The Brooklyn Nets were awful. Head Coach Jordi Fernández groveled before his team and the media, simply asking for effort…
The day after those comments, Brooklyn fell to 0-7, losing to the Anthony Edwards-less Minnesota Timberwolves 125-109. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Wolves posted a 137 offensive rating in that one, grabbing 47% of their own misses and shooting 17-of-21 at the rim, excluding garbage time. A bad performance by Brooklyn, but somehow a step in the right direction.
“I thought we took really positive steps,” said Fernández postgame. “You saw the fight and the purpose and winning two quarters, also allowing less than 30 points in two quarters. For us right now, that’s a win. And I’m really proud of these guys for keep fighting.”
I thought Jordi was just playing Good Cop after his Sad Cop act the night prior. Maybe the bar was really that low. Or maybe he saw the signs: Since that loss to the Wolves, Brooklyn is 9-12, and 9-9 when Michael Porter Jr. plays. Given their start to the season, that otherwise unremarkable record is astonishing, but having the league’s best defense in the month of December is downright incomprehensible.
A brief aside on The Tank. Brooklyn still has the league’s sixth-worst record, and three of the teams below them don’t own their own pick, so it’s not dead yet … but with the Nets playing like this, start researching hospice.
Listen, they traded for their own picks back. Sean Marks, championing asset accumulation and flexibility, surrendered four picks/swaps (mostly via Phoenix, mostly post-2027) for Brooklyn’s own pick in the 2025 and 2026 NBA Drafts. It was a great trade. It dims with each passing win.
Don’t let that stop you from enjoying the wins, though. Brooklyn has beaten three division rivals in the past month, including awesome road wins over Philly and Boston. The rookies are contributing, Noah Clowney is ascending, and Nic Claxton has a fresher lease on life than George Bailey. How are they doing it?
First, they’re reaping the fruits of length. Outside of Day’Ron Sharpe, the Nets don’t have any Weight Room Warriors, but among the ten guys Fernández played in Philly, Terance Mann had the shortest wingspan at 6’7”. Even he blocked a Joel Embiid dunk (though that feat grows less impressive by the week). It’s no coincidence Tyrese Maxey had his worst game of the season, shooting 3-of-14, nor is it that Jared McCain shot 3-of-11…
Per Cleaning the Glass, the guard-heavy Sixers are the NBA’s least efficient rim-finishing team. Let it also be known that Brooklyn’s schedule over this 6-3 stretch has been as soft as the slush covering Atlantic Avenue.
With those caveats in mind, Jordi Fernández’s team is executing an extreme defensive strategy right now, allowing the highest rim-rate in the NBA in December, but the sixth-lowest conversion rate. They’re also allowing the lowest 3-point attempt rate.
Allowing paint touch after paint touch probably isn’t a recipe for a league-best defense, and Jordi Fernández hinted at that while complimenting his team’s defense after a win over the Toronto Raptors: “We’ve had good winning plays where you have to go get out to the 3-point line to a good shooter, and limit that three. So, happy with that. Still, we have a lot of work to do with defending the rim, some containing the ball, especially in transition.”
Still, those weren’t bunnies for Maxey and McCain, not around all that length. In one clip, Maxey drives around Danny Wolf, then Day’Ron Sharpe, only to find himself sandwiched between Egor Demin and MPJ. Last season, you may recall Brooklyn went 7-3 in a stretch that wrapped around All-Star Weekend, buoyed again by the league’s top defense. Déjà vu? Uh, no. Per Cleaning the Glass, Brooklyn had the best mid-range and 3-point defense in that stretch, playing their butts off but more so a beneficiary of cartoonishly good luck.
Good fortune is always involved in small-sample success, but this ain’t that. Jordi Fernández, scarred by his team’s start to this season, has dialed the blitz way back, instead opting to switch most ball-screens. This season’s Nets are forcing fewer turnovers, but as Fernández explains, the constant switching decreases stress on help defenders: “The other thing is switching a little bit more pick-and-roll. It creates less help, less rotations, and you know, you can defend the 3-point line easier, and then the multiple efforts.”
On this possession, Nic Claxton switches onto and contains Jared McCain, but keep an eye on Egor Dëmin in help…
All four help defenders are fairly attached to their marks, including Dëmin. In a more aggressive coverage, he’d have to sink down toward Andre Drummond to try and prevent a dump-off pass. Not today. With Claxton containing McCain, Noah Clowney is body-to-body with Drummond. Thus, Dëmin has a much shorter closeout to Eric Gordon, who he runs off the line and into a difficult scoop. Brooklyn does allow an offensive rebound (they’re still just 21st in that category post 0-7, often a drawback of frequent switching), but Clax alters the follow-up.
Their win over Philadelphia was also instructive thanks to the depth: All ten guys that played had at least a few positive moments — even the rooks — but one headline performer was Day’Ron Sharpe, who entered the game after Clax picked up two early fouls. Sharpe completely shifted momentum, finishing as a +16 on the night, and just, look at this dude…
We’ve discussed Nic Claxton’s improvements this season, thereby limiting Sharpe’s minutes. Don’t mistake that for Brooklyn’s backup center taking a step back, though. He’s having — by far — his best season finishing at the rim, a glaring weakness for him previously, while doing all the little things that make him a trade machine darling for nerdy fans of contending teams.
Ziaire Williams seemingly read what I last wrote about him, because he’s been pretty good in December too, limiting himself to transition run-outs and catch-and-shoot threes on offense. More importantly, he is frenetic as ever in the passing lane. Pardon the cherry-picking, but among NBA players with > 100 minutes in December, Sharpe and Williams are both top-20 in deflections-per-minute. Activity!
And of course, Michael Porter Jr. continues to shoot the rock and make a real All-Star case for himself. The three or four laughably bad shots he takes every night are just part of the experience, more admirable than annoying when he’s playing like this.
Sometimes, even those go in. On the season, the Nets have a 117.3 offensive rating in MPJ’s minutes, which would rank 8th among all teams. When he sits, that plunges to around 105, which would be by far the worst mark in the league. Yeah, every offense is better in their best player’s minutes, but that 12-point swing is near Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s impact on OKC’s offense.
Like the reigning MVP and his squad, Brooklyn’s offense is designed entirely around MPJ’s exploits. Difference is, Brooklyn’s highest-paid player can’t really dribble. Jordi Fernández & Co. have done a tremendous job building an offense around MPJ’s off-ball movement (credit his ability there too), and the whole gang is really starting to benefit. Two defenders stay with the 6’10” sniper here, so Tyrese Martin cuts right down the middle for an easy two…
Don’t let MPJ’s three measly assists per game fool you — isn’t he making a play for a teammate right there?
Defense, depth, and Michael Porter Jr. With those three factors going their way, Brooklyn looks like a team beyond tanki—I mean, the Nets look good! Or at least decent.
Their next challenge comes on the road against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the same opponent who handed them their 0-7 start and apparently opened up a portal to success. This time, though, the Wolves will have Anthony Edwards on their side. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon.
