Undrafted rookie Yogi Ferrell has an uphill climb to make the Nets’ roster. But the high-octane point guard has more than enough energy to climb, crawl, run or anything else the team needs.
“He’s the Energizer Bunny. We saw that in Summer League. He can score in bunches. He’s dynamic. He’s done a really good job in camp,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “He’s developing and working the pass a little better and finding pockets, especially hitting those roll guys a little more. But he has a scorer’s mentality, so it’s a fine line between pulling him back and letting him go. So good job by him.”
That can apply to both his training camp and Thursday night’s preseason-opening 101-94 win over the Pistons. Ferrell energized the Nets, playing every second of a fourth quarter that saw them outscore Detroit 24-16.
With the Nets trailing 86-85 and 7:41 left, Ferrell hit a bank shot that started a 16-2 run. He finished with five points, two boards, an assist, three turnovers (an issue that will need cleaning up) and enough energy to seem like a coffee spiked with Red Bull.
“Just go in and make the game simple, and do what I do as a point guard, just be that spark for the team,” Ferrell, 23, said. “Going into the fourth quarter, it was tight between teams, so I wanted to go in and give our team that extra oomph: finding guys, facilitating, being that defensive [spark]. Me being a third-unit guy, hopefully, get in there and know what I have to do, and it’s be that sparkplug, that energy to rise the team up.”
The 6-foot, 180-pound Ferrell was Indiana’s all-time assist leader — the only Hoosier to lead the team in assists all four years — but went undrafted.
“It’s always hard for someone not to hear their name on draft night. But … I knew my dreams weren’t over. It was just time to go back to the drawing board and figuring out what situation I wanted to go into, and I felt Brooklyn was the best opportunity,” Ferrell said. “[With] a very player-development coaching staff and what they have to say, I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better since I’ve been here. They’re rebuilding, so I want to be a part of that rebuilding process.”
The Nets have invested in Ferrell being part of it, guaranteeing $100,000 of his one-year deal, the most Brooklyn ever has given an undrafted rookie free agent.
But the Nets being high on him doesn’t change the fact there’s a logjam at the point.
They landed Jeremy Lin as the starter, signed Greivis Vasquez as his backup and drafted Isaiah Whitehead as a complement/successor. And those are just the givens, with veteran Randy Foye capable of playing the point, first-round pick Caris LeVert seen as a potential point guard down the line and even former Net Jorge Gutierrez back in camp.
“We’re continuing to look at all of these guys,” Atkinson said. “Obviously he played well. He’s got a lot of characteristics we like; we love his explosiveness, like how he shoots it. He’s improving defensively. Those roster decisions are later down the road. But he played well [Thursday] night.”
Even if Ferrell doesn’t make the Nets’ 15-man roster, odds are he would be sent to the D-League Long Island Nets. With Atkinson and general manager Sean Marks preaching player development — and the D-League team practicing at the HSS Center and playing at Barclays Center — he could get plenty of minutes and mentoring.
“I’m not worried about whether or not partial or D-League,” Ferrell said. “I’m just going to go out and do what I’ve always done the entire time I’ve played basketball. That’s just being a point guard, facilitator first, scorer second. I’m just going to go in and try to help my team win as much as possible.”