HOUSTON – Initially, the Nets tank appears safe.
But losing is the easy part.
The hardest part is walking the tightrope of losing without becoming losers.
In the most star-driven league in sports, the most direct path to getting one is through the draft – or, more to the point, through the lottery.
By losing.
And the winless Nets certainly do that. But capitulating as they did on Monday — a 137-108 humiliation in Houston before 18,055 at Toyota Center — was “unacceptable.”
“I need consistency and urgency. And that has to be something that we can’t decide whether to do or not,” coach Jordi Fernández said. “It’s a matter of who we want to be, right? Giving up 42 to start, that’s not great.
“It’s just unacceptable to take an NBA game for granted. And our guys are trying. They just don’t know how much harder and focused they can do things. And I believe they’ll continue to take those steps. A lot of it is just a lack of experience.”
That’s the tightrope the Nets (0-4) walk.
After drafting five first-round picks, the Nets want that experience to help those rookies grow up and not get beaten.
There was only one in the lineup: Ben Saraf, whose minus-9 was actually the best of the starters, an indictment of how bad this loss was.
Nolan Traore supported him while Egor Dëmin rested to manage his plantar fascia, while Drake Powell and Danny Wolf began rehabilitation assignments in the G-League.
They were spared these beatings.
Cam Thomas had a rare off night with nine points on 3-of-9 shooting, with his numerous injuries possibly catching up with him.
Terance Mann had a team-high 21 points, but the defense allowed 57.6 percent shooting from the field, leading to the blowout.
The Nets have the worst field goal defense in the league, allowing over 50 percent shooting every game.
Unlike a year ago – when Brooklyn ended up finishing a disappointing eighth after a 9-10 start – their lottery prospects appear much more secure this time around.
Understand that players don’t tank, and neither do coaches.
Organizations do this by taking the former from the latter.
And GM Sean Marks has done that by purging veterans and taking the rookie record.
The Nets are one of only three winless teams, and neither the Pacers nor Pelicans are tanking.
Their perceived lottery rivals – the Jazz and the Wizards – have three wins between them.
The Nets were again torched on defense, with Tari Eason leading Houston with 22 points and old friend Kevin Durant adding 19 points.
They allowed 42 points in the first quarter and trailed by as many as 33 points in the fourth.
“They came out in transition. Nobody came back. We have to talk better about defense,” said Day’Ron Sharpe, who had 17 points and a dozen boards. “It’s all about defense. We can’t make too many mistakes by not speaking or doing something wrong.” [thing]in the wrong position. We have to work on that.”
The Nets allowed 18 unanswered points only to see this one turn ugly.
Sharpe’s 3-pointer pulled the Nets within 27-25 with 2:48 left in the first, but Durant dunked to spark that 18-0 run.
The Nets fell behind by 20 at 45-25 after Eason’s free throw.
They never got closer than seven the rest of the way, and that margin came on a Thomas 3-pointer.
The score was 71-60 at halftime, but the Nets unleashed a 14-4 run from the locker room.
Fernández called a timeout to encourage his team, but that could not turn the tide.
They trailed 103-77 by the end of the third and by 33 in the fourth.
“It was everyone. … We need technique to get better. The recovery was a problem. Our coverage was a problem because you can’t do it halfway. You have to do it 100 percent,” Fernández said. “If you have to give up 140 points, 50 percent of the field, that’s not going to be good. And right now, this is the result we deserve as a group. But I know we can do better.”
That’s the hope.
The Nets did not intend for this rebuild to take years.
Fueling can be effective, but only if it is done in microdosing.
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