Heading into his fourth NBA season, Brooklyn Nets forward Caris LeVert has been overshadowed as a legitimate threat on the Nets roster. How should head coach Kenny Atkinson utilize him after such a seismic off-season?
Heading into the 2019-2020 season, Caris LeVert has drawn a lot of attention from Brooklyn Nets fans. This is due to his recent emergence as a legitimate scoring option for the team, before a foot injury temporarily derailed his season. So looking ahead to the revamped Brooklyn Nets roster, how should Caris be used in order to maximize his potential?
The first thing that should be made clear is that on this roster, Caris is not going to be your primary ball handler. Even without the likes of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant on the team, it still wasn’t the case last season with D’Angelo Russell and Spencer Dinwiddie on the team. Caris is highly efficient as a pick and roll initiator, which he will be able to execute with newly signed center DeAndre Jordan.
While his usage percentage has gone up with each season, (24.0 percent last season) and pure volume of shots also increases (12.4 field goal attempts per game) his efficiency continues to drop, ergo the reason you wouldn’t choose him as your primary ball handler on a playoff team. However, with pure scorers around him like Kyrie, Joe Harris and Spencer Dinwiddie, those disparities aren’t as glaring as the work load can be picked up.
With Kevin Durant out for the foreseeable future, it will give Caris the opportunity to continue to develop under a thriving organization. As a crafty scorer and potential future all-star piece, Caris also serves as a crucial and fundamental key to the Brooklyn Nets championship hopes.
With this comes the responsibility of developing a more consistent perimeter shot. While in the playoffs for the Brooklyn Nets he did shoot exceptionally well, (46.2 percent) Caris still had his woes in the regular season. During one four game stretch, he failed to make one three point shot on eleven attempts. Conversely, he did play in thirteen games where he shot above 50 percent.
Caris will continue to be an excellent scoring option for the Brooklyn Nets. He is an ideal candidate for the “third man” inside of the trio with Kyrie and KD. A player who uses his athleticism exceptionally, can create space for his own shot and get to the basket. Caris does a remarkable job of drawing contact around the rim.
With a contract extension season coming up, the Brooklyn Nets should expect the best iteration of Caris that they’ve seen yet. A six foot seven inches tall slasher with something to prove.