Nets play it cautious with MarShon Brooks

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- MarShon Brooks sat on the bench Thursday, watching his teammates scrimmage and practice situational drills.

Looks as if that's the view he'll have for at least the next few days.

The second-year Nets guard is experiencing right foot tendinitis and sported a walking boot at the PNY Center after feeling some pain near the end of Wednesday's practice. Brooks had an MRI and X-rays taken and the results came back negative.

He insists it's no big deal, and coach Avery Johnson said the team wants to err on the side of caution to make sure the soreness doesn't linger. Johnson estimates Brooks will be sidelined a week to 10 days, meaning he won't be available for the Nets' preseason opener against the 76ers in Atlantic City Saturday.

"It's just a lot of stress on my feet," Brooks said. "I have some flat feet. So we are going to get me some orthotics tonight to give me a little support and I should be fine. I'm just day-to-day."

Brooks said he's never dealt with tendinitis in a foot before, and the team wants to make sure the inflammation is under control with the protective boot. "It's not something I couldn't play through,'' he said, "but we're just trying to get it right."

The Nets play four preseason games in five nights next week, and Johnson wouldn't rule out Brooks getting some action in one of their two games in the latter part of the week. He said his timetable for Brooks' return is conservative.

"If he comes out of the boot in two days," Johnson said, "we are rehabbing for two days and condition him, maybe he can play at the end of next week."

But if Brooks has a setback and isn't able to play in any of the six preseason games, Johnson said that certainly wouldn't be an ideal scenario.

"If a guy misses all of training camp or he can't get into a preseason game, that's a little bit of a concern," he said. "You can only simulate so much in practice."

At least Tyshawn Taylor finally got a crack at simulating a few things in practice. The rookie guard had been limited to non-contact activities through the first 10 days of camp because of a strained quad. Taylor has lost precious time, something that can't be overlooked, given that he's learning everything on the fly.

"Training camps is the time for rookies to kind of prove themselves a little bit, and I felt like I was missing out on that," he said. "To be out here, I feel like I'm getting my opportunity.

"I honestly don't know if I am behind. It feels like it just because I want to be out there. But I've been watching. I know all the plays and I know the system and things like that. So it's not really like me being out of the loop. I'm not missing too much."