Before their trip to San Diego for the second half of training camp, the Nets held what Cam Johnson called a “chippy” scrimmage Thursday to simulate a real game six days ahead of their first preseason game against the Clippers.
The team was split into two — one led by assistant coach Steve Hetzel and the other by fellow assistant coach Juwan Howard — and each team had analytics personnel and an athletic trainer across three 12-minute periods.
“Yeah, it was super fun,” Ziaire Williams said after practice at HSS Training Center. “I haven’t really competed like that in a real setting in a couple of months. … Guys were flying around, talking smack, everything was great.”
Johnson said: “People were all over the ground, diving for the ball, pushing each other, maybe some elbows, maybe some knees, maybe some trips, but it was good.”
Williams said he was placed on a team with Ben Simmons, Trendon Watford, Amari Bailey, Day’Ron Sharpe, Killian Hayes and Johnson. However, there was no meaning behind the team placements, according to Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez. The groupings were not an indication of starters, bench or rotation pieces. That will start to come more into view in San Diego from Saturday through Monday.
This was the first day to feel game-like to the Nets after two days of controlled contacts along with stop-and-go play scenarios.
The scrimmage ended in a tie, which was Fernandez’s decision, but it was not well received by the players.
“We didn’t like that …” Johnson said. “Neither team liked that.”
Sitting in the middle of it all was Fernandez, who was encouraged by what he saw from his players, especially their level of conditioning heading to San Diego, which has been a huge focus for the coach.
“It was extremely competitive,” Fernandez said. “We scrimmaged for three quarters and the guys brought it. The communication on the court, the effort to make winning plays. It was very close, very competitive, and that’s what we want to see. [We’ll] use the film tomorrow and have a non-contact day because we just worked really hard for three days. … I’m happy with how things are going.”
