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When the 2019-20 NBA campaign began, I (and many others) had the Brooklyn Nets pegged as the fifth-best team in the Eastern Conference.
They didn't look quite as good as the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks or Philadelphia 76ers, and you figured that once Victor Oladipo returned, the Indiana Pacers would be better, as well (although it's looking like the Pacers are better than the Nets even without Oladipo).
Now, I'm wondering if they'll even make the playoffs at all.
Okay, but that's a bit harsh, seeing as how you really have to flat out stink not to qualify for the postseason in the East, but Brooklyn is now just 4-7 on the year after its latest second-half meltdown against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night.
The Nets led by 16 at one point. They ended up losing by eight after scoring just 32 points over the final 24 minutes.
So, what exactly is going on?
This was not something that was limited to Thursday evening. This is something that has been going on with Brooklyn all season long. It has constantly been giving away leads, even in some of its wins. That, and the Nets have just been getting blitzed in second halves.
Typically, defense has been the issue for Brooklyn. The Nets rank 22nd in the NBA in defensive efficiency and are allowing an absurd 119.5 points per game, which ranks 27th. In the second half of contests? Brooklyn is surrendering a bloated 61.5 points per game, which is second-to-last.
You know the old adage: defense wins championships, and this Nets team is not even playing an inkling of defense thus far.
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Brooklyn has some solid individual defenders in DeAndre Jordan, Jarrett Allen, Taurean Prince and Garrett Temple, but as a collective unit, the Nets have been a sieve.
Hence the primary reason for the blown leads.
To be fair, it's still very early in the year, and Brooklyn does need time to gel. But at the same time, outside of replacing D'Angelo Russell with Irving, is this team a whole lot better than the one that won 42 games a year ago?
Yes, the Nets added Jordan, as well, but he is not the same player from his Los Angeles Clippers days, and the Jordan-Allen dynamic is certainly a strange one that Kenny Atkinson doesn't appear to have figured out yet.
Brooklyn also just lost Caris LeVert for four-to-six weeks to a thumb injury, which further complicates things on both ends of the floor.
Of course, no one expected the Nets to contend for a championship this season. Those expectations are reserved for next year, when Kevin Durant returns from his torn Achilles.
But I'm also not sure anyone expected Brooklyn to be this bad defensively or to be 4-7 through 11 games.
Right now, the Nets are tied with four teams in the East for the eighth seed. They are already six games behind the East-leading Celtics in the loss column, and even the Toronto Raptors sans Kawhi Leonard seem miles ahead of them.
There is still plenty of time left, but if Brooklyn doesn't fix its defense (which is the root of its second-half problems), it might end up fighting for the seventh or eighth seed in the conference come April.
