Avery Johnson Open To Changing Rotations

The Core Four was a marketing term created by the Brooklyn Nets make a statement about the main Nets starters: Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Gerald Wallace, and Brook Lopez. At that time a portion of fans were angered or confused as to why Humphries was not included into this group of Nets stars. The reasoning seems much clearer now.

Humphries has been that grinder, the hustle player who can hit that mid-range jumper and nab the rebounds. But aside from that, he is average or below at everything else. One of his problems comes against defending quicker forwards in the game, and defense has been the center of talk all around. Coach Johnson stresses that he will do his best to recreate the aura that surrounds the Nets name and transform them into a defensive powerhouse. If that means reducing Humphries minutes, so be it.

“Everything is an open book for us,” Johnson said. “I’m not saying if we will or we won’t. I think my job is to make the best decisions to give us the best chance to win. And if that’s something that we need to do, we will. If we don’t need to do it, we won’t. We’ll just have to see how it goes.”

Stefan Bondy of NY Daily News states that Humphries would be the odd man out, and Deron Williams seems to be backing that up.

Deron Williams, when asked about potential mismatches against Anthony, said matter-of-factly, “We’ll move Gerald Wallace to the four.”

Knowing that this could be the case, Humphries has expressed that he is definitely fine with it, as long as it's for the benefit of the team.

“At the end of the day everyone wants to play a ton of minutes, everyone wants to be a starter and do all these things. But the coach makes decisions."

Wallace has always been seen as an elite defender, and will be asked to defend the quick forwards, at both the three and four most likely. That could open up opportunites for the back-ups, Mirza Teletovic, Josh Childress, and Keith Bogans, to replace Wallace at the three position. Depending on how Blatche develops, teams could end up seeing a line-up with both Lopez and Blatche on the court at the same time.

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