Nets center Day’Ron Sharpe will be eligible for restricted free agency this summer. Lucas Kaplan of Nets Daily predicts that the big man, who has developed his game considerably under first-year coach Jordi Fernandez, will be re-signed by Brooklyn.
Sharpe has grown significantly in traditional actions near the basket, Kaplan observes, adding that he’s able to hold his own defensively when he is switched onto guards and has evolved as a rebounder and defender.
Across 50 games this year, the 6’11” big man averaged career highs of 7.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.8 blocks in 18.1 minutes per contest. Kaplan believes that Sharpe, still just 23, could have a chance at evolving beyond being a career backup.
There’s more out of New York:
- The Nets have an intriguing summer ahead of them, as Keith Smith of Sportac outlines in an offseason preview. This will represent the club’s first full rebuild cycle with a high lottery pick. The Nets boast $54.5MM in practical cap space. Smith predicts that Brooklyn will ink Sharpe to a three-year, $30MM deal.
- With their first round playoff series against the lower-seeded Pistons knotted at 1-1, the Knicks have their work cut out for them to advance this year. Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (subscriber link) outlines three key issues New York needs to address in this series, with most of them centered around getting All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns more involved.
- The Knicks need to re-focus Towns in their offense against Detroit, Fred Katz of The Athletic agrees. Towns didn’t even attempt a shot during the fourth quarter of New York’s eventual Game 2 defeat on Monday. The Pistons have found some success pinning a smaller defender, often forward Tobias Harris, on Towns for much of their actions. “He’s getting touches. He’s making the right play,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “If he’s getting double-teamed, I don’t want him to shoot the ball over three people.”
I want o see Cooper in Bklyn ……..
Come on Commissioner make it happen !!!!!
Cooper with Cam would be a solid forward duo.
If they could somehow keep Cam and the top draft pick and give away anything else for Ja this team would be awesome.
They have 4 picks in the first round this year, 3 in 2027 and 2 in 2029. Huge amount of ifs considering their pick is ranked at 6th best odds of first overall but crazier things have happened. Claxton or Thomas plus a bunch of picks for Ja.
Ja Cam Cooper maybe Claxton if not Sharpe
That’s a real team in the east
that was a lame off season preview by Kevin Smith. yeesh. I think that Ziaire was just impressive and is a keeper. He was real easy to root for. I would sooner toss Clowney aside than Ziaire. Otoh, I am very bullish on dealing Clax, who would be addition by subtraction imo.
I’d like to see BKN get CF as well. If not BKN, then WSH. If neither, I’d prefer to see one of the play-in teams jump all the way up (like ATL last year), although that’s statisically unlikely.
Towns can’t have a bad game in playoffs. Especially against the Pistons in 1st round. Thats is a Very Bad Look. He didn’t score a point in second half. To add that he is a liability at times on defense. Then So why is he getting 50,000,000,.00 a year. We don’t need spectators on floor. We need. Players impacting the game in a positive way. Its his first year here. By all accounts it was a success. NYC is about winning in the playoffs. He is better for this team than Randle. Unfortunately Im starting to believe he is not the answer. The playoffs is where he needs to convince Knicks he is worth it. Not seeing it …….. I much rather have AD and Mitch and OG. Money better spent …….
Sabonis, Mitch, OG, Brunson, DeM DeR .. also better