Nic Claxton needs to lead the league in blocking or defensive ratings.
It's not a terrible foul point.
The net paid Claxton to be the anchor in their defense. The past month has been a reminder of him that he has such a talent.
However, in Wednesday's 129-121 lightning defeat (the best team at the Western Conference), he was dressed in streetwear and offered suspension for Brooklyn's stupidity.
And Claxton knows that.
“We had those conversations, private conversations. He took responsibility for himself and kept him to a really high standard,” Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said of his speech with Claxton. “We miss him [Wednesday] At night, that's the most important thing. We miss one of the players and we need him. So he already knew. This is not to say that this was nothing new to him. ”
This is a rub.
Claxton, who just signed a four-year, $97 million contract in the summer, has been praised by Fernandez as a potential defensive player of the year.
And it's his play that recently caused Brooklyn to score seven of the last 10 to enter Wednesday's game against Thunder. But these terrible fouls are nothing new.
I just need to worry.
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Claxton has scored six unacceptable flagland points this season. The latest appeared in his Fragrant 1 Foul for pushing Justin Champany back with 9:24 left in Monday's 107-99 defeat in Washington.
“We've lost our composure. We weren't good with the terrible and technical stuff and everything that happened with every foul before the ball was inbound,” Fernandez said. “All of these are lack of focus and that's not the team we want to be.”
And while the play was dirty and not malicious, it was clear. And it can be avoided. Even the other nets had to admit that it was a prominent thing.
“As a teammate, no. But when you look at the Rules book, that's a bit obvious,” Keon Johnson said. “But that's just a part of learning and growing in the game. So, after this… we'll get him back and we'll just keep learning and we'll continue to grow together.”
Claxton needs to grow from now on.
His totals are tied with Detroit's Isaiah Stewart at the worst point in the league. Even in another Flagrant 1, Claxton gets one game of suspension and gets a two game ban if it exceeds seven flagrant points.
Claxton's violations have gotten worse after picking up a total of 21 techniques in the last two seasons. And there are results too.
The center was fined $25,000 in December for bringing the ball into the stands by Toronto, a 101-94 victory.
“I just had a mental lapse and just launched the ball in the crowd,” Claxton admitted at the time. “And I can't get my feelings to that point. I was able to be there for the team.”
But he wasn't there for his team on Wednesday.
An astonishing foul against Atlanta on October 23rd, December 1st and Orlando and January 27th against Sacramento, made him no room for error.
And that error occurred on Monday.
“Personally, I don't think it should have been a terrible foul,” said Deiron Sharp, who was left as Brooklyn's only big man on Wednesday. “The only reason [Champagnie] We were unable to land. Because another man pushed it [Cam Johnson] under. …He couldn't land as CJ was pushed down. That's probably the only reason they called it stand out. But I don't think it's awful. I always do that. ”
That leaves him with five techniques, four prominent, three emissions this season. And brooch the question of whether Claxton has earned a judgement and reputation, even if he suggests that Monday's foul didn't justify anything terrible.
“Obviously we'll miss him and we'll miss his size as an anchor in our defense,” Fernandez said.
“After the Washington game, he realized he would probably be stopped,” Sharp said. “It's a huge loss for us. Nic brings us a lot: his energy, paint defense, perimeter defense, Rob's threat, passing, playmaking.”
Cam Thomas was cleared for last week's practice every day. Dangelo Russell (right ankle) and Noah Crowney (left ankle) both miss the next two games, but they should be practicing next week and could return to play as well.
“Both do great things,” Fernandez said. “We'll probably talk about putting them in court at some point next week. They're on track, they're around the group and they're [helpful]. When we have them they are great energy. They need their presence. That's a good thing. Because if everything goes well next week, we'll see where they are and keep working on it, get in touch and get back on the court. ”
