Plenty Of Blame To Go Around As Nets Fall Under .500
You are what your record says you are.
So said legendary NFL coach Bill Parcells back in his heyday, but it’s also appropriate when you’re evaluating the current Brooklyn Nets.
Forget the hype since the offseason or what odds the Las Vegas bookmakers give for the Nets to win an NBA Championship in 2022. With nearly 80% of the season complete, the Nets are losers.
Brooklyn fell, 126-120, in a hard-fought marquee matchup in Boston on Sunday afternoon to fall into ninth place in the Eastern Conference at 32-33. Unfortunately, at this stage, they need actual victories, not moral ones. I take no solace that this was a “great game.” Give me some rock fights that end in Nets wins.
I don’t see how this gets turned around in the near term either, since the Nets have no identity. Offensively, they are overly reliant on the supreme gifts of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to make contested shots--which they can do for long stretches so that they are always just a few stops from allowing their explosiveness to take over games. They just scored 120 points against a top-ranked Celtics defense, who were in Brooklyn’s shirts all game. Previously, Boston hadn’t surrendered as many as 115 points since Christmas or at least 120 points since December 3.
Unfortunately, the Nets couldn’t capitalize on their outsized production because their defense is a mess. With Andre Drummond and LaMarcus Aldridge splitting duties at the 5, Brooklyn plays more drop coverage than they did earlier in the season instead of switching on-ball screens. But what happens after the on-ball defender inevitably dies on the screen? Who helps? How are they supposed to rotate out to the three-point shooters? The Nets look like they have no clue.
When they weren’t fouling Celtics jump shooters, the Nets allowed a plethora of wide-open three-point looks. They had no answer for Boston star Jayson Tatum, who poured in 54 points on 8-for-15 marksmanship from deep.
Brooklyn Head Coach Steve Nash’s crunch-time solution was to replace Aldridge with Nic Claxton, but all that did was put a second non-shooter (on top of Bruce Brown) into offensive sets. While Tatum still got to his preferred matchups and spots, the Celtics were able to run extra defenders at Durant and Irving.
After the Nets went up, 111-110, with 3:29 remining on a wonderfully-executed Seth Curry corner three-ball, Durant forced a pass amidst double coverage, fueling a Boston transition bucket, and then combined with Irving to miss three of their next five field goal attempts. Game over—because Boston scored on five of their six possessions.
“It’s easy to point fingers and blame our season on other things—it’s not going to do anything for us,“ Durant said after the game.
Let me try then. In no particular order:
Unvaccinated Irving
Never mind the previous sentence—Irving’s obstinance to not get the COVID-19 vaccine in compliance with the New York City mandate (and alongside 99% of his NBA colleagues) for no logical reason was the precursor to all that followed. Originally banned from the team completely before the season, the Nets organization relented to allow him to play road games starting in January. However, the on-again, off-again nature of Irving’s availability was never going to be ideal in terms of establishing continuity or an identity. After games in Charlotte and Philadelphia this week, he will be eligible to play just four of Brooklyn’s final 15 games, assuming no change in the mandate. Way to be a team player, Kyrie.
James Harden’s loss of interest
Bite back if you will, but I blame him less for what’s transpired, though he’s obviously not blameless for the situation that resulted in his trade to Philadelphia. As I’ve mentioned in prior posts, Harden needs to be put in a specific surrounding to excel, as you’re seeing from him in his first few games with the Sixers. Brooklyn possessed so few competent shooters, especially when injuries took their toll, that Harden was rendered the most ineffective he’s been since his rookie season. He’s on here because instead of fighting through the adversity he basically checked out so he could passive-aggressively engineer his way to Philly. What a shame that the Big 3 never really had a chance to show off their awesome potential.
Injuries
Truthfully, this shouldn’t be on the list, because injuries are so commonplace in this league. While KD’s 17-game absence with a sprained MCL proved devastating, the Nets should have, for instance, been able to survive the season-ending loss to NBA three-point shooting champ Joe Harris in November a whole lot better. In addition, everyone thought they came into the season with ample depth to withstand numerous other injuries/COVID-19 quarantines. That they didn’t lays at the feet of…
Sean Marks’ roster construction
The Nets General Manager overcorrected after the seven-game defeat to eventual NBA champ Milwaukee in last postseason’s second round. Marks, like many of us, thought it would be best if the team prioritized defense this past offseason. Unfortunately, he neglected to factor in the consequences from too little shooting and size. Rule of thumb in today’s NBA: If you’re playing with more than one non-shooter on the floor, it’s really hard on the offense. Yet Nash would—and still does sometimes—roll out five-man units with as many as three guys who are bricklayers from outside the paint. You can’t always fault him--he often has had no choice given the limitations of his active roster. Ben Simmons, the featured return in the package for Harden, will eventually solve some of the size issues (if he ever plays—he hasn’t since last June 20 nor has he practiced with the Nets due to a back injury) but would count as another non-shooter. You could argue Marks is entitled to one mulligan after all he’s done in the franchise’s resurrection from the abyss, but if this does end up as a wasted season, it will sting.
Nash
In the end, a coach can only control the players who are available to him. In the season’s first half, Nash did terrific work while Brooklyn was besieged. I can’t say the same about his performance since. Drummond, Curry, and Goran Dragic are all recent additions to the rotation, but they know how to play basketball. Put them in situations to maximize their effectiveness. Don’t leave the undersized Curry alone on an island against Tatum on several key fourth-quarter possessions—blitz the pick-and-roll to force Tatum to give up the ball and make someone else beat them. Play a box-and-one or some other zone coverage. Nash should be up all night analyzing how this group should play and then communicate it to the individual players in the rotation. The identity crisis is Nash’s biggest issue. If it doesn’t get solved—fast--he’ll own that losing record on his resume.