CHICAGO — Day’Ron Sharpe lastly made his season debut Monday evening.
After working again from a hamstring damage since coaching camp, the backup middle suited up and contributed 4 factors, two rebounds and two assists in 16 minutes.
His stint drew reward from coach Jordi Fernandez however left the large man himself unimpressed.
“My second stint, I was tired, I’m not going to lie. But I’m getting my wind back. After that I thought I was good,” Sharpe mentioned. “But me personally, I feel like I played [terribly]. But that’s the first game, so just keep building from here.”
The Nets dropping, 128-102, put a damper on Sharpe’s first motion since April.
“It just felt good to be back on the court and in general. But the outcome of the game really spoiled the moment,” Sharpe mentioned. “So, hopefully next game we’ll get a win, and it’ll feel even better.”
His return couldn’t have come at a greater time for the Nets and their injury-riddled frontcourt, the NBA’s worst rebounding staff getting again one of many league’s greatest rebounders.
Nic Claxton, for one was joyful to have Sharpe again
“It was good. Definitely good to see,” Claxton mentioned. “He’s been grinding [and] working. Working real hard to get back from a tough hamstring injury. So it’s nice to have the twin towers back.”
Fernandez agreed.
“I love his energy, his pick-and-roll defense, his aggressiveness,” the coach mentioned. “He’s going to keep getting better. I believe it because I’ve seen it since the first day I’ve been in the gym. Great attitude, great energy. And that was great to see him on the court.”
Beginning ahead Cam Johnson sat out with a left ankle sprain after coming into as questionable to play.
“[We’re] not extremely concerned,” Fernandez mentioned of Johnson. “Again, I’m not a doctor, but right now he’s a day-to-day. He wanted to try to see how he was feeling, and he’s out. So, we’ll see how he feels [Tuesday] and then we’ll go from there.”
In the meantime, Bojan Bogdanovic (left foot damage restoration), Noah Clowney (left ankle sprain), Dorian Finney-Smith (left ankle sprain), Ben Simmons (decrease again damage administration and left knee soreness), Cam Thomas (left hamstring pressure), Ziaire Williams (left knee sprain) and Jaylen Martin (G-League) have been all out.
“Right now, we will have a better feel on how [Williams] reacts in the next few days to know exactly what that time frame is,” Fernandez mentioned.
Simmons advised The Publish he ought to be positive to play Wednesday towards the Pacers.
He took a shot to the knee in Sunday’s loss but in addition nonetheless isn’t cleared to play each ends of back-to-backs, so he was by no means going to play Monday anyway.
“He got hit, and he was dealing with some issues and that’s the reason why he didn’t play, because he got hit. And right now because it’s back-to-back, he’s not going to play. So right now we’ll see how it feels. But, we don’t expect much else,” Fernandez mentioned.
