On February 22, Beijing time, according to the famous NBA reporter Shams, the Nets have signed Dragic, and he has also achieved a reunion with Nash 11 years ago. But 11 years ago, Dragic was Nash's backup for the Suns, and now the two are players and the other is the manager, and the situation has changed. So after tasting the joy of the reunion, a question will also be left in Front of Nash – how should he use Dragic?
The idea put forward by many people before was to let Dragic play at home and substitute at home according to the characteristics of Irving's part-time job. However, from the technical characteristics of Dragic and the personnel structure of the Nets, in fact, a more secure plan is to let Dragic be fixed on the bench and play as the organizational core of the second team. This is determined by two reasons.
First, the home starting away substitute model is not conducive to Dragic's rapid integration into the new team. Dragic has not played much time this season, and to integrate into a new team, he also needs to readjust and adapt, and it also takes time for his teammates to establish a tacit understanding with him. But once there is an away substitute, the home start situation, which means that Dragic will have to partner two completely different lineups in a short period of time, and find a way to establish a tacit understanding with the teammates of the two sets of lineups, once they cannot be familiar with the tactical system and the characteristics of their teammates in a short period of time, it is easy to affect the rhythm and competitive state of the players.
If it's the beginning of the season and the Nets have plenty of time to wait for Dragic to slowly find form, that's really fine, and it's okay to try. But now that the season is more than half over, there is not much time for Dragic to adjust and adapt, so it is better to simply let him be fixed in the substitute position, which will help Dragic integrate into the team as soon as possible.
Second, Dragic plays as a substitute and has enough ball power to play. No matter how the Nets' regular starters are arranged, there must be durant, Simmons and Irving, and even if there is no Irving in the home game, Durant and Simmons still need a lot of ball rights, and it is more suitable for them to match players who are good at playing without the ball and can shoot stably, and dragic's good organizational advantages have a certain overlap with Simmons' function.
On the other hand, the Nets' bench lineup lacks a qualified organizer. Whether it is Mills or Curry Jr. on the guard line, both of them are more inclined to the play of the quarterback, the projection ability is very strong, but the organizational ability is a short board, so both people are very suitable to match Durant and Simmons, but let them lead the team alone, whether they can connect the whole team's attack is questionable. Griffin, who has a certain degree of organizational ability, is also not valued by Nash, and has also been transformed into a space-type No. 5 position. In this case, if Dragic goes to play as a substitute, then he is the natural brain of the second team, and will have enough ball power and tactical position for him to play, obviously more suitable than playing the starter.
So whether it is from the perspective of Dragic's personal competitive status and ball rights, or from the perspective of the team's composition characteristics, Nash should let him play as a substitute. Of course, the bench does not necessarily lose to the starter, if Dragic is in excellent form, then Nash can give him the playing time not to lose the start, making him the Nets' super 6th man, activating the entire bench.