Le Vert's leap year
Brooklyn expects breakout in guard's third pro season
Caris LeVert is the young Net most sought after by other teams. He’s the one whose name keeps cropping up in Jimmy Butler trade rumors. And going into his third season as camp opens Tuesday, he’s the one they all say is poised for a breakthrough, with the potential to be special.
“I feel like it’s definitely my turn to take a big leap,” LeVert said at Monday’s media day. “It’s obviously good to hear from my teammates, because I feel like I put in a lot of work on and off the court, mentally, physically, and I feel like I’m ready to take that leap for sure.”
LeVert averaged 12.1 points and 4.2 assists last season, but the Nets are convinced he has far more talent to tap. Convinced enough to have turned down a mid first-round pick for LeVert and possibly hold him out of any potential talks for Butler.
“I focus on myself and getting better every day. I can’t control [trades], so I don’t really focus on them,” said LeVert, 24. “If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I’m very blessed to be in this situation. I love this team. I want to play here for a long time, but I know it’s a business.”
Even if LeVert doesn’t start over D’Angelo Russell or Spencer Din- widdie, all the focus he’s spent on getting better hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“Caris is starting to get to that next level,” Joe Harris said.
DeMarre Carroll said, “This is a breakout year. Not putting any pressure on him, but this is his year. I’ve seen it every day. I’ve seen him work tirelessly. You all remember frantic Caris, falling on the ground. His body’s maturing. He’s slowing down.”
It came with offseason work alongside Nets director of sports science Dan Meehan. As a skinny rookie, LeVert was often knocked to the court. Additional lower-body strength should help on both ends of the floor.
“Finishing, defense, every part of my game was lacking with my lower body strength,” LeVert said. “Balance was one of the big things that was lacking for me last year and the year before that. My lower-body strength has definitely helped with that. Finishing at the rim, guarding bigger players defensively, that will definitely help a lot.”
LeVert averaged 13.8 points and hit 44.1 percent from 3-point range in playing every game through Jan. 1. He averaged 15.7 points on 51.5 percent shooting and 5.6 assists in the last nine games of that span before groin, knee, foot and concussion woes broke his rhythm. Shouldering a heavier burden on offense last season taxed his defense.
“Conditioning was a big part of that,” LeVert said. “A lot of times when you’re out there — and I was the backup point guard last year, so you have a lot of responsibilities — sometimes you take a step back on defense because of conditioning. That was the one thing that kind of lacked last year for sure.”
But after getting older, stronger and wiser, LeVert feels he can boost his offense and still return to his old defense. If he does, the Nets think he can be special.
“I haven’t seen anyone guard him here the last couple of weeks. He’s scoring at will,” Jared Dudley said. “He’s athletic; when it comes to conditioning tests, he’s one of the fastest we’ve had. I didn’t know he could handle the rock. His ballhandling’s better than I thought. He can shoot off the dribble. That’s how you tell a role player from a player who can be someone special.
“He’s a scorer, a prototypical twoguard. Year 3, Year 4 is where you make that huge jump. Confidencewise, you hear D’Angelo gives him the ball for him to score. When a point guard is instilling that in you, he’s instilling it because you’re capable.”