Nets players take the blame for bottom-dweller defense
The early numbers have been ugly and unacceptable for a rebuilding team with as little margin for error as the Nets have.
Brooklyn ranks at or near the bottom in every significant defensive category through its 0-5 start entering Sunday night’s game against the 76ers at Barclays Center.
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And both players and coaches understand that the problem has to be rectified as quickly as possible.
“As a team, I feel like we just have to be connected more,” shooting guard and UConn product Tyrese Martin said after Friday’s practice. “We look very disconnected on film, whether it’s missing the low man or guys just not talking in rotation, things like that.
“I feel like we just have to get on the same page and be connected and play harder [defensively] than we have been.”
Entering Saturday’s league action, the Nets had allowed the highest overall opponents’ shooting percentage in the NBA at 52.3 percent and the highest 3-point percentage (44.7), and they had surrendered the second-most points per game (127.8).
They also sported the worst team defensive rating at 129.1 points allowed per 100 possessions with the fewest blocked shots (1.4 per game) and the third-fewest steals (6.6 per game).
“It’s definitely on the players,” Martin said. “The coaches do a phenomenal job from the summer of every day making sure we know the defensive stuff, and drill us with the daily habits of what we do.
“It’s more of being connected to our defensive schemes and buying into it and then just effort, at the end of the day. Guys get tired and stop talking, things like that. So it’s just little things like that, being on the same page, sticking together through runs and things like that. Make sure our offense doesn’t affect our defense, and make our defense our backbone. Because we’re a young, inexperienced team, so that’s something we’re gonna hang our hats on. … Because we’re not gonna win a lot of games if we’re gonna go out there and try to outscore teams.”
The 26-year-old Martin noted the Nets’ ball pressure on the defensive side was better last year with veteran guards such as Dennis Schröder, who was traded at midseason, and since-waived Keon Johnson.
“Those two were up to speed at that and did it at a high level,” Martin said. “So knowing that we don’t have a player like that on this team right now, that’s definitely a spot that I noticed this summer and just tried to pick up on. So just trying to pick up full court as much as I can and disrupt guys.”
Nets coach Jordi Fernández acknowledged Friday that he has used three days off since Wednesday’s loss to the Hawks to reinforce his defensive principles.
“I think if we press the ball and can create a little more turnovers and the things that we are trying to build on from last year, we’re gonna be a good defensive team,” Fernández said Friday. “We’ve started this year not one step behind, but a few steps behind last year.
“So it’s not like we have to assume that we are ready now. We have to keep building. We have to reteach and reinvent, and that’s the beauty of it. Right now, our focus is going back to the basics, with that ball pressure and that communication, and that, for sure, will help our ability to rebound and then run, create turnovers and then run. If that would have been better, we would not be in the place that we are right now.”
Joel Embiid (knee), Paul George (knee) and Jared McCain (thumb) are out for the Sixers.
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