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Following Kevin Durant spraining his right MCL, which will sideline him for at least the next two weeks, the Brooklyn Nets have made a roster shakeup. The Nets announced before they took on the Boston Celtics on January 12 that they would be waiving two-way forward Alondes Williams, per Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News. Williams averaged 10.8 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in five games with the Nets G-League affiliate, the Long Island Nets this season.
Williams also played three games with the Brooklyn Nets this season but scored just three points in three games and went scoreless in his last appearance against the Indiana Pacers on December 10.
Waiving Williams opens up a roster spot for the Nets to bring in another two-way player to replace him. The Nets haven’t made an official announcement on who will take the place of last year’s ACC Player of the Year. However, per NetsDaily, Donovan Williams, Jordan Bowden, and Chris Chiozza are candidates to join David Duke Jr. as the Nets’ second two-way player.
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Ben Simmons Sounds off on Scoreless Night vs Celtics
In the wake of Durant’s injury, the Nets will need more contributions from all their available players. One player who especially needs to step up in Durant’s absence is their All-Star forward, Ben Simmons. Simmons, who has built a reputation for being more of an elite playmaker and passer than a scorer, will need to be more aggressive in finding his shot over the next couple of weeks.
In the Nets’ first game without Durant, Simmons nearly had a double-double with 9 rebounds and 13 assists to go along with a couple of steals. But on the offensive side of the ball, he was a near no-show, going scoreless with just three field goal attempts going 0-3 from the field. His lack of aggressiveness was also on display, as he did not make a trip to the free throw line in their loss. It’s something he knows he will have to improve on in Durant’s absence.
“Probably need to get my own and get myself going, which I didn’t. I think I’m giving the ball up way too many times when I know who I am, I know I need to get to the rim and get buckets,” Simmons said after the Nets’ loss to the Celtics. “And that’s also going to help my teammates and get them going.”
Joe Mazzula Praises Celtics Defense
The Nets hung tough for the majority of their matchup with the Celtics and led most of the first half. And heading into the final quarter, it looked like fans were in for another photo-finish ending to the matchup between the Nets and Celtics.
But Boston’s defense was stifling in the fourth quarter as they allowed the Nets to score just 16 points in the final frame. Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla praised his team’s defense in their road win over the Nets.
“Our half-court defense was great the entire night,” Mazzulla said. “We talked a lot about, against this team, the game’s connected. The defense starts with managing your offense, because of how well they guard. They get out in transition and create cross-matches with Simmons, and so I felt like our half-court offense was great for the majority of the game, and in the fourth quarter, we managed the game offensively, we got great looks, we had good spacing, and it kept them out of transition for the majority of the time.”
As the top two teams in the Eastern Conference, the Nets and Celtics could face each other in the postseason for a third consecutive year.
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