The early numbers were ugly and unacceptable for a rebuilding team with as little margin for error as the Nets.
Brooklyn is at or near the bottom in every major defensive category following its 0-5 start in Sunday night’s game against the 76ers at Barclays Center.
And both players and coaches understand that the problem needs to be resolved as quickly as possible.
“As a team, I feel like we just need to be more connected,” shooting guard and UConn product Tyrese Martin said after Friday’s practice. “On film we look very distant, whether it’s missing the low guy or guys just not talking alternately, things like that.
“I feel like we just need to get on the same page, be connected and play harder [defensively] than we have been.”
Entering Saturday’s league action, the Nets had allowed the highest opposing shooting percentage in the NBA (52.3 percent) and the highest three-point percentage (44.7), and had given up the second-most points per game (127.8).
They also had the worst team defense 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 definitely depends on the players,” Martin said. “The coaches do a phenomenal job every summer, making sure we know the defensive stuff and teaching us the daily habits of what we do.
“It’s more about being connected to our defensive schemes and believing in them and then just putting in the effort, at the end of the day. Guys get tired and stop talking, things like that. So it’s just little things, being on the same page, staying 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 going to hang our hat on. … Because we’re not going to win many games if we going out there and trying to beat the teams.”
The 26-year-old Martin noted that the Nets’ ball pressure on the defensive end was better last year with veteran guards like Dennis Schröder, who was traded midseason, and has since waived Keon Johnson.
“Those two were knowledgeable in that area and did it at a high level,” Martin said. “So knowing that we don’t have a player like that on this team at the moment, that’s definitely a point that I’ve noticed this summer and tried to pick up on. So I’m just trying to get on the field as much as I can and disrupt the guys.”
Nets coach Jordi Fernández acknowledged Friday that he has used three days off since Wednesday’s loss to the Hawks to strengthen his defensive principles.
“I think if we can pressure the ball and create some more turnovers and the things we’re trying to build on from last year, we’ll be a good defensive team,” Fernández said Friday. “We 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’re 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 will certainly help our ability to recover and then run, create turnovers and then run. If that would have been better, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
Joel Embiid (knee), Paul George (knee) and Jared McCain (thumb) are out for the Sixers.
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