Flatbush 5 flat on Opening Night … should we worry?

The Brooklyn Nets lead the league in future draft picks with 32, and their cache of future firsts — 13 — is second only to the Oklahoma City Thunder who have two more. But of OKC’s 15 firsts over the next seven years, only one is their own. So you can argue, if you wish, that the Nets have the better quality.

That said, the Nets need to make good picks … and after Wednesday’s loss to the Charlotte Hornets, their most recent efforts have to be called into question. In 2025, said to be a generational draft, Brooklyn had five firsts, at Nos. 8, 19, 22, 26 and 27, a record. But a look at the boxscore Wednesday might lead to concern.

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Of the five, only the No. 8 (Egor Demin) and No. 19 (Nolan Traore) played and even by their own estimates, they played poorly. The two combined for only seven points on 2-of-14 shooting. Demin and Traore, both playing the points, had only two assists (both Demin) and three turnovers in a combined total of 42 minutes. Forty divided by five is not exactly what fans and the organization had to be thinking would be the optimum for the first game of the Flatbush 5’s second year.

What may have been a more telling piece of data was that of the record five firsts in 2025, they were the only two who actually stepped on the court. The No. 22 (Drake Powell,) No. 26 (Ben Saraf) and No. 27 (Danny Wolf) didn’t touch the court. It was among the several demoralizing aspects of the Opening Night loss. If you’re building through the draft, you better succeed.

“I’m confident that, especially these two kids, we’re going to have no problem with their playmaking, their scoring and their willingness to get better every day,” Fernández said.

Dëmin said after the game he was aware of his subpar play.

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“I’m not very happy with how I ended up playing the game,” Dëmin said. “I started with two [made] buckets but then kind of just got slower from a standpoint of my intensity, and I’ve definitely got to bring the energy, higher energy.’

“Opportunities are there, everything is given to me, and I just got to be able to execute on the level that I want to be at,” he said.

Yes, it’s only one…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/flatbush-5-flat-opening-night-163555818.html

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Publish date : 2026-10-23 16:35:00

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