New lineup means tough calls for Nets Stars may be gone, but Dinwiddie says he’s on call whenever Nets need winning shot

Cam Thomas can’t be the happiest person in the room. Just like the phrase Thomas recently attempted to trademark, there “ain’t s--t funny” about a player posting 40 or more points in three straight games suddenly getting relegated to a bench role.

That, however, is his current reality: Thomas exploded for those 40-point performances while Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant orchestrated their trades out of town. Now with Spencer Dinwiddie starting, Thomas has been moved back to the bench, and with Seth Curry returning the rotation after the All-Star break, coach Jacque Vaughn says Thomas could be on the periphery of what he hopes is a rotation that moves closer to fewer than 10 players a night.

“I’ll continue to reiterate how important he is to our group. Historically, the three games of 40 were awesome, super happy for him. They can’t ever take that away from him. He’s in the record books,” Vaughn said of Thomas. “But at the same time, we lost two of those games in Washington by two points. So the ultimate goal is to create a team and an atmosphere where everyone can be a participant, and we’re going to utilize and maximize everyone’s talent.”

Thomas’ diminishing role is a microcosm of the challenge that lies ahead in the Nets’ full sprint toward the playoffs. Ten players on this roster have started games for different teams, and four of Vaughn’s five starters arrived in the Durant and Irving trades.

Thomas, the team’s most gifted scorer, and Ben Simmons, the team’s highest-paid player and most decorated star, each find themselves playing smaller roles than they had hoped.

Selflessness is the new name of the game for a team once built upon star power that now must lean on its newfound strength: versatility.

And with this much versatility comes difficult decisions.

“What I think Cam can be is a bonafide, efficient, and productive scorer for us when asked upon. He’s a guy that can shot create, but we don’t anticipate him playing 40 minutes as he did in those games,” Vaughn said. “So the big part of our whole group is we have depth and so why not lean into that?”

NIC STAYS ‘THE COURSE’

Nic Claxton knows struggle all too well.

His rookie season with the Nets was a struggle not only because of nagging injuries that limited his

Thomas’ availability, but also because he was the third center on a roster that already included an emerging star in Jarrett Allen and a declining veteran in DeAndre Jordan.

In fact, Claxton watched as Jordan got the starting job over Allen, even though Allen was clearly the better player at the time.

Thomas finds himself in a similar situation. His scoring talents are undeniable, but with Vaughn outwardly tabbing Curry as the team’s backup point guard while also proclaiming the rotation will stick below 10 players, the math doesn’t side in Thomas’ favor.

“You’ve got to stay the course and control what to control. Brooklyn is a great organization, so just staying the course, stay down and your number is going to be called.”

Thomas played what Vaughn described as a close-to-perfect game against the Heat. He scored 19 points in 21 minutes off the bench, shot 6-of-11 from the field, three-offive from downtown and dished four assists to only two turnovers.

Yet Thomas was particularly dismissive when taking questions after the game, only expanding on his thoughts when asked about his role entering the second half of the season.

“It’s tough,” he said. “From doing one thing and trying to adjust to the team because that’s just what you got to do. It’s tough for sure. So just got to figure it out and, you know, move on from there.”

ROYCE ADJUSTING

Royce O’Neale once ranked second in all of basketball in total minutes played behind only Kevin Durant. In recent weeks, he’s been moved to the bench in favor of a newcomer and has seen his minutes shrink from closer to 40 a night now to around 25.

Vaughn uses O’Neale as an example for how every player has to approach the evolving roles and rotations this season. O’Neale says it’s about being a professional and giving the team everything he has when his number is called.

“You play your minutes and you consistently do it on a daily basis, you play those minutes hard, and I think Royce is a prime example of a guy that started for us, played high 30s for us some nights, now is in the range of playing 25 minutes for us right now, but a guy that finished the game the other night because (Dorian Finney-Smith) didn’t finish the game,” he said. “So that’s the mentality. Like don’t get caught up in I’m the starter, I play this. Don’t put yourself in a box that way.”