Long Island Nets sweet February rewarded with Coach and Player of the Month awards

The Long Island Nets are good. They’ve won six straight and are now sitting a game and a half out of first in the G League’s Eastern Conference. Now, the G League has honored their 8-2 record in February by naming high scoring Craig Randall II and rookie head coach Adam Caporn as the player and coach of month.

For the 6’4” Randall, it’s his first player of the month in a season that also saw him names player of the week in early January. The UT-Martin product is a top five scorer for the G League averaging 26.0 points per game and is also the leader in 3-pointers made at 100, 30 ahead of second place Justin Anderson, the former Net who plays for Fort Wayne.

Here’s the highlight video the league produced on Randall’s month...

In nine games in February (all starts), Randall II averaged 25.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 7.8 assists in 41.2 minutes per game while leading Long Island to an 8-1 record in those nine contests, as the team went 8-2 overall for the month.

Among players who appeared in eight or more games in February, the Ohio native’s 25.0 points per game ranked third in the NBA G League, and his 7.8 assists per game ranked fourth. His 43 3-pointers made in February ranked second in the league, while his 82 field goals made tied for seventh.

The 25-year-old scored 20 or more points in eight out of nine contests and 30 or more points in three games while leading Long Island in scoring five times. On February 12 at Windy City, Randall II recorded his first triple-double of his NBA G League career and the first for Long Island this season with 25 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in 42 minutes.

He is the first Long Island Net to be named G League Player of the Month.

Caporn led Long Island to an 8-2 month with the Nets’ eight victories marking the most wins for the month of February in franchise history and second-most wins across the league in February.

During that span, the team ranked fourth in 3-pointers made (131) and ninth in 3-point field goal percentage (.350) and ninth in offensive rebounds per game (12.3). On the defensive end, the Nets held their opponents to 106.0 points per game, the third-lowest opponent points per game in the league in February. Long Island scored 100 or more points against all opponents in February for the fourth time in franchise history. The Nets won their last six games in February, tying for the longest win streak in the NBA G League this season. Long Island currently stands fifth in the Eastern Conference and eighth in the league overall with a record of 14-8.

He is the second Long Island Nets head coach to be named G League Coach of the Month. The other was Will Weaver who was honored in March 2019 when Long Island was making its way to the G League Finals. Weaver is now an assistant coach on the Rockets. Indeed, all four Long Island Nets head coaches prior to Caporn are now assistant coaches in the NBA.

Randall, of course, is the G League’s feel good story for the year, having gone from a local tryout candidate to an All-Star. Caporn, too, has a good story. He was an assistant coach on Australia’s bronze medal-winning men’s basketball team at the Tokyo Olympics.

The Nets will host the Delaware Blue Coats on Wednesday night in another game full of playoff and seeding implications. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. and it will air on ESPN+ and the YES App.