With 3:27 left in the first quarter of Thursday’s beatdown matchup between the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers, Andre Drummond picked up his third foul. Joel Embiid was having his way with the Nets and it looked set to get worse.
Enter Nic Claxton.
It has been an uneven, injury-interrupted season for Nic Claxton. Against Philadelphia, he highlighted why Nets fans are tantalized by his promise. He closed out the first quarter by holding his own against a rampaging Embiid. Claxton gives up ~60 pounds to Embiid, but that doesn’t stop him from battling for position here. He doesn’t allow Embiid to just set up camp at his spot, even using his long arms to semi-front Embiid and deter an entry pass.
Embiid’s strength is just one part of what makes him so special. He is a master at baiting defenders into fouls (the Sixers are going to be unwatchable when Embiid and James Harden turn games into free throw lines). He uses the rip through move effectively when facing up to the basket; sag off him too much and he is capable of pulling up for a soft mid-ranger.
Claxton locks in here, getting in Embiid’s space without getting his hand caught in the cookie jar. Watch the clip below carefully and you see Claxton pull his hand back in time, stay down on a pump fake, and then avoid a second rip through move:
Embiid has the footwork of a ballerina, able to tip toe past defenders even without a running start. On his third straight defensive stand on Embiid, Claxton matches him step-for-step and puts in a good contest without fouling.
Was this the best one-minute stretch of Claxton’s season? Claxton has already shown enough promise as a big who can switch out onto the perimeter. Stonewalling Joel Embiid is an entirely different beast. This is not to say that he is an Embiid stopper (nobody is an Embiid stopper), but Claxton being able to do this raises his ceiling at center considerably.
On that switchability: Claxton was straight up rude to James Harden in this game. He laid the ball in over Harden a couple of times (would it have killed you to rock the cradle on the way back Clax?) and had a dismissive block in the second quarter. Less spectacular, but arguably more important is how he walls off Harden on the baseline here:
That’s veteran-level stuff. First, after giving Harden no path to the basket, there’s the subtle chest bump that almost nudges Harden out of bounds. Then, finding himself in the restricted area, Clax baits DeAndre Jordan (remember him?) into going up too early, before blowing by and avoiding a foul. Bouncy young Claxton has a little rec center savvy!
Claxton’s mobility isn’t just handy on switches. Kyrie Irving’s point of attack defense is an issue for the Nets; having a big like Claxton who can corral and shut down guards on drive-bys is invaluable.
There will be challenges; there are more threatening pick and roll duos than Shake Milton and DeAndre Jordan. Claxton’s ability to toggle between dropping, hedging, and switching will be a defensive x-factor for the Nets.
On the other side of the ball, the Nets are loaded and don’t need Claxton to do much. He is going to roll his way towards four or five baskets on most nights; crash the offensive glass and there should be an easy ten points on the table whenever Claxton wants it.
There could be more. Even with shooters like Patty Mills and Seth Curry on the roster, teams are going to send traps at Kevin “You Know Who I am” Durant. Claxton’s ability to make simple reads on the short roll could supercharge the Nets.
That’s a simple read: Harden has to help on the roll, Claxton quickly finds Harden’s man, bang. Simple is good. Simple is enough. The Nets don’t need Claxton to be Draymond Green; they might not even need him to be Bruce Brown.
Take this play for instance: All Claxton does is look at Seth Curry in the corner and that is enough for Curry’s man to evacuate Claxton’s space.
I love that Claxton pauses and looks for a beat before putting the ball on the floor. That’s all it takes sometimes.
Call me greedy, but I wonder if Claxton can get even better in the short roll to the point where he is finding open shooters on the weak side. What if he is capable of finding Seth Curry here:
The Nets probably don’t need Claxton to be thinking of that quite yet. If this game was any indication, he has made meaningful strides on the offensive end. With a little more consistency (and better conditioning; Claxton was lucky not to get burned dawdling back a few times in transition), there is much to be excited about here.