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Brooklyn Nets: Putting the panic button away

By Alec Liebsch

BROOKLYN, NY - NOVEMBER 02: (NEW YORK DAILIES OUT) Head coach Kenny Atkinson of the Brooklyn Nets reacts during a game against the Houston Rockets at Barclays Center on November 2, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The Rockets defeated the Nets 119-111. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
BROOKLYN, NY - NOVEMBER 02: (NEW YORK DAILIES OUT) Head coach Kenny Atkinson of the Brooklyn Nets reacts during a game against the Houston Rockets at Barclays Center on November 2, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The Rockets defeated the Nets 119-111. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images
Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images /

Defense

Overall, the point-preventing end has been dreadful for Brooklyn. Several factors are in play here, but they are all under the same umbrella.

It all starts at the top. Neither Dinwiddie nor D-Lo are great defenders, and often they get blown by in one-on-one situations. Ditto for Allen Crabbe, who is basically useless overall right now. That initial breakdown creates a domino effect on the rest of the lineup.

Joe Harris works really hard on both ends, but he’s not athletic enough to stay with good penetrators. Jared Dudley certainly isn’t that guy. That leaves Jarrett Allen to do a lot of the work.

He does fine for the most part, as evidenced by his 2.2 Box Plus-Minus. But if everyone around him has trouble staying with their men, his fortress gets weakened. His defensive field goal percentage at the rim is actually 8.7 percentage points lower than league average (on the 11th-most shots defended per game), which indicates that he himself is doing well in both quantity and quality.

The fouls, however, are killing him and the team as a whole. Allen is attacked so much that he often gets into foul trouble, which causes Ed Davis to soak up more minutes down low. The problems continue from there, creating a vicious cycle that eventually forces Rondae Hollis-Jefferson to spend time at the 5.

I’m all about small-ball, and RHJ is by no means a bad defender, but resorting to that too much can have diminishing returns, especially this early on. The personnel issues with this team are real, especially when so-called defenders like DeMarre Carroll lose a step.

As long as these core issues exist, which they will for quite a while, this team will find it difficult to win when it matters most. The flaws with the overall roster construction are mostly intentional, as Brooklyn tries to keep a developmental culture in mind.

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Shifting the gears to competitiveness is still a topic the Nets want to pursue, but they’re currently not capable of it. So for now, we must ride out the storm in hopes of greener pastures in the near future.

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