Was Jacque Vaughn overly cautious with players' minutes in Nets' opener?
Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn gestures during the first half of an NBA game against the Cavaliers at Barclays Center on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
It’s natural for NBA teams to be cautious with minutes early in the season. The Nets, in theory, are no different than the Lakers trying to manage LeBron James’ minutes in his 21st season.
Of course, the Nets are younger than the Lakers with only three players older than 27. And after their season-opening loss to the Cavaliers on Wednesday night, the Nets were perhaps too cautious with minutes in a close game.
Cam Thomas had 33 points through three quarters and was the Nets’ best offense as they trailed for all but 12 seconds to that point. Yet Thomas sat during a seven-minute stretch of the fourth quarter and returned with 3:10 left and the Nets leading 105-103.
Coach Jacque Vaughn said Thomas was fatigued and he could tell by the way Thomas shook his hand when he checked out with 10:25 left. He also wanted to sub in Nic Claxton for defensive purposes with Thomas' offense out.
Thomas, who missed a potential game-winning shot as time expired, agreed he was laboring a bit.
“It’s common playing that much and scoring as much as I did, you’re going to be tired,” said Thomas, who took a team-high 21 shots in 25 minutes. “My wind was good, obviously, but I’m not really worried about that.”
Vaughn said he wants to limit players to about 30 minutes due to the effort he wants them to play with. That plan worked except for Mikal Bridges playing 35 minutes.
Thomas finished with 36 points, but if he played more, could he have helped put the Nets ahead by a larger margin in the fourth? That’s debatable.
Yes, the offense flowed without him as the Nets outscored the Cavs 14-8 in his absence. But Thomas’ scoring kept the Nets close most of the game and he could have maintained his rhythm by playing more than four minutes in the fourth.
As a whole, the Nets’ minutes allotment stood in stark contrast to the Cavaliers, whose five starters each played at least 32 minutes.. Bridges played the entire fourth quarter and was the only Nets player who went over 30 minutes.
Cam Johnson played 26 minutes, a reasonable total since he didn’t play in preseason because of injury. Claxton played 28 minutes.
However, Spencer Dinwiddie played just 1:21 of the fourth quarter and 24 minutes total and scored just five points. Ben Simmons, who said he wasn’t on a minutes limit in his first NBA game since Feb. 15, played 23 minutes but only played 1:53 of the fourth quarter.
“You’ll have to ask Coach,” Simmons said when asked about his minutes.
Vaughn’s plan bought time with Dennis Smith Jr. and Dorian Finney-Smith playing well in the fourth quarter. But could it be a factor in the next close game where he has to choose between riding a hot hand like Thomas or being mindful of minutes?
Time will tell if the first game is a sign of a future pattern rather than just being cautious early in the schedule.
“Our guys won’t be 30-plus [minutes] a lot because of the fact that we have to play extremely hard and I don’t want them coasting,” Vaughn said. “So I do want them tired when I check them out of the game. That is going to be the goal for us and let’s see if it works.”
Net-cetera
The Nets announced Thursday they exercised the fourth-year team options on Day’Ron Sharpe and Thomas. The deadline for teams to do so with third-year players is Tuesday.
Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.
More Brooklyn Nets
