Jeremy Lin stood in front of his locker after the preseason for the Nets came to an end with another defeat.
Brooklyn’s top free agent acquisition stated the obvious in his postgame comments, his new team’s defense could still use some more work.
The Nets are a work in progress; everyone in the NBA knows it. It is more than a rebuild going on right now inside Barclays Center, it’s more like a massive destroy and rebuild mission.
Brooklyn’s new motion offense isn’t anywhere near where new head coach Kenny Atkinson wants it to be, it is, however, showing signs of life with Lin pushing the buttons from the point.
Lin shined for the Nets on offense in the preseason. He posted a game-high 24 points with 10 assists in their 116-111 loss at home to the Knicks Thursday night.
That’s good for the Nets because the reality of their situation is their defense is nowhere near ready for prime time.
The Nets, after winning their preseason opener, went on to lose their next five games. The red flag in each of those defeats was an inability to consistently play defense.
Trevor Booker has been solid on defense and brings plenty of energy. But the Nets were near the bottom of the league in rebounding and struggled in the second half to get key stops. Brooklyn gave up over 110 points in three of their five preseason losses.
For Lin, the five-game losing streak to end the preseason didn’t carry much weight. But the defense? That’s a different story.
“It doesn’t mean anything to me to be honest. I’m talking about specifically the five losses.” said Lin on the losing streak. “I think, for me, my takeaway is we definitely have to find ways to get stops consistently. Defensively, we need to be more on a string.”
Lin is looking like he’ll flourish this season in Brooklyn’s offense. Atkinson’s motion offense allows Lin plenty of freedom to take the ball to the basket, find the open man, or pull-up for a three-pointer.
Once Brook Lopez finds his footing in the new scheme, he will become another option for the offense.
“We should be fine scoring the ball,” added Lin. “We know how to score the ball, but I think for us, hanging our hats on being really tied together on the defensive end. That takes time, though. No group ever just showed up and they had that.”
It’s definitely going to take time for the Nets, this is a team with plenty of new faces, including Lin, along with a new coach with a new way of doing things.
But the possibilities are clearly in place for the Nets to put points up on the scoreboard. It starts with the play of Lin and Lopez along with Atkinson’s green light policy for his players to take the open shot.
While Atkinson is finding ways to get the defense going, Brooklyn’s greatest strength in this season of rebuilding will be their offense.