Seth Curry is going to play through the pain, but the Nets can’t afford for him to get hurt.
It’s concerning, given the Nets’ lack of shooters not named Kevin Durant or Kyrie Irving: With Joe Harris out for the rest of the campaign after undergoing season-ending surgery on his left ankle, Curry is the most steady marksman available on Brooklyn’s roster.
His availability, however, is far from steady: Curry is dealing with a left ankle injury of his own. It’s an injury he’s had since a month before the blockbuster trade that sent him, Andre Drummond and Ben Simmons to Brooklyn in exchange for All-Star guard James Harden and veteran forward Paul Millsap.
The Nets listed Curry as questionable in the second game of a back-to-back on Sunday against the Charlotte Hornets, then upgraded him to available in the hours leading up to tipoff.
“We definitely have to manage Seth here,” said Nets head coach Steve Nash. “We don’t have the luxury to sit him all the time.”
The Nets absolutely don’t have that luxury, not in a world where Harris is out until next fall.
Curry is shooting a mind-blowing 49.5% from downtown since his arrival in Brooklyn and is connecting on an average of 3.2 threes per game. The Nets’ next-best shooters—again, not named Irving or Durant—are Patty Mills, rookie forward Kessler Edwards, Bruce Brown and Goran Dragic.
Curry is teflon compared to the other shooters on the roster. Mills has proven to be a lights-out shooter as evidenced by his participation in the Three-Point Shootout, but he is prone to hot and cold stretches. Case in point: Entering Sunday’s matchup against the Hornets, Mills connected on only eight of his previous 36 attempts from deep.
A whopping 22.2%.
The rookie Edwards has promising upside as a 3-and-D wing, but even if he shot the three at a 75% clip, he is on a two-way, hybrid, G-League contract that restricts him from playing in the playoffs. The Nets would have needed to waive an end-of-the-rotation player then convert Edwards’ contract into a standard deal for the rook to be eligible in the postseason, where he wouldn’t have seen many minutes in Nash’s rotation anyway.
Brown is having the best shooting stretch of his career. In fact, he is shooting 38.5% from downtown since the Feb. 10 Harden deal and subsequent waiving of DeAndre’ Bembry. Only time will tell, however, if Brown’s hot shooting is a fluke or can be trusted under playoff pressure. He was a sub-30% three-point shooter for three seasons before his emergence as a shooter midseason.
As for Dragic, it’s fair to assume a career 36% three-point shooter will improve from his current standing shooting just 26% from downtown in 13 games since signing with the Nets midseason. His recent shooting, however, hasn’t been very palatable: Dragic is 10-of-38 from downtown as a member of the Nets.
All the more reason why the Nets need to be cautious with Curry, who is their most elite deep threat, thus this team’s most viable option to space the floor for Durant and Irving. Defenders cannot help off of Curry, who is shooting 68% on wide-open threes (no defender within six or more feet) and 46% with a defender within four-to-six feet, according to data from NBA.com.
The issue with caution, however, is there is often an unfavorable alternative. To use an example Nash frequented in the past, the alternative to resting Durant is losing basketball games while he watches from the bench. The alternative to playing without Curry is playing without adequate spacing, relying on streaky shooters to keep the defense honest.
“If we have the choice, we really need (Seth), so we’ll see,” Nash said of his lead reserve. “We’ve just got to do the best we can and manage his health the rest of the way and hopefully, he can maintain a level of comfort playing through some discomfort.”
Curry said his injury is something he’s going to have to play through, and playing through an injury always puts a player at risk of aggravation. He and Nash continue to echo a similar sentiment: He’s going to do what it takes to help his team, then deal with the ankle for good in the offseason.
“He played really well I thought last night (in Miami) so, you know, it’s not where it’s debilitating,” Nash said. “If we can keep him out of that category, I think we’ll be OK.”
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