By Dan Favale , Featured Columnist Nov 8, 2016
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Jeremy Lin's absence is not a blessing disguised as a setback for the Brooklyn Nets.
It's a legitimate stumbling block that undermines a team that isn't built to win but doesn't have any incentive to lose.
The aftermath of Lin's left hamstring injury, though, underscores what Brooklyn's season is all about: gauging the depth of this roster with minutes for prospects, projects and experimental lineups.
With a right ankle ailment keeping Greivis Vasquez sidelined next to Lin, this situation calls for more from the Nets' other ball-handlers—more specifically, Sean Kilpatrick and rookie Isaiah Whitehead, with a sprinkle of Randy Foye, who is set to make his return from a right hamstring injury Tuesday night.
It's not the ideal replacement committee. Not one of those three fits the truest description of a full-time point guard. Lin has quickly established himself as Brooklyn's offensive lifeline; he is irreplaceable even with the rest of the roster at full strength.
No one on the team has a higher assist percentage (36), and Lin's turnover rate (15.1) is right in line with last season's career-best mark (14.9). Routine double-teams haven't fazed his decision-making, which has been particularly vital when he's attacking the basket.
Among every player in the league averaging at least five drives per game, no one is matching Lin's field-goal percentage (58.8) and assist rate (17.6). Only two players, in addition to Lin, are clearing 50 percent shooting and an assist rate of 15 in those situations: James Harden and George Hill.
The Nets have pumped in 106.6 points per 100 possessions during the 134 minutes Lin has spent on the floor compared to 95.1 in the 154 minutes without him. At this writing, that 11.5-point plunge is the difference between placing seventh and 29th in offensive efficiency.
More than that, it's a bigger drop-off than many other teams experience during the absence of their star point guards:
Granted, the season is still in its infancy, so the sample size is small. It's nevertheless a testament to Lin that, statistically, he's just as or more important to Brooklyn's offense than half of the above names.
Still, the Nets must soldier on without him, infinitely increasing the responsibility they place upon the shoulders of Kilpatrick and Whitehead.
Around 26 percent of the former's minutes have come at point guard this season, and he was the pseudo-floor general for Brooklyn's second unit long before Lin went down.
"It's a little different. But the best thing about it is I'm getting a lot more reps than I was getting during the summertime," he said. "I think with coach being able to really have me in practice running the point and getting used to basically what Jeremy does, I think it's something that's actually helping me, and it will help this team."
Kilpatrick has the Nets' second-best assist percentage, and their offensive rating is better with him than any regular rotation player—including Lin. While he has the luxury of squaring off against second-stringers, he gets ample spin versus opposing starters and leads Brooklyn in fourth-quarter minutes.
It helps too that Kilpatrick, at 6'4", doesn't endure much of a transition when switching onto point guards.
"I'm just as fast or just as strong as those guys at the 1," he said. "Me being able to have my weight [210 lbs] and have my strength and be able to wear those guys down, I think that's something that's playing a favor in my part. I think with coach being able to have me at the 1 and me being able to defend those guys is a learning [experience] for me and is actually helping me get better, but I think it's kind of an advantage for us."
Some of Brooklyn's best defensive units do feature Kilpatrick, but he has struggled when trying to disrupt pick-and-rolls and while facing screens. Lin, though not a touted defender, is at least more accustomed to making the right reads against those play types.
The Nets, to that end, don't want to reinvent Kilpatrick's role. He is the face of a bench mob that's fifth in offensive efficiency, according to HoopsStats.com, and at his best when used as a primal scorer.
"I think Sean can definitely play the point," head coach Kenny Atkinson said. "He's done it. He handled some pick-and-roll. But we don't want to get Sean too out of his role. He's done a fantastic job scoring off the bench for us. I'm not saying he's not going to play point guard, but I think Randy will help alleviate some minutes at that position."
Foye, like Kilpatrick, is a viable stopgap. He is comfortable on-ball but hasn't played substantial minutes as a chief facilitator in more than a half-decade. Trevor Booker will also push the ball up the floor, hoping to catch defenses off-kilter. Brook Lopez should see more post-ups. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who has assisted on more of Lopez's buckets than anyone else, will act as another surrogate point guard. Ditto for Bojan Bogdanovic.
But all of that still leaves Whitehead to pick up more slack than perhaps anyone. And though the offense has thus far cratered whenever he's on the court, he's looked more at ease with each passing game.
"It's been tough, but I got guys like Jeremy, Randy and Coach," Whitehead said. "All those guys are really helping me out a lot. They're trying to get me adjusted to the game, and I think I've improved every game."
Indeed, the offense was better, albeit still unimpressive, with Whitehead running the show during Brooklyn's loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Friday. He tallied just eight points and three assists, and his turnover percentage (35.8) is much too high. But he's making quicker decisions overall. Greater efficiency will come with time, as Whitehead gets extra reps with teammates and, hopefully, becomes a more reliable shooter.
For now, he can leave his mark on the defensive end.
Whitehead has the longest wingspan of any potential Nets point guard, per DraftExpress. He is limiting pick-and-roll ball-handlers to sub-40-percent shooting, has shown flashes of being an absolute terror on close-outs and wrapped the second week of the season as a defensive plus, according to NBA Math—no small feat as rookie not yet 100 minutes deep into his career:
TPA results in Week 2 for @BrooklynNets: pic.twitter.com/mggCLR59CT
— NBA Math (@NBA_Math) November 7, 2016
"One thing about Isaiah is he's a quick learner," Atkinson said. "All the coaches have commented about that to me. I've seen it. He's gravitating toward the veterans, asking them questions. I like what I see.
"He gets down, but he doesn't crumble. And that's what I like. I like his resiliency, I like his toughness and, again, how quickly he's learning. Put in that position, it's really, really tough, and I think he's doing a good job."
These are small victories, most of which won't translate to actual wins.
Lin is the Nets' most complete point guard, and they'll feel his involuntary hiatus, which won't end for another 10 days at the earliest, on offense most nights.
It's not only the numbers or the way he plays, but what that means for the rest of the team. Lin puts players in the right spots. He blitzes into the heart of defenses. Almost every one of his running mates shoots better off his passes.
In adjusting to life without Lin, the Nets will come to realizations, good and bad, about what they have and what their system can do beyond him—a setback wrapped in silver lining.
"It's pretty hard," Kilpatrick said of Brooklyn's injury woes. "But you've got to always understand and realize that guys who are on the bench are sitting here watching those guys put the work in. When it's their time to perform, the lights are on. Now it's time for you to do something because there can't be any setbacks."
Brooklyn Nets Insider Notebook
Another Season, Another BroLo Trade Rumor
Rival executives told ESPN.com's Marc Stein that they're "increasingly convinced that the Nets are open to moving Lopez between now and the February deadline in the proverbial right deal."
This was inevitable.
The Nets don't control their own first-round pick until 2019 and have already set the precedent with the offseason's Thaddeus Young trade to the Indiana Pacers that they'll flip a proven asset for a first-rounder.
Lopez is also owed a reasonable $43.8 million through this season and next. Combine that with his developing three-point touch, and it was only a matter of time before general manager Sean Marks started fielding phone calls.
Don't confuse this to mean the Nets are actively shopping Lopez. That won't happen until after Dec. 15, when most free agents who signed deals over the summer are eligible to be dealt, if it happens at all.
Foye Will Be Brought Along Slowly
With the Nets so thin at point guard, it will be tempting to lean heavily on Foye once he makes his season debut. But Atkinson intends to resist that urge.
"I don't think we can throw him out there for 35 minutes," he said. "I think it's something where you have a plan in place and ease into building him back up."
Foye is most useful right now as a steadying floor presence. Lin has done a tremendous job dictating the ebbs and flows of the offense and been lauded for his guidance of others—virtues Atkinson expects Foye to bring for however long he's on the court.
"He just gives us some stability, some leadership, defense," Atkinson said. "I think he's going to help us."
The Knicks-Nets Rivalry Is Alive...
...in the Kilpatrick household.
"My dad's a diehard Knick fan," Kilpatrick said. "I still get a little bit of grief about that, with us being in Brooklyn and those guys being in Manhattan."
The Nets and Knicks meet Wednesday at Madison Square Garden, and Kilpatrick expects his dad to be in attendance. That shouldn't make for awkward postgame conversation at all.
Nets Making Use of D-League
What's the primary benefit of having a development-league affiliate that shares the same home court as its parent NBA club?
The Nets get to do things like this:
The Brooklyn Nets have assigned Chris McCullough to their NBA D-League affiliate, the Long Island Nets.
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) November 7, 2016
#Nets have recalled forward @briskuno from the @LongIslandNets, Brooklyn’s @nbadleague affiliate. pic.twitter.com/prBsjvwvhW
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) November 8, 2016
Same-day reassignments seem silly, but it's a great way of ensuring someone such as Chris McCullough gets the benefit of being a featured option during D-League practice or games without sacrificing the experience that comes with facing off against NBA teammates.
We'll have to see if the Nets make a habit out of this and whether it helps McCullough see more than sporadic garbage time at the professional level.
Scola Gets Deep
As if you needed any more evidence that the culture is changing in Brooklyn, Luis Scola went on The Vertical Podcast with Woj and gushed about the state of the Nets to Adrian Wojnarowski:
Even if we have a draft pick, I believe Sean and coach and everyone in the front office, they just want to build the right atmosphere for working and for winning. And to build that, you need to really, really build good habits. San Antonio has them. All good teams have them. And playing to lose, that becomes really hard to build those habits. I think they just want to rebuild by playing basketball the right away and working the right way. I kind of like that about this team.
Scola also said he'll ride his bike around Brooklyn when it's warm outside. So Nets fans are free to launch some "Where's Luis?" tournaments this spring.
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com and are accurate leading into Tuesday's games. Salary information via Basketball Insiders. All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @danfavale.
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