NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets have had a rough month so far in January, winning just two of 10 games against the Phoenix Suns on Martin Luther King Day. Brooklyn started the first quarter of the season with essentially the same rotation, and head coach Jordi Fernandez revealed his thought process for the rotation.
“As I answered after the game yesterday, I tried to find a reaction from the group. I thought Nick’s group and the second group played hard,” Fernandez said before Monday’s game against the Suns. Fernandez made the bold choice to bench all starters except center Nick Claxton early in the second half of Sunday’s 124-102 loss to the Chicago Bulls as he searched for something to spark a comeback.
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“All these players are still playing in the same rotation. That’s the message. It’s not that you won’t play, it’s just that we need to find reactions here,” Fernandez continued. “In the NBA, you have to give it your all for 48 minutes. You need all the intention to do certain things and you have to be focused again for 48 minutes. This was not a game that I was very happy with.”
Fernandez started Sunday’s rematch against the Bulls in a lineup that included Yegor Deming, Terrence Mann, Danny Wolfe, Noah Clowney and Claxton, but it became clear early in the second half that he was not happy with the starting lineup. At the beginning of the second half, Fernandez sent out a lineup of Nolan Traore, Cam Thomas, Tyrese Martin, Jalen Wilson and Claxton. The performance of the substitute group was slightly better than that of the starter.
Time will tell if Fernandez changes the rotation in a big way as he looks to turn around the side’s performance before the end of January, especially since the team is still dealing with some injury issues. With Monday’s game against Phoenix being the second night of a back-to-back with Deming and Thomas sidelined with injuries, Wednesday’s game against the New York Knicks could be the first game Fernandez wants to be in the rotation.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets’ Jordi Fernandez explains thought process when deciding on rotations
