Nets Look to Start to Turn Season Around Despite Still Being Shorthanded; When Will Egor Denim and Mikel Brown Jr. Return?

The Brooklyn Nets were expecting to be more competitive this season after acquiring Julius Randle as Michael Porter Jr .’s sidekick and adding several veteran role players in the offseason. While Randle and Porter Jr. have been productive and led the way for the Nets, their efficiency has been a problem for the duo and the rest of the team. Brooklyn enters Sunday night’s contest at the Dallas Mavericks with a 2-7 record after falling to the Atlanta Hawks 124-121 on Saturday night. The Nets led most of the way, built a 17-point lead, and held a seven-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. Porter Jr. continued his improved play on both ends of the floor in November, tallying 25 points and grabbing 9 rebounds while registering a game-high gravity rating of 12.3 . Porter Jr. had lots of help offensively against Atlanta as Brooklyn turned in one of its best offensive performances of the season. The Nets had six players score in double figures, including all five starters. But turnovers, foul shooting and fouling once again cost them a victory. After shooting 65.7% from the field in the first half, Brooklyn struggled in the second half. The Nets were held to 37% from the floor, including 20.8% from 3-point range (5-for-24), over the final 24 minutes, during which they were outscored 58-51. The Nets committed 11 of their 22 turnovers and 15 of their 24 fouls in the second half. Overall, the Hawks scored 28 points off the Nets’ 22 turnovers, with 20 coming on fastbreaks. Meanwhile, Brooklyn converted Atlanta’s 12 turnovers into just four points. The Nets also continued to leave points at the foul line. While the Nets were whistled for seven more fouls than the Hawks, they out-attempted Atlanta at the free-throw line, 29 to 25. However, the Nets connected on just 21 of their attempts from the charity stripe compared to 18 makes for the Hawks. Areas of Improvement as the Nets Start to Turn Around Season Slow starts aren’t unusual for Brooklyn, which was going for their first win streak of the season last night against Atlanta. Despite sitting at 2-7 on the season, the Nets are just one-half game out of the 10th spot in the East. In truth, the Nets have been better than their record indicates. Brooklyn is winless in five tries against teams with at least a .500 record. But Brooklyn has won two of its last four games and is 2-2 against teams with losing records, which is a good start. Even more promising, the Nets had close setbacks against Cleveland, Boston, and Atlanta. Moreover, the Nets have a 5.9-point scoring margin, which is ninth in the conference. Nets Need to Improve Offensive Efficiency Brooklyn ranks 25th in the league in scoring at 108.2 points per game and 25th in offensive efficiency. The Nets are not a great shooting team, but they are not terrible either. The Nets’ starting unit, which ranks 27th in scoring at just 68.9 points per game, is 20th in field goal percentage. Overall, the Nets are 23rd in effective field goal percentage and 18th in true shooting percentage. It is not that the Nets take bad shots; they don’t. Their problem is that the Nets only make 57.1% of their attempts at the rim (within five feet). Granted, the Nets do rely heavily on the 3-pointer — ranking 10th in makes (14.1) and attempts (40.1), though they are 14th in 3-point percentage (35.1%). While finishing at the rim will help efficiency, Brooklyn’s biggest problem is protecting the ball. The Nets average the third-most turnovers in the league at 18.2 per game, or 18% of their possessions. They have committed 15 or more turnovers in eight of their first nine contests. While the turnovers hurt Brooklyn offensively, they have actually caused havoc for the Nets defensively. The Nets are giving up the fifth-most points off of turnovers at 20.4 a game. Randle has been the biggest culprit , committing a career-high 4.1 turnovers a game. But eight players are averaging at least one turnover per game. Plus, Porter Jr. has more turnovers than assists (19-to-11). Improve Free Throw Shooting Brooklyn does an outstanding job at putting pressure on the defense. The Nets are committing 4 fouls a game, ninth-most in the league, and averaging the sixth-most free-throw attempts (28). The problem for the Nets is that they are leaving nearly seven points at the line, fifth-most, as they shoot just 75% from the charity stripe (20th). The Nets have six regulars shooting less than 73% from the free-throw line. On the positive side, Randle shoots 81% on 7.3 attempts a game. Conversely, Porter Jr., who is attempting the second-most free throws on the team (5.3), connects on 72.9% of his attempts. Defending Without Fouling Giving up 20 points a game when you don’t even get a shot offensively really hurts. But on a positive note, the Nets’ transition defense has been solid, and they are among the best teams in defensive rebounding. Brooklyn is allowing 114.1 points per game, which is 1313th-most, and the Nets rank 20th overall defensively. But if the Nets protected the ball better, that number would probably go down, as they have done a relatively good job defending, holding opponents to 45.0% shooting and 34.2% from 3-point range. The Nets’ biggest problem is defending the rim — allowing opponents to make 69.1% of their shots within five feet of the rim — and fouling. Brooklyn is whistled for 26.3 fouls per game, the second-most in the league. As a result, their opponents are attempting 29 free throws a game—the fourth-most—and, with the Nets’ poor free-throw shooting and the number of free throws they give up, Brooklyn is giving up 1.5 points a game at the line. Lineup Consistency Head coach Jordi Fernandez has already given minutes to 16 players wi, with 12 averaging double-digit minutes. Also, only seven Nets have appeared in all nine games. As a result, Fernandez has used four different starting lineups with eight players receiving at least one start. Brooklyn will only have 12 healthy bodies for tonight’s clash with Dallas. Egor Dëmin will miss his sixth straight game with a right leg bone bruise while Mikel Brown Jr. will miss his third contest due to injury management. “Yeah, he’s progressing well,” Fernández recently told Brian Lewis of the New York Post about Dëmin’s recovery. He’s on the court. He’s not going to play [Saturday] or [Sunday], and then we’ll go from there.” After the game against Dallas, Brooklyn is off until Wednesday when they move on to New Orleans before closing out their four-game road trip in Memphis on Saturday. Lewis added that he will be available for either the Pelicans or Grizzlies tilt. Meanwhile, Brown is still not available for back-to-backs. It’s a plan that we have with professionals that know exactly about how your body is, how you feel after,” Fernández said about Brown. “Then we assess the player, and then once we assess the player, then we keep building him up. So right now, he’s not gonna play back-to-backs.” Tyler Bilodeau, Joshua Jefferson, Grant Nelson and Ben Saraf remain on G-League assignments. Saraf and Jefferson have only seen four minutes of action with the Nets. Bilodeau and Nelson, both on two-way deals, have yet to appear in a NanA game. The Last Word There is a lot of time left in the season an, and the Nets certainly have more talent than the previous two seasons when they won a combined 46 games. But Fernandez does have a lot to figure out, and the Nets have major weaknesses. One of Fernandez important decisions will be what to do with Dëmin when he is cleared. The 20-year-old Russian has started all four of his appearances. However, he has struggled mightily and is playing less than 22 minutes a contest. Furthermore, Nolan Traore has shown tremendous growth in year two. Traore averages 15.3 points and 3.2 assists with shooting splits of 60/46.7/60 in his six starts this season. Regardless of whom Fernandez decides to go with going forward, though it should be Traore as the starting point guard, both players will see plenty of time in the Nets backcourt. More News 2 Hypothetical Domantas Sabonis Trade Packages NBA Rumor: Why Trading Naz Reid For Scoot Henderson Makes Zero Sense For Charlotte Why the Clippers are Neglecting Their Young Talent Photo Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect