coach Jordi Fernandez complained about Networks“failure to put the ball in the basket after Monday’s loss in New York, writes By Javi Kussoy of the New York Post. Brooklyn held its cross-town rivals to 103 points, which Fernandez said should be good enough to win most nights, but the offense collapsed, scoring a season-low 90 points while connecting on 3-of-16 shooting in the fourth quarter for 11 points and 5 turnovers.
“I think it’s more that we’re not organized, and when you have an empty property, you’re not managing anything for anybody, like nobody’s in the right place.” Fernandez told journalists about it. “You don’t touch the paint. You don’t move. You don’t turn the ball over and you either don’t get shots or you get awful shots. … Everybody has to do their job because whether we make the play or not, you have to run your spot, and we didn’t do that enough times, and that’s the most frustrating thing. When we do that, we get good results. When we don’t, we get bad results.”
Coussoy notes that the Nets made an effort to improve their offensive talent over the summer by trading for Julius Randleby signing up Keon Ellis and Moritz Wagner and drafting Mikel Brown Jr But the early comeback hasn’t been encouraging, as the team ranks 29th in scoring (105.6), 28th in offensive rating, 29th in turnover ratio (1.21), 28th in turnover percentage (18.3) and 28th in field goal percentage (41.7).
“You have to stay disciplined” Randle said. “We know what we have to do … you can’t just put it on one person. It’s a team game. There are five players, so we have to be better at communicating, understanding the moment, what’s going on. It’s all five of us. We all have to be better out there.”
The networks also have:
- Fernandez holds on Cheney Johnson in the starting line-up, despite the lack of scoring, CJ Holmes of The New York Daily News Notes in the article are for subscribers only. Johnson logged 19, 31 and 28 minutes in the last three games, even though he scored just 12 points. “He can guard one to five. He makes winning plays. He’s earned it.” Fernandez said.
- About second-year players Drake Powell and Ben SarafFernandez said if they are sent to the G League, they should fill the same roles as in Brooklyn, Holmes adds. Fernandez wants the minutes in the G League to be valuable, so that doesn’t mean taking extra shots against inferior competition.
- Before Wednesday’s game, Fernandez talked about creating more advantageous situations for Randle to get more production from one of the team’s expected offensive leaders, Holmes tweets. “I think I have to put him in better places and situations to make him more comfortable and more effective.” Fernandez said.
