Atkinson wants Dinwiddie to grow his Skills
Spencer Dinwiddie had barely finished the highlight moment of his career when Nets coach Kenny Atkinson was pushing him to climb ever higher.
After winning the Skills Challenge at All-Star Weekend, could Dinwiddie make a return visit as an actual AllStar? Atkinson never used those words, but he did challenge the 24-year-old to take the next step in his ascension up the NBA ladder.
NETS NOTES
“He’s come a long way for a guy who was trying to get back in the league basically. Great job by [general manager] Sean [Marks] and his group identifying the talent and the person,” Atkinson said. “His growth, his confidence has shot through the roof. What we’re looking for now is to make another step. That’s a challenge for him. He’s had a really good season and I think there’s another level he could take it to.
“It ’s consistency. That separates the good guys from the great guys. He definitely can improve there. He’s improving with his consistency. The second thing is become a two-way player. You look at really great players in this league, they play both ends. That’s an area of improvement for him. His defense is improving, it’s gotten better since the beginning. But we’d love to see him … do it on both ends.”
Atkinson told Dinwiddie as much when they texted over the weekend. Dinwiddie carried the Nets early in the season after injuries to Jeremy Lin and D’Angelo Russell, but may have worn out going into the break.
“Prefer to leave that between us; those are coach-player texts. But I’ll say this: I did text him, ‘After [this] you have to take the next step now. That should be your goal.’ I think he agreed. He knows that he has room to grow,” Atkinson said of Dinwiddie, who seemed fatigued in shooting just 23.5 percent in his last four and 35.1 percent in his last 19.
“I do think part of Spencer’s shooting woes were fatigue. We played him big minutes leading up to this last part. I also think part of his growth and development is picking his spots in terms of his shot selection. Fatigue does that to you. You settle or take contested shots when you could get to the rim, get to the freethrow line. So we’re going to keep encouraging him to drive it — that’s what he’s elite at — and be more judicious with his shot selection. That’ll help him.”
Caris LeVert (knee) and Rondae Hollis-Jef
ferson (groin) voluntarily stayed in Brooklyn over the break to rehab.
Three sources refuted a Forbes report that Ne t s owner Mikhail
Prokhorov had closed a deal to sell 49 percent of the team to Joe Tsai. But they confirmed the move is close, potentially in the next week or two.