The Brooklyn Nets entered the 2023 offseason with a clear goal of improving their league-worst rebounding. The Nets ranked 29th on the boards in 2022-23 and lost the second-chance points battle 80-22 during a first-round playoff sweep against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Despite that debilitating weakness, general manager Sean Marks didn't acquire an established frontcourt piece this summer, instead choosing to run it back with incumbent centers Nic Claxton and Day'Ron Sharpe.
“It's going to be by a committee, a system, and a mindset with all of our players,” Marks said when asked how Brooklyn would improve its rebounding.
Seventeen games into 2023-24, that system has revealed itself. Brooklyn has shifted from a switch-heavy defensive scheme, playing more drop coverage with heavy gap help against pick-and-rolls. The goal: take away the paint and force threes with big men in position to rebound.
“Our defense is designed where we're going to hopefully be top-five in giving up above-the-break threes,” head coach Jacque Vaughn said Tuesday. “Also, it's designed so that, hopefully, we'll be top-five in limiting rim attempts, which we are. Right now, that cohesion is working for us.”
“If you want to shoot above-the-break threes all night and we can get a contest,” he continued, “we'll take that.”
So far, Vaughn's system is working as planned.
Nets turn clanked threes into league-best defensive rebounding
Brooklyn's opponents are attempting 39.1 threes per game, the third-most in the league, per NBA.com/stats. They're converting on just 35 percent of them, the league's eighth-lowest percentage. The result has been a league-leading 47.4 rebounds per game for the Nets. Vaughn's squad ranks 10th in defensive rebounding percentage and has seven players averaging five or more boards per game.
Last season, the Nets allowed 32.2 three-point attempts per game in their switch-heavy scheme, the fourth-fewest in the league. While this limited damage from behind the arc, Brooklyn surrendered 11.7 offensive rebounds per game, the third-most in the league, with their big men frequently out of position.
The following play from the Nets' game film against the Miami Heat is an excellent example of Vaughn's new system in practice.
Sharpe remains in drop against the pick-and-roll. As Kyle Lowry snakes the screen, Trendon Watford sinks from the weak side to take away the paint. Lowry makes the open pass, leading to an above-the-break three from Haywood Highsmith, a career 33 percent shooter from deep, and an uncontested Brooklyn rebound.
This play from Tuesday's win over the Toronto Raptors is another example. Nic Claxton remains in drop against the ball screen. As Dennis Schroder drives, Dorian Finney-Smith shades towards the paint, forcing a pass to the weak side. When O.G. Anunoby drives off the pass, Finney-Smith remains in the paint to close off the lane, knowing he is covering Pascal Siakam, a 20.8 percent three-point shooter this season.
Anunoby makes the easy pass and Finney-Smith closes out late to Siakam, leading to an easy rebound for a perfectly positioned Claxton.
You will rarely see Nets defenders aggressively flying by three-point shooters above the break. There's no reason to close-out that hard given those are the shots the coaching staff wants to give up. Vaughn was captured on Brooklyn's YouTube mini-series, The Bridge, giving this coaching point before his team's Nov. 1 win at Miami.
“This is what we want: Short close-outs above the breaks, make that dude shoot that basketball,” he said during the film review.
You could see the coaching point in practice Tuesday vs. Toronto. During the following sequence, Watford and Cam Johnson close out well short of Scottie Barnes to force consecutive above-the-break threes.
Each rebound presents an opportunity for the Nets to do what they want to most offensively: Run. Vaughn's squad ranks fifth in fastbreak points at 16.4 per game. Brooklyn is attempting 39.6 threes per game while playing that uptempo style, sixth-most in the league. They're converting at a 38.9 percent clip, the NBA's second-best percentage.
Despite the Nets' rebounding and fastbreak success, the defensive system hasn't come without drawbacks. The conservative approach of protecting the paint has resulted in Brooklyn forcing just 11.4 turnovers per game, the fewest in the league and a significant reason for their 20th-ranked defensive rating. The system has deviated from what many players grew accustomed to last season.
“We're doing a lot different defensive scheme,” Lonnie Walker IV said. “Making sure that we’re protecting the paint. Top-of-the-key threes are something that we’re willing to give up. We’re really just focused on not letting people get to that middle so they can get whatever they want. We’re trying to limit that as much as we can.
“But we’ve been doing a terrific job defensively, statistically speaking, on some aspects of the game. Just being disciplined and trusting the game plan.”
That trust is what Vaughn has been most pleased with early this season. Brooklyn fell victim to three-point barrages during a recent three-game losing streak, with the Heat, Philadelphia 76ers, and Atlanta Hawks shooting a combined 44.3 percent from beyond the arc.
The Nets looked like they could be on the wrong end of shooting variance again Sunday, with the Chicago Bulls opening 8-of-10 from three. However, Chicago cooled off considerably the rest of the way, shooting 4-of-22. Brooklyn carried the momentum of those misses to a 44-19 second-quarter advantage. The Nets drained 11 threes in the period, the most in any quarter in franchise history, on their way to a comfortable win.
“The other night was a perfect example. We were okay with Patrick Williams shooting above-the-break threes, but then he made three of them early,” Vaughn said Tuesday. “You go into the game and play the percentages: what he was shooting going into the game, what has he historically shot. And then you make adjustments throughout, you keep your dudes cool and calm and say, ‘You know, they made shots, and our process is right. Let's continue to do the right things.'
“We made some adjustments, and they regressed to the mean in the second half. We got rewarded for that.”
The new-look Nets have several issues to work through if they hope to be a playoff team this season. However, defensive rebounding is nowhere near the top of the list. That reality is among the most surprising storylines of the season and a testament to the system and mentality Vaughn's coaching staff has instilled.
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