Nets: Why 26-point Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot needs to start next to KD

The Nets need to start Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot next to KD.

A balmy Monday afternoon in August sounds like the antithesis of playoff basketball. For most of the Nets squad, the metaphorical humidity seemed to seep into the ESPN Wide World of Sports campus.

Amongst a sea of mediocre performances, one player proved to be “no scrub.”

Pardon the tired cliche, but Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, fondly known to the Nets faithful as “TLC,” provided some tender, love, and care to a wilting side. If not for his contributions, surely the final 134-110 scoreline against the defending Champion Raptors would have been far worse.

Who is Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot?

After being waived by the Cleveland Cavaliers back on October 15, TLC signed a two-way contract with the Nets eight days later. After shuttling back-and-forth between the Long Island and Brooklyn Nets for three months, Luwawu-Cabarrot was waived again on January 15.

His roller-coaster season took another turn when Brooklyn signed him to the first of two 10-day contracts later that day. An impressive performance against the Suns in early February earned the Frenchman a multiyear contract.

Yes, Nets fans: TLC is on the books next season for a cool $1.8 million. What a bargain, especially if he wants to keep shooting like this.

What Makes TLC Important?

Let’s talk about his shooting: prior to Monday’s game, Luwawu-Cabarrot shot a scalding 23 for 51 from deep in the eight bubble games, good for 45.1% overall (38.8% on the season). On the season, his True Shooting Percentage of .599 checks in behind only Joe Harris (among perimeter players), who is .007 ahead.

This graphic should be particularly encouraging to Nets fans.

Despite having an ideal frame (6’7”, 210 pounds), TLC has never chipped in with an above average Defensive Box +/-, but he was close (-0.3) this season.

Today, however, Luwawu-Cabarrot oozed the defensive versatility that once made him a  first-round pick of the  Philadelphia 76ers. Over the course of the game, he guarded everyone from Serge Ibaka, Fred VanVleet (not during VanVleet’s first-half domination), OG Anunoby, and Pascal Siakam.

His presence on the court was so important that coach Jacque Vaughn left TLC on for the first 20 MINUTES (not a typo) of the second half; he was subbed out only once the game was sealed with 3:57 left in the fourth. Of course, it was during this spell where he helped the Nets chip away a 33-point Raptor lead down to eight.

Along the way, he logged 26 points with 7 rebounds, shooting 9-13 from the field and 6-9 from beyond the arc. TLC was the only Net with a positive +/- on the day, clocking in at +2 on the day in his 33 minutes — that means in the 15 minutes he was off the court, Brooklyn was outscored by a colossal 26 points.

Why Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot would be a good fit next to KD

Write it in stone: the Nets starting lineup for next season will feature Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, and one of Jarrett Allen or DeAndre Jordan. Let’s talk about why TLC could very well fill one of those other two spots.

Despite Sean Marks recently expressing how his number one priority is to re-sign Joe Harris, the fate of Brooklyn’s sharpshooter will come down to the willingness of owner Joe Tsai to trudge into Luxury Tax hell.

Caris LeVert’s 15 assists should help illuminate his passing ability, but let’s get one thing abundantly clear: LeVert, much like Irving and Durant, is a high usage player. There’s nothing wrong with this, but playing with Irving and Spencer Dinwiddie in January, the Michigan alumni shot 35% from the field and had to come off the bench to create some semblance of balance. This will be a huge headache (but a good headache) for whoever the Nets coach is next season.

Additionally, a trade or veteran signing (ex: Wilson Chandler) creates an abundance of other candidates for starting places.

Luwawu-Cabarrot’s three main internal threats to playing time are Rodions Kurucs, Taurean Prince, and Garrett Temple.

Prince struggled mightily with shooting this season: his True Shooting Percentage was sixth-worst in the entire NBA among 196 qualified players. His two-year contract extrusion worth close to $30 million is arguably Sean Mark’s lone gaffe during his Brooklyn tenure. Kurucs shoots a little better and is by far the most athletic of this trio, but his defense lags behind the other two and, at 6’9”, is more a fill-in at the 4 or the 5 (at 22, he surely has more room to develop).

Temple is close with both Durant and Irving and has a $5 million dollar team option. Irving famously name-dropped “GT” in his list of core Net contributors.

The choice has to be TLC. At just  $1.8 million, he’s going to be on the cap-strapped 2020-21 roster– most NBA quality three-point shooters don’t come at that price (see Harris, Joe). With his defensive versatility and coach Vaughn’s trust — another wildcard in this equation — Luwawu-Cabarrot should start on the wing next to Durant. Consider him a bigger, better shooting but slightly-less-elite-defensively Andre Roberson, a rumored target of the Nets this offseason.

The Nets can’t add in more volume next to Durant and Irving (who combined for a 60% usage rate in the 18-19 season). 3-and-D wings coupled with a P&R center for Irving makes the most sense for a starting and closing 5 for Brooklyn next season. With a pricey Joe Harris a likely candidate for one spot, promoting TLC from within marries the Nets’ needs of winning now and saving money most effectively.

Oh, and he’s also quite the comic.

Not bad, kid. Not bad at all.

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