The Brooklyn Nets, off to a 2-8 start, held a rare road practice in Dallas this week aimed at shoring up a turnover problem that has plagued the team through its first ten games, ahead of Wednesday’s game in New Orleans against the Pelicans.
Coach Jordi Fernández said keeping the team unified was his main message after a lopsided 130-93 loss to the Mavericks. “That was one of my points after the [Dallas] game; it’s what we need to not only get better, but also come together,” Fernández said. “Our practice, the energy was outstanding and we got better. So right now we want to go out there and play a good brand of basketball.”
Forward Michael Porter Jr. acknowledged the mood around the team but pushed back against dwelling on the slow start. “There’s a lot of things to be down about. But it’s a long season, and if we get down already, then it’s going to be a longer season,” Porter Jr. said. “So coming here with good energy and get better was what we needed to do.”
A Turnover Problem That Won’t Quit
Brooklyn committed 21 turnovers against Dallas, which turned into 25 Mavericks points. That followed a 124-121 loss in Atlanta the night before in which the Nets gave up 22 turnovers for 28 points. Entering Tuesday, Brooklyn ranked third worst in the NBA in turnovers and turnover percentage, and fourth worst in points allowed off turnovers.
Fernández said the issue is more about structure than carelessness. “Yeah, it’s pretty simple, right? I know the guys are not trying to turn it over, so put less pressure on yourself when you make those decisions,” he said. “It’s more about our spacing and then how we do from there because we’re pretty unorganized early and then that doesn’t help. So I don’t want them to play tentative; I want them to play aggressive, and making their decisions and playing very hard.”
On the other end, Fernández pointed to a simpler fix. “And then defensively it’s going back to what is going to make us be a very good defensive team is ball pressure first. Build our trust through communication, our coverages, and then finish with multiple efforts. We’ve shown it at times, and now in this next set of five games we want to see improvement.”
Center Day’Ron Sharpe said the team is focused on cleaning up specific situations. “That’s what we’re going over, so that’s all I know,” Sharpe said. “Especially transition, just get into our spots of transition and just being aggressive and making the right play. We’re all basketball players, we all know what to do, so just having faith in what we work on and hopefully that transitions to win.”
Porter Jr. said much of practice was spent walking through how to read opposing defenses. “(It’s) reading how the defense is guarding us. Sometimes they’re switching and we’re not having the right reads off of that,” he said. “So we slowed down some parts of practice and walked through the different ways we can attack different coverages when teams are staying with their own vs. switching vs. top locking. All those things will help.”
He added a note on perspective as the team works through its early-season struggles. “I mean, we’ve got no choice. Any trial or tribulation can be viewed as a lesson, and that’s what we’re choosing to do. We’re just trying to grow as a team because we’re stuck with each other. And we’re right where we wanna be: here. So we have no choice but to get better.”
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