Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo said after Saturday’s 96-85 loss to the Bulls in Chicago — the team’s fourth in its last five games — that he’d be reassessing, and likely tightening, his rotation before the Nets next take the floor Wednesday in Charlotte.
When told that later, Deron Williams wholeheartedly endorsed the idea.
“That would be nice,” Williams said. “I think everybody would welcome that, just so guys know when their minutes are going to be there, when they’re going in, when they’re going out.
“It’s easier to be ready. No matter what, you should be ready to play … we’re professionals, and when your name is called, you should be ready, but I think it helps guys mentally.”
The issue isn’t for players like Williams, Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez, who all know they’re going to get significant playing time on a nightly basis, barring injury or foul trouble. Instead, it’s for the ones toward the end of the rotation who have constantly seen their roles and playing time fluctuate as Carlesimo has often attempted to fit 11 players into his rotation when one usually consists of either nine, or at most 10.
It’s something Carlesimo admitted had to change.
“We’ve got to tighten things up a little bit,” he said.
Specifically, Carlesimo has to make decisions on what he wants to do with MarShon Brooks and his power forward rotation. Brooks has hardly played since the All-Star break, outside of the three games Johnson sat out with a sore left heel, and is likely to be the first to go if the rotation begins to shrink.
The power forward situation, on the other hand, is more complicated. While Reggie Evans has continued to be a rebounding machine since the All-Star break, averaging nearly 10 boards a game, he’s 2-for-18 from the field and has eight total points in his past seven games.
Kris Humphries, meanwhile, has continued to be inconsistent, while Mirza Teletovic — who higher-ups in the organization would prefer to see get more consistent play — has shown flashes in stretches of time at the end of defeats to the Mavericks and Bulls.
The other option is to play Andray Blatche alongside Lopez, something that worked well against Chicago. While Evans and Humphries both contribute more on the boards, Blatche and Teletovic can provide floor spacing and offensive firepower.
“When we can, we’re going to want to play those [Lopez and Blatche] together more, and we certainly are going to want to play Mirza more,” Carlesimo said.
“Both of those guys, when you put [Blatche] on the floor with Brook or you put Mirza on the floor with Brook, it stretches out the defense more in two different ways … [Mirza] more perimeter, [while Blatche is] another guy inside that you have to focus on.
“We need to look at a lot of things, but we need to look at things pretty soon. Whatever moves we’re going to make, we have to have enough games left to look at it and let things come together a little better than they are right now.”