Timofey Mozgov remains awesome.
Everyone always mentions his salary when talking about his involvement in the D’Angelo Russell trade that landed them both with the Brooklyn Nets. He is owed $48 million over the next threes. He wasn’t the throw-in; he was the entire reason the Los Angeles Lakers pulled the trigger on this deal–to get out from under that contract.
Still, the Nets will use him. They lost Brook Lopez as part of the agreement, and head coach Kenny Atkinson, at this stage of the game, is all about playing the bodies he has.
Naturally, then, Mozzy was asked about his willingness to shoot threes, and his answer was priceless:
Mozgov: "I'm the guy that does what coach says. If he says shoot from half court, I shoot from half court." #Nets @NetsDaily
— Bryan Fonseca (@BryanFonsecaNY) June 26, 2017
Don’t put it past the Nets to let Mozgov fire away. Atkinson encouraged Lopez to let ‘er fly from long range. The situation with Mozgov is obviously different, but the Nets figure to be a high-volume three-point-shooting team, just like last year. It’s not outside the realm of possibility.
Mozgov is 7-of-40 from down for his career (17.5 percent). He attempted 24 of those shots during the 2013-14 season, which is a lot when you think about it. But he hasn’t been encouraged to fire away since.
Will the Nets take a different approach? We’ll have to wait and see.
Something about Mozgov squaring from beyond the arc, though, just feels right. The Nets should let it happen.
