With Jeremy Lin expected to miss two weeks with a left hamstring strain, Sean Kilpatrick and Isaiah Whitehead figure to get more time at the point for the Nets, who host Charlotte Friday night.
Backup point guard Greivis Vasquez remains out with an ankle injury, while Randy Foye returns from a hamstring injury.
Kilpatrick, a Yonkers, N.Y., native, who played college ball at Cincinnati, is averaging 16.6 points and 1.6 assists for Brooklyn (2-3). He went for 24 points and 10 rebounds in Wednesday’s win over Detroit.
“As soon as Jeremy went out, I was like, ‘I’m going to have to play the point’ because that was something I did throughout summer league,” Kilpatrick told the New York Post.
“Coach [Kenny Atkinson] did a great job during the summer, making sure that I played the point because you never know when that time is going to come when you do need to.
“I just wanted to just continue to keep getting everyone involved and making sure that I was staying aggressive. I said to Jeremy when I came back, ‘I don’t know how you do it. … This is kind of crazy.’ I felt good to embrace that though. I knew I had him in my back pocket talking to me and making sure that I was looking at coach almost every play to figure out what to run.”
As for Whitehead, the rookie out of Seton Hall is averaging 3.5 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists.
“Since Day 1 [Atkinson] told me he thought I was going to be a good player in this league so he really gave me a lot of opportunities,” he told the Post.
“It’s easy to tell someone but when you’re out there going through it, it makes things a lot easier. It’s really all about getting better every day.”
