In up-and-down season, Sergey Karasev now down

With Alan Anderson playing well and Bojan Bogdanovic starting to flourish as sixth man, the odd man out is Sergey Karasev, the 6'8" swingman from St. Petersburg Russia.  He has disappeared not just from the starting lineup, but from the rotation all together.

A month ago, as Thomas Duffy wrote for us this week, it's been an up-and-down season for Karasev. "He barely got in early on, played crazy minutes (more than 27 per game) from December 10 to January 7…and now barely plays again as Bogdanovic and Anderson take his minutes.  He's the mirror image of his fellow European."

Saturday night vs. the Wizards, he played eight minutes, scoring two points on 1-of-4 shooting.

Before the game, Lionel Hollins addressed Karasev being shunted to the bench, basically saying it's just basketball.

"The reality is players go up and down and there's only certain players that get to play through their downs," Hollins said. "And when you are struggling, the players that are not on an upswing usually get replaced, hoping that the guy coming in gives you that.

"He started out on the bench and Bogey went down and he came in and played extremely well. Then he flatlined and Bogey rose back up, and then Alan rose up and took both of their spots.

The coach added that the season is long implying further change is always possible.

• Nets Insider: Karasev’s days as starter seem over - Mitch Abramson - New York Daily News
• Sergey Karasev disappears on Nets' bench - Rod Boone - Newsday
• Nets notes: Unusual benchmark for Brook Lopez - Andy Vasquez - The Record