Nets’ first-round pick making strides in the G League
UNIONDALE, N.Y. >> It’s approximately a 40-minute drive from the Barclays Center to Nassau Coliseum, but the NBA feels particularly far away for Dzanan Musa on this day.
On an 11 a.m. “Education Day” start for the Long Island Nets, Muza finds himself back in the developmental G League where a crowd of mostly kids will watch him post a doubledouble with 20 points and 10 rebounds in 34 minutes on the floor in a 130-124 win over the Wisconsin Herd on Tuesday.
It’s a far cry from the glitz and glamour of Brooklyn and the NBA, where the Nets’ most recent firstround pick has gotten into just seven games this season.
It also might be the best thing for him.
While coveted NBA minutes remain few and far between, Musa has flourished in the G League, and his game has taken big strides in less than two months in his first professional season.
“From my standpoint, I think I’m more mature on the court,” he told The Trentonian in a one-on-one chat.
“I make better decisions for my teammates. And I think I have more strength now; I’ve gained more (weight), I’m up to 216 (pounds) so I feel a lot stronger with contact. That’s my primary goal right now, my goal is to get bigger and bigger every day. I think that’s the only reason I’m here and not in Brooklyn.”
Still only 19 years old, the Bosnian-born forward is averaging 20 points per game with 6.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game in his 11 starts with Long Island, and has developed at a far quicker rate than most who get stuck with the dreaded “project” label like many gave him at the time he was drafted.
“It’s like every 20 minutes I see something he makes strides in,” said Long Island Nets head coach Will Weaver.
“It’s not a linear thing, it’s up and down, and that’s just the sport and pro sports at the higher levels anywhere. We talk, we share clips back and forth. ... That’s the holistic kind of development approach we have in Brooklyn and other guys have benefited from that. He wants it every bit as bad as any guy I’ve ever been around. He’s trending up, and that’s really the only thing we pay attention to, is the trends.”
The only concern, perhaps, is the mental grind of the constant transactions that see him going back and forth between both leagues at a rate uncommon of what you may find in other sports. RealGM has Muza listed in 17 separate transactions since the start of the season.
However, if you know Muza’s story — one in which he was just 11 years old when he left his home in Bosnia to live by himself and attend a basketball academy — a little 40-minute trip every few days doesn’t seem so bad after all.
“I think that I’ve been through a lot in my life,” Musa said. “So, from this standpoint, nothing can stop me from reaching my goals. Whatever they need me to do, I’ll do. But as soon as Brooklyn decides to keep me permanently with their team, then they will see how good of a player I am.”
Weaver says he hasn’t noticed Muza, who was taken with the 29th overall pick this year, show any ill effects from all of the moves.
“To a degree, (the constant movement is hard) sure, but welcome to professional sports and particularly the NBA,” Weaver said. “When you’re with the big league club, you’re excited to be around the big league club and you’re ready for any sniff of opportunity. When you’re with us, you’re excited to get more opportunity and try to work on the things in the games that you’ve been working on. But that’s just what it is, and I think he gets that.”