Fred VanVleet has played more off the ball this season and the Raptors guard admits it hasn’t been an easy adjustment, William Lou of Sportsnet tweets. “I’m always willing to do what’s best for the team and it’s something we’ve been trying,” he said. “There’s games where I dominate the ball and we need that, but for the most part I’m in a completely different role than last year.” VanVleet is shooting a career-low 33.5% on 3-point attempts this season. He left Tuesday’s game early with lower back stiffness, Marc Spears of ESPN tweets.
We have more from the Eastern Conference:
- Max Strus made half of his 10 three-point attempts for the Heat on Monday, a sign he may be breaking out of a shooting slump, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes. It was the first time Strus made more than three 3-pointers in a game since Nov. 30. Strus, an unrestricted free agent after this season, shot 24.7% from deep in 11 games prior to Monday’s breakout.
- Guard Gabe Vincent scored 11 points in 18 minutes on Monday after missing eight consecutive Heat games with tendinosis in his right knee. “It’s hard to not be present,” he told Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “But it’s hard to see something that you can help and not being able to help. I think that applies to every aspect of life, when you feel like you can help a situation but you’re not able to. It’s difficult.” Vincent is also headed to unrestricted free agency after the season.
- Putting controversies aside and just focusing on the game has keyed the Nets’ nine-game winning streak, Nick Friedell of ESPN writes. “The most important part of today is we’re trying to win this ballgame,” coach Jacque Vaughn said. “When we step into the gym every single day it’s about basketball. How we’re going to take care of each other on the floor, cover for each other on the floor, it’s about basketball.”
JV has shown he can be a great coach for the Nets when he is the one in charge. We saw what he was able to do in the bubble with a depleted lineup. The Nets kept him around as the highest paid assistant coach to Nash, but it’s hard to implement your philosophy when someone else is in charge. Pivoting away from Udoka following Nash’s firing was the best move the Nets made. As for the team itself, other than the known “Big Three,” TJ Warren is turning out to be a real gem and Claxton is steadily improving.
The Nets are for sure now Top 4 in the East. They need to go all on for a center.
TJW may prove to be the signing of the year if he stays healthy he will.just keep getting better and better. Although the Nets could use a wide-body people forget their length with Claxton Durant Simmons all around 7 feet. Then you have Oneal Wantanabe Warren all around 6’8 or over. I don’t know why Sharpe isn’t getting run, perhaps his defense but the Nets are not a small team like the Heat are.