It's been a relatively quiet offseason for the Brooklyn Nets. The team hasn't made a splash move this summer, but one thing is clear: Brooklyn is shifting toward youth and athleticism.

The Nets swapped out aging shooters and defensive liabilities in Joe Harris, Patty Mills and Seth Curry for young, versatile athletes in Dennis Smith Jr., Lonnie Walker IV and Darius Bazley. Those moves follow a trade deadline that saw Brooklyn acquire high-level wing defenders in Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith.

Isolation scoring and three-point shooting were at the center of Brooklyn's identity throughout the Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving era. After a near-complete roster overhaul, the team has a new focus: length, athletic pop and defensive versatility.

Bridges (26), Johnson (27) and Nic Claxton (23) headline the roster. Following the signings of Smith Jr. (25), Walker IV (24) and Bazley (23), as well as the draft selections of Noah Clowney (19) and Dariq Whitehead (19), the Nets boast an average age of 24.7 years. The roster is ripe with long, versatile athletes, posting an average height of 6-foot-6 and an average wingspan of 6-foot-9.

Nets heading into the 2023-24 season

Brooklyn has eight players who ranked in the 80th percentile or better in defensive estimated plus-minus last season, per dunksandthrees.com. Smith Jr. capitalized on a second-chance opportunity in Charlotte last season, reinventing himself as an on-ball defensive stopper. The former lottery pick, who expects a prominent role this season after Brooklyn called him “a priority” in free agency, ranked in the 99th percentile for DEPM.

“I think we could be a really, really good defensive team. We got all the pieces in place for it,” Smith Jr. said at Summer League. “I think coach (Jacque Vaughn) is on board with it as well. So I’m looking forward to getting there.”

“Just a whole bunch of guys that can play both ways… That’s why the choice was kind of easy for me. Like I said, everything that they have going on with the guys they have was just on brand with how I see the game and how I want to play.”

The Nets' projected starting five consists of Ben Simmons, Spencer Dinwiddie, Bridges, Johnson and Claxton. That group has an average height of 6-foot-7 and an average wingspan of 6-foot-10. Claxton, Johnson and Simmons ranked in the 95th percentile or better for DEPM last season. While Bridges, who expended more energy offensively last year as Brooklyn's number one option, was a Defensive Player of the Year candidate in Phoenix.

Despite the impressive individual numbers, the Nets were an average defensive team following their formation at the deadline. In 27 games, Brooklyn's new-look roster ranked 17th in defensive rating.

Head coach Jacque Vaughn's squad has the personnel to make a significant defensive leap this season. Will that leap be enough to make up for the Nets' lack of elite scoring?

That's the question facing Brooklyn General Manager Sean Marks:

“It’s certainly a talented group of young men and it’ll be fun to see how the team chemistry evolves over time, because that’ll dictate a lot,” Marks said at Summer League. “Talent’s one thing, but how does a team play together and how quickly can they come together? This will be the first training camp that JV's had with this group, so to me we’ll know more after that for how quickly can they gel.”