Nets veteran ahead Royce O’Neale spent the start of his NBA profession as a longtime starter for the Utah Jazz. The 29-year-old and his former head coach Quin Snyder — who changed Nate McMillan as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks in late February — reunited forward of tipoff between the Nets and Hawks at Barclays Center on Friday.
The Nets acquired O’Neale as a part of final summer time’s tumultuous low season, studying the Utah Jazz a first-round choose for O’Neale, who helped add depth, protection and perimeter taking pictures to a workforce constructed round Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in pursuit of a championship.
The Nets saved O’Neale on the workforce even after the trades that despatched Durant and Irving out West. He now comes off the bench after beginning many of the season, and it’s his versatility his former coach heralds — noting occasions he used O’Neale as a defender towards two-time MVP Nikola Jokic in matchups towards the Denver Nuggets — as what makes O’Neale so distinctive.
“It’s been a while since that’s happened,” Snyder joked on Friday. “But seeing him deliver the ball up, he’s all the time been good, so you set him in these positions and he’s capable of make the proper play. Particularly when he rebounds the ball he’s capable of push it in transition.
“Versatility on both sides of the ball is something that can get you on the floor, and that’s what he’s able to do. You can see a lot of his character comes out when he plays with how he plays.”
O’Neale is averaging a career-high 9 factors per sport in his first yr in Brooklyn. His 3.6 assists per sport are additionally a career-high, and he’s averaging a hair beneath 32 minutes per sport in Brooklyn this season.
Head coach Jacque Vaughn moved O’Neale to a bench position after the commerce as an alternative opting to begin all 4 newcomers: Spencer Dinwiddie, Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith. Vaughn has typically praised O’Neale’s professionalism for accepting a decreased position however remaining able to play lengthy minutes when his quantity is named.
Vaughn additionally stated he trusts O’Neale significantly because the inbounder for out-of-bounds performs on pivotal possessions late in video games.
“You watched him in the Utah days, he was a guy that inbounded at the end of the game or was in at the end of the game. So he does that for us,” he stated. “The majority of the time if there’s an inbound play on the finish of the sport, Royce will likely be delivering. There’s an excessive quantity of belief and luxury that I’ve in him as a coach that I believe the gamers have grown.
“The confidence that he exudes that he’s going to make the right decision, call a timeout, he’s gonna shoot the basketball when it becomes available. So give him a lot of credit for garnering the confidence of his teammates and the coaching staff.”
CLAXTON’S COMPROMISE
Vaughn stated beginning middle Nic Claxton has needed to compromise on a few of his private targets for the higher of the workforce — and that doing so has allowed him to proceed to blossom as a participant regardless of circumstances outdoors his management.
Claxton loved the best offensive video games of his profession alongside James Harden, who set the desk as a pick-and-roll maestro throughout his restricted time in Brooklyn. Claxton has to regulate when Harden pressured his commerce to Philadelphia.
He needed to modify once more when the Nets traded Irving and Durant.
“He had to compromise. I think that word comes to mind for me of what was gonna be best for the group, maybe he had to compromise some things he does well,” Vaughn stated Friday. “So for a little while we tried to put him in drop coverage. Is that best for him? We had to compromise a little bit: What’s gonna be best for the group? So I give him an extreme amount of credit for just being unselfish and understanding that we’re trying to figure this out and I’m always gonna do what’s best for the group.”
Claxton seems to have discovered his stride within the 19 video games that adopted the Irving and Durant offers, the fourth-year large man’s numbers dipped to simply 10 factors and 9 rebounds per sport.
In his final 11 video games, nevertheless, Claxton’s averages have elevated to 14.5 factors and. 9.5 rebounds an evening.
“So I think he did a little adjustment period that way, then he learned — ‘OK, I’m gonna be able to handle the ball a little bit, I’m gonna be able to rebound, I can bust out dribble and I’ve got four dudes who I can spray the basketball to. So that’s pretty good for me. I can still command on the defensive end, come block shots, come rebound the basketball, and I can still be a threat at the rim with Spencer or Mikal handling the basketball,’ Vaughn said. “So it’s a learning process for him, but I give him an extreme amount of credit for compromising for the sake of the group.”
()
Source: www.bostonherald.com