BOSTON — The first full season of this Nets regime was defined — and derailed — by a lack of fit and viable point guards. As the season wrapped up with Wednesday’s 110-97 loss to the Celtics, next year also may be decided by how they handle the position.
Jeremy Lin, who worked out lightly pregame at TD Garden, has “blown away” Nets coach Kenny Atkinson with his progress and expects to start next season in a crowded backcourt that includes fellow lead guards D’Angelo Russell, Spencer Dinwiddie and Caris LeVert. On a roster this thin, the Nets will take all the talent they can get, but how Atkinson and general manager Sean Marks juggle their lead guards will determine whether it’s a strength or a glut.
“That’s how we started the season we figured, with D’Angelo and Jeremy starting because they both play both positions. Caris is in that,” Atkinson said. “You’re talking a lot of versatile guys. We don’t have one point guard out at the top like some teams do. … Our wings and our points are interchangeable, that was the blueprint of what we do.
“[During games] we’ve gone with the hot hand. Each game it’s different. We haven’t found that one guy, and I’m fine with that. I’m fine with sharing and figuring it out. At the end it all plays out. That glut, it’ll play out, it’ll reveal itself.”
It’s easy to see why Atkinson feels he can’t have enough point guards.
As a rookie coach in 2016-17, he saw Lin and expected backup Greivis Vasquez both miss most of the season. The Nets were 13-20 when Lin started, but just 7-42 when he didn’t. Now, despite missing all but one game this season due to a ruptured patella tendon, Lin expects to return at 100 percent, starting and leading next year.
“I see myself just being a beast out there. Not just being a starter being a guy, a main, main guy. That’s what I came here to do, that’s what they want me to do,” Lin said in a Q&A at Barclays Center this week. “As long as my body holds up and I’m healthy, I think next year is going to be a big year.”
Lin returned from the Vancouver portion of his rehab to work out in front of Atkinson on Tuesday. There was no contact, no three-on-three play, but he backpedalled, sidestepped, ran, shot and impressed his coach.
“He’s moving great. I was pleasantly surprised watching him how well he’s moving,” Atkinson said. “Listen, where we are we’ve just got to be really super, super cautious. We don’t want to rush this in April, May. But I was blown away at how well he was moving, and the stuff he did [Tuesday].”
Lin exercised his option for next season’s $12 million salary, and the Nets frankly couldn’t trade him anyway until he plays and shows he’s fit. And despite Russell missing 32 games after his own knee surgery, he was acquired to be a key piece.
“He’s starting to grasp a hold of what it means to be a quarterback,” Atkinson said.
Both Dinwiddie and LeVert developed, with Dinwiddie keeping the Nets afloat early. The Nets rejected Cleveland’s offer of a first-round pick, but his bargain $1.6 million deal is sure to bring more interest this summer.
“Strong point versus glut, that’s a conversation for Sean Marks and Kenny Atkinson. That ain’t got nothing to do with me. My job has always been to help the team get wins, whether it’s 15 minutes, 35 minutes,” said Dinwiddie, who combined with Russell for a minus-77 in 353 minutes together this season.
“Ours was a very condensed period and it is still to this day a work in progress. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the offseason, but if me and him end up starting together next year then all we can do is continue to foster that chemistry and do whatever it takes to get wins.”