Yuta Watanabe, Nets coach Jacque Vaughn explain role change after Kevin Durant trade

The Nets drastically changed their team at the close, sending out stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. These deals brought a number of wings, including Dorian Finney-Smith, Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson, into an already crowded rotation.

This roster change has caused big changes in the team’s rotation and Yuta Watanabe has been the underdog, although he leads the league among players with at least 100 tries with 48.2 percent from 3 goals.

Why did Watanabe drop out of the rotation and what are his plans for the future?

Watanabe and Nets coach Jacque Vaughn relayed those answers to The Sporting News before the Nets took on the Hawks on Sunday afternoon.

How did Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving’s trades affect Yuta Watanabe’s minutes and role?

Watanabe has been a key rotation player for the Nets all season before the close. He received just one Did Not Play – Coach’s Decision (DNP-CD) before the Feb. 9 close and finished several games for the team. But in his last four games, he has received two DNP CDs. His only minutes came at the end of blowout losses.

	protocol	games	DNP CDs
Deadline before trading	18.5	40	1
Post-Trade Deadline	10.1	4	2

Watanabe’s final minutes of competition came on February 11 with a 98-101 loss to the Sixers. Playing in just five minutes of play, he missed both of his 3-point attempts.

MORE: Why Watanabe’s filming this season is historic

Nets coach Jacque Vaughn apologized to Yuta Watanabe for his role reduction

Vaughn has had to juggle a bunch of new wingers and try to find combinations that work well together. That led to Watanabe’s bench press.

Vaughn spoke to The Sporting News about the difficulty of finding minutes for Watanabe.

“It’s just a numbers game. We played against 10 players. Yuta was outside of that 10-man rotation. It’s difficult as a coach, to be honest, playing against 10 players. You have a group of players who play 30-plus, you have a group that plays in the 20s, and you have a group that doesn’t play.”

Watanabe didn’t fit into any of those 30- or 20-minute groups, and Vaughn didn’t want to play him on the spot because of the difficulty of finding a rhythm in this type of role.

“It’s hard for guys to come in and play eight minutes. The last time he played, before that last game, I did that to him and I apologized to him. He played three minutes and that wasn’t fair.” to him. He missed two shots and that’s not why he wasn’t in the lineup. Yuta was great for us when he got quality minutes and that was 20 minutes per game. Now we have 10 other guys lined up and healthy. He’s just on the outside looking in.

Yuta Watanabe’s reaction to his role reduction

Although Watanabe has played very well this season, he suspected his role would change after the trade deadline.

“We’ve got so many wings now, so I know my minutes are going down,” Watanabe told The Sporting News. “But I had a conversation with the coach. He was honest. He made it clear that I wouldn’t be in the rotation for a while. I just have to be ready. Who knows what will happen, so I’ll be ready.”

Sitting on the bench has been difficult for Watanabe but he’s tried to keep his spirits up and stay ready.

“I just keep doing what I’ve always done. Always in the gym, working on my game. When you’re not playing, be there for your teammates.”

The Nets have struggled since taking Watanabe out of the rotation and have fallen to 1-4 following their loss to the Hawks. They were up to 50 points behind the Bulls on Friday in a game that Vaughn later joked was more “a scrimmage” than a real game.

Vaughn has expressed the need to have players who can “break the paint” and bring down defenses with their driving skills. That has never been a strength of Watanabe’s game. Although his defense is good, Vaughn has noted that wingmate “Dorian Finney-Smith is the best defender on our team. So it’s quite difficult to take him out of the line-up.”

Watanabe is still a good player. But he was a great fit with star players and couldn’t find the same role in the Nets’ new group.

The good news for Watanabe is that he’s a season-ending free agent. The nets are a rarity in their high quality wing depth. If they can’t find minutes for him then he should have plenty of interest in the rest of the league this summer.