The Brooklyn Nets seemed to be on track to prove that they were the team to beat in the Eastern Conference early in the season, only for them to lose four out of their past five games. Derrick Coleman, who spent five seasons with the Nets from 1990-1995 to start his career, believes Brooklyn's struggles will help them down the line.

Via Brian Lewis of the New York Post:

“The potential is the sky’s the limit with that team,” Coleman said of a team featuring Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, the latter currently under COVID-19 quarantine. “I just see the struggles right now just going to be better for you later on in the season. Just have to keep continuing to work.

The Nets got off to a quick 2-0 start this season, defeating the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics by an average of 27 points. However, Brooklyn then sustained losses to the Charlotte Hornets and Memphis Grizzlies before back-to-back losses against the Atlanta Hawks and Washington Wizards, with a win over the Hawks sandwiched between.

To make matters worse, Spencer Dinwiddie is out for the season after ACL surgery and Durant is expected to miss a week of action due to the NBA's health and safety protocols amid the COVID-19 pandemic. With the team needing to get back on track, they could be without Durant for a minimum of four games.

Despite the offensive firepower that Kyrie Irving and Durant bring to the Nets, Coleman believes the team has to improve on the defensive end:

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“Kevin [Durant] is going to be one of the greatest scores we’ve ever seen play the game. To me right now, nobody can mess with Kyrie Irving; he comes from a lineage of point guards. When your godfather is Rod Strickland, I need not say any more about that. But we have to really concentrate and focus on the defensive end of the basketball court and talking.”

There is still plenty of season left — 65 games to be exact — for the Nets to find their groove this season. While the team looks out of sorts right now, Coleman is confident they'll be one of the best teams in the NBA when it's all said and done.