Who says the Nets don’t have a lottery pick this year?
They will have one, Chris McCullough, sitting on the bench Friday on his 21st birthday against the Kings.
McCullough is the 6-foot-11 rookie picked 29th despite suffering a torn right ACL Jan. 11 last year after 16 games as a Syracuse freshman. Seen as a lottery pick as a frosh, he was considered a lottery certainty if he stayed. But after the injury, McCullough dropped like a rock on draft night. He rehabbed after surgery, returned to the practice court with the Nets and now awaits his first NBA game, which could come Monday.
“I thought my career was over,” McCullough said Thursday after practice. “Ballplayers, you blow out your knee, the first thing goes through your mind is your career is over.”
But he worked his way back, and now The Bronx product, 16 games removed from high school, is on the threshold of his dream.
“It’s real exciting for me to finally get my first couple of NBA minutes, if any, make my first basket, go out there and play hard,” said McCullough, who has practiced for about a month.
McCullough and fellow injured rookie Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (fractured ankle) are critical building blocks for the Nets’ future. Interim coach Tony Brown admits he will move cautiously. McCullough will sit the bench Friday and Saturday.
“Experience-wise, he’s behind, but his potential, that’s why he was drafted,” Brown said. “Even though he was hurt, potentially if he was healthy, he could be a lottery pick. We have to be cautious. … It’s gravy to get him games this season.”
It seemed there was no way McCullough could play this season. But he worked hard, plus a guy who knows about missing time with an injury, Brook Lopez, nudged from the sidelines.
“Just learning to take his time, mentally to prepare himself for coming back,” Lopez said of his advice. “Get work in, get shots in, whatever you can do, even if it’s just the weight room. Doing everything you can to make yourself ready.”
McCullough is beginning to feel ready. Well, almost. What has he learned?
“The plays. That was the hardest thing. I hadn’t practiced with the team for so long. I finally learned the plays,” said McCullough, who finds the NBA game “not really faster [but] more physical. Learning all the defensive schemes. College is different. There’s a lot of help in college.”
Now the hardest thing might be controlling emotions.
“I tried to imagine it, but it’s hard to imagine my first basket, first rebound, maybe my first blocked shot,” said McCullough who does not know when he’ll play. “They said it might be Monday. I don’t want to get my hopes up.”
The Nets may be equally anxious to see what McCullough eventually brings.
“Athletically, he covers ground,” Brown said. “On defense, he’s athletic enough to challenge shots at the rim. He’s mobile enough to be engaging in pick-and-roll on defense. He can play on the perimeter against some of the quicker forwards.
“Offensively, it’s going to be a challenge. He’s probably going to play around the basket, finish above the rim. He’s working on his shot. The work has improved it.”
Don’t forget the work habits.
“He’s in here early and one of the last to leave,” Brown said. “I like that about him. He’s very professional for a rookie.”
An Internet report said the Nets and Pistons talked swapping Thaddeus Young for Brandon Jennings. League sources did not deny talks between the clubs (many have inquired about Jennings), but Young’s name did not surface, one source maintained.
The Nets’ lone representative during All-Star Weekend, Bojan Bogdanovic, is looking forward to the break for two reasons. He will see good friend and fellow Croatian National Team member Mario Hezonj a of Orlando, and he views the break positively for the Nets. “Maybe this can change the situation a little,” Bogdanovic said.
“Everybody rests physically then comes back hungry to try to turn it around.”
Brown called the Kings’ DeMarcus Cousins “a top-15, top-10 guy in our league with his abilities.”