The Brooklyn Nets have become the first team this season to host a players-only meeting to address their horrid form.
One quick reminder, the Nets are only six games into the 82 game season.
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After falling to the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, the Nets fell to a lowly 1-5 in a season where many predicted they would be in the top tier of teams in the Eastern Conference.
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With two otherworldly talents on the roster in Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, along with a returning All-Star in Ben Simmons, fans and pundits were predicting big things.
Nobody was expecting what they’ve currently dished up which is a lifeless shell of a team who can’t get anything going on either end of the floor.
Durant and Irving can score at will and they’ve been doing so with the duo currently averaging over 30 points per game.
The fall off after that is severe with the team’s third leading scorer being power forward Nic Claxton at 11 points per game.
They’ve been beaten by a combined 56 points across their five losses, a damning figure for a team that should be competing near the top of the East … not fighting with the cellar dwellers.
After Sunday’s loss the team held this season’s first players-only meeting to address where it’s all going so wrong.
“It was a disaster,” Nets coach Steve Nash said after the loss.
“How else do you say it? I didn’t see the will, didn’t see the desire, or the connectivity necessary to get stops and get rebounds. … We just got to make a bigger commitment and it’s got to mean more and we got to care more.”
Aussie star Ben Simmons said the meeting was an honest session for the team about holding each other accountable.
“It was honest,” Simmons said.
“We had a conversation. Obviously, I’m not going to talk about it, but it was honest. That’s what winning teams do. Hold each other accountable, be able to be open and talk to your teammates, and respect that and be men.”
Simmons struggles on both ends of the floor have been a sticking point for the Nets with Irving’s frustration evident during a game against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Defensively the Nets have been downright horrible, giving up 122.2 points per game which ranks them 29th in the league, ahead of only the tanking Detroit Pistons.
They also currently rank last in rebounding percentage (45.2 percent) and have the third worst net rating (minus 8.6).
Nash was asked if his messages were getting through to the team and the two-time MVP winner pointed to a lack of defensive communication causing the damage.
“They’re hearing it,” Nash said.
“They’re arguing with each other about missing coverages and the lack of communication out there. Just too many errors. Too many errors on top of lack of effort at times. Sometimes it’s not even about schemes, it’s about fighting.”
The Nets have looked far too reliant on the offensive prowess of Durant and Irving to get them out of tight situations. Nash said the whole team needs to dig deep now.
“We have to look deep,” Nash said.
“Deep inside ourselves and what we want to do. What do we want to accomplish? Do we want to give up on this because it’s been difficult early or do we want to stay the course and start building something?
“We’ve had a lot of really good days here early in the season and we’ve lost a couple of games and it’s shaken our mentality, shook our mentality hard. And we’re not seeing the same competitive spirit, same purpose, and if we don’t clean that up it’s not going to get better. It’s the only way to get out of difficult positions is to have character and competitive spirit.”
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