The days of the Brooklyn Nets hoping to compete for an NBA championship with a superteam may be over, but they do have a young and hungry roster that has a surprising amount of talent.
They’re 3-3 on the young season after competing hard yet losing to the Boston Celtics, 124-114, on Saturday, and it is starting to become clear they must be taken seriously as a playoff-caliber team in the suddenly competitive Eastern Conference.
Guard Cam Thomas scored 27 points versus Boston, continuing a torrid start to the season for him. In fact, coming into this contest, he had scored 291 points in his first 10 games as a starter, breaking the record that had been held by Michael Jordan ever since the 1984-85 campaign.
When someone is mentioned in the same breath as Jordan, it means he’s doing something very, very right.
Thomas has been in Brooklyn’s starting lineup in five of its six games so far this season. In his two prior seasons, he had started six of 124 contests. He had been regarded as a solid rotation player coming into this year, but now he may be rising to a much higher level.
NBA NEWS & STATS: Cam Thomas, Brooklyn Nets, Michael Jordan Updates
Through six games this season, he averaged 26.0 points per game, giving him the 12th-highest scoring average in the NBA right now. Not bad for someone who was the No. 27 pick in the 2021 draft.
With Thomas, Mikal Bridges, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Ben Simmons, the Nets have a team that can get out on the fast break and put points on the board. They lead everyone in fast-break points per game and are eighth in overall scoring with 116.3 points a game, as well as ninth in offensive rating.
NBA NEWS & STATS: Cam Thomas, Brooklyn Nets, Michael Jordan Updates
Perhaps the good people of Brooklyn shouldn’t expect a championship parade anytime soon, but they may be able to expect, at the very least, an appearance in the play-in tournament this spring.
