Nic Claxton had a difficult, year-long road back to court, one with disappointments and setbacks. But now that the young man is back, he surpasses all that the Nets could hope for.
“I think it’s fair. He just had a hard blow with injuries from the shoulder to the knee and all. You never want too high expectations, ”Steve Nash said after Thursday’s 129-92 of the Magic. ‘But it’s a testament to the coaching staff that worked with him every day and to his zeal with his work. He worked his butt off to put himself in this position and he was very productive.
Nic’s energy was outstanding. Has not played a year yet, so to play these last two games and to be as disruptive as he was – I think he had four steals and two blocks, [he] help, he jumps back. He is someone we believe in and thinks he has a lot upside down, continues to grow and just takes it step-by-step. But I was impressed and very happy that he had success out there. ”
Tuesday was Claxton’s first game since February 28, 2020. He had to fight back against a hamstring in December 2019, a shoulder operation in June 2020 and finally tendinopathy on his right knee. But he followed up his debut on the Kings against the Kings with 10 points, four times a career high, three rebounds and a block in Thursday’s 15 minutes.
Claxton said playing with James Harden and Kyrie Irving has made life simpler.
“You have to respect them out there so that it opens the floor. “I did not show half of what I had in my suitcase,” said Claxton. “But it just makes it easy for someone like me. It creates a lot of space and it’s one-on-one, and it’s going to be fun. ”
Claxton picked up a technical offense to hang on to after a dunk on the edge, but said Irving and Harden had already promised to pick up the sheet. Irving gave Claxton ‘The Alchemist’ to read, and apparently it’s now Claxton’s nickname.
Landry Shamet had 19 points in another revival game.
After shooting just 25 percent of the 3-point range in December, he scored 32.7 percent last month and has reached 41.7 percent so far this month.
‘You say he’s going to be over 50 percent in March? “I like where you’re going,” Nash said. “Landry is a really good shooter. We all know that. It’s just a new situation, a new environment, a new role trying to make the turn and I think he’s started to have confidence in what we do and that’s great. ‘
Tyler Cook made his Nets debut.
The Nets have a lot of flexibility. Nash said they could bring back the recently released Andre Roberson or Iman Shumpert on 10-day deals, and also monitor the buy-out market.
‘It is possible that they may be back; it’s a question to the office, ‘Nash said. ‘In the buy-out market, this is one of the reasons why we want to be flexible in my eyes to see how we can improve our team. I do not think it is different. … Especially for us with the way the roster has changed after the big trade, we need to be flexible in keeping our options open. ‘