Spencer Dinwiddie is putting pressure on his coach, but it’s the type of pressure that is more than welcome.
“He continues to play like this, we have to find more minutes for him,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “There’s just no choice.”
Even without starter Jeremy Lin, who underwent season-ending knee surgery a few weeks ago, the Nets roster is crowded at guard. But with his recent play, the 24-year-old Dinwiddie is making a compelling case for a bigger role.
In his past three outings, Dinwiddie twice notched a career high in points (22) and also set a career high in assists (11). Coming off the bench against the Nuggets on Sunday, he logged the second-most minutes (29) on the team behind forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
Prior to the season, there was much talk about Brooklyn’s young backcourt. Yet the dialogue centered mostly on D’Angelo Russell, Allen Crabbe and Caris LeVert, often overlooking Dinwiddie.
The Colorado product appeared in 59 games for the Nets last season, averaging 7.3 points and 3.1 assists in 23 minutes per contest. With the same amount of playing time this year, Dinwiddie’s numbers have surged to 11 points and 5.6 assists.
He attributes some of the early success to the experience he already had in Atkinson’s system.
“It’s kind of like having gone to summer school before you actually go to college,” Dinwiddie said. “That half of a season really gave me a jump-start on this season.”
The up-tempo, run-and-gun style of the Brooklyn offense tends to favor outside shooters, so Dinwiddie made it his mission to improve his prowess from behind the arc during the summer.
“Obviously you want to make that a point of emphasis, so you can fit in and hopefully flourish in the system,” he said.
After hitting 38 3s all of last season, Dinwiddie already has knocked down 10 through the first seven games — and with high efficiency (42 percent).
Nets fans may be itching to see more of Dinwiddie, especially alongside Russell. The two have played sparingly together, as Dinwiddie has been charged with leading the second unit when Russell is off the floor.
“I think it’s something we have to look at,” Atkinson said. “I do like it because I think D’Angelo is pretty good off the ball.”
Still, an insertion into the starting lineup is not something Atkinson is considering for Dinwiddie at the moment. The preference is for either him or Russell to be on the court at all times, which means minutes need to be somewhat staggered.
“That’s the problem,” he said. “I think right now, when you’re looking at our two point guards, it is D’Angelo and Spencer. So it’s tough to play them together.”
While Dinwiddie has flourished, the Nets have lost some steam, dropping their two most recent games by double-digits to fall to 3-4.
“I appreciate it and I’m very grateful for everything that’s going on right now,” he said. “But at the same time, it doesn’t mean much without team success.”