Brooklyn Nets center Day'Ron Sharpe has been having another solid season for the Nets as he bring his customary rebounding energy to the floor whenever starter Nic Claxton comes out of the game. Brooklyn has been relying on the tandem of Claxton and Sharpe to provide 48 minutes of productive play at the center spot and Sharpe learned something new to help him be more consistent on the court.
"I looked and saw that there was a part of his game that we need to work on and improve on and that was his finishing in the paint," Nets assistant coach Juwan Howard said during a recent episode of the "Nets Pod With Sarah Kustok." Howard spoke on various topics over the course of the podcast, but one of the topics he addressed was helping Sharpe with his finishing at the rim through his patience.
"[During] offensive rebounding when he gets the ball sometimes, he rushes his shot and there are times when he's off-balance. There are times when he's trying to score [over] a smaller player that he struggled with," Howard continued. "I'm looking at how his body is going east and west, falling back, and he's trying to shoot the ball."
Sharpe, 24, is averaging 8.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 61.1% from the field and 67.9% from the free-throw line in 51 games played this season. Part of the intrigue surrounding Sharpe is how well he performs when he gets to play minutes worthy of a starter as he's averaging 13.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per contest while shooting 61.1% from the floor and 64.7% from the charity stripe in those situations.
More to the point, Sharpe has been more productive during his minutes at least in part due to the fact that the patience he has learned from Howard over the past two years. Since Howard joined the coaching staff, Sharpe is shooting 71.2% from 0-3 feet whereas in the three seasons prior to Howard joining Jordi Fernandez's coaching staff, Sharpe never shot better than 68.8% within that same range.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets' Day'Ron Sharpe learned patience from assistant Juwan Howard