Frontcourt Logjam Creates Challenge

When Jason Kidd took the job as coach of the Brooklyn Nets, he did so with the knowledge that much of his team’s gameplan would center around its All-Star center, Brook Lopez.

However, when Lopez went down with a season-ending injury, the plan changed. With Lopez gone and just Andray Blatche and an unproven rookie Mason Plumlee left at center, the Nets were forced to field a smaller lineup featuring Kevin Garnett at center and Paul Pierce at power forward.

Brooklyn eventually found a recipe for success with this smaller lineup, first with Garnett as the front line center with Andray Blatche as the backup. But somewhere along the way the unproven rookie Plumlee blossomed into one of the league’s most productive first year players. So later, when Garnett was injured, J-Kidd went with the burgeoning Plumlee at starter with Blatche remaining in the reserve role.

But the return of Garnett to the lineup, combined with the outstanding contributions by Plumlee and Blatche in his stead, has muddled the situation in Brooklyn’s frontcourt.

Just a few weeks ago, the Nets were looking dangerously thin down low. Now, there’s something of a logjam at the five slot. Before Sunday’s game against the Orlando Magic, Coach Kidd acknowledged the new challenge of balancing minutes for all three big men.

“There are 48 minutes
[in a game]. I don’t know if I can play all three of them, but we’ll try to play all three,” he said. “Sometimes there might be an odd guy out. That’s just the way it goes.”

On Friday night, the odd man out was Blatche, but on Sunday each player logged playing time, led by Plumlee’s 26 minutes off the bench. After playing sparingly early in the season, Plumlee has been among the team’s leaders in minutes in March and April, averaging more than 20 per night.

“I rested early in the season, so I’m good to go,” Plumlee said, adding, in a reference to Kidd, “I tell Jay all the time I got plenty of minutes.”

The rookie made the most of his minutes on Sunday, as he contributed 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. It was his third consecutive double-digit scoring game, part of a standout April in which he has made 38-of-46 (83 percent) shots from the field while grabbing 5.6 rebounds per game and playing outstanding defense. Nets swingman Joe Johnson endorsed Plumlee’s role in the rotation.

“We’re going to need that,” Johnson said. “A big guy like Mason who runs the floor, very energetic on defense, blocking shots, rebounding, that’s definitely going to be a plus for us in the postseason.”

While Plumlee was starring off the bench, Garnett chipped in three points and seven boards in 19 minutes from his starting spot, while Blatche finished with four points and a rebound in seven minutes. For his part, Blatche noted that he will continue do whatever is asked of him by the team.

“I’m quite sure we’re starting to get ready for playoff basketball. So whatever the rotation is going to be for the next couple of games is probably how it’s going to be in the playoffs. It’s all about sacrificing for the betterment of the team,” he said.

“Mase has been playing great. Of course, K.G. is a leader on the floor, controlling us on defense. I’m a team-player, whatever helps us get to the championship.”

Jason did take some looks at playing a larger lineup with two of the three big men on the floor simultaneously at different points in Sunday’s game.

“We haven’t done it in a while so I wanted to see how it looked. We haven’t played big, so that’s something we have to get used to if we’re going to do that in the playoffs,” he said. “It was all right. It can get better.”

He’ll have two contests left in the regular season Tuesday against the New York Knicks and Wednesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers to continue to figure out how he’ll meld his big three down low into an already proven complement of guards.

While many coaches will tighten their rotations as much as possible in the playoffs, J-Kidd will be taking a different approach in his first postseason appearance as a coach. He commented last week that his rotation, which regularly features more than 10 players garnering meaningful minutes, won’t change for the playoffs.

Kidd says he's not going to shorten his rotation in the playoffs. Likes that #Nets have a ton of depth. Sees it as an advantage.

— Mike Mazzeo (@MazzNYDN) April 12, 2014

Kidd doesn't see the need to tighten up his rotation going into playoffs. "We've got a lot of guys that can play," he said.

— Laura Albanese (@AlbaneseLaura) April 12, 2014

For #Nets this isn't just about rest. Its about experimenting. KG + Plumlee played together; for 2nd game, Gutierrez played big minutes.

— NetsDaily.com (@NetsDaily) April 14, 2014

PIERCE OK AFTER SCARE

One thing that allowed Jason to experiment with two bigs on the floor late in Sunday’s win was the absence of Paul Pierce, who suffered a right shoulder injury in the third quarter and did not return.

Pierce’s injury was listed as a “stinger,” and Jason said after the game that he could have inserted Pierce back into the game during the fourth if he was needed.

“I could’ve brought him back, but there was no need to bring him back,” Kidd said. “There was no reason to put him in harm’s way so we finished the game without him. Now he gets a little rest to get ready for Tuesday.”

The Nets expect Pierce to be available for Tuesday’s game against the cross town rival New York Knicks.