By Not Chasing Wins, the Brooklyn Nets Will Be Winners
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — There's something different about these Brooklyn Nets.
The faces, obviously. They have a new head coach, their sixth since 2012, in Kenny Atkinson. General manager Sean Marks is barely a half-year into his tenure. Just five of Brooklyn's players—Bojan Bogdanovic, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Sean Kilpatrick, Brook Lopez and Chris McCullough—were on the roster last season.
Only two—Bogdanovic and Lopez—played for the team in 2014-15.
But this difference cannot be measured by roster and front-office turnover. It's more radical than that—visible, but also instinctual. You step into their swanky new practice facility and feel it. You watch Brooklyn players and coaches interact and sense it.
The culture is changing.
It has changed.
For the first time in a long time, the Nets aren't chasing wins and impractical playoff success. They are rebuilding, immediately and wholly—a thorough reset that emphasizes so much more than basketball.
Marks is at the heart of this shift. He arrived with eyes on the bigger picture and stressed, in June, the importance of forging camaraderie, per the New York Post's Brian Lewis: "I know a little bit of the intricacies that make that atmosphere. And again, it’s not something that happens overnight, but there’s a few little things that can be done quickly, now and immediately, that our players in Brooklyn know that something’s different in the air here."
Marks wasted little time putting his plan into action. He traded proven contributor Thaddeus Young for first-round pick Caris LeVert, something the previous regime likely wouldn't have considered. And while the Nets signed a collection of veterans in free agency, they also threw offer sheets at up-and-comers Allen Crabbe and Tyler Johnson (the Portland Trail Blazers and Miami Heat matched those respective offers for the restricted free agents).
Besides, the arrival of those veterans is an integral part of development. They provide steadying hands for inexperienced teammates, yes, but Brooklyn's ability to sell Trevor Booker, Randy Foye, Jeremy Lin et al. on a work-in-progress is also evidence of how far it has already come.
"Some places where you're rebuilding, it's turmoil from top to bottom," Foye said. "Management doesn't know if they're going to have their jobs. Coaches don't know if they're going to have their jobs. Here, we're rebuilding, but at the same time we're trying to be competitive. The young guys are learning, the older guys are teaching. There's no turmoil.
"Everyone's secure here."
That's important.
Hollis-Jefferson, for example, needs to know he can freely work on his jumper during games without the threat of being benched for inefficiency; for that to happen, Atkinson needs to know he has the power to ride out mistakes and growing pains at the expense of wins; and for that to happen, Marks needs to know his rebuild isn't being entirely dictated by Brooklyn forfeiting control of its next two first-round picks.
The Nets are asking established talent on short-term deals to embrace a new system. Players chasing new contracts who don't fit into the long-term plan must, at times, cede minutes and touches to those who do.
You need the right personalities in place for those inevitable transitions to go over smoothly. Brooklyn believes it has found them.
"I was just happy with the effort, with these guys really buying into what we're doing," Atkinson said of the preseason. "And that's the whole program. We're demanding a lot. We're demanding maybe more than they're used to. And it's not perfect. I get mad, and we show them on film. But there's a good spirit in terms of trying to do what we want, because you could be with a team and the players will be like, 'Hey man, we're not trying that.'
"That was part of Sean's idea and my idea: bring in guys who are coachable and want to improve."
Little about this iteration of the Nets feels impermanent as a result, even though, for the most part, that's exactly what it is. In being so selective with the types of players and personalities they keep around, they've created chemistry that belies the roster's lack of familiarity.
Booker has been lauded for his leadership and energy. Same goes for Lopez. Foye offers encouragement to teammates during shooting drills. Laughter permeates the gym in between free throws. Lopez once crashed Lin's post-practice media session so they could hold court together.
"The younger guys are always looking to the older guys for advice. But it's not just that," Foye explained. "Multiple guys are going out to eat, going to the movies, doing things that good teams do. Last year, when I was with OKC, that was something that they did. Not just one guy went out to eat—it was like 12 guys.
"One time we went out to eat here, and it was like eight of us or nine of us at a table. Just building that and laughing and joking and having fun away from the basketball court. That means a lot for a winning atmosphere."
Roles will change in Brooklyn. The rotation will be fluid. The roster will be tweaked and remade. It will be a while before the Nets resemble anything close to a finished product as they wait out draft-pick commitments and wade through growing pains.
Progress will be paid in baby steps, not wins.
And yet, these Nets already have a victory worth celebrating: the advent of an atmosphere and culture fit for what they're striving to become.
Brooklyn Nets Insider Notebook
Style Points
How will Atkins evaluate in lieu of straight wins and losses?
"I want to measure our defensive improvement," he explained. "Offensively, what is our pace like? How are we moving the ball? What is our assist percentage? Are we driving to the rim? Are we getting open shots? We obviously like to take the three-pointer, but we want to get more open ones."
The Nets' offensive transformation is well underway; their preseason performance, in fact, bore no resemblance to the half-court-oriented attack from 2015-16:
| 2015-16 Regular Season | 100.9 | 97.37 | 18.4 | 35.2 | 58.3 |
| 2016-17 Preseason | 96.3 | 105.72 | 33.7 | 35.6 | 63.7 |
Six exhibition tilts aren't enough to draw sweeping conclusions, but the Nets picked up right where they left off during their opening-night loss to the Boston Celtics. They pumped in 117 points while pushing the pace and jacking a franchise-record 44 threes.
Improving the overall shot selection, though, will take more time.
Brooklyn ranked in the bottom eight of wide-open looks and drives per game last season and isn't built to make immediate leaps in either department. Greivis Vasquez and Lin beef up the attack-mode credentials, but the Nets are light on effective ball-handlers who can break down defenses and fling passes on the move until Foye and LeVert are healthy.
Jumpers for Jeremy
Lin will launch a ton of threes as the lead guard in Atkinson's system. And, conveniently enough, he's feeling pretty good about his jump shot.
"I'm just more confident in it," he said after preseason concluded. "A lot of times you would see me passing up or hesitating, but here I'm shooting every open three, and that gives me so much more space to drive the ball or it allows me to play without having to be the one to play pick-and-roll every time. I can space on the weak side and be a threat in a different way rather than just having the ball in my hands."
While Lin has never been recognized for his marksmanship, he's shooting a tick under 35 percent from long range on nearly 900 attempts since 2012-13. He put down 10 of his 20 deep-ball looks during the preseason and opened the year going 2-of-5 against the Celtics.
If he can drain triples at an above-average clip all season, it will open a bunch of doors. The Nets will be able to use him more beside Vasquez as part of dual-point-guard lineups, and he'll be a better complement to Bogdanovic, Foye and LeVert as an off-ball sniper.
The Charlotte Hornets used Lin under a similar pretense last season, so the idea isn't new. He played almost 1,200 minutes alongside the ball-dominant Kemba Walker, and more than 21 percent of his field-goal attempts came as catch-and-shoot threes.
Backcourt Mystery
Though Lin has the starting point guard job on lock, Brooklyn's backcourt rotation remains enigmatic.
Bogdanovic started at shooting guard against Boston, but Foye could slide into that slot when he returns from a strained hamstring. Joe Harris, Sean Kilpatrick, Vasquez and LeVert (once healthy) will all be vying for a share of the backcourt minutes as well. Isaiah Whitehead also staked his claim for consideration with some inspired garbage-time play on opening night.
Even for a Nets team that will liberally tinker and experiment with the rotation, this creates a bit of a logjam. But the issue can be alleviated by playing three backcourt members at a time.
LeVert (6'6") and Bogdanovic (6'7") have the size to soak up time at small forward, and Vasquez, at 6'6", can survive for stretches at shooting guard. Lin can play beside anyone if his three-point stroke holds, and Atkinson has hinted at using Foye, who's played the 2 for most of his career, as a point guard.
"I think Randy can play both positions," he said. "I think he can play the 2 and 1. We didn't use him a lot at the 1 in the preseason. But that doesn't mean he's not going to play the 1 during the year. We'll have to look at all the lineups and what fits him, and where he fits best for the team."
Joe Harris Detonation Alert
Harris made the most of his 25-plus minutes in Brooklyn's season opener, setting or matching career highs in points (16), field-goal attempts (15), three-point attempts (nine), three-point makes (four), rebounds (four), steals (two) and blocks (two).
If he continues knocking down more than 44 percent of his treys, he may yet become J.J. Redick's Eastern Conference spirit animal.
All quotes gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted. Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com and are accurate as of games played on Oct. 26.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @danfavale.
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