality. It was a deep draft, particularly the first round, so why not?
Then, on Tuesday, they confounded the draftniks again when they traded for the Hawks No. 22 pick as part of a salary dump that brought Terance Mann to Brooklyn, a three-team deal where the Nets provided needed cap space so Atlanta could acquire Kristaps Porzingis. The pick would cost them $1.1 million in the transaction. That gave them six picks!
Finally on Wednesday night, draftniks were once again shaking their heads as Sean Marks & co. chose North Carolina’s 6’6” wing Drake Powell with their newly acquired pick. Of their five picks that night — the second rounder was traded for two future picks — Powell was by far the biggest reach. The final ESPN mock draft, delivered that morning, had the then 19-year-old going ten spots later, at No. 32 … in the second round. Egor Demin had been taken five spots earlier than projected, Nolan Traore three spots and Ben Saraf five. Powell was the reach. After all, he had only averaged 7.4 points a game in 37 games, and as Brian Lewis Powell reported Tuesday, his 13.8 usage rate was lower than any wing ever drafted in the first round. He did shoot 37.9% from three so maybe he had 3-and-D potential?
He helped his draft stock in the NBA Draft Combine in May when he topped the 60 other prospects with a 43” max vertical and a 37.5” standing vertical. He also finished seventh overall in the shuttle run (2.79 seconds), eighth in the three-quarter court sprint (3.07) and ninth in the pro lane agility drill. Best athlete in the draft class? His 7’0” wingspan was the longest measured for a player measured at 6’5” in bare feet … perhaps ever.
Still, there were lingering concerns about his numbers. There shouldn’t have been. While Powell did almost nothing on-ball in the halfcourt for North Carolina as Lewis wrote, he had been a 5-star recruit in high school, his game seen as all-around. Some mocks from a year ago put him in the lottery as high as No. 11. At UNC, he was simply following this coach’s orders … and his Tar heel coach, Hubie Davis, is his cousin.
Then, raising even more doubts among the uninitiate, he missed all of Summer League and a big part of training camp and preseason with ankle woes and then even a couple of regular season games. Finally, after all the doubts, all the debate, Powell got extended minutes in the Knicks blowout of the Nets on Sunday at MSG. It may be too much to say he was a revelation — it was after all a blowout — but he looked good. In his fourth game and the second that he logged 20+ minutes, Powell notched 15 points, shooting 5-of-8 from the field and 3-of-3 from deep. He added three assists, two rebounds a steal and a block.
Not only was it the highest scoring night so far among the Flatbush 5. It was also the most points scored by a Nets rookie since April 2024 when Noah Clowney scored 22 points.
“I think he’s doing a great job,” Jordi Fernandez said post-game. “He’s playing extremely hard, and that’s how I want all our players to play. And it’s almost to the point that you need to ask for the sub.
“We have to be cautious with the minutes, because of the ramp-up. But I’m very happy [with] how he played, and how he impacts the game on both ends. There were mistakes, like everybody else. He was not perfect. But I like where we are with him. Just we’ve [all] got to do it better.”
In other words, you couldn’t have asked for more. Fernandez also addressed the reach in a back-handed way.
“I don’t know what he did in North Carolina. I just know he’s a very good basketball player on both ends of the floor,” Fernandez said with a shrug. “And if you watch the game, you can see how he can play with the ball in his hands, too.:
Powell, who even in his limited exposure to the media has shown himself to be poised for his age, noted his failings as well as his successes in talking to the media as Lewis pointed out.
“Just to go out there and trust myself, ultimately. And then just have trust in my teammates as well. I think they positioned themselves in the right spots for me to be able to create for them and also create for myself,” said Powell, who also acknowledged he coughed the ball up too easily.
“[When judging my performance], I just go straight to the turnovers. I had three, which hurts me a lot. But I just want to continue each game, go out there and trust myself, trust my teammates, trust my coaches.”
He discussed his time guarding Jalen Brunson in the game before Cade Cunningham.
“You can’t really give them any angles really,” Powell said. “They have a counter for everything. … I think just continuing to watch film and just continue to develop in the weight room. I think that can help me in the long term.”
He also gave credit to Davis.
“It actually goes back to what Hubert Davis used to tell us, just that simple works,” Powell said. “So just, continue to trust the simple play.”
How much time he will get Tuesday night vs. Toronto in Brooklyn is uncertain. Fernandez did mention the “ramp-up” from his ankle woes, and added there will be a learning curve as there is with all the rookies, some steeper than others.
“The one thing I want him to [do is] play out of three dribbles, and sometimes he gets caught into dribbling too much in the same spot,” said Fernandez. ”That just gets you in trouble — especially on this level — and he did it a couple of times. But he’s very special. At his age right now, we can run plays on the second side for him. He’s more than a capable shooter. All those things we believe he’ll keep growing and he’ll impact the game.”
And not everyone in the NBA thought he was that big of a reach. Said one NBA executive of Powell, “He’s a pup. He will be fine. He has a chance to be a really good basketball player.”
For fans looking for a bright spot or two along tank way, you can expect that with Cam Thomas out and the team less than a well-oiled machine, the head coach will be slowly increasing the rookies minutes, and he’ll running them together.
“I’m giving [Powell and Demin] these minutes, that doesn’t mean that they [don’t] have to keep sustaining what they’re doing, and even be better,” Fernandez said. “That’s what this is all about: We have to push each other and develop at the same time that we try to compete at the highest level.”
It’s luxury Fernandez has not had until recently. Other teams may have played their young’uns more minutes, but until last, the Flatbush 5 hadn’t been healthy at any point since the Draft, not in the Summer League, training camp, preseason nor regular season. And by the time they were out of street clothes, three of them had been assigned to the G League.
So maybe the time to chart the rookies’ success is finally at hand and for Powell in particular it will come with an opportunity to reverse the narrative and show that he was not a reach, but a steal. For the Nets, it’ll be a big positive as well. Getting a complete player at No. 22 is worth a salute.
- How the Nets’ Drake Powell is defying his draft reputation ($) – Brian Lewis – New York Post
