Nets start Sharpe and Wolf and the scorers wait on the bench

The Brooklyn Nets depth chart has an odd look to it. The expected starting five at New Orleans is Julius Randle, Michael Porter Jr., Day'Ron Sharpe, Nolan Traoré and Danny Wolf. Sharpe and Wolf start, while two players who score more than they do are not in the five.

Sharpe averages 7.5 points a game and Wolf 9.8. Mikel Brown Jr. (12.9) and Moritz Wagner (10.4) both score more, yet neither is in the five. That is the question fans keep asking: why are the Nets starting Sharpe and Wolf?

All figures here come from the Nets' depth chart page at the time of writing, covering 10 games for most of the roster, with Wolf at five and Brown Jr. at seven.

Randle and Porter Jr. are the engine. Porter Jr. leads the team at 21.5 points a game and Randle is next at 20.0, and they also play the most minutes, 33.1 and 33.5 a game. Nobody argues about those two starting.

The surprise is the other three spots. Traoré is third in scoring at 12.9, level with Brown Jr., and he belongs in the five on any reading. Wolf is sixth at 9.8 and Sharpe is eighth at 7.5. Brooklyn's scoring order runs Porter Jr., Randle, Traoré, Brown Jr., Wagner, Wolf, Demin, Sharpe, so the starters hold first, second, third, sixth and eighth.

This is an expected lineup, not a confirmed one. Confirmed lineups come about 30 minutes before tip-off, and the five on the page allows for everyone on the injury report. You can check the matchup in the Pelicans v Nets preview and see the other teams on the NBA starting lineups tonight page.

The full table of averages for the five is below. For the full Nets rotation ranked by minutes, the depth chart reads straight down from the starters to the end of the bench.

Sharpe's scoring line is the smallest of the five, but the rest of his line is not. In 23.7 minutes a game he pulls down 7.1 rebounds, second on the team behind only Porter Jr. (7.7), and he adds 4.0 assists and 1.2 blocks. His assists rank second on the Nets, behind only Randle's 5.0.

He shoots 49.1% from the field, but only 27.3% from three.

Danny Wolf is a newer story, and the sample is small. He has played five games and averages 22.6 minutes, 9.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists. His 5.2 rebounds rank fourth on the team. He shoots 46.9% from the field and 45.5% from three. Five games is not much to go on, so treat the shooting figures with care.

Set against the two other bigs in the rotation, the starters look like this.

The first men off the bench are Chaney Johnson (18.9 minutes), Keon Ellis (18.6), Wagner (17.8) and Terance Mann (17.6). The page ranks every available player by minutes, so the bench order reads from the sixth man down.

That order does not follow scoring. Johnson scores 4.8 points a game and shoots 34.0% from the field and 30.4% from three. Ellis scores 4.3 on 33.3% and 27.6%. Mann has played five games and scores 0.4 points a game on 10.0% shooting.

Wagner is the odd one out. He scores 10.4 points a game, fifth on the team, and shoots 55.4% from the field and 57.9% from three. His minutes sit third on the bench, behind Johnson and Ellis. The page's per-game table lists him at 18.2 minutes, while the bench copy says 17.8; the table below uses the per-game figure.

So the bench is ranked by who plays, and the best shooter among the reserves is not the one who plays most.

Three Nets are on the injury report, and you can follow who is out for Brooklyn as the statuses change through the day. Egor Demin is Out, with an expected return of 11 Nov. Mikel Brown Jr. is Day-to-Day, also expected back on 11 Nov. Grant Nelson is Day-to-Day, with no return date listed.

Brown Jr. has played seven games at 23.2 minutes and averages 12.9 points and 3.9 assists. That is the fourth-most minutes on the team. Demin has played four games at 21.8 minutes and averages 7.8 points and 2.8 assists.

The expected five allows for everyone on the report, which is why neither guard is in it. Nelson has no games on the page's table, so there is nothing to say about his numbers. The injury list is also on the Nets injuries page and the league-wide NBA injuries report.

If one starter is justified by the numbers alone, it is Nolan Traoré. He plays 22.1 minutes a game and scores 12.9 points, with 2.6 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.5 blocks. He shoots 51.6% from the field and 46.2% from three.

Compare him with the other guards. Brown Jr. scores the same 12.9 points but shoots 34.6% from the field and 31.1% from three. Demin shoots 31.0% from the field and 28.6% from three. Ellis and Johnson, the two guards in the bench rotation, sit at 33.3% and 34.0% from the field.

Traoré's minutes are modest next to Brown Jr.'s 23.2 or Ellis's 22.6, which makes the efficiency stand out more. Of the five guards below, he is the only one above 40% from the field.

Brooklyn's expected starting five has two high scorers and three players with other strengths: Sharpe rebounds and passes, Wolf rebounds and shoots from deep in a small sample, and Traoré scores efficiently. The Nets are 2-8 in their last 10 games at the time of writing, as the Nets results page shows.

For the latest on Nets starting lineup and bench order, keep an eye on the confirmed lineup about 30 minutes before tip-off, and the Brooklyn Nets roster for the full list of players.

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