Brooklyn Nets forward Noah Clowney has been playing a different role for the Nets this season than he did last year, especially after the addition of Julius Randle this past offseason. Since the beginning of the season, Brooklyn head coach Jordi Fernandez has been playing Clowney in a bench role where he has to rebound and play defense, but it seems like something may need to change.

"That's something that he's got to figure out. He put us in the bonus in one minute, and that's tough. I think that it comes from a good place because I know he's extremely competitive guy," Fernandez said of Clowney following Sunday's 130-93 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. In just eight minutes, Clowney put up just two points, one turnover, and six fouls, which could potentially show how frustrating this season has been for him and everyone else on the team.

"But, doing the war on your own, it's just tough at times. [Doing it] that way, you gotta choose the right way to do it and channel all that energy and sometimes frustration [in] the right way," Fernandez continued. "I think the one person that is helping him and will help him is [assistant coach] Juwan [Howard] because he's been there. I know that the intentions are great. It's just keep doing what's best for the group, and we need Noah Clowney."

Clowney, 22, is averaging 5.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game while shooting 37.2% from the field and 26.1%. from behind the three-point line in 19.7 minutes per game. Aside from Sunday's loss to the Mavericks, Clowney has played at least 16 minutes in every game Brooklyn has played this season, but he has six games where he shot 33.3% or less from the field, highlighting his offensive struggles to this point.

While Clowney's defensive rating (116.2) is nothing to write home about when compared to the NBA average (113.4), he is still seventh on the Nets in the metric so it's possible that Brooklyn has bigger issues to sort out. As Fernandez said in his postgame press conference, the team needs Clowney to play better than he did on Sunday, but after such a frustrating performance, the fourth-year forward may need more meetings with Howard to level himself out.