PHOENIX — This wasn’t the way things were supposed to go for the Nets.
After owner Mikhail Prokhorov committed nearly $190 million in payroll and luxury-tax payments this season by approving moves to bring in Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Jason Terry and Andrei Kirilenko, as well as hiring the greatest player in the franchise’s NBA history, Jason Kidd, to be the team’s coach, the Nets were nearly universally picked to win the Atlantic Division and challenge the Heat, Pacers and Bulls for Eastern Conference supremacy.
Instead, through seven games — culminating in a blowout loss to the previously hapless Kings in Sacramento Wednesday night — the Nets have looked like chumps far more often than they’ve looked like potential champs. Just two weeks into the new season, the 2-5 Nets head into a tricky back-to-back on Friday (Suns) and Saturday (Clippers) with far more uncertainty and doubt surrounding them than expected.
“For us right now, this is desperation,” Terry said late Wednesday. “Everyone that steps on the floor on Friday should feel desperation and come out and play with a sense of urgency.
“If you don’t you’ll be looking at another loss. It’s what it is. These teams we’re playing are desperate. They’re playing with much more of a sense that it’s their championship, and we’re not meeting that intensity level.”
Terry hit on one of the several flaws that have shown themselves so far this season — an inability to get out of second gear. Outside of their win over Miami and loss to Indiana, both of which were in Brooklyn, the Nets have often seemed like a disinterested group in games, failing to match their opponents’ energy level. That has been particularly true on the road, where the Nets are now 0-4, and have been routed by both the Kings and Magic, teams that aren’t expected to be anywhere near the playoff race.
Since taking the head coaching job back in June, Kidd has described Deron Williams as the “engine” of this team, and the player he needs to be the floor general and catalyst. But so far, Williams has looked far from the player he was last season when he averaged 22.9 points and 8.0 assists after the All-Star break.
Instead, Williams has looked as if he has been playing at half speed after sitting out of virtually the entire preseason recovering from a sprained right ankle. After having easily his best game of the season Saturday against the Pacers, racking up 17 points and 10 assists and showing some newfound burst to the rim, he rolled his left ankle during Wednesday’s game, and was clearly outplayed by his counterpart, Greivis Vasquez.
“I’m good,” Williams said after the game, though he walked gingerly through the locker room and had tape on both ankles.
The struggles Garnett has endured so far, on the other hand, can’t be attributed to injury, though they could be attributed to age. Garnett, 38, is a future Hall of Famer, but has looked like a player in his 19th year in the NBA this season. He’s shooting 30.6 percent from the floor — including 25 percent on shots at the rim (inside 5 feet) — while the Nets have been 15.5 points worse than their opponents per 100 possessions with him on the floor.
“Who wants to lose?” Garnett asked late Wednesday. “I’m just being honest. No one wants to lose. When you work on things and try to transition it into games and it doesn’t transition, it’s difficult.
“This process is a very difficult one right now because you’re losing. But we’re going to continue to work and get better and we will be better.”
There are other explanations why the Nets are struggling — recurring back spasms for Kirilenko, the lack of athleticism that has reared its head at times, and particularly in their losses, the lack of continuity and chemistry from having so many new pieces to fit together. But the bottom line is this group simply isn’t performing the way it, and everyone else, expected.
“We need some wins,” Williams said. “We have to trust each other, trust the system and what we’re doing and we’ll be fine.
“We’ve got some things to work on, get better at and it’ll come. It’ll come.”