Despite a 1-5 start to the lockout-shortened NBA season, Nets coach Avery Johnson isn’t ready to lose faith just yet.
“This is not a dire moment for us,” Johnson said after Monday night’s 108-94 loss to the Pacers at Prudential Center. “I am so encouraged … there is no surrender. I am still just as excited about being the coach here, and working with our guys.”
It looked as if the Nets could be facing a dire moment when starting power forward Kris Humphries missed the Pacers game with a left shoulder injury. Humphries, who suffered the injury during a hard fall in Sunday’s 98-82 loss in Cleveland, was diagnosed with a sprained shoulder yesterday after getting an MRI exam. He was listed as day-to-day, and made the trip with the team to Boston for tonight’s game against the Celtics.
It has been a rough first week of the season for the Nets. A team that was built around star point guard Deron Williams and center Brook Lopez had practically no time to recover from the news Lopez had a stress fracture in his right foot that required surgery just days before the season began.
His injury forced Nets general manager Billy King to trade for center Mehmet Okur, one of several Nets, including Shawne Williams, DeShawn Stevenson and Humphries, who barely had any practice time with their new teammates before the season began. And because the Nets tipped off the season with six games in eight days, they have not had an official practice since Christmas Eve.
“The fact is, we just haven’t had a lot of guys who’ve had a lot of practice time together with our ballclub, and we’re doing everything on the fly,” Johnson said. “But all 29 other NBA teams are in the same situation. One of these days, the schedule is going to ease up a little bit.’’
Nothing sums up the Nets’ struggles this season more than their 3-point shooting woes. Despite having a roster stocked with quality shooters, including Anthony Morrow, Shawne Williams and Okur, the Nets are hitting less than 30 percent of their 3-pointers .
“It doesn’t look great,’’ said Johnson. “We’re 1-5, but we have 60 more games.”