Nets center Nic Claxton received his first start of the season on Monday. Claxton, who signed a four-year deal worth up to $100MM during the summer, had 10 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals in a win over Memphis. He missed the preseason due to a hamstring injury.
“It’s just still getting back into the swing of things. I had like one stint where I was really tired, but other than that, I was good. Just trying to communicate, just find my balance again,” Claxton told Brian Lewis of the New York Post.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Ben Simmons sat out Monday in the second game of a back-to-back. Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez wants Simmons to shoot more often — he’s taken five or fewer attempts in his six games, Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post notes. “He is physically getting where he’s supposed to be, and those attempts need to go up,” Fernandez said. “Because then we are all going to benefit from it. I don’t care about makes-misses. I just want to see shots going up. He’s more than capable of doing it, so he’ll get there for sure.”
- Chris Boucher was in and out of the Raptors‘ rotation last season. He came back this season determined to reestablish himself as a reliable reserve. So far, so good. He’s averaging 9.8 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 17.3 minutes per game. “I think there was a lot of stuff that I was doing that I kept saying I gotta do better, but I never changed it,” Boucher told Josh Lewenberg of TSN. “Obviously, when things are going well and you’re playing all the time you [think], well, I’m just going to keep doing what I’m going. But by the time I wasn’t playing, I was like, all right, well, now I’ve gotta figure it out or I won’t be here no more.” Boucher will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
- Celtics forward Jaylen Brown will miss his third consecutive game on Wednesday, Tim Bontemps of ESPN tweets. Brown is dealing with a hip flexor strain. He’s averaging 25.7 points and 7.2 rebounds per contest in the early going.
Which team needs to acquire Nicolas Claxton?
No one. His contact should be a sufficient deterrent
I don’t know about it being a deterrent, but I know the Nets wouldn’t have given it to him if they didn’t see him as part of the future.
First, his contract is an incentive. You get a young defensive-minded Center under contract for three seasons.
Furthermore, it’s malpractice to allow one of your best players to leave for nothing. It’s our choice: sign him and trade him later, or sign him and keep him.
Finally, the goal this season is setting the foundation for the future. On a scale from 0 to 100, how certain are you both that Claxton will remain apart of this team?
Ben ain’t gonna ahoot. He wants his fga% to be high – he ain’t gonna shoot and lower it.
It’s a win/win for HIM to pass… if you make the shot, HE gets an assist. If you miss the shot, it doesn’t affect HIS fga%.
His summer shots on Instagram don’t affect his in-season fga%…. he’ll shoot all day in the offseason, threes and all! His misses don’t count against him.
Yeah, but, the amount of layups he has had, that he would make, and he just passes it off is getting ridiculous
Coach needs to sit Simmons when he goes not play the way he should. It is a contract year, he should be motivated. If not let him ride the pine.