Nets center Noah Clowney's confidence from long range paying off
Nets forward Noah Clowney battles under the basket against the New Orleans Pelicans in the first half of an NBA game in New Orleans on Monday. Credit: AP/Gerald Herbert
Noah Clowney hasn’t lacked confidence in himself or his game. Even as the youngest Net in the main rotation, he expects to produce despite this being his second season.
Monday's win showed Clowney cashing in on that self-belief. After going 5-for-10 on three-pointers against the Pelicans, the 20-year-old center became the youngest player to make that many in a single game.
Needless to say, he wasn’t surprised.
“It don't take but one for me, really. If I can make one, it's going up,” said Clowney, whose 15 points and seven rebounds were season-highs. “I mean, even if I don't make none, it's still going up. So it don't really matter.”
Coach Jordi Fernandez has preached the Nets take more threes this season so it’s not shocking Clowney is increasing his attempts. Of his 60 shots this season, 36 are threes although he’s made just 33.3% of them.
Clowney’s confidence also didn’t waver after not playing Friday. He was available but Fernandez chose to sit him as he was recovering from illness.
Two games later, he made two threes and snagged four offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter to keep the Nets close in a tight game. It’s why Fernandez and the Nets admire Clowney’s potential after spending most of his rookie year in the G League.
Clowney was 3-for-8 on threes against the Bucks on Oct. 27 but was 2-for-11 over the next five games before Monday. It didn’t matter because his teammates and Fernandez want him to keep firing away.
“One thing he's done consistently is just continue to let it fly and it's how it works, like you do not control if it’s going to go in,” Fernandez said. “You can control if you take a good shot. He kept taking a good shot after good shot after good shot.
“He's putting a lot of work in and it's paying off,” Ben Simmons added “He's buying in, he's listening to the coaches. And you see it paying off, so it's huge for him.”
Clowney showed his even temperament this preseason when Fernandez called out his lack of effort defensively in a loss to the 76ers. Instead of stewing about the comments, he agreed and said he needed to be better.
It was the same process when Fernandez told him to shoot more, starting in Summer League last July. As a result, he’s getting more comfortable taking a higher volume of shots.
“I think Jordi has a great medium of, as far as shots go, pushing confidence,” Clowney said. “But then, in general, I think he has a great medium of, just having fun. He's been very straightforward, but he also is very good at giving his players confidence.”
That attitude is helping him take steps forward with more minutes in his second year. The next step is going from a willing shooter to an effective one
Clowney already believes that’s possible and so do the Nets after his career night.
“It’s definitely a different weapon we have,” Cam Thomas said of Clowney. “So it's just really a great thing to see for us.”
Evan Barnes covers the Nets for Newsday. He previously covered Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.
