I wouldn’t have expected much from Tosan. His teammates are all new. It will take him some time to integrate with them.
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Tosan had a great stint off the bench tonight, sparking a 12-0 run that briefly turned a blowout into a close game. Had 8p/6r/1b in 17min before 4Q garbage time (barely touched it).
At the end of the 3Q, Tyrese Halliburton tried to take Tosan 1-on-1. Big mistake. Tosan forced him into an ugly miss at the horn. The home crowd ooh-ed at a couple plays he made tonight.
Definitely made a good impression in his 2nd Nets game.
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13p/7r/1s tonight. As usual, he did a great job in his first stint to make it close… before Detroit took over.
With Brooklyn tanking, it looks like Tosan will get lots of playing time, often against starters. Tanking NBA basketball is painful to watch, but he’s definitely doing better in his 2nd season.
I watched about half the Nets’ game tonight and was impressed with Tosan’s play. The Nets are truly woeful with a ton of injuries and only 8 active players. Tosan had the best shooting percentage on the team at 4/7 from the field and 5/5 from FT. The shot selection was miserable (and frustrating) to watch. Here are the FG shooting stats for the other Net players: 4/13, 9/20, 4/12, 6/11, 3/10, 2/7, 1/6. Woof!
By the way, I also enjoyed watching Mush playing a lot of minutes for Notre Dame tonight, although sadly they blew a late lead against NC State. (As my son, PU '23 likes to say, Princeton? you mean the basketball school?)
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High praise from the Nets head coach:
Tosan started 0-4 tonight, but finished 4-5 and scored 8 straight pts to briefly make the game close:
Tosan had 10 points, 2 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal, and 1 assist in 22 minutes. Nets were down 22 until coach put subs in, who narrowed the lead to 5 at one point. Tosan and the other substitutes looked a lot better on the court together than the starters last night. Starters’ +/- were -16, -25, -26, -17, and -9. Tosan was +8 and the other subs were -18, 0, -3, and +11.
What a night for Tosan!
Career-high, team-high 22 points (7-8 FG, 2 threes) in just 24 minutes + go-ahead FTs in OT with 6s left!
Unfortunately, the Jazz scored a tough bucket and the Nets didn’t get a final shot off - they ran a play for Tosan but the ball was poked away on the handoff (possible foul).
But he’s come so far since last season. Deserves a full contract if he keeps playing like this.
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Just read three articles about Tosan’s big night in SI, NY Post, and Bleacher Report. Something new: none of the articles mentioned that he played for Princeton. I suppose this means that he’s not just being considered a novelty item anymore (Ivy leaguer makes the bigs).
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Tosan with another great game: 15 pts (6-10) and 6 rebs off the bench while guarding Lebron (!!).
He didn’t have much luck on King James, but he didn’t back down and forced a couple of TOs. Hit two fadeaway jumpers that really impressed. They would have beaten the Lakers if not for D’Angelo Russell’s ugly hero ball at the end. Nets are tanking so D-Lo(ser) is the right PG for the job.
he did play well. A couple of nice passes, but he does not see much of the ball.
On a better team, he would be even more impressive.
Agreed, when I watched in the 2Q Tosan mostly was camped out in the corner and one of his teammates was forcing yet another contested shot in the paint. But very cool to see him on the same court with LeBron!
I have to question the kind of coaching that allows that type of bad offense. They’re supposed to be high-level pros, even on the lousy Nets, not playground throw-it-up types. Move the ball, spread the floor, let your better passer handle it. The better NBA teams do that stuff.
Issue may be that all of those players expect to be someplace else soon so they are mostly focused on stats and highlight videos, not playing “winning basketball”. That is in Tosan’s DNA however and he moved the ball if he did not have a path to the basket in the brief time I watched the Lakers game.
Put him on a team like Cleveland which really moves the ball, and I think you would see him more active.
It’s sort of a Catch 22. Tosan gets to play a ton because the Nets are tanking… but tanking means he can’t really play “his game” since players like Russell hog the ball and lose winnable games. Which is what the GM wants - better odds for the Cooper Flagg lottery.
That said, the Nets head coach, Jordi Fernandez, really loves him. He even used a challenge on a pretty obvious charge by Tosan and had Tosan do the postgame presser (for the second time already). Unlike his stint with the Pistons, I really think Tosan is making an impression.
If he keeps it up, he’ll earn a full contract somewhere.
I’ve watched more NBA hoops in the last couple of weeks than I have in the last 10 years because of Tosan and the YES network. I’ve been surprised by how awful the play is on many nights. Horrific shot selection, wild turnovers, lack of defense, etc… Also, the degree to which stars sit out so many minutes and even complete games–I saw the Nets play beautifully against the Trailblazers and score 132 points and the next night a different lineup get waxed by the Clippers by 59 points, scoring a measly 67 points.
Tosan seems to be the only Net who consistently tries hard on every possession.
NBA ratings are way down for the reasons you mention. Many people blame the “league pass” subscription model, but baseball and football have the same thing and aren’t suffering the same ratings drop.
The NBA regular season is a bore. Chucking 40-60 threes a game, bailout calls whenever a star player faces physical defense, “load management” (which I get since it’s all about playoffs for stars). And tanking - complete and obvious tanking - for a third of the league.
They need rule changes to address what a boring mess the NBA has become. It’s a shame because the talent is better than ever. The 2024 Olympics had some of the best basketball I’ve ever seen. Go with FIBA rules and officiating (other than the dumb knock-it-off-the-rim rule).
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Welp, at least Tosan is making the program proud these days! He had a rough 3-game stretch after his hot 8-10 game start, but he bounced back with 2 really good games.
And the Nets’ official channels seemed to be noticing with positive media coverage:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DFgNdXlyoWw/?img_index=1
Head coach Jordi Fernandez also keeps saying great things about Tosan (“What he brings to the group is what we want for our identity”). If he stays on through next year, I think Tosan might get a full contract.
Tosan with 14 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals in 28 minutes tonight. Nets beat the Rockets for third win in a row!
Haha, I just came here to post the same thing.
He also made two HUGE winning plays/assists at the end to steal it - great inbounds pass to Keon Johnson for a 3, then he tipped a loose ball to Russell for the game-winning three.
His 3pt shot is still a work in progress but his midrange shots are automatic. And he plays such solid defense - he can legit guard 2-3-4 at the NBA level.