Brooklyn Nets

Coping With Reality: What To Expect From the Rest Of The Nets' Season

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 9:19 p.m. ET

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Jan 17, 2017; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Brooklyn Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson coaches against the Toronto Raptors during the second quarter at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

For a lot of people, the Brooklyn Nets‘ season was over before it started. They were expected to have the worst record in the NBA, and that’s most likely coming to fruition. With that, it’s time to look at the good, the bad and the ugly.

There is one team in the NBA with single-digit wins. And I’m sure you guessed the answer by now. Kenny Atkinson inherited a tough position, as did general manager Sean Marks. Fortunately for them and the fan base, the organization is dead set on rebuilding, but the effects of trading away all of their draft picks will be felt for another couple of seasons.

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Having no picks wouldn’t be bad if the Nets were better, but there’s a 25 percent chance that they — or more specifically, the Boston Celtics — bring home the first overall pick. What makes their immediate future even more gloomy is that this draft class is loaded with talent and is the strongest class we’ve seen in a long time.

Not everything is bad, and the front office seems to have a nice handle on the current situation. Brook Lopez could be dealt by February’s deadline, but nothing is set in stone. Furthermore, he’s having a great year and could get traded for a couple of solid pieces. Marks and Atkinson aren’t rushing anything, and they’ve stuck to their MO of building a culture and grooming talent since day one.

Jan 12, 2017; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Brooklyn Nets shooting guard Caris LeVert (22) drives against New Orleans Pelicans point guard Jrue Holiday (11) during the third quarter at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Embrace The Future

The Philadelphia 76ers have “Trust the Process” so I (and the rest of the NBN team) am going to piggyback off that with “Embrace the Future.”

You heard it here first.

This is more than just a way to keep optimism high, and the Nets have a nice handful of young players who have been coming alive lately. Caris LeVert jumps out immediately, and the only rookies who are playing at a higher level are Malcolm Brogdon and Joel Embiid. I was expecting LeVert to look decent coming off his injury, but he’s been impressive on many occasions, including his game against the New Orleans Pelicans where he scored 17 points on 6-of-6 shooting and added six assists and five rebounds to his totals.

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LeVert is doing much more than expected, even though scouts were high on his versatility coming out of Michigan. He’s attacking off the dribble and creating for others just as well as he creates for himself, and he’s looking like he can develop into a secondary ball handler sooner than later.

Because the season’s a wash, LeVert should see a greater amount of time, and he’ll (hopefully) be seeing it alongside Quincy Acy and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.

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Hollis-Jefferson’s potential as an All-Defensive player is eye-catching, and it’s been roughly two weeks since his name was thrown into the rumor mill. The Nets would, reportedly, listen to any offers for him. Whether the Nets receive an offer to their liking and accept it remains to be seen, but RHJ’s production has noticeably increased since the news got out.

Over that stretch, he posted three consecutive games with double-digit points (Jan. 15, 17 and 20), and Hollis-Jefferson finally looks acclimated to his role. The most encouraging part is that he isn’t trying to force anything anymore. He’s making the simple play, and it’s nice watching him scrap for buckets because he doesn’t have a refined skill set on offense — yet.

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LeVert and Hollis-Jefferson are already fan favorites in Brooklyn, but Acy is slowly beginning to reach their level of notoriety.

Remember Reggie Evans? Well, Acy is just like that, except he can contribute offensively. The former Baylor Bear has been a nice spark plug for the Nets, and he’s produced a great deal during the ten games for which he’s suited up.

In those contests, Acy’s averaging seven points and 2.7 rebounds in 12 minutes, and he’s making 57.5 percent of his shots, including 64.7 percent of his threes.

Jan 21, 2017; Charlotte, NC, USA; Brooklyn Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson reacts during the first half against the Charlotte Hornets at the Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports

(Almost) Everything Else

The disheartening reality is that Brooklyn is well on their way to the league’s worst record, and that’s something that’s been predicted since last summer. I was optimistic, but Joel Embiid and the 76ers have made me eat my words because I thought they’d finish below the Nets in the standings.

Not only is Brooklyn the only team with single-digit wins this year, but they’re also six games back of the 15-win Phoenix Suns and boast a paltry .191 winning percentage. Injuries certainly play a role in their success and failures, and Jeremy Lin being sidelined for all but 12 games this year hasn’t helped. However, even if he were healthy, the Nets wouldn’t be much better.

Their defense is bad — like, appallingly bad. No one player can be singled out for poor defensive performances since it takes five people to get stops on that end of the floor. Effort doesn’t seem like the problem, and that’s great, so it falls on either the system or the inability of guys to understand how they need to play certain situations.

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Granted, this team is young, and it’s tough for young players to adapt quickly to the rigors of NBA defenses. Furthermore, a decent amount of their rotation is made up of guys who were bench warmers early in their careers.

What’s unfortunate is that a lot of the veterans aren’t known as being defensive stoppers, and that certainly hinders development a bit. Moreover, this roster is made up of a bunch of guys who have barely played together, and the constant flip-flopping of the lineups hasn’t helped foster any chemistry.

There is a benefit to the myriad of player combinations that Atkinson puts together, and it’s for him to gauge which units play well. That’s something he can afford to do since there are no expectations for the Nets to be competitive.

The bad could easily be much worse, and that’s avoided because Brooklyn does have their fair share of moments that impress. Those, however, are limited to the first half of ball games.

What makes this situation even uglier is that the Nets don’t have a draft pick in the 2017 draft, and this class is one of the most top-heavy ones in recent memory. Markelle Fultz, Dennis Smith and Lonzo Ball are the three top players this year, and, although they wouldn’t have reversed fortunes right away, it would have been another solidified piece in the rebuilding foundation.

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