Early thoughts on the Nets' defense
The failings may be overblown, but some basics could be tightened up.
Post-James Harden trade, any worries about the Nets have been entirely about the defense. Fair enough. For what it is worth, in a tick under 300 possessions, lineups featuring all four of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, and Joe Harris have allowed a fairly stingy 106.8 points per 100 possessions per Cleaning the Glass, better than Utah’s 2nd ranked defense. Those lineups also score a bonkers 129 points per 100, robust to whoever the fifth man is (the Nets have used three such lineups, with Deandre Jordan, Jeff Green, and Bruce Brown.) The idealized small-ball version of that lineup with Jeff Green gives up a serviceable 109.7 points per 100 while scoring 136.4 points per 100.
The spotty availability of Brooklyn’s big three has meant that we have had limited opportunities to see those lineups and the Nets defense has been largely pedestrian. Moreover, the eye test reveals some kinks that the Nets need to work out as this squad gets familiar and works into a cohesive unit going into the second half of the season. Let’s dive in.
This Nets defense switches. A lot. The early returns have been decent for a group that hasn’t had much practice time together. Their off-ball switches stood out in the 134-117 victory over Golden State on February 13th.
In the clip above, it doesn’t look like the Nets intend to switch, but Kyrie shows great recognition once Bruce Brown gets flattened on the handoff to switch and close out on Tyrese Haliburton. Kyrie was also noticeably vocal in the early going of the Warriors game, calling out switches on Steph Curry relocations.
The Nets have also shown good activity and execution on scram switches, something that will be important for such a switch-happy defense. I am going to be watching to see how the Nets deal with some of the standard ways employed by offenses to bust switches, from faking handoffs to slipping screens.
For all the talk of Mike D’Antoni’s imprints on the Nets offense, his inputs in the defense may be just as valuable. His Houston Rockets teams (particularly the 2017-18 vintage) was a highly effective switching defense and he is intimately familiar with some of the responses.
Before getting to all that though, the Nets could tighten up on a number of basics. James Harden can hold his own as an on-ball defender, particularly in the post, but he can be lackadaisical when it comes to help responsibilities. In the clip below, Harden needs to shade towards the nail on Buddy Hield’s drive, given the empty weak side on the pick and roll. He leaves Deandre Jordan on an island, leading to an and-one for Marvin Bagley III.
Help-the-helper duties need to be crisper and persisted with for the entirety of a possession.
Deandre Jordan switches on to Cory Joseph dribbling under the basket. Kyrie initially picks up Hassan Whiteside, but then drifts away into no man’s land at precisely the wrong moment, giving Whiteside a wide-open dunk. It is unclear where Green and Kyrie are headed (with Green’s man back-cutting him and in prime position for a put back in case Whiteside misses.)
One could argue that the bigger breakdown in the clip above occurs when Kyrie is too upright, while allowing Fox to easily spin baseline. Bruce Brown needs to have one eye on the play behind him to cover Bagley when Harden is forced to help.
(Side note: We learned after the game that Kyrie was nursing a sore lower back throughout the game, which may have compromised his ability to crouch down in his defensive stance. This might be something to monitor going forward given how much Kyrie’s offensive wizardry relies on his ability to crouch impossibly low to the ground on his dribble. Of note might be that 27 of his 40 points came from behind the arc, with fewer of the geometry-defying layups.)
Another troubling area is on the defensive glass. There is far too much of this:
How many Nets does it take to box out and put a body on the offensive player? There are encouraging signs. In the clip below for instance, Landry Shamet is in good help position on Whiteside’s roll and attempts to box out, but Whiteside has too much of a size advantage. You can live with the results when this is the process:
This, on the other hand, is a little harder to stomach:
Timothe-Luwawu Cabarrot needs to be scrambling in front of Whiteside once Jordan goes over to contest the shot. I know that this is a meaningless play in garbage time, but the lack of boxing out and easy give up of put backs is a malaise plaguing this Nets team. On the season, the Nets are 19th in the league in opponents offensive rebound percentage, but opponents feast on those opportunities.
There’s a lot going on under the hood there, but those numbers are consistent with the Nets giving up offensive rebounds in very advantageous positions for the offense. Something else to keep an eye on going forward.