“We need him to focus,” head coach Jay Triano said. “When we were rolling, he was doing more things and it becomes a confidence building thing for him. If he’s not making shots (he has to) do something else so we can keep him on the floor. Defend, be there on the help side, rebound and box out.

“It doesn’t matter who starts, it doesn’t matter who plays more minutes, we’ve got to win games. We’re upset because we’re losing games. We’re not upset because I’m not playing or I’m not starting”.

“I thought Jose was playing pretty darn well,” said Triano. “I thought we had a good rhythm with that group so I just rolled with it. When he was on the floor, I thought we were playing pretty darn good.” However, the coach stopped short of confirming a permanent shift for Wednesday’s game at home against Atlanta.