Nets not rushing Nic Claxton back to starters workload

Nic Claxton has been relegated to coming off the bench as he builds up his conditioning.And while coach Jordi Fernandez won’t say when he’ll start the center again, it clearly won’t be until Claxton’s minutes restriction is eased.A hamstring injury sidelined Claxton for the entire preseason, and the Nets performance team has put him on a strict minutes limit through their first two regular-season games.

Claxton logged just 15:25 off the bench in the opener before seeing that boosted to a solid 20:26 outing Friday in Orlando.Granted, Claxton theoretically might’ve played more in the opener if he hadn’t gotten ejected in the fourth quarter for an ill-advised clothesline against the Hawks.But it does seem as if he could see his playing time increase in Sunday’s home opener against the Bucks.“We have to evaluate how his body feels.

Then once that happens, then we can assess the next step,” Fernandez said.“My thought is, whenever we can, he’s gonna rest.

Then his body’s gonna tell us how he’s doing.We can increase the minutes, obviously.

… We want him to play starting minutes, but we have to be smart with it.Health is No.

1 for everybody, not just for Nic in minutes.”There is a threshold where a coach could start a player and use him in shorter spurts and be creative in his rotations.But Fernandez sounds disinclined to put Claxton back into the lineup until he’s cleared to log starter’s minutes — at least 24 minutes and possibly topping 30.

It’s unclear when that might be.“Obviously, you can be creative.But if you go to starter minutes, then it’s somewhere around low 30s, because I think if you do more, health is an issue,” Fernandez said.

“But for me, starters usually play starting at 24 all the way to 33-34, that range.”Ben Simmons has been starting at center through the preseason and the first two losses of the regular season.Backup center Day’Ron Sharpe is out for at least another month.The Nets have dropped t...