NEW ORLEANS — Monday is Veterans Day. But behind Brooklyn's surprising start is another group of veterans: the older leaders on the Nets' roster.
The rebuilding Nets finished as the league's worst team and were expected to collect a win total in the teens.
But they play New Orleans on Monday in a surprisingly close 4-6 game, with reigning champion Boston and undefeated Cleveland playing hard and coming close to winning.
And a lot of that is thanks to Dennis Schroder, Cam Johnson, and Dorian Finney-Smith.
Coach Jordi Fernandez will have to decide how much to play this trio, and general manager Sean Marks will also have to figure out if and when to deal with them.
The Nets are a strange rebuilding team that clearly wants to win and has proven they can do so more because of their veterancy than their youth.
By the way, according to Basketball Reference, Johnson leads Brooklyn in win shares, followed by Schroder in second, Nick Claxton in third and Finney Smith in fourth. But Schroder and Finney-Smith are 31 years old, and Johnson is 28. Overall, aside from Claxton and 23-year-old Cam Thomas, the rest of the young squad has been inconsistent at best.
On the other hand, veterans may enter the workforce overworked.
Schroder entered Sunday ranked fifth in the league with 352 minutes. Thomas was ninth (346 minutes), Johnson was tied for 13th (340 minutes) and Finney-Smith was fourth on the team with 289 minutes.
At the end of Saturday's game, Schroder played every second of the fourth quarter, but he made some uncharacteristic plays and looked tired. Fernandez fell on the proverbial sword and admitted he should have done a better job in the rotation.
But Schroeder dismissed fatigue as an alibi.
“That's not an excuse. I mean, do whatever you need to do,” Schroeder said.
Part of the problem is that Ben Simmons, the only proven point guard on the roster, sat out Sunday and has not yet been cleared to play back-to-back games.
That left Fernandez to choose between backup combo guards Shake Milton and Keon Johnson, with Killian Hayes sidelined in the G League.
“Dennis played 37 minutes, which I know is a little high for my tastes. I like to keep my starters around 33 to 34, 32, 34,” Fernandez said. “We played a lot with him in the first half, 20 games, and in the second half we played 17 games.
“[But] I trust all these guys. I trust Sheikh, I trust Keown to bring the ball, Jaylen. [Wilson]all these people. So that's what it is now. Ben is obviously a very good player and gives us our primary ball handler, but I have confidence in all of them and I believe they will allow us to win games. ”
Dayron Sharpe, Trendon Watford and Bojan Bogdanovic will be out Monday.
Brooklyn will not play Zion Williamson as the Pelicans star is out with a strained left hamstring. Trey Murphy returns from his own hamstring injury.
