The Nets have gone from an embarrassment of riches to an embarrassment of depth.
As they try to avoid becoming just an embarrassment, they have to figure out how to narrow down a roster that contains at least a dozen players deserving of minutes.
Seth Curry, who had been out with a left adductor strain, was active Wednesday against the Heat for the first time in six games, adding one more wing to a roster filled with them. The Nets entered play completely healthy, which served as another challenge to head coach Jacque Vaughn.
In trading away Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, the Nets added fringe pieces to a crowded puzzle. Mikal Bridges, Dorian Finney-Smith, Cam Johnson and Spencer Dinwiddie — all acquired in the trades of the two superstars — started Wednesday alongside Nic Claxton.
Among those available off the bench were Curry, Ben Simmons, Royce O’Neale, Joe Harris, Cam Thomas, Edmond Sumner and Yuta Watanabe. Absent a true backup center, Day’Ron Sharpe likely will see bursts of minutes. Not included is Patty Mills, who still is capable of catching fire from deep.
Can playing time be found for 12 or 13 players on one team? Probably not, Vaughn acknowledged.
“We’ll start to probably streamline a little bit, if we stay healthy enough to continue with this group, of getting to some units that play together and form an identity with the groups and the lineups out there,” Vaughn said before the Nets hosted the Heat. “That is the next task at hand.”
Sumner — who had sat for three games — had been the lone true casualty without Irving and Durant, as the Nets won one of their first three matchups since the trade deadline. Dinwiddie had handled the ball with the starting unit, and Thomas had been the ball-handler to come off the bench.
The Nets have sought the right lineup combinations for a misconstructed roster that is lean on stars and creators and heavy on shooters, defense and arm length.
“The iso-ball is probably not a space in a world we can live in like we used to,” Vaughn said after Irving and Durant forced their ways out of Brooklyn. “And so: Can we be more of a team that drives and kicks and really wants to play with multiple efforts on the offensive end of the floor? That’s the challenge.
“And the biggest challenge is it’s got to happen now.”
In the Nets’ loss Monday to the Knicks, Vaughn played 13 different players, though three (Watanabe, David Duke Jr. and Dru Smith) only entered in garbage time. Twelve Nets played Saturday in a competitive loss to the 76ers.
Vaughn has said he is still “figuring out” how to implement Simmons, whose playing time had decreased steadily since Durant and Irving were traded. Without ball-dominant superstars capable of taking over the offensive end, Simmons has been lost and unable to adopt a larger offensive role. His previous niche — playing excellent defense and moving the ball — does not work well when he is surrounded by players with similar skill-sets (and better jump shots).
Finney-Smith and O’Neale, strong wing defenders with capable shots, are redundant. Watanabe, who had drained 48.1 percent from beyond the 3-point arc, has played well enough to deserve a long run, but he has been buried behind other wings on the depth chart. Harris and Curry are both snipers who too often become defensive liabilities.
The Nets do not have a true backup point guard, especially if Vaughn does not lean upon Sumner, and the head coach cited Curry and Simmons as capable lead guards off the bench.
“There’s some guys that have a case, that aren’t playing, that probably deserve some minutes,” Vaughn said. “Those are choices you have to make.”
The Nets headed into the All-Star break after the game Wednesday and will have nine days before they resume play Feb. 24 in Chicago. A good portion of that time will be spent getting players on the same page and figuring out who works well together.
“We’re really starting to home in hopefully on different groups and what plays we run with different groups and what different lineups look like,” Vaughn said.