Nic Claxton has been relegated to coming off the bench as he builds up his conditioning.
And whereas coach Jordi Fernandez gained’t say when he’ll begin the middle once more, it clearly gained’t be till Claxton’s minutes restriction is eased.
A hamstring harm sidelined Claxton for your entire preseason, and the Nets efficiency staff has put him on a strict minutes restrict by means of their first two regular-season video games.
Claxton logged simply 15:25 off the bench within the opener earlier than seeing that boosted to a strong 20:26 outing Friday in Orlando.
Granted, Claxton theoretically would possibly’ve performed extra within the opener if he hadn’t gotten ejected within the fourth quarter for an ill-advised clothesline towards the Hawks. However it does appear as if he might see his enjoying time improve in Sunday’s dwelling opener towards the Bucks.
“We have to evaluate how his body feels. Then once that happens, then we can assess the next step,” Fernandez stated. “My thought is, whenever we can, he’s gonna rest. Then his body’s gonna tell us how he’s doing. We can increase the minutes, obviously. … We want him to play starting minutes, but we have to be smart with it. Health is No. 1 for everybody, not just for Nic in minutes.”
There’s a threshold the place a coach might begin a participant and use him in shorter spurts and be artistic in his rotations.
However Fernandez sounds disinclined to place Claxton again into the lineup till he’s cleared to log starter’s minutes — at the very least 24 minutes and probably topping 30. It’s unclear when that is likely to be.
“Obviously, you can be creative. But if you go to starter minutes, then it’s somewhere around low 30s, because I think if you do more, health is an issue,” Fernandez stated. “But for me, starters usually play starting at 24 all the way to 33-34, that range.”
Ben Simmons has been beginning at heart by means of the preseason and the primary two losses of the common season. Backup heart Day’Ron Sharpe is out for at the very least one other month.
The Nets have dropped their previous three dwelling openers, tying the longest such skid in staff historical past (performed twice, from 1991-93 and 1987-89).
Brooklyn is within the midst of a five-game shedding skid towards the Bucks, relationship again to their final victory on Dec. 23, 2022.
Cam Johnson has began the season with a chilly contact, averaging 13.0 factors however taking pictures simply 36.4 % and 18.8 from behind the arc.
He was simply 4-for-12 general on Friday in Orlando and 2-for-10 from deep.
“[Orlando] went on a run, and it kind of got away from us,” Johnson stated. “We’ve just got to be better at when things aren’t going our way, responding the right way.”
Cam Thomas is averaging 30.0 factors on .477/.556/.889 taking pictures splits. Most of that manufacturing (16.0 factors) has truly come simply within the fourth quarter.
