6 Early Surprises from the Deron Williams and Joe Johnson Backcourt

Coming into the 2012-13 season, the Brooklyn Nets had high hopes and were talking a big game.

Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov called the New York Knicks the "second team in New York" (on FOX 5, via ESPN New York), and even Hall of Famer Charles Barkley proclaimed the Nets to be the "best team in New York" (per NY Daily News).

This seemed fairly reasonable, as the Nets had acquired Joe Johnson's max contract from the Atlanta Hawks, which helped convince Olympic gold medalist Deron Williams to re-sign with the team. Ostensibly, this gave them one of the best backcourt tandems in the NBA.

But over the first three games of the season, the Nets have disappointed on their way to a 1-2 record. While it's a very small sample size, their performances haven't included outlying factors and anomalies. They have simply played poorly.

On opening night at Barclays Center, the Nets won 107-100, but they struggled to put away the Toronto Raptors, an improved team that is still expected to finish last in the Atlantic division.

Two evenings later, the Nets frittered away a 22-point lead with under 10 minutes left in the third quarter. From there, they were outscored 58-25 and lost 107-96 to a Minnesota Timberwolves team missing Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love.

The Nets were out-rebounded 19 to 4 in the fourth quarter. And that's without Kevin Love.

And on November 7, the Nets were blown off the court by the Miami Heat, 103-73.

While it's still extremely early and they will certainly play better going forward, this is not the start that the Nets or their fans wanted to see. They've been inconsistent on offense and porous on defense.

It will take 20 games to see who this Nets team really is, but the first three games have yielded some lessons and highlighted areas that need fixing. Here are six early surprises from the Nets tremendously talented, handsomely paid backcourt.

The Gerald Wallace Injury

In the final minute of the Nets' opening night victory over Toronto, Gerald Wallace rolled his left ankle. He stepped on Kyle Lowry's foot while attempting to block the shot on a fast break.

The ankle is sprained and Wallace, their best defender, is day-to-day (per the Nets' official site). He has missed two games and will likely miss two more.

This has prompted coach Avery Johnson to slide Joe Johnson from the 2 to the 3. He has started in place of Wallace, and Keith Bogans, a 32-year-old defensive specialist, has started at shooting guard.

This has disrupted the Nets' starting lineup—Joe Johnson is no longer starting in the backcourt—and it hasn't been a boon to either their offense or their defense.

After playing less than a minute in the Toronto game, Bogans has played a total of 35 minutes in his two starts since. He has 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting, three rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Those numbers aren't too shabby and he contributes defensively, but Bogans will give way once Wallace returns, which will likely be sometime in the coming week as he's already out of his walking boot.

However, it's crucial for the Nets that Wallace remains healthy and provides continuity to their starting lineup. In 11 seasons, Wallace has played only 673 games.

Poor Shooting

Deron Williams and Joe Johnson are still finding their stride on offense.

Williams is averaging a tidy 17 points per game, but he is shooting 43.9 percent from the field and 78.6 percent from the free-throw line, both below his career averages. Moreover, he has been cold from long range, going 4-of-16 from downtown.

In the game against Miami, Williams had 14 points on 7-of-15 shooting, but five of those were layups. He missed all four three-pointers he attempted.

Johnson has averaged 14 points on just 37.8 percent shooting. That's disappointing for anyone not named Jamal Crawford. Johnson was especially poor against Miami, going 4-of-14 from the field for nine points in 32 minutes.

And while he had 19 points on 8-of-18 shooting against Minnesota, he was part of the Nets offense that ground to a halt as their sizable lead dwindled down and turned into an 11-point margin of defeat.

In that fourth quarter, the Nets went "4-for-19 and 0-for-3 from 3-point range, including their All-Star backcourt of Deron Williams and Johnson going a combined 2-for-10" (per Tim Bontemps of the NY Post).

While it has only through three games and at least a dozen more will be needed to establish a pattern, their shooting will need to become more consistent and proficient.

Turnovers

Deron Williams is averaging 8.3 assists per game, but he's also averaging 5.0 turnovers.

In the first two games, Williams had 22 assists to go with eight turnovers. Against the Miami Heat, he had just three assists and a Lin-esque seven turnovers.

Turnovers have always been a bugaboo for Williams. He's averaged 3.2 per season for his career and 4.0 last season. That's a product of a very active point guard and most fans will take the good with the bad.

But an assist-to-turnover ratio of three-to-seven is unacceptable. Despite the renowned defense played by Miami, Avery Johnson won't allow his All-Star point guard to forget nights like these.

Expect to see Williams be a little more careful with the ball going forward.

Lackluster Defense

En route to their 1-2 record, the Nets have surrendered over 100 points in each game. They are allowing 103.3 points per game, which is fourth worst in the NBA.

In the opening night victory over Toronto, Deron Williams and Joe Johnson yielded 53 points to their counterparts, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. The other three Raptors starters combined for 17 points.

Against Minnesota, the Nets were outscored 32-10 in the fourth quarter of their disappointing loss. Who were T-Wolves' key scorers down the stretch? SF Chase Budinger and PG Alexey Shved.

Against Miami, it was the LeBron James and Dwyane Wade show, but the Heat overall shot a prodigious 51.9 percent from the field.

As tweeted by a self-proclaimed "Nets babbler" after the Miami game:

"

The pick & roll is absolutely destroying the Nets. And not just this game. Through 3 games.

— eLone (@eLonePB) November 8, 2012

"

And he was correct. The T-Wolves and the Heat both exploited the Nets on the pick-and-roll, and that signals poor communication on defense.

Avery Johnson will have to coach his players up if they are going to improve, especially his starting point guard and swingman, who are both considered to be adept defenders.

Fighting off Their Backups

With two minutes left in the fourth quarter against Toronto, leading 94-92, backup point guard C.J. Watson had the ball on the wing beyond the arc, faked a pass to Joe Johnson in the corner and then drove the lane for a key bucket. He finished with 15 points off the bench in the Nets' victory.

MarShon Brooks was a preseason candidate to take home Sixth Man of the Year honors this season, and he hasn't shown any reason to think otherwise.

In relief of Deron Williams, Watson is averaging 9.0 points on 50.0 percent shooting, with 2.3 assists in 26.0 minutes per game.

As the backup shooting guard, Brooks is averaging 10.3 points on a stellar 63.2 percent shooting, with 1.3 assists in 19.7 minutes per game.

Both Watson and Brooks have been more efficient on offense and have played their way into larger roles in the rotation so far. Avery Johnson has at times brought in Watson, a vital offseason acquisition, to run the point and moved Williams to the 2.

But Brooks has seen less minutes than Watson in part due to his shortcomings on defense. He will improve with experience, but at the moment—even with Joe Johnson starting at small forward for Gerald Wallace—the Nets prefer to lean on the defensively minded Keith Bogans rather than give Brooks much more than 20 minutes per game.

The Nets have pretty good depth in their rotation, but they will need better play from their front line going forward, especially in the backcourt.

Lack of Chemistry

It's still in the early going, and Avery Johnson is experimenting with various configurations and matchups (especially owing to the absence of Gerald Wallace). Nevertheless, the offense has yet to find their rhythm and the defense has been lacking to say the least.

The season is still very young, so the Nets have plenty of time to mend the frays in their play, but they had expected better defense and more efficient scoring from their max-contract backcourt to this point.

The team is receiving solid scoring and rebounding from their frontcourt thus far. The starters at the 4 and the 5, Kris Humphries and Brook Lopez, are averaging a respectable 22.0 points and 13.4 rebounds.

The Nets have the depth to play well without Wallace, but Deron Williams and Joe Johnson will have to pick up the slack and elevate their game, both presently and after Wallace returns.

There's still oodles of time left, but this is a team gunning for 50 wins and they cannot afford to fall behind the pace.

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