The Brooklyn Nets’ rough start got rougher Monday night in Detroit, where they dropped a 110-94 decision to the Pistons and slipped to 0-5 on the season.
Cade Cunningham set the tone for Detroit with 20 points on 6-of-15 shooting, while also adding five rebounds and four assists. Brooklyn, meanwhile, never found enough consistent firepower to keep pace and spent much of the night trying to dig out of a hole.
For a team that was supposed to look more dangerous after adding Randle in an offseason trade, the opening stretch has been a mess. The schedule has been demanding, yes, but that only explains so much. Outside of a heartbreaking overtime loss to the Boston Celtics, the Nets have been getting pushed around and buried under large deficits far too often.
Julius Randle and Michael Porter Jr. had quiet nights when Brooklyn needed them most. Randle finished with 15 points on 4-of-13 shooting, plus eight rebounds and three assists.
Porter added 13 points on 4-of-9 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds. Those are not the kind of numbers that steady a team trying to find its footing, and Brooklyn’s top scorers will have to shoulder more if this group is going to find any momentum.
Porter’s situation adds another layer. Playing for a new contract, he needs to start producing with more urgency, and soon. The Nets do not have much depth to mask nights like this, which makes the pressure on their primary scorers even heavier.
One of the few bright spots has been Moe Wagner, and he kept that trend going here. Wagner scored 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting and pulled down eight rebounds, continuing to give Brooklyn useful production inside and out. He’s also shown enough ball movement to give Jordi Fernandez more options with his lineups, and it would not be a surprise if Wagner eventually takes the starting center job from Day'Ron Sharpe.
Still, the bigger issue goes beyond one lineup decision. Brooklyn has not been generating enough clean looks, and the cutting has not been sharp enough to create easier scoring chances at the rim. The group is still trying to figure out its identity on both ends, but Porter has to take a bigger leadership role in his second season with the Nets.
The same goes for the point guard room, which needs to attack the basket with more purpose and do a better job creating good shots for everyone else.
In Other News...
Nets Young Core Ran Into The Same Frustrating Problem Again
Chaney Johnson got the start in place of Egor Dmin on Friday night, a change forced by the bone bruise that has sidelined Dmin and left Brooklyn shuffling its young lineup again. The Nets actually grabbed an early lead against Detroit, but the familiar issues followed soon after, with the offense bogging down and the shots not falling as the game wore on.
Brooklyns problems only deepened in the third quarter, when the Pistons started to separate and the Nets found themselves chasing a game that had gotten away from them. By the time the fourth quarter arrived, the bench group was getting extended run for Mikel Brown Jr., Danny Wolf and Drake Powell, another reminder that this still-developing roster is trying to find answers while searching for its first win of the season. [Read more 🡒]
Nets Backcourt Shakeup Just Put One Rotation Battle In Focus
Jordi Fernandez is already reshuffling the Brooklyn backcourt three games into the season, and the move has quickly turned one of the rosters early questions into a live rotation battle. Nolan Traore got the nod in place of Keon Ellis and responded with a promising first start, finishing with 15 points and three assists before cramps forced him out of the game.
The bigger wrinkle is the health of Egor Demin, who had handled the point guard spot through the first three games before being sidelined. Chaney Johnson is set to start against the Detroit Pistons in his place, leaving Brooklyn to sort out both the short-term lineup and the longer-term fit in a backcourt that already looks unsettled. [Read more 🡒]
Nets Rotation Problem Is Putting Moritz Wagner Under Real Pressure
Moritz Wagner has given the Nets some useful scoring pop off the bench, averaging 10.3 points per game, but the fit has been far less tidy on the other end. Brooklyns defensive numbers have taken a hit with him on the floor, and the issue goes beyond one rough stretch. Wagner is more comfortable stepping out to defend the perimeter than anchoring the paint, which leaves coach Jordi Fernndez trying to balance a skill set the team can use against the interior resistance it still needs.
The problem is made trickier by the roster around him. Brooklyn does not have a deep pool of backup center answers, and the sample size is still small enough that the staff has to decide how much weight to put on early returns. Fernndez also has to factor in Wagners contract, which makes any rotation adjustment more than a simple short-term tweak, and the next stretch could say a lot about how long the Nets keep leaning on him in that role. [Read more 🡒]