The Nets' Brook Lopez, getting fouled by the Cavaliers' Anderson Varejao during a game Saturday, is supposed be the focus of the team's offense, but he has averaged fewer shots (11.6) than any other Nets starter over the last seven games.
It is a facile observation that the Nets are a team with a good talent level and little clue as to how to use it. That’s not an indictment of the coaching staff or the players’ collective basketball IQ. That’s simply the elephant in the room when a team of kids happens to be 3-30.
But one of the emerging problems is their lack of an identity at the offensive end, particularly since point guard Devin Harris has returned from injury and Kiki Vandeweghe has taken over as head coach.
It’s one thing to have balanced shot distribution, which the Nets have had of late. Since this pairing of coach and point guard (15 games), a Nets player has taken 20-plus shots only six times, and four times, he has justified it by being the team’s top scorer that night.
But it is hard to know from game to game what the Nets are trying to accomplish – especially in the last six fourth quarters, when they have averaged 21 points on .373 shooting. And with yet another offensive player (Jarvis Hayes) coming out of the trainer’s room Tuesday to play against Milwaukee, it could get more confusing yet.
“We’re still trying to establish roles with Yi (Jianlian) being back and everyone pretty much being healthy,” Chris Douglas-Roberts said Saturday, when the Nets took a big step back offensively (86 points on .387) against the Cavaliers. “We have to recognize the guys who are capable of scoring. We have to realize that, and get the ball to those guys.”
That is undoubtedly the toughest part of Harris’ job, because he and his coach and his suddenly-healthy teammates are essentially trying to conduct another training camp on the fly, he admitted last week.
On a morning when his coaches spent an entire shootaround putting in new options off three different sets (thumb, fist, and zipper, if you must know), Harris said, “I’m trying to utilize everything we have. I could come out and shoot 26 or 27 times a night, but that’s not in the best interests of us winning. I’m still trying to feel it out, and find a consistent (formula) that works for everybody.”
So on some nights, they are a high volume pick-and-roll team. On others — when they defend well and aren’t taking the ball out of their own net — they are a running team.
And no matter what they are running, they claim the offense is predicated on finding Brook Lopez in the paint, even though he has averaged fewer shots (11.6) than any other Nets starter over the last seven games.
But there are other games in which they don’t seem to know when and where to use their most talented scorers.
The best example came Saturday, when Douglas-Roberts had a terrific start against LeBron James, who was defending CDR when the latter hit five of his first seven shots to stake the Nets to a nine-point lead.
Over his last 28 minutes on the floor, on a day when the paint was a no-fly zone, Douglas-Roberts got only seven shots. Two of them were transition drives blocked by James himself.
After he finished 8-for-14 in 41 minutes, CDR was asked whether a player can tell his point guard or coach that he wants the ball more.
“I never say that,” Douglas-Roberts replied. “Because you have to approach some guys differently. Maybe he’d understand, but it’s a tough position Devin’s in. And we all agree we should go inside first.
“If you ask for (more shots), they’d look at me like, ‘Is he being selfish?’ I don’t know how they’d take that. But if you watch the game, you could see” how the shots probably should be distributed.
Douglas-Roberts is a confident player, but he was trying to get his point across without sounding like he had a sense of entitlement. Still, the mere fact that he considered the Nets’ approach to offense was telling.
“I’m only in my second year, but this is my first opportunity. I’m very humble, but I understand I can get better — a lot better,” he said. “On this team, I’m like the third option, and fourth option on some nights. And I still find different ways to get it done.”
He paused, reconsidering the initial question.
“Things will be, you know, interesting,” he said.
Posts
