McCullough progressing in D-League
Chris McCullough has appeared in 10 of the Nets’ 33 games, but none of the past four and just one of the previous 15.
Yet he hasn’t been getting splinters this entire time. The team’s firstround pick in the 2015 draft out of Syracuse has been with the Nets DLeague affiliate, the Long Island Nets, averaging 19.1 points and 8.3 rebounds in 17 games while shooting 45 percent from the field.
Atkinson said the reports on McCullough have been mostly positive, glowing accounts of his work ethic, attitude and productivity. D-League coach Ronald Nored described The Bronx native’s progress as “night and day,” according to Atkinson.
“The feedback we’re getting is great,” the firstyear coach said. “Very positive.”
Still, it seems like McCullough is a way off from being with the Nets full-time, and even further away from being part of Atkinson’s rotation.
“I think really physically he’s got a ways to go,” Atkinson said. “Just strength. He’s still a young guy with not a lot of experience. He had that knee injury in college. Just understand what we’re trying to do in our system. Defensively, there’s definitely improvement [that] has to be made.”
Atkinson reiterated he feels the Nets’ recent offensive struggles are the result of the ball not moving as much as he would like.
“It can be a lot better,” he said. “Our decisionmaking can be quicker. There’s always that goodto-great pass. Sometimes we’re settling for just OK or good, and one more [pass] would get us a lot better shot. That extra pass gets everybody involved.”
Late in Monday’s loss to the Jazz, Atkinson put rookie guard Isaiah Whitehead on Jazz star Gordon Hayward, a sign of what the Nets think of the strides the Brooklyn native has made on the defensive end.
“His defense is probably a lot farther ahead than his offense right now, which is kind of where we want it,” Atkinson said. “The focus is on him to really defend the position. ... For a guy that in college was known as a scorer, he’s kind of accepted the role of ‘I have to defend.’ ”