The Brooklyn Nets were expected to be among the NBA's worst teams during a tanking season. However, the revamped squad has looked worse than many could have imagined during an apathetic 0-6 start.
Brooklyn's lack of effort and enthusiasm to open the year has left head coach Jordi Fernandez searching for answers. Following Sunday's 129-105 drubbing against the shorthanded Philadelphia 76ers, Fernandez admitted he's not sure where to find them.
“I’m failing at trying to get my guys to play hard,” the coach said candidly. “And I’m trying to ask them questions, how can I do it to get them to play really hard? And then [if they do], you live with the result. But I’m not living with this result because the effort is not there and the defense is not there, and we’re turning the ball over… How many games is it gonna take? It’s six now.”
Through six games, the Nets rank 23rd in offense and hold the NBA's worst defense by a sizable margin. Fernandez attempted to shake things up on Sunday, benching rookie Ben Saraf, who started Brooklyn's first five games at point guard, in favor of journeyman Tyrese Martin. He also limited rookie Egor Demin to 15 minutes, four of which came in garbage time.
Yet, the Nets looked mundane as ever, continuing to miss defensive assignments and struggling to generate offense.
“It’s everything. From the lack of attention to the body language. That all goes with energy. And like I said, it starts with me,” Fernandez said of Brooklyn's issues. “I’m asking them to play really hard and to play with purpose, and we’re not doing it. So I’m doing something wrong besides the coverages. I think that’s the beauty of this job. There’s not always one thing that works for all the groups. This group is different than all the groups that I’ve worked with, and we want to create winning habits. And right now, we don’t have them. We’re very far from that. We’re actually on the other side.”
With Saraf out of the rotation and Demin spending most of the game on the bench, the Nets' defense remained uninspired and discombobulated.
Jordi Fernandez takes blame for Nets' dysfunction during 0-6 start
They allowed the Joel Embiid and Paul George-less 76ers to score 73 first-half points on 28-of-49 shooting (57.1 percent) with 17 assists and five turnovers. Kelly Oubre lit up Brooklyn for 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting in the first quarter.
While Fernandez took responsibility for his team's embarrassing performance, the players said they are accountable.
“I mean, at the end of the day, he's not the one who's going out there and having to play defense. It's on us,” said Nic Claxton. “We got to just lock in on the schemes and look ourselves in the mirror. Obviously, he’s going to take it tough. It’s tough for him, too. He's a competitor. He wants to win, and nobody wants to start out 0-6. But I feel like it's on us, too, at the end of the day. All the players… We understand [the defensive scheme]. We’ve been working [on it] for a minute. Just drilling it. So I think it's just the ‘want-to’ at the end of the day. And we just got to be better.”
Despite limiting their rookies' minutes against Philadelphia, the Nets also put forth one of their worst offensive performances of the season. Brooklyn shot 39-of-90 from the field (43.3 percent) and 7-of-38 from three (18.4 percent) while committing 18 turnovers.
Michael Porter Jr. and Cam Thomas once again struggled to lead the team. The duo shot a combined 6-of-21 from the field and 2-of-10 from three with three assists and five turnovers through three quarters before padding their stats in garbage time.
While draft position is a top priority for the Nets this season, they'll need to find some semblance of continuity to prevent a locker room spiral. Where will that change come from?
“That's a tough question. When you're 0-6, it's tough to figure out. I mean, it's hard to pinpoint one thing, you know? It's a little bit of everything. It's just a tough job to tackle. So yeah, it's gonna be tough,” Terance Mann said. “I think just our defensive presence [hasn't been there]. After every game, we come here and say the same thing: our defensive presence, our defensive presence… We're gonna have to [improve on that end] or we're gonna keep losing. So, that's what coach wants, if we don't figure out how and have the willingness to do it, then it's just gonna be the same results, to be honest. That's just what it is.”
