Brooklyn Nets: 3 takeaways from offensive loss to Bucks

2. Creek another in the hard-worker mode

If Mitch Creek were 6-foot-8 and had a wee bit more range on his jump shot, he’d be a special player. As it is, Creek is another in what is becoming a long line of maximum-effort guys for the Brooklyn Nets and a player who seems to produce every time he’s given a decent dose of minutes.

Creek played 15 minutes in the Nets’ loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday, just hours after logging 30 minutes while on assignment to Brooklyn’s NBA G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets.

The Nets re-signed Creek to a second 10-day contract on Monday after initially bringing him up from Long Island on Jan. 25 for a 10-day deal.

Against Milwaukee, Creek was one of the few Nets who figured out how to put the round orange leather thing into the round orange metal thing, scoring eight points on 3-of-5 shooting and grabbing five rebounds — four on the offensive end — with four assists.

He’s not a kid, even if he is an NBA rookie. He’s a 26-year-old playing his ninth season of professional basketball, but this is his first year in North America after eight seasons in his native Australia.

He plays with an edge, works hard, rebounds extremely well for a guy who is 6-foot-5 and can defend enough to keep opponents honest.

What will hold him back is his lack of 3-point shooting ability. It’s not something he did a lot of for the Adelaide 36ers, taking a career-high 40 attempts last season between his time with the 36ers and a brief stint with BG Goettingen in Germany. He made 13, a 32.5 percent success rate.

In the G-League this season, Creek is just 7-for-37, 18.9 percent, and his missed 3-pointer on Monday night was his first shot from behind the arc in his four-game NBA career.

The Nets already have a collection of undersized guys playing the 4 spot that can’t stretch the floor effectively. Treveon Graham came to Brooklyn as a 43.8 percent career shooter from deep with the Charlotte Hornets, but he’s at 21.8 percent this season after going 1-for-5 on Monday.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson was 0-for-2 from long range on Monday and is at 22 percent on the year. Defenses aren’t even bothering to guard Hollis-Jefferson until he’s inside of 12 feet, much less the 3-point line.

DeMarre Carroll had been hot, but was 0-for-3 from long range and is shooting 33.7 percent on the season.

Rookie Rodions Kurucs is mired in a terrible slump right now. He was 1-for-6 from 3-point range Monday and since canning a career-high five 3s against the Boston Celtics on Jan. 7 is shooting only 17.1 percent (6-for-35) in 13 games. He’s down to 28.8 percent for the season.

The Nets desperately need a shooting forward, but unless there is a trade or a buyout in the coming days, Brooklyn may be forced to roll with the hand it has.