No offseason for Nets’ McCullough

Brooklyn Power Forward Busy Preparing for 2016-17 Campaign

June 2, 2016 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Second-year Nets power forward Chris McCullough hopes to play at lot more than 24 games at 15 minutes per night during the 2016-17 campaign. AP Photo

Share this:

While LeBron James and Steph Curry began battling it out for NBA supremacy Thursday night, Nets power forward Chris McCullough stayed hard at work at Downtown’s Barclays Center and the team’s new practice facility in Sunset Park, continuing his quest to become a difference maker for Brooklyn’s NBA franchise.

McCullough, whom the Nets chose with the 29th overall selection in the 2015 NBA Draft, only got to play in 24 games during his rookie campaign after making a long, hard recovery from a devastating knee injury that derailed his final season at Syracuse University.

The 6-foot-11 Bronx native averaged 4.7 points per game and 2.8 rebounds while logging just over 15 minutes per night as the Nets completed a disastrous 21-61 campaign with 10 consecutive defeats.

The numbers were hardly indicative of the type of impact McCullough hoped to have in his first campaign as a professional.

So he is making up for lost time this offseason, working out vigorously under the guidance of new head coach Kenny Atkinson.

“My summer has been coming along good,” McCullough told the team’s website after conducting a fan clinic at Barclays Center last month. “I’ve been in the gym lately, four or five days a week and sometimes going in by myself late nights to work on my game.”

While much has been made of the Nets’ lack of a first-round pick in the upcoming June 23 Draft on the corners of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues, McCullough and a gaggle of the Nets’ younger, yet-unproven players have taken to the hardwood in the hopes of returning Brooklyn to the playoffs next season.

“Rondae [Hollis-Jefferson], Markel [Brown], Sean [Kilpatrick] and I have all been on the court competing and working hard together, trying to find a good balance,” McCullough said on brooklynets.com.

“We played last season together and it’s about having a better bond,” he added. “Working out together is going to be a great thing for us. We keep getting better.”

The Nets hired Atkinson as a player-development guru, hoping he’d turn Brooklyn’s in-house assets into productive NBA players as they will in all likelihood remain out of the top half of the draft until 2019.

“I love his enthusiasm,” McCullough said of Atkinson, his third coach at the pro level in less than a calendar year following the firings of Lionel Hollins and interim head man Tony Brown.

“He’s very energetic and wants the guys to get out there and get after it. That’s what we’ve been doing. Overall it’s been great.”

Being somewhat lithe at a listed weight of 200 pounds, McCullough is also spending time hitting the Nets’ vast array of workout equipment at the sparkling new HSS Training Center in Industry City.

“One of the main things is just working on my body,” he revealed. “I’m focused on my overall game. Anything I can work on, like my ball handling, shooting and my overall skill set.”

“My season ended early last season, only having played 24 games,” McCullough added. “Just being back on the court next season is what I’m looking forward to most.”

As are Nets fans hoping for a return to NBA relevance for a franchise that made the playoffs in each of its first three seasons here in our fair borough.

Nothing But Net: To a man, the Nets are impressed with their new practice facility, which overlooks the East River and the New York City skyline. “I love that place,” McCullough said. “It’s the best practice facility I’ve seen. Just looking at that view — I’m from New York, so being able to look out at the city when I’m practicing is a great feeling. The upstairs and the roof deck, everything about it is amazing.” … Atkinson showed an acumen for organizational politics when asked about the blockbuster trade former general manager Billy King made for Boston’s Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce back in 2013. The deal, which cost the Nets control of their draft picks for years to come, has forced both Atkinson and new GM Sean Marks to think up inventive ways to bring the Nets back to relevance. But Atkinson refused to criticize the move. “[Trading three first-round picks to Boston] was obviously prior to us being here, but I give them credit,” he said. “I give [owner] Mikhail [Prokhorov] and the old regime credit for going after it the way they did.” The acquisition of Pierce and Garnett resulted in the Nets winning their lone playoff series as a Brooklyn franchise in 2014, when they edged the Toronto Raptors in seven tough games. Other than that, however, it has been an albatross around the neck of the team going forward in the Downtown era.