After practice Friday morning (Thursday night, New York time) Lionel Hollins told Lenn Robbins, the Nets in-house beat writer, that he expects to give his younger players more time in both games vs. the Kings.
Hollins told Robbins said the veterans will play fewer minutes in Sunday’s game as well as Wednesday’s game than they did vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv. In that game, Kevin Garnett played 19 minutes and Joe Johnson 27. Deron Williams led all Nets with 29. Brook Lopez played 24 minutes, most of them in the second half.
"I want to see more of our young players," said Hollins. "The vets are going to play less. I want to see how some of the young guys perform, see their decision making."
That presumably means more minutes for Bojan Bogdanovic, who played 26 minutes vs. the Israeli team, Mason Plumlee, as well as new additions Sergey Karasev, Markel Brown and Cory Jefferson plus returning point guards Jorge Gutierrez and Marquis Teague. Gutierrez, along with camp invites Willie Reed and Jerome Jordan saw no action Tuesday.
After the game against Maccabi, Bogdanovic, who shot 2-of-4 from three, said he needs to work more on his deep shooting. The NBA 3-point line is 23 feet, nine inches. The FIBA line is 22 feet, one and three-quarters inches.
"It’s different range, so I practice more," Bogdanovic told Robbins. "I want to show coach I will work on all parts of my game."
With Alan Anderson still sidelined with a sore abdominal muscle, It would be no surprise to see Bogdanovic start against Sacramento.
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