NEW YORK — Long before Mikel Brown Jr. pulled up from 28 feet in his preseason debut, Day’Ron Sharpe saw him get his first dunk.
Brown was 5-foot-3, maybe 5-foot-4, when Sharpe began following him in eighth grade. He watched the guard grow, score 40 points at Louisville and eventually become his Nets teammate.
“I already knew. I’ve been watching [Mikel] since eighth grade, man. I already knew,” Sharpe said.
Nikola Jović slid under a screen just 32 seconds into Wednesday’s game in Miami. Brown, now 20 standing at 6-5, pulled up and buried the first preseason 3-pointer of his professional career. The Nets lost, 144-128, to the Miami Heat, but its No. 6 pick scored 15 points in 18 minutes after missing the first three exhibitions with a sprained left ankle.
Brown made 4 of 7 shots, including two 3-pointers. Several of his smartest possessions ended without him shooting. Three times, he threaded pocket passes to Mo Wagner as two defenders converged, creating four-on-three advantages. Brooklyn turned those opportunities into open shots, including a 3-pointer and a lob dunk. His two official assists didn’t account for every opening he created.
“Mikel’s a stud,” Michael Porter Jr. said. “He looked very comfortable, poised out there, made right passes, scored pretty well, got downhill. So, he can do a lot of different things out there. He’ll be great for us.”
Brown spent training camp learning to stop on two feet, simplify his decisions and resist forcing plays. He was excited to finally play, but he’d learned how to settle his nerves.
“Coach has been emphasizing me just be ultra-aggressive and just be smart,” Brown said. “So, going into it, yeah, there was a lot of emotion, a lot of excitement, but I’ve definitely grown in that aspect of trying to calm myself down and trying to play within the game and just finding the flow of the game.”
Jordi Fernández came away encouraged, particularly by Brown’s speed, craftiness, shot-making and willingness to communicate. The Nets coach believes “his game translates right away offensively.” His next challenge is sustaining production while adapting to the physical demands of defending NBA players.
Brown will remain on a minutes restriction for the Nets’ regular-season opener against the Charlotte Hornets next week, Fernández confirmed Friday. The team hasn’t announced a new limit, and Brown said he hasn’t been told how much it might increase. He felt great after his debut and intends to maintain his ankle routine, with the goal of playing all 82 games.
Fernández doesn’t plan to rush him into the starting lineup. In his view, players limited to fewer than 24 minutes are difficult to start because it becomes harder to save enough playing time for the end of games.
“And as you’re building, coming off the bench, I still have the luxury to finish games with him if I need to,” Fernández said.
Brooklyn’s medical and performance staff will guide Brown’s ramp up. His coach wants him to handle greater defensive physicality and maintain his intensity on both ends, while leaving room for his role to change as his workload grows.
Fernández can also use him in different combinations. Brown can initiate the offense or play off the ball alongside Egor Dëmin or Nolan Traoré. Julius Randle’s ability to bring the ball up adds another option. Brown sees little need to alter his approach based on who shares the backcourt.
“I think we’re all positionless,” he said. “I think we all are playmakers at the end of the day so we can play off the ball, get in the half court and make something happen, just be ourselves.”
Starting or coming off the bench won’t change Brown’s preparation, he said. His immediate assignment is to build on Wednesday’s debut, one healthy game at a time. The rookie’s family made the trip to Miami to watch, too. Brown saw them after the game, before they returned to Orlando, arriving home at 3 a.m.
“Like I said before, the sacrifices that they made for me to be here in this moment, it was great,” Brown said. “To be able to see them after the game was amazing.”