INDIANAPOLIS – Everyone knew the Nets would tank this season.
That doesn’t make it any easier.
The winless Nets are off to the second-worst start in team history. And they’re trying to make sure they keep their wits about them going into Wednesday night, to ensure their morale survives a horrific 0-7 start to the season.
“We just have to stick together. Times like this – whether it’s a success or a tough time – you can really show your true colors,” said Nic Claxton. “So we’ve just got to stick together. We’ve got a lot of high character individuals in the locker room, and we’ve just got to keep chipping away and we’ll just get over that hump and get a win.”
The Nets have failed to get a win, not even a moral one, or a Pyrrhic one. And after the Pelicans’ 116-112 win over the Hornets on Tuesday night, the Nets are now the only winless team in the NBA.
The Nets were even worse.
Without a top defenseman on the roster, the Nets have been a sieve thus far and will remain that way for the rest of the season.
The start is the second-worst in franchise history, and the worst since 2015-16, when they went 21-61. This season is expected to be even worse.
That’s why coach Jordi Fernández met with his Nets both as a team and individually before Monday’s loss to Minnesota, in an effort to keep morale up.
“It’s the same message. Just keep the positive vibe. Obviously no one wants to be 0-7 right now,” Cam Thomas said. “We want to try to get a win. But at the end of the day we just have to keep working hard, keep finding the positives and build on them. And of course look at the mistakes we make and try to clean them up.”
Thomas joins Michael Porter Jr. as the only proven scoring option for the Nets. The latter missed Monday’s defeat for personal reasons and is expected back on Wednesday, according to Fernández.
But even with Porter on the floor, while the Nets are devoid of any veteran point guard play — with only teenagers Ben Saraf, Egor Dëmin and Nolan Traore — it has led to Thomas being doubled even more. His shot diet was already inefficient, and without shot creation in this squad there is a danger that his attacking process will evolve even further.
“The defenses are a little more focused on me to start the games,” Thomas said. “I mean, they were always focused on me, but now they’re putting the emphasis on taking me out of the game. So I just have to read the game early, see the early pass and just trust the guys to make their shots and keep shooting when they’re open.”
“It’s definitely something I have to figure out and adjust to. It’s only game seven to game eight, so relatively early in the season. … We’re going to try to go to Indiana and try to get one.”
The Nets will face a 1-6 Pacers team without the injured Tyrese Haliburton. On the other hand, they just got blown out by a 76ers team without Joel Embiid and a Minnesota team without Anthony Edwards.
They are deep in the throes of reconstruction and must keep morale high.
“It’s part of life. You have to embrace adversity and try to figure it out and give yourself a chance,” Fernández said.
“Things don’t change overnight. If you don’t give yourself a chance, it’s not like you decide one day and it suddenly happens. Right now we’ve seen positive steps. Have we been competitive? A little bit better. Have we been unselfish? A little bit better. Are we connected? A little bit better. The bench has been really good. So all those things, if we keep doing and we keep doing a little bit better, then that turns into wins. And once you get a taste of winning, you want to you can do it again.”
Brooklyn has assigned Saraf, Traore and Danny Wolf to G-League Long Island.
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