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Expectations for the Brooklyn Nets entering this season couldn't have been lower. Oddsmakers projected the rebuilding squad for 18.5 wins, the franchise's lowest in 30 years. They surpassed that number with 29 games remaining after securing a 97-89 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday.
Jordi Fernandez ensured his players knew what the public thought of their potential on day one of training camp. His players are still using it as a chip on their shoulders.
“No doubt,” Trendon Watford said when asked if the number motivated the group. “We remember when that list came out. We definitely keep that in the back of our heads. They doubted us. Now, with one more game left before the break, we already passed what they had us at. So, shout out to the experts.”
Trendon Watford on the Nets surpassing their preseason win projection:
“We definitely keep that in the back of our heads how they doubted us. We got one more game left before the break and we’re already past what they had us at. Shout out to the experts." pic.twitter.com/7R0jK7fp6W
— Erik Slater (@erikslater_) February 11, 2025
Monday's win marked Brooklyn's fifth in the last six games. The Nets have held the NBA's best defense by a wide margin during that stretch, with opponents averaging 95.3 points on 40.8 percent shooting with 15.5 turnovers per game.
Nets battling for play-in spot after surpassing preseason win projection
Brooklyn's historically low win projection came with the expectation that the team would be tanking in year one of a rebuild. After trading Mikal Bridges this summer, general manager Sean Marks paid a steep price to reacquire the Nets' first-round pick from the Houston Rockets. However, the “disrespectful” win projection, as some players called it, overlooked the talent the team had left on its roster.
Marks may have done the same.
Led by veterans Dennis Schroder, Cam Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith and ascending scorer Cam Thomas, the Nets opened the year 9-11. Marks took action to course-correct the team's tank, trading Schroder and Finney-Smith and recently buying out Ben Simmons. For a brief moment, it appeared like Brooklyn would be able to recover after its hot start.
Following the Schroder and Finney-Smith trades, a 2-15 stretch, during which several key players missed extended time with injuries, pulled the Nets within two games of third place in the draft lottery standings. However, after responding with a 5-1 stretch, Brooklyn is far closer to the play-in tournament than top-three lottery odds.
With Monday's win, the Nets are three games behind the Chicago Bulls for the Eastern Conference's final play-in spot.
“You can't worry about outside noise, but we knew we could win more games than that [projection],” Nic Claxton said. “Still, we’ve got a lot of games left. It's just one game at a time. [We're] three games back. So we’ve still got a lot of work to do, but if we keep chopping, we know we can get it.”
While Fernandez is preaching a “one game at a time” mentality, he's confident his team can reach the postseason.
“What we care here is about the next game and if we're accomplishing certain things about our development,” the head coach said. “We're three games out of the play-in, it's important, but we cannot get lost. I want the guys to be competitive. We are all competitive here, and finding new ways to be competitive is important… We're pretty close right now, and the only thing we have to do is stay the course.
We just went from a seven-game losing streak, and nobody here thought that we were not good enough. We kept working. Some wins came our way, and that's the mentality that I want the guys to have. We'll go out there and try to win every single game, and then once we get there, that's going to be a big accomplishment.”