Avery Johnson not happy with the Brooklyn Nets effort on the defensive end – NBA News
While the Brooklyn Nets may have dazzled and impressed Brooklyn fans and other people around the league with their new stadium, near jerseys and a new roster over flowing with stars and talent, there is one person who can see through
all the advertising and marketing campaigns and cut right to the chase with regards to their performance on the floor. And that person is Nets Head Coach Avery Johnson. And he is doing so, talking about not being happy with the team defence.
Johnson is well known in the NBA as a defensive minded coach, and the Nets on the other hand are not a very strong defensive team. They have players who can run the offence, play fast break and quick transition, and they can also
score many points. But the Nets roster does not have too many defensive minded people. Hence, there is a conflict of interest between the coach and the players, which has already started showing despite that fact that the regular season has not even started
and the Nets have only played a few preseason games together.
“This team does not have the personality that I thought it would have at this point. That has been somewhat of a disappointment. We don’t have a hit-first mentality, and if you don’t have a hit-first mentality, you’re going to
get hit. So it’s not about a turnover or a guy forgetting a play. No, I’m talking about defensively. We haven’t done a good job — I don’t care if we’re fatigued, I don’t care if we didn’t practice. We haven’t done a good job protecting the paint,” said Johnson
while talking about his frustrations with the team defence with Stephen Bondy of the New York Daily News.
The Nets have been built as an offensive minded team, with many of their key players offence first players. Their starting centre, Brook Lopez, is great at scoring in the low post and grabbing rebounds, but he is too a true defensive
player like Ben Wallace, Dwight Howard or Dikembe Mutombo. Hence, the Nets are going to struggle on that end of the floor, and Johnson might have to come to terms with it to have a smooth season with the team.
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