Fortunately, Nash’s Nets Have Time Before Regular Season Opener To Fix Disjointed Mess On Both Ends
But Is It Enough Time?
NBA fans almost unanimously can’t wait for the preseason to end so they can watch their favorite stars give full effort for full games instead of the healthy dose of future G-League players so prevalent in these exhibitions.
If I were Nets Head Coach Steve Nash, however, I’d be hoping for about six more preseason contests on top of the remaining two on the docket before the games start to count. His club was run off the Barclays Center floor for a second straight game on Thursday, falling to the vastly more cohesive Heat, 109-80.
The result itself is irrelevant, but you can’t convince me that the players know what they’re supposed to be doing on both ends of the court, and that’s concerning. Including Monday’s 127-108 blowout loss to a Philadelphia squad playing without stars Joel Embiid and James Harden, the Nets are averaging a deplorable 26.5 turnovers per game. They are even more of a mess on defense, starting with picking up their assignments in transition all the way to executing proper help defense to prevent the multitude of high-quality looks they’ve been surrendering from both behind the three-point line and at the rim.
Make no mistake, it’s on Nash to get this fixed in time for the regular season opener on October 19 against New Orleans. Say what you will about whether Kevin Durant’s offseason leak that he wanted Nash fired was merely a negotiating ploy to jolt the organization into acceding to his trade request, but it isn’t a stretch to assume that the third-year coach has a shorter leash than in the past. Unhappy superstars often lead to change.
Nash can complain all he wants about the “newness” of his team, but it’s not like there’s going to be asterisks next to any of Brooklyn’s early losses because they just haven’t had enough time to figure things out yet.
Besides, the team isn’t all THAT new. Four of the five starters from the Philly game, which could very well be the group that takes the floor for the Pelicans tip-off, are returning players. Among the reserves, until forward T.J. Warren is cleared to return from his foot woes, only forward Royce O’Neal and center Markieff Morris seem to qualify as new members of Nash’s 9-or-10-man rotation.
Of course, there is a new wild card in Ben Simmons, the featured return when Brooklyn traded Harden to the Sixers in February but hadn’t played an NBA game since June 2021 due to mental and physical health issues. His uniqueness as a player—he’s six-foot 10, most comfortable with the ball in his hands, yet is hesitant to shoot from outside the restricted area--makes him a difficult piece to integrate on offense.
Simmons is an exceptional passer, but when opponents know what’s coming, it’s easier for them to anticipate when to step into lanes to generate steals—of Simmons’ six turnovers in 25 minutes on Monday, four were of the live-ball variety and the other two were passes through a thicket of Heat defenders that went out of bounds.
I’m not blaming Simmons, whose primary mission this preseason is to get back into basketball shape without reinjuring his surgically-repaired back. What we’ve seen from him offensively, though, are glimpses of who he is—dynamic in the open court; a potential liability in the halfcourt when his defender can sit back in the paint without fear of exposure. Playing him alongside another non-shooter like starting center Nic Claxton compounds the issue.
I’ve been reading several articles on Brooklyn’s recommitment to ball movement (Matt Brooks had a very detailed one for NetsDaily.com) as opposed to the isolation-heavy attack utilized last season. Unfortunately, it requires a coordination and crispness the Nets just don’t have right now, and I’m skeptical that it will improve enough in two weeks. And I also have little doubt that the buy-in from superstars Kyrie Irving, who sat out on Thursday following the birth of his child, and Durant will be short-lived if Brooklyn’s offense stumbles in real games, spurring them to revert to unsustainable hero-ball.
The lack of “connectivity”, to use one of Nash’s favorite words, also extends to the defensive end. As I mentioned in my last post, you could see the Nets attempting to become more multiple instead of switching all screens, on and off ball. Again, for tactics such as drop coverage to work, you need communication and a dedication to fight through picks so as to not leave your dropping teammate in a 2-on-1 disadvantage.
I’m less concerned with Simmons’ integration here despite his minimal impact in the two games aside from a few highlight-reel defensive plays. He’s a two-time First Team NBA All-Defense honoree, so I assume he will play with more physicality as he ramps up into the regular season. Mostly, the issue has been others who are deviating from what should be executed—on one Miami possession, I saw three Nets rushing to the corner to close out on a three-point shooter.
Look, there is time for the Nets to coalesce so they can begin their journey on the right track. It’s just that there isn’t a whole lot of time. Outside of a handful of teams salivating at the opportunity to enter the Victor Wembanyama 2023 Draft lottery sweepstakes, the league, especially the Eastern Conference, is vastly more competitive than when Durant and Irving signed on in 2019.
Boston showed last season that it’s not how you start but how you finish. However, the Celtics already had an identity as to how they wanted to play, so their turnaround was just a matter of management reinforcement followed by player execution. The Nets, unfortunately, still seem like they’re just feeling their way, hoping that it will be figured out when the bell rings.