Claxton: What's His Role?

[ecuhus1981]

IMO, there is one lingering question about the rotational minutes for us this upcoming season, and that question has a name: Nicolas Claxton.

There seem to be as many positive signs from within the organization as negative ones, at least the way I read the tea leaves. He didn't play in summer league, which could be related to recovery. But honestly, he was a healthy scratch in the postseason, so I don't think health played a factor. Maybe they just believe he's too good, but after missing over 2/3 of his first 2 seasons in the league, Nic still needs game reps.

On the bright side, Claxton spent time this summer training with James Harden. To my knowledge, he's the only teammate that received an invitation from the Bearded One. We all saw, their P&R chemistry was an unstoppable weapon. If James is investing this much time in their relationship, it probably means that our boy is the 5th starter. Or...

If Nash continues to deploy Griffin as a C, things could get really murky for Claxton. I rely on advanced statistics as well as the eye test, and both tell me that Nic and Bruce don't mix well. They are at their best occupying the same areas of the floor and the same functions, with neither able to stretch the floor for the other. Brown is guaranteed to be one of the first 2 guys off the bench and get 20-26mpg. Unless both develop a reliable corner 3, I don't see them sharing the court much. No starting + no Bruce = table scraps for Nic.

Feast or famine also describes his contract situation. He has flashed legitimate All-NBA switchable defense and efficient, though limited offense. If that Nic shows up for 82 games, he'll earn a king's ransom in free agency next summer. If he fails to lock down a starting job, though, he might need to take the QO at less than $2mil for 22-23. By that time, with Day'Ron developing behind him on a cost controlled role deal, Claxton may become journeyman trade bait.

Training camp will be enormous for Nic. I'm excited to see how his future unfolds. What are your thoughts?

[Pelly24]

I think Claxton is going to start. He's got the physical tools to be a dominant defender. He has nimble feet, a quick jump and solid reflexes to go with a great reach and good wingspan. He can guard on the perimeter and kinda protect the rim and catch lobs. He's gotten a some valuable game experience now. It will be his third year. If he doesn't start on opening night, I think he will by mid-season.

They'll need his defense, too.

[MrDollarBills]

Claxton should be starting. I particularly liked when Claxton and Blake played together up front.

I don't like Blake playing center full time. It's stupid. I would gladly start Harden/Irving/Durant/Griffin/Claxton. Claxton can switch on every match up and we need to see him improve as a rim roller, which is why I suspect Harden has had him under his wing training with him.

Move Joe Harris to the bench. That way, when we covert to the 2nd unit, Harden will have two excellent catch and shoot options to work with while KD and Kyrie rest.

[Prokorov]

Blake will start... and he should start. Blake cant play the 4 anymore. Not defensively for sure. He is far and away our best 2-way center and a stretch big. his chargers make up for the lack of blocks and he is also a better rebounder then claxton at this point.

Claxton needs to play though. Like he needs to get at least 20-24 minutes a game. which should be a non-issue since Blake probably misses 20-26 games between back to backs, rest, and injury.

I think Claxton and Griffin could play some together and just cross match. Blake plays the 4 on offense and the 5 on defense.

Then there is Nash, who needs to get over his fixation on burying non-shooters unless injury forces his hand. I think low-key marks stacked this team with defensive role guys so nash had no choice but to play some.

We have enough shooting for Nic to play the 5, but he needs to show he can consistently contribute on offense. there were too many painful dump in jump hook bricks vs boston/milwaukee and not enough finishing at the rim dunking. he is super young, and a year with harden will help.

I think regular season injuryies/rest will sort it out. he will get plenty of PT and starts just cause we need bodies. playoffs if blake is as good as last year, he should get the nod over claxton, but claxton still needs to be a top 7-8 rotation guy.

as far as "the team keeps saying great things about claxton"... that is worth a grain of salt. They said the same kind of stuff about reggie perry. now he is cut. (not that we should or would cut claxton)

[MrDollarBills]

Blake will start... and he should start. Blake cant play the 4 anymore. Not defensively for sure. He is far and away our best 2-way center and a stretch big. his chargers make up for the lack of blocks and he is also a better rebounder then claxton at this point.

Claxton needs to play though. Like he needs to get at least 20-24 minutes a game. which should be a non-issue since Blake probably misses 20-26 games between back to backs, rest, and injury.

I think Claxton and Griffin could play some together and just cross match. Blake plays the 4 on offense and the 5 on defense.

Then there is Nash, who needs to get over his fixation on burying non-shooters unless injury forces his hand. I think low-key marks stacked this team with defensive role guys so nash had no choice but to play some.

We have enough shooting for Nic to play the 5, but he needs to show he can consistently contribute on offense. there were too many painful dump in jump hook bricks vs boston/milwaukee and not enough finishing at the rim dunking. he is super young, and a year with harden will help.

I think regular season injuryies/rest will sort it out. he will get plenty of PT and starts just cause we need bodies. playoffs if blake is as good as last year, he should get the nod over claxton, but claxton still needs to be a top 7-8 rotation guy.

as far as "the team keeps saying great things about claxton"... that is worth a grain of salt. They said the same kind of stuff about reggie perry. now he is cut. (not that we should or would cut claxton)

Nash's obsession with having 5 shooters on the floor will have to change, as this roster is now balanced with defenders that aren't particularly great shooters.

When you have Kyrie, KD, and Harden, you don't need to have two other shooters on the floor. Claxton and Blake should start with them.

[MGrand15]

Claxton needs to start. We don't need to overreact to the playoffs where the game is 20 times more physical, where teams are specifically game planning, where he was thrown into the spotlight. Clax had 47 regular season games before playing in the playoffs on a team with championship aspirations. That's tough. He was absolutely an offensive liability against Boston/Milwaukee - but he was more than fine in the regular season. He was a force in the PNR, he had great chemistry with Harden, his decision making was improving a lot, he gets offensive rebounds. With more experience and a *fingers crossed* healthy off-season - I expect him to be a lot better on that end next year. His defense + energy are exactly what we need.

I've seen no evidence that Nash isn't willing to play non-shooters. He likes to play shooters when we're struggling but Brown, Clax, DJ, JA all played a bunch. Anyone that didn't play was a minimum guy.

My guess is even with Claxton starting - we do some staggering so Claxton + Joe + Patty play with Harden on the "2nd unit" and Brown + Blake play a lot with Kyrie + KD. Bembry + Johnson battle for the backup F spot and Jevon gets that last guard spot.

[Prokorov]

Claxton needs to start. We don't need to overreact to the playoffs where the game is 20 times more physical, where teams are specifically game planning, where he was thrown into the spotlight. Clax had 47 regular season games before playing in the playoffs on a team with championship aspirations. That's tough. He was absolutely an offensive liability against Boston/Milwaukee - but he was more than fine in the regular season. He was a force in the PNR, he had great chemistry with Harden, his decision making was improving a lot, he gets offensive rebounds. With more experience and a *fingers crossed* healthy off-season - I expect him to be a lot better on that end next year. His defense + energy are exactly what we need.

In the regular season i think he will start a bunch simply because blake will miss 22 games to maintenance. maybe more. Playoffs matter, I think Blake is the better option there. at least based on what weve seen. like you said, claxton hasnt played much and has alot of room for growth. Both need to play alot.

I've seen no evidence that Nash isn't willing to play non-shooters. He likes to play shooters when we're struggling but Brown, Clax, DJ, JA all played a bunch. Anyone that didn't play was a minimum guy.

DJ was relegated to DNP-CD/out of the rotation the second we got blake (stretch 5). and even prior to that, DJ was losing a ton of time to smallball with Jeff Green at the 5. Allen was on the team for just a short time with Nash, and we didnt really have a stretch 5 option at the time (it was Allen/DJ, hurt claxton, and the green at the 5 experiment hadnt started yet).

Claxton got burried a bit once blake arrived as well, and was used to the point of DNP as the playoffs progressed. Bruce brown was only really called upon when injuries forced it. he played his way into minutes, then lost them until injuries put him back in again... and even then, nash rarely played him without 4 other shooters on the floor.

My guess is even with Claxton starting - we do some staggering so Claxton + Joe + Patty play with Harden on the "2nd unit" and Brown + Blake play a lot with Kyrie + KD. Bembry + Johnson battle for the backup F spot and Jevon gets that last guard spot.

yeah startings matters less then minutes played. he needs to play

[MGrand15]

I've seen no evidence that Nash isn't willing to play non-shooters. He likes to play shooters when we're struggling but Brown, Clax, DJ, JA all played a bunch. Anyone that didn't play was a minimum guy.

DJ was relegated to DNP-CD/out of the rotation the second we got blake (stretch 5). and even prior to that, DJ was losing a ton of time to smallball with Jeff Green at the 5. Allen was on the team for just a short time with Nash, and we didnt really have a stretch 5 option at the time (it was Allen/DJ, hurt claxton, and the green at the 5 experiment hadnt started yet).

Claxton got burried a bit once blake arrived as well, and was used to the point of DNP as the playoffs progressed. Bruce brown was only really called upon when injuries forced it. he played his way into minutes, then lost them until injuries put him back in again... and even then, nash rarely played him without 4 other shooters on the floor.

My guess is even with Claxton starting - we do some staggering so Claxton + Joe + Patty play with Harden on the "2nd unit" and Brown + Blake play a lot with Kyrie + KD. Bembry + Johnson battle for the backup F spot and Jevon gets that last guard spot.

yeah startings matters less then minutes played. he needs to play

DJ had the worst +/- on the team. He absolutely needed out of the rotation once Clax/Blake/LMA came into the mix. I don't think that's proof of anything. DJ had all the chances in the world to prove he's a rotation player in the league. He's just not good enough defensively.

Bruce only being called upon because of injuries is a reach. He played in Game 8 of the regular season and was virtually a rotation lock after that. We also had Kyrie, Dinwiddie, LeVert, Shamet, and TLC in the back court. This was back when we actually thought TLC was a useful player. It's not like Nash buried him until midseason where he HAD to play him. There was a lot of mixing and matching going on until we figured out our identity.

Nash playing him 4 other shooters on the floor is just smart, common sense coaching lol. Bruce damn near invented his own position since the Nets started running him at center on offense. That's a good thing.

You're right though. We'll have plenty of injury management games and everyone will play a bunch. We probably need to sign a 3rd center cause of Blake unless the team thinks the rookie is ready.

[Prokorov]

I've seen no evidence that Nash isn't willing to play non-shooters. He likes to play shooters when we're struggling but Brown, Clax, DJ, JA all played a bunch. Anyone that didn't play was a minimum guy.

DJ was relegated to DNP-CD/out of the rotation the second we got blake (stretch 5). and even prior to that, DJ was losing a ton of time to smallball with Jeff Green at the 5. Allen was on the team for just a short time with Nash, and we didnt really have a stretch 5 option at the time (it was Allen/DJ, hurt claxton, and the green at the 5 experiment hadnt started yet).

Claxton got burried a bit once blake arrived as well, and was used to the point of DNP as the playoffs progressed. Bruce brown was only really called upon when injuries forced it. he played his way into minutes, then lost them until injuries put him back in again... and even then, nash rarely played him without 4 other shooters on the floor.

My guess is even with Claxton starting - we do some staggering so Claxton + Joe + Patty play with Harden on the "2nd unit" and Brown + Blake play a lot with Kyrie + KD. Bembry + Johnson battle for the backup F spot and Jevon gets that last guard spot.

yeah startings matters less then minutes played. he needs to play

DJ had the worst +/- on the team. He absolutely needed out of the rotation once Clax/Blake/LMA came into the mix. I don't think that's proof of anything. DJ had all the chances in the world to prove he's a rotation player in the league. He's just not good enough defensively.

Bruce only being called upon because of injuries is a reach. He played in Game 8 of the regular season and was virtually a rotation lock after that. We also had Kyrie, Dinwiddie, LeVert, Shamet, and TLC in the back court. This was back when we actually thought TLC was a useful player. It's not like Nash buried him until midseason where he HAD to play him. There was a lot of mixing and matching going on until we figured out our identity.

Nash playing him 4 other shooters on the floor is just smart, common sense coaching lol. Bruce damn near invented his own position since the Nets started running him at center on offense. That's a good thing.

You're right though. We'll have plenty of injury management games and everyone will play a bunch. We probably need to sign a 3rd center cause of Blake unless the team thinks the rookie is ready.

I think James Johnson will spend half his minutes at center and they consider him that 3rd center.

[Shark]

I'd like for him to start, but going off of how thing are looking under Nash, I voted for backup center.

Clax would have to develop a consisent perimeter game in order for that to change and I don't see that happening this season.

But he definitely should be getting more minutes.

[MrDollarBills]

This team is going to sleepwalk to being a top 3 offense in the league. What we need are to clean up the 2nd chance points and become better defensively, which we should be with the dogs added to this roster. As far as Claxton goes, he definitely needs to improve as a catch and finisher on offense and he needs to be aggressive on the defensive glass to help limit the 2nd chance opps we give up constantly

[3pt_chucker]

I hope he starts. Asking Blake to play center for the entire season, even with rest days factored in sounds like too much. Let Claxton start the RS and let him develop. Blake can always start in the playoffs.

[ecuhus1981]

I hope he starts. Asking Blake to play center for the entire season, even with rest days factored in sounds like too much. Let Claxton start the RS and let him develop. Blake can always start in the playoffs.

Exactamundo.

We were fortunate last year to juice so much high-leverage PT out of Blake last season, and that was only 45 games. Asking him to start a majority of an 82-game regular season plus (hopefully) 20 playoff games is inviting trouble. At minimum, he'll be a shell of himself by the need we need him.

Start the kid, with the understanding that he moves to the bench come postseason. Save Griffin for winning time, when elite teams target limited bigmen and play them off the floor.

[sashaturiaf]

Clax absolutely needs to play and develop, he has the chance to be special especially defensively. With the Millsap and LMA signings big man minutes are going to be hotly contested but I'd want at least 20-25 minutes of Claxton.

Not worried about his playoff performance, as a string bean C playing in his first playoffs he was fine. Offensively he doesn't need to do anything but set screens and roll. The Kyrie and Harden injuries destroyed us vs the Bucks since guys like Clax and Joe got put in a role bigger than their abilities can handle. Stay healthy and we will more than fine

[Stone]

I believe he will be both a back up big and a starter over the course of the season. Nic's problem is shooting, he has got to improve. If he can develop a a little 10 -12 foot shot he is going to have a long career in the NBA. Stat is still our big guy coach but I haven't heard a peep about him working with Nic. He definitely has the tools but he really needs to put in the work.

[Prokorov]

I believe he will be both a back up big and a starter over the course of the season. Nic's problem is shooting, he has got to improve. If he can develop a a little 10 -12 foot shot he is going to have a long career in the NBA. Stat is still our big guy coach but I haven't heard a peep about him working with Nic. He definitely has the tools but he really needs to put in the work.

96 minutes between PF/C

Blake - 24
LMA - 24
KD 35

That leaves 13 minutes for Millsap, James Johnson, Claxton and any time Bruce brown spends at PF

2 of Claxton/millsap/Johnson/LMA will be out of the rotation on days where one of Blake/KD are both active.

[ecuhus1981]

I believe he will be both a back up big and a starter over the course of the season. Nic's problem is shooting, he has got to improve. If he can develop a a little 10 -12 foot shot he is going to have a long career in the NBA. Stat is still our big guy coach but I haven't heard a peep about him working with Nic. He definitely has the tools but he really needs to put in the work.

96 minutes between PF/C

Blake - 24
LMA - 24
KD 35

That leaves 13 minutes for Millsap, James Johnson, Claxton and any time Bruce brown spends at PF

2 of Claxton/millsap/Johnson/LMA will be out of the rotation on days where one of Blake/KD are both active.

The writing's on the wall, Joe is going to the bench. I have no doubt he'll be one of the minutes leaders on the squad because he's an iron man, but he'll be primarily a 2nd unit and closing lineup dude for us this season.

[Karate Diop]

The rotation getting cut wreaked of Pringles... Not sure they was on Nash but this year we'll find out.

[Sharcm1]

I think it will be starting center based on matchups.

[DarkXaero]

I believe he will be both a back up big and a starter over the course of the season. Nic's problem is shooting, he has got to improve. If he can develop a a little 10 -12 foot shot he is going to have a long career in the NBA. Stat is still our big guy coach but I haven't heard a peep about him working with Nic. He definitely has the tools but he really needs to put in the work.

96 minutes between PF/C

Blake - 24
LMA - 24
KD 35

That leaves 13 minutes for Millsap, James Johnson, Claxton and any time Bruce brown spends at PF

2 of Claxton/millsap/Johnson/LMA will be out of the rotation on days where one of Blake/KD are both active.

The writing's on the wall, Joe is going to the bench. I have no doubt he'll be one of the minutes leaders on the squad because he's an iron man, but he'll be primarily a 2nd unit and closing lineup dude for us this season.

That's the way I feel too. I think MIllsap + LMA will start, with KD moving to 3. LMA was an automatic starter when he got here last season, and Shams has repeatedly said that Millsap will compete for a starting spot here. If that is the case, then Joe is obviously going to the bench.