Millsap Saga Reportedly Heading For Its Inevitable End—Will Griffin Be The Next Nets Vet Out The Door?
Father Time, as they say, is undefeated in its battles versus professional athletes. Whether the knockout blow comes from an early injury or the deterioration of skills after many years on the job, it will come.
In the case of Nets big man Paul Millsap, he may not be down for good, but he appears to be diminished to the point where he is on his way out of Brooklyn after one disappointing half season. According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the Nets and Millsap mutually agreed to find the four-time All-Star a new home on a team where he can make a greater contribution.
You could see this coming from a mile away, as Millsap has played in just three of Brooklyn’s last 19 games, totaling 35 minutes. The Nets have declared Millsap inactive due to “personal reasons” on numerous occasions over the past month and while no one ever clarified whether it was due to a family matter (Millsap’s wife reportedly gave birth to a child around the same time the healthy scratches began), it wouldn’t be the first time a veteran stayed away from his team to passive-aggressively voice his displeasure over his role, or lack thereof.
Brooklyn General Manager Sean Marks is known for two things: Prioritizing roster flexibility and making agents happy when he can. The resolution of Millsap’s situation would appear to check off both boxes, as the Nets will gain a roster spot they can use to either convert rookie second-round pick Kessler Edwards’ two-way contract into a standard one or acquire another player in a trade or in the buyout market after the February 10 deadline.
You can argue that Millsap, who was signed to a veteran minimum contract in the offseason, never really got a fair shake from Nets Head Coach Steve Nash, but it’s also undeniable that he did not make the most of the playing time he was given.
A career 34.3% three-point shooter going into his 16th NBA season, Millsap connected on just 6-of-27 attempts (22.2%) from behind the arc in 24 games this season, with more than a handful of the misses on the ugly side. When he was signed, I envisioned he would be able to feast from the corners as Jeff Green did last season (44% on 109 corner 3s, per NBA.com). In his prior four seasons in Denver, Millsap knocked down 46.7%, 44.4%, 42.9%, and 52.4% of his corner 3s, albeit in fewer attempts than Green.
Unfortunately, Millsap started out this season 1-for-10 from the short corners, and his 30% efficiency on two-pointers outside the restricted area wasn’t confidence-building either. With all the chaos surrounding Brooklyn’s Big 3 of Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving this season, the Nets only have so much room on the court for players who aren’t threatening the defense from long ranges.
And Millsap, who will turn 37 in February, no longer possesses the physical attributes to make his mark in other areas, though his Basketball IQ remains off the charts. Defensively, his lateral immobility made him a prime target for opponents looking to torch him off the dribble on switches and, at six-foot seven, he did not have the height nor the leap to protect the rim in drop coverages.
Few on the Nets were better at details like screen-setting (second behind LaMarcus Aldridge in screen assists per 36 minutes), getting deflections (fourth), or helping the team secure rebounds (fourth in on-court rebounding percentage). It just wasn’t enough to leapfrog him over Brooklyn’s other bigs, especially since Nash nixed the idea of playing him at power forward, his natural position, due to the concerns above.
Full transparency: It was those positive traits that made me pine for Millsap ever since his prime years in Atlanta. When he finally arrived, I thought he could very well be the missing piece. Unfortunately, the Nets weren’t able to bring him in until it was too late for him to be of optimal use.
Similarly, you have to wonder if Blake Griffin, another favorite of mine, could be next out the door. Maybe the Nets will keep him around in case Aldridge has a health setback (he briefly retired due to a heart issue five games into his Brooklyn tenure after being bought out by San Antonio last season), but I can’t imagine Griffin, a six-time All-Star, is all that thrilled with falling behind rookie Day’Ron Sharpe in Nash’s pecking order. Griffin did not get off the bench in Wednesday’s 119-118 thriller in Washington, his second DNP-CD this month and tenth this season. When Nic Claxton returns from his left hamstring injury (he’s listed as questionable for Friday’s game in San Antonio), Griffin might just be fourth on the Nets’ center depth chart.
Like Aldridge, Griffin chose to come back to Brooklyn this season on the vet minimum (though the terms of the Pistons’ buyout from last season has them owing Griffin nearly $30 million for the privilege of playing elsewhere in 2021-22) for the opportunity to contribute on a championship contender. Whenever he takes the court, he injects the team with a heavy dose of hustle, taking charges and diving after loose balls. The two aging big men and the youthful Claxton complemented each other, so it was assumed that Brooklyn felt comfortable at the position no matter who started.
Unfortunately, Griffin has been laying bricks all season from three-point land and his once vaunted explosion off the bounce has all but evaporated—he’s shooting 20.7% on 3s AND 48% on layups, with just 8 dunks on 12 attempts, per NBA.com.
The Nets are now giving Sharpe, 20, a serious audition at the 5, starting him in five consecutive games. The results haven’t been spectacular—a minus 3.4 net rating in his time on the court—but it’s obvious that the organization is intrigued by his hard rolling ability, his hands, and the way he hungers after rebounds. The rest—defending without fouling, finishing around the rim (10 of his 90 field goal attempts have been blocked), and general court awareness can be learned through reps.
Even if such smoothing of the learning curve comes at the expense of the vets trying to stay warm while sitting on the bench. It may not be fair, but that’s life during a marathon NBA regular season. When called upon, you have to produce.
Millsap and Griffin have brought an air of toughness and a hit-first mentality that Brooklyn had been lacking for a long time. You need that to get through four grueling playoff rounds to win a title. Unfortunately, the modern NBA requires that and more—the teams that boast both grit and shooting tend to fare the best.