Coming into this season, the Nets’ outlook was a young squad lacking the necessities to compete on a nightly basis with the NBA’s upper echelon teams. This would be another year of roster and culture reconstruction after finishing last season with a 26-56 record, 12th in the 15-team Eastern Conference.
Undoubtedly, Nets second-year head coach Jordi Fernandez didn’t envision having just one win in the opening three weeks, which was the circumstances after Brooklyn fell to 1-10 in losing to the Toronto Raptors 119-109 Tuesday night at home at the Barclays Center. The Nets’ only victory (112-103) came against the Indiana Pacers on November 5 on the road. The injury-ravaged defending Eastern Conference champions, as well as the Washington Wizards, were also 1-10 when the league’s schedule began last night, sharing the bottom spot of the standings with the Nets.
Brooklyn’s struggles are likely to continue with the second leading scorer (21.4), Cam Thomas, out with a left hamstring strain sustained against the Pacers in their lone victory. The 24-year-old guard, in his fifth season with the Nets and now injury-plagued during his pro career, will be reevaluated in two weeks. Thomas played in only 25 games last season due to left hamstring issues. So, with Michdal Porter Jr. acquired in a trade with the Denver Nuggets last July, currently topping the Nets at 23.1 points per game, and center Nic Claxton at 15.2 as the next highest active scorer, a solid but modest average, the Nets will be hard-pressed to generate enough points to gain wins consistently.
Still, Fernandez is charged with developing the team’s young talent and making incremental progress. Brooklyn’s 19-year-old rookie guard Egor Dëmin, who was selected with the eighth overall pick in last June’s draft, scored a career-high 16 points versus the Raptors on Tuesday and has set a franchise rookie record with 18 three-pointers made, the most through the first 10 games of a season.
The Nets will face the Orlando Magic on the road tomorrow, and then the Wizards in Washington, D.C., on Sunday before hosting the Boston Celtics at the Barclays Center next Tuesday.