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Danny Wolf’s 19-minute statement leaves Nets with a rotation question
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- Danny Wolf’s 19-minute statement leaves Nets with a rotation question
Danny Wolf didn't miss a shot in the first half Wednesday. He didn't take one, either. He never left the bench.
For 24 minutes, the second-year forward watched the Charlotte Hornets build a seven-point halftime lead while the Nets struggled to find any offensive rhythm. It was a familiar view for Wolf, who had spent most of Brooklyn's first seven games waiting for an opportunity that rarely came.
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Then Jordi Fernández needed something different.
The Nets trailed by nine early in the third quarter. Chaney Johnson had just misfired on another 3, and Fernández was searching for somebody who could get the offense moving.
At 10:32, he called Wolf's number.
Less than three minutes later, Charlotte was calling timeout.
Wolf had found Nolan Traoré for a 25-foot 3. He'd fed Julius Randle on the break for a layup and an ensuing free throw. Then, apparently deciding he'd done enough setting the table, Wolf stepped behind the arc and buried a 25-footer of his own.
An 11-0 run. A 61-59 Brooklyn lead. A building that suddenly had something legitimate to cheer about. And a player who couldn't get off the bench in the first half was suddenly making himself awfully difficult to take off the floor.
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"Obviously in the NBA, there's going to be times, especially early in your career, that you might not be in the rotation," Wolf said. "And that was the case when we started the year."
Wolf knew what he was capable of. The problem was finding enough court time to show it.
The 6-11 forward appeared in 57 games as a rookie last season, starting 15 and averaging 8.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 20.8 minutes. His combination of size, shooting and passing made him an intriguing offensive prospect, even if his 32.2% shooting from deep suggested there was plenty of room for improvement.
Wolf's second season, however, had begun largely in basketball purgatory. He appeared in just two of Brooklyn's first seven games, totaling roughly 27 minutes. He made five of his eight attempts from beyond the arc in those appearances, but neither was enough to establish a consistent role.
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There were practices to navigate, film to study and games to watch. Plenty of work without much opportunity to demonstrate its value.
"And I tried taking advantage of all the time I had," Wolf said. "And when coach called my name in the second half, I was ready and I was looking forward to that opportunity and tried doing everything I could to help the team win."
Fernández hadn't entered the night intending to make Wolf a central figure. The third-year head coach was experimenting with combinations, trying to find something that worked after Brooklyn fell behind.
"So, searching, searching," Fernández said.
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What he found was a big man who gave the Nets an entirely different set of offensive possibilities.
Wolf finished with 13 points, five rebounds and three assists in 18 minutes and 36 seconds, shooting 4-for-6 from the field and 2-for-4 from deep in Wednesday's 114-104 win, Brooklyn's second victory of the season in eight tries. The Nets outscored Charlotte by 17 points with him on the floor.
It still doesn't fully explain why his presence was critical.
Wolf isn't the type of big man who needs to wait near the basket for somebody else to create an opportunity. He can grab a rebound and advance the ball, initiate an action from the perimeter or find a teammate sprinting ahead before the defense has a chance to get set. Defenders can't simply forget about him outside.
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Leave Wolf alone at the arc, and he's perfectly willing to make them pay. And for a Brooklyn offense that too often looked like five players waiting for somebody to make something happen, another capable decision-maker was a welcome addition.
"I think there's times just with my play style that I can really help us push the ball up the floor, make simple passes to start the break," Wolf said.
That was exactly what the Nets needed.
Last time Brooklyn took the court, its offense had disintegrated into an 11-point fourth quarter against the Knicks. The ball started sticking. Players struggled to recognize opportunities. Fernández spent much of his postgame news conference demanding better organization.
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Wednesday was a far more entertaining demonstration of what that offense could look like. Wolf felt the shift almost immediately. After Randle converted his transition and-one during the third-quarter surge, the crowd at Barclays Center responded. Wolf noticed.
"I think you heard Barclays shift and you have the fans behind you," he said.
And Wolf wasn't finished giving them reasons to roar.
Early in the fourth quarter, he buried another 3 off a Terance Mann steal. Later, Day'Ron Sharpe rejected Grayson Allen at the rim, Traoré gathered the rebound and Wolf took off downcourt, finishing through contact and completing the and-one to put Brooklyn ahead by 10 with 3:49 remaining.
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A player who couldn't get off the bench in the first half was suddenly helping put Charlotte away. And the most telling endorsement came from someone who wasn't even on the floor.
Fernández considered bringing Randle back into the game, but the veteran forward, already sitting on 22 points, urged his coach not to disturb the group that was getting the job done. In less than 19 minutes, Wolf had gone from waiting for his opportunity to becoming part of a lineup an established star didn't want interrupted.
Whether it earns him a permanent rotation spot remains to be seen, but Michael Porter Jr. made one thing clear afterward: Wolf's performance hadn't caught him by surprise.
"I think he could do so many things on the basketball court and I'm really happy that he got the opportunity," Porter said.
