Brooklyn Nets: 3 bench players who must step up in 2021-22
1. Nic Claxton
Nic Claxton is a hidden gem on the roster and remains wildly underused.
His seven-foot frame is an asset to have below the rim to score and to protect the basket when push comes to shove. His youth has still been regarded as a crunch-time negative, though; occasionally, he gets outmuscled. At least, he isn’t always trusted.
Claxton has played a grand total of 18 minutes per game on average and scored around six points per game. Overall, he should be used much more than he has been used over his past two seasons. Given his history with injury, there’s bound to be some hesitancy in the process of giving him the opportunity to play, though.
The biggest mistake the Nets could make would be using that hesitation as a reason to keep him sitting on the bench; he has the highest upside of the team’s extremely deep bench rotation. Steve Nash must provide the opportunity to Claxton to develop, build his game and be a proper role player off the bench with his size and ability.
It would be wasted potential at the least and wasteful coins at the most if they were not able to find a proper role for a seven-footer with reference points in KD, Aldridge (possibly) and Griffin. Claxton has the time, resources and potential to develop as a contributor off of the bench, if his coaching staff allows it.
