LAS VEGAS — With all Brooklyn eyes on the record crop of Nets rookies, it was second-year pro Drew Timme who stole their thunder in the summer league opener.
“Yeah, we told him we need him to be a rock. Him and Tosan [Evbuomwan] need to be our steady forces. They need to be the ones who settle everything if it’s getting hectic,” assistant coach Steve Hetzel said after Timme was the leading scorer in the 90-81 summer league loss to Oklahoma City.
“We’ve sent a message to Drew to come out here and try to be the best player, try to show the rest of the league how good he is. We really like Drew. … He has some real, real skill. We think very highly of him. And so this is kind of what we expect out of him.”
Timme scored a team-high 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting versus OKC, with nine rebounds and a block in 29:30. He had a dozen points on 6-of-8 shooting in the fourth quarter.
“Yeah, he’s got skill, like you saw. He’s great,” Nolan Traore said. “So being able to play with a smart guy like that who can play the low post is really helpful for the team, so it’s good.”
With four of their five first-round picks playing in summer league, the Nets will challenge Timme to show leadership in Las Vegas.
“Of course. As with anyone that’s a little bit older, you just learn the ropes quickly and just try to learn bits and pieces from them. He’s just an easygoing guy and kind of always there for advice,” said Danny Wolf, who started at power forward alongside Timme. “He’s an awesome guy, he had a great game tonight. Just a fun guy to be around. He’s awesome.”
Timme is on a non-guaranteed contract, vying to get Brooklyn’s lone open two-way spot.
“Well, we have a lot of roster players, so I’d say that the starting lineup is yet to be determined,” Hetzel said. “But he’s got to try to make the team, and then we’ll go from there.”
Brooklyn’s Spanish head coach Jordi Fernández invited Valencia head coach Pedro Martínez and Spanish hoops star Anna Cruz to be guest assistants as the Nets prepared for summer league. Cruz, who played for the Liberty and is from Fernández’s hometown of Badalona, continued as a guest in Las Vegas.
Follow all the basketball buzz in Brooklyn
Sign up for Inside the Nets by Brian Lewis, exclusively on Sports+.
Thank you
“Oh, we love having [Martínez] around. We sat down with Coach Pedro so he could teach us some of his offensive rebounding rules. They’ve led the league for many years; stole a couple ideas from him,” Hetzel said. “And Anna’s been super helpful on the court. She’s wonderful. She has such an established career. It’s nice to have her around.”
Dariq Whitehead commented to The Post about the addition of Michael Porter Jr.: “It’s a great addition for us. An older vet, a champ, we know what he can do. So to get to play with him and learn, it’ll be a good opportunity for all of us.”