{"id":3894,"date":"2017-02-01T08:00:24","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T13:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/?p=3894"},"modified":"2017-01-31T23:52:50","modified_gmt":"2017-02-01T04:52:50","slug":"mid-season-report-brooklyn-nets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2017\/02\/01\/mid-season-report-brooklyn-nets\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Nets Mid-season Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As the All-Star break approaches, this is the perfect time to reflect on the season of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/teams\/BRK\/2017.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brooklyn Nets<\/a>. This article is the mid-season report on the Brooklyn Nets. To put the season into context, GM<strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/marksse01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sean Marks<\/a><\/strong> asked fans not to judge this season solely on wins and losses.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Brooklyn Nets Mid-season Report<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><strong>Addressing the Elephant in the Room<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Unfortunately, the Brooklyn Nets have won only 9\u00a0games this season as opposed to losing 38. Thirty-eight losses are a huge number of losses. It leads the league. There are flaws on areas of the court. Talent is badly lacking. Daylight seems an eternity away. The losses of this season will not even be rewarded by the draft as the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/teams\/BOS\/2017.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Boston Celtics<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sny.tv\/nets\/news\/nets-could-be-nbas-worst-in-2017-but-will-have-nothing-to-show-for-it\/185929312\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> has rights to swap first round picks<\/a> with the Nets. Not to mention, next season&#8217;s pick also belongs to the Celtics. Thank you,\u00a0<strong>Billy King.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The clich\u00e9s are numerous. The hatred online is there for all to see. Basketball nerd nation has been savage and unapologetic. Judgement is evident and apparent. Losing hurts so the Nets\u2019 family is deeply wounded.<\/p>\n<p>The Brooklyn Brigade, a group of Nets die-hard fans, have been supportive of this team and loud online.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Can&#39;t overstate how GREAT it felt to watch our Nets dig deep on defense &amp; make intelligent plays when it mattered <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3DRTN1pp14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/3DRTN1pp14<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; The Brooklyn Brigade (@BrooklynBrigade) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BrooklynBrigade\/status\/792205745156722688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 29, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Gotta love our <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BrooklynBrigade?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@BrooklynBrigade<\/a>! Loud &amp; proud at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/barclayscenter?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@barclayscenter<\/a> tonight. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BrooklynGrit?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#BrooklynGrit<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Y7tmuelLMp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/Y7tmuelLMp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BrooklynNets\/status\/793970005117403136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 3, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><strong>There is Good News<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Peering deeper into the work put in by the all of the Nets front office and coaching staff, one quickly notices progress. During this tumultuous season, the Nets have been competitive throughout. Losses have been frequent but the team leads the league in pace which translates in an uptick in scoring.<\/p>\n<p>Head coach <strong>Kenny Atkinson<\/strong> continues to turn water into wine. Working tirelessly on instilling his vision of what this team should play like, is challenging. Players are buying in to his philosophy. Veterans respect and appreciate Atkinson&#8217;s approach as evidenced by <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/foyera01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Randy Foye<\/a> <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.newsday.com\/sports\/basketball\/nets\/nets-second-unit-making-its-presence-felt-on-d-1.12997233\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">stating<\/a>,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe way that Coach is putting us in position to be successful has just been a fun brand of basketball. It\u2019s something he talked about from the beginning. It\u2019s just been cool. You kind of saw glimpses, but now we\u2019re really starting to see it. I said to Isaiah, \u2018Seeing is believing.\u2019<\/p>\n<div class=\"adCont clear\">\n<div class=\"ad\">\n<div id=\"adpos2\" class=\"module cubeAd\">\n<p>\u201cYou saw what happened [against the Pelicans] when you share the ball. You start believing&#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The rewards in the statistics column have been slow in coming as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newsday.com\/sports\/basketball\/nets\/nets-end-skid-in-style-scoring-143-in-blowout-of-pelicans-1.12992349\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the Nets won their maiden game of 2017<\/a> weeks ago.\u00a0Furthermore a closer look at that victory\u00a0revealed a few things. The team was away from home, taking on west All-Star starter <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davisan02.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Davis<\/a><\/strong> and his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/teams\/NOP\/2017.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Orleans Pelicans<\/a>. Most noteworthy, Davis is the only player in the league to be in the top ten in both points and rebounds per contest. None of that mattered as the Nets scored 143 points in regulation time. Seven players were in double figures paced by center <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lopezbr01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brook Lopez<\/a><\/strong> and swing-man\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bogdabo02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bojan Bogdanovic<\/a><\/strong>. Each scored 23\u00a0points.<\/p>\n<p>Lopez continues to lead\u00a0from the front. He has been the consummate professional throughout\u00a0while more importantly he\u2019s been healthy. Rumors continue to circulate about the Nets trying to trade him. However\u00a0he is\u00a0committed to playing and improving with the Nets.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI enjoy what I do. You have to in order to be in the same situation for so long,\u2019\u2019 said Lopez. \u201cI enjoy coming in and seeing the guys every day, seeing this group of people, I really want to see something special built here.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Marks and the Nets front office quietly had their <a href=\"http:\/\/dleague.nba.com\/news\/long-island-nets-acquire-r-j-hunter\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">D-League affiliate Long Island Nets acquire<\/a> <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hunterj01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">R.J. Hunter<\/a><\/strong>. Remember, Hunter was a first round draft pick by the Celtics before last season.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Boston Celtics have waived RJ Hunter, source told ESPN.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GoodmanHoops\/status\/790582635093372928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 24, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Long Island Nets Acquire R.J. Hunter <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cREdmSajup\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/cREdmSajup<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/OcUrgFbDEw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/OcUrgFbDEw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Long Island Nets (@LongIslandNets) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LongIslandNets\/status\/817483680570609664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 6, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>This therefore\u00a0is evidence of Marks looking ahead. Hunter is a pure shooter that has admittedly struggled in the NBA thus far. This move is a low risk, potentially high reward proposition as shooters often take a while to adjust. Furthermore, Hunter may yet\u00a0blossom into a deadly player once given the opportunity to develop.<\/p>\n<p>Consequently\u00a0the second half commences post the all-star break,\u00a0the losses may mount in the\u00a0statistical standings but the growth will be undeniable.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/631790024\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.666667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/631790024?et=A_dGdizkRdhzgBAJvkSC2g&amp;viewMoreLink=on&amp;sig=DrMnqdKQ22rCCagQL819YYqVuaWNsP3F9aNxnlUX4OI=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Brooklyn Nets mid-season report tries to focus on some positives while acknowledging the many struggles for the NBA&#8217;s worst team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":466,"featured_media":4106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[65,233,231,236,96,235],"class_list":["post-3894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nets","tag-basketball","tag-brook-lopez","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-kenny-atkinson","tag-nba","tag-sean-marks"],"modified_by":"Harrison Marcus","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/466"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}