Injuries forcing Jordi Fernandez, Nets to play next man up again

The Nets find themselves scrapping for seconds and short-handed once again. Prior to Saturday’s game against the 76ers at Barclays Center, the team announced that Cam Thomas and Cam Johnson were ruled out of the game and beyond. Thomas, who missed 13 games due to a left hamstring injury, suffered a new left hamstring injury in the Nets’ 113-110 win over the Bucks on Thursday. The team’s top scorer, averaging a career-high 24.7 points per game, will be evaluated after the Nets’ West Coast trip from Jan.10-19 — six games in 10 days. Meanwhile, Johnson suffered a right ankle sprain in the final seconds of the Milwaukee game after Noah Clowney landed on the forward’s foot after grabbing a rebound. The X-rays following the game came back negative, but the Nets announced that Johnson is expected to miss the next three games and will be evaluated before the long road trip. The injuries leave head coach Jordi Fernandez’s hands tied again, forcing him to turn to his bench and ask for the next man up. “There’s gonna be a lot of minutes to be played and a lot of shots to be taken and it’s not just one person,” Fernandez said ahead of tipoff.

“And I think the guys have a great mindset and a togetherness and I think we’re ready to fill right there what we need to fill.So, excited to see some of these others guys do things that they’re not used to doing or maybe as much.

So, a good challenge for all of us. “We’ll have right around 10-11 healthy bodies and rotations can go 9-10, so it’s gonna be everybody.Sometimes even if I say I want this guy to take more shots, you never know because all of those guys have done a good job being open and shooting it.

I’m happy with all of them as long as they take good shots and high-volume shots.That’s how we’re gonna go about it.” Thomas’ injury is more of a mystery for the Nets as it’s unknown where it originated. His first hamstring ailment came from a routine step-back shot against...