Nets Preview Rotation In An Otherwise Meaningless Affair—But Whither Nicolas Claxton?

The Athletic

The Golden Rule of the NBA preseason is to never take anything away from the games aside from health. That Brooklyn defeated an unrecognizable facsimile of Milwaukee, 119-115, on Friday night at Barclays Center in no way was intended to erase the pain from its loss to the Bucks in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals in June.

However, a case can be made that Nets head coach Steve Nash’s order of operations on Friday, where he went with a starting five of Kevin Durant, James Harden, Joe Harris, Blake Griffin, and--in place of “ineligible” COVID-19 vaccine holdout Kyrie Irving--Bruce Brown, was a dry run for future games that matter.

Patty Mills was the sixth man, LaMarcus Aldridge spelled Griffin halfway through each of the first three quarters, and Jevon Carter, DeAndre’ Bembry, and James Johnson came on to supply defense and toughness. Other than the assumption that Paul Millsap, who sat out Friday’s contest due to the league’s Health and Safety Protocols, will usurp Johnson in the pecking order, that 10-man rotation seems like a plausible one for when these two teams meet for real in the regular season opener in Milwaukee on October 19.

Wither, you may ask, Nicolas Claxton? The third-year center was relegated to the third string on Friday, alongside the rookies and the G-Leaguers.

On the surface, that seems strange given how impactful Claxton was last season, particularly on the defensive end. Nash has stated publicly that Claxton just might be Brooklyn’s best defender, a tremendous athlete who can switch onto guards on the perimeter while also protecting the rim with his 7’, 2.5” wingspan.

Unfortunately, Claxton has yet to take a step forward on the offensive end. While fans like me have envisioned him as a poor man’s Chris Bosh since the Nets plucked him with the first pick in the second round (31st overall) of the 2019 NBA Draft, Claxton’s shooting, from long-range to his finishes around the basket, remains a work in progress. He’s a sub-50% career shooter from the free throw line, including a horrendous 48.4% last season, which won’t get you into games during crunch time.

The little things also remain unpolished. He is still substandard as a pick-and-roll screener, both in setting solid screens and then instinctively running hard to the rim to pull defenses in towards the basket. In the preseason opener at the Lakers last Sunday, Claxton picked up three moving screen fouls in about a two-minute span in the first quarter.

Defensively, while the sensational outweighs the bad, Claxton can get lost in his aggressiveness, challenging shots in situations that beg for him to prioritize rebounding. As a young player, he hasn’t mastered defensive communication and will sometimes be the object of quizzed looks from his teammates over a missed assignment.

It was these trust issues that had Claxton stapled to the bench for all but a handful of minutes in the final two games of the Bucks series.

With Aldridge needing to be monitored due to a heart condition that sent him into retirement after five games in Brooklyn last season and Griffin needing time off to manage his aging body (particularly his knee), Claxton will undoubtedly receive opportunities this season. When he plays, he has a knack for making opponents miss, leading the league in field goal percentage allowed as the nearest defender last season (25-game minimum) at 35.2%, per NBA.com.

However, Nash’s tendencies as a head coach provide Claxton less rope—if it’s a close call, Nash will typically lean on offense over defense, even if it puts Brooklyn at a glaring size disadvantage (never mind that the Claxton/Griffin front-court combo posted a plus-15.3 net rating in 97 minutes together last season).

This is an important season for Claxton, as his rookie contract will expire afterwards. Though various injuries have limited his on-court NBA experience, he needs to be showcasing some sort of development leap to warrant a large bump in pay going forward.

The Nets, though, are far removed from their development stage, with a win-now mentality that will prove challenging for any young player prone to mistakes. It’s a bit of a catch-22, where the Nets might not trust Claxton to perform at a certain level now but he needs live experience to progress to his immense potential.