Brooklyn Nets Morning Dish: Looking at the minutes shuffle

The Thursday edition of the Brooklyn Nets Morning Dish (delayed by otherworldly forces) has a look into where the minutes will go without Caris LeVert.

Welcome to the better-late-than-never Thursday edition of Brooklyn Nets Morning Dish, where we have items on how the minutes will be redistributed for the Nets and some more fallout from the dislocated right foot Caris LeVert sustained Monday night in Minnesota.

Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson, longtime friend of the site, wrote for Heavy.com that some of the minutes that LeVert used to soak up will likely to go someone who doesn’t play the backcourt — namely Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.

"With LeVert out assumedly for a while, Hollis-Jefferson will now see deeper minutes in the Nets’ rotation.He’ll need to adjust quick at the small forward position. In Saturday’s 116-100 loss to the Golden State Warriors, Hollis-Jefferson totaled two points, three rebounds, one assist and one block in 17 minutes of action."

Hollis-Jefferson spent the entire training camp and preseason recovering from his own injury, a left adductor strain sustained while playing in a charity game in China in early August.

Getting his rhythm back has been a process, one that has been complicated by taking on a new role at times. He spent much of last season as a small-ball 4 and this season, the 6-foot-7 Hollis-Jefferson has been seeing significant run at the 5.

When Jarrett Allen gets better — he’s missed the last two games with an illness — Hollis-Jefferson’s load at the 5 should be reduced.

But with everyone needing to pick up some of the offensive load with LeVert’s 18.4 points per game out, finding that rhythm quickly would be big for RHJ.

The feeling of hope and the possibility of much ado over nothing

Michael Scotto of The Athletic (subscription required) wrote a thoughtful piece on the aftermath of Caris LeVert’s injury, focusing on the moment LeVert shocked and surprised teammates by boarding the team flight back to New York.

There were other topics covered — coach Kenny Atkinson’s reaction to the injury among them.

Also in the piece was some insight from Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie regarding why LeVert’s injury hit Atkinson so very hard. We love Dinwiddie because he says what he thinks and he had one of those comments that could easily be blown out of proportion.

Dinwiddie intimated that the reaction of the coach was due in part to LeVert being Atkinson’s favorite player.

It wasn’t spoken with malice. This isn’t Draymond Green vs. Kevin Durant here. Coaches are human. They’re going to have favorites and sometimes those choices are obvious to the other guys in the room.

So don’t get worked up about it. In the words of the late, great fictional detective Frank Drebin of Police Squad fame, “Nothing to see here. Move along.”

A roller-coaster ride for Marks

In this piece from Greg Logan of Newsday, the writer looks at the full range of emotions experienced by Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks in the aftermath of Caris LeVert’s season-altering injury.

On the moment it happened, Marks said:

"“I’m not sure you can print that or put it into words. It’s heart-wrenching first and foremost for Caris and all the work he’s put in to get to that point. The emotions were definitely a roller coaster, but we’re obviously happy for the outcome.”"

Marks traded a solid veteran contributor, Thaddeus Young, to the Indiana Pacers in 2016 to get the rights to LeVert because after meeting the young prospect, Marks’ conclusion was simply:

"“That’s a Brooklyn Net.”"

Marks says the key now will to be patient while LeVert works through the recovery and rehabilitation process.

"“The bottom line is he’ll be back and we’ll be patient. .., We’ve done our research on what the expectations may be. We’re taking it one day at a time and supporting Caris and his family.”"

Coach Kenny Atkinson started Allen Crabbe in LeVert’s spot Wednesday night and the guard responded with a bit better shooting performance than he’s had of late, hitting 2-of-6 overall and 2-of-4 from 3-point range.