GT: Nets vs. Hornets 7:30pm EST 11/20/2019. TV: YES Network

[NetsJets]

https://www.nba.com/nets/news/preview/2019/11/20/nets-vs-hornets-brooklyn-without-kyrie-irving-and-caris-levert-against-charlotte

After undergoing surgery last Thursday to repair ligaments in his right thumb, Caris LeVert had the cast removed Tuesday morning and was at Brooklyn’s practice session afterwards.

LeVert last played a week ago in Phoenix and has missed the Nets’ last four games.

“Honestly it happened at the beginning of last year,” said LeVert, “and it kind of got re-aggravated in the first half at Phoenix.”

Spencer Dinwiddie dealt with a similar injury last season, and LeVert has checked in with his backcourt mate for some advice on the process. He’s still able to be active even while being limited with what he can do.

“I can still do lower-body lifts, some running, biking as well,” said LeVert. “Trying to just stay in shape as much as I can until I’m cleared to start dribbling and shooting.”

LeVert has been through the rehab process before, missing significant time last season due to a foot injury.

“I wouldn’t say frustration, it happens,” said LeVert. “Honestly, I’m glad it’s only a short amount of time, it’s not a long injury like last year. It’s not something I’ll be sidelined for a long stretch of time. I’m doing things to keep my mind focused on the game, I’m watching a lot of film and things like that. Just another road bump.”

KYRIE IRVING OUT VS. HORNETS

Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson said guard Kyrie Irving will be out for Wednesday’s game against the Charlotte Hornets. This will be the third straight game missed for Irving due to a shoulder impingement. With LeVert also out, that will make three straight games without the backcourt that started Brooklyn’s first nine games.

“It’s just what it is,” said Atkinson. “I don’t want to complain about it. I don’t want to use that as an excuse. Like I say all the time, I think a lot of NBA teams are dealing with injuries now and that’s just part of it. For our guys that haven’t been playing, to step up and for older guys to support them. We have to overcome that. We’re not in a great place with that right now, just overcoming a few absences. I felt like in the past we always figured that out when we had some guys out. I think we’ll do it again. I think it will take some time.”

KEEPING IT CONSISTENT

After four losses in the last five games, Kenny Atkinson said the theme of Tuesday’s practice session was consistency. In two of the four losses, the Nets had 15-point leads on the road in Denver and Utah, but couldn’t close things out. From game-to-game, and segments within games, he’s looking for fewer downswings.

“I think we have to show it to them and see it; here’s three great ones,” said Atkinson. “We did the same thing great three times and then four and five … it’s focus, it’s concentration. It’s also how many reps you’ve gotten in whatever we’re doing. I do think when you’re not practicing as much there’s slippage. Just natural. It’s not training camp, ‘hey man, we’ve got two, three days to work on this and get better.’ There’s slippage. I think guys that have been in the program it’s naturally not as much. Guys new to the program, that’s not the way they’ve been doing it the last 10 years. Just all trying to get on the same page. That’s what we tried to do today. Get on the same page and reduce it back to our basics.”

ABOUT THE HORNETS

The Hornets have shuffled the deck after Kemba Walker departed for the Celtics, picking up Boston’s Terry Rozier in a free agent exchange of point guards. Rozier is Charlotte’s second-leading scorer (16.4 points per game) and another newcomer, rookie forward P.J. Washington, is next, averaging 12.5 points and shooting 48.9 percent from 3-point range on 3.4 attempts per game.

It’s second-year guard Devonte Graham who has been the big surprise. A second-round pick who spent a chunk of time in the G League last season while averaging 4.7 points in 14.7 minutes over 46 games with Charlotte, Graham is leading Charlotte with 18.3 points per game while shooting 41.5 percent on 8.4 3-point attempts per game. He moved into the starting lineup a week ago and had nine threes and a game-winner against the Knicks on Saturday.

The Hornets are getting 36.3 percent of their points on 3-pointers, the fifth highest rate in the league, while ranking eighth in 3-pointers attempted (35.9), 3-pointers made (13.1), and 3-point percentage (36.5).

Defensively, the Hornets are last in the league opponent effective field goal percentage (56.1) and 27th in defensive rating (112.8). They’re also last in rebounds per game (40.9) and rebounding percentage (47.7).

[ecuhus1981]

There’s a saying in Kansas: if you don’t like the weather, wait 20 minutes. Already this fall, we’ve seen 88-degree beach weather, a snowed-out Halloween, rain, wind, sleet, hail, tornadoes and everything in between. Similarly, the Nets have been everything we’ve hoped for and dreaded so far this season. We got run out of our own gym Monday night to the injury-depleted Pacers, especially their backcourt. Many have highlighted the dominance of 3rd-string PG Aaron Holiday, who lit us up with both Brogdon and McConnell out due to injury. Less ballyhooed was Naz Mitrou-Long (“who?” is the correct response), their 4th-stringer who torched us as well. That isn’t due to the Jimmy’s and Joe’s anymore, that’s an X’s and O’s issue. Our coach Kenny Atkinson has been frank (hopefully not Lawrence) about our struggles, but has yet to own responsibility personally for his tactics in press conferences. We need bold leadership, to not only call out poor performance and Spur on better play, but to put the onus on themselves to right the ship. Thankfully, as distasteful as Monday night’s game was, we have another one around the corner. I just hope I don’t have to wait too many 20 minuteses before I see a string of wins. Let’s get into it:

JARRETT ALLEN VS. CODY ZELLER – The former Indiana C has put together a lot of missing facets to his game so far this season. He’s rebounding and defending better, and is as efficient as ever around the rim. Jarrett has his warts, but has quietly strung together impressive outings against decent competition lately. A burgeoning elite C would pip Cody; I believe Allen is and will.

TAUREAN PRINCE VS. PJ WASHINGTON – PJ has burst onto the scene more NBA-ready than many has projected pre-draft. Necessity is the mother of invention, since they really did not have a starting-caliber PF ahead of him coming into training camp. If Prince has one strong point as an undersized PF, it’s in outmaneuvering slightly bigger, slower traditional 4’s like Washington. Taurean has been in a funk the last few games. Hopefully, he can regain his rhythm by dominating a rook.

JOE HARRIS VS. MILES BRIDGES – Opposing styles in similar frames will clash. Miles is an amazing athlete, but hasn’t refined his skill set quite yet. Joe will need to stay in front and prepare to take charges on D. On offense, he just needs to let ‘er rip more often. Make or miss, our system is better prepared and positioned to crash the offensive glass or defend in transition based on his shot attempts. He MUST shoot, no more pump faking and dishing it back to the playmaker just because defenses close out on him. He’s a known quantity, and opposing teams place a higher level of focus on him than before. That means that he can’t do things the way he used to do them, wait for the same wide-open looks that he had in previous years. This is where truly elite shooters make their mark, by dominating despite suffocating close-outs. Redick, Korver, Allen, they all had to face and push past this adversity. Joe can do it too; he has to dare to be great. If he does, he’ll be rewarded with trips to the FT line and even 4-point plays, which will help discourage defenders from over-crowding him. I’m looking forward to this ascension in his game, let’s start it tonight.

GARRETT TEMPLE VS. TERRY ROZIER – Scary Terry has strength and tenacity that belies his size. Garrett will be tasked with slowing down Rozier. One method that could help, and I wish we deployed it more, is to post up Temple, and physically wear down the smaller guards. If you pepper that in over the course of a game, it can take the legs out of a shooter in crunch-time. We have the size and skill to bully teams, so we need to take advantage of it.

SPENCER DINWIDDIE VS. DEVONTE’ GRAHAM – The 2nd-year KU product is having a coming-out party, at the expense of the rest of the league. Of course, our star Spencer is having a moment as well, and I expect this to be a very entertaining matchup. Aside from the flashy display, Dinwiddie has turned up the defense since Kyrie’s injury, and that might be the difference.

Our bench is weakened due to starter injuries, but I still have faith in them as a collective. CHA’s backup 5 Willy Hernanogomez is the type of big that has given DJ fits (young, mobile, stretchy, offensively polished), so this might be a game where I sit him entirely. Call me crazy, I think that Nic and Rodi could feast on both ends against their 2nd-string with their length, skill and speed.

Who the heck is James Borrego?!?! I have no clue, yet I am still fearful about this coaching matchup. Kenny has lowered the bar for himself, and needs to re-establish his reputation as a dark-horse CotY candidate by out-scheming his peer. It would also help if he motivated his team in times of turmoil. He’s made an even-keel demeanor his hill to die on, and he looks like a mastermind when things are going well. When things aren’t running smoothly (as is bound to happen with a much younger team than last season), however, he has to learn to take off his cool, and get in the trenches with his men. And take some friggin’ accountability. The Hornets just happen to be worse than us by most statistical measures, so a W won’t be a big shock here. How we win might be the better barometer of this team moving forward.


PREDICTION: NETS 129, HORNETS 116

[MrDollarBills]

If we do not defend the perimeter we have a very high chance of losing this game. Graham and Washington are no joke.

[ducler]

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[Claud]

There are no easy game for us. I'm hoping we can bounce back with a W after that Indiana game massacre.

[Prokorov]

same as the pacers game... someone other then dinwiddie needs to step up and score and guys need to hit their threes.

thats it.

[DarkXaero]

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We concede the most points to P&R ball handlers in the entire league. Shocker. Even if you want to argue its by design, there is still statistical proof that we're the worst team in the league at defending the P&R. But Kenny is an "elite defensive coach"

[gigantes]

Our coach Kenny Atkinson has been frank (hopefully not Lawrence) about our struggles, but has yet to own responsibility personally for his tactics in press conferences. We need bold leadership, to not only call out poor performance and Spur on better play, but to put the onus on themselves to right the ship...

Pardon me for the snippage there, but what are you meaning by this, exactly? Now, it's been a while since I've seen a postgame, but my impression is that Kenny is a straight-shooter, and will generally try to answer Q's as honestly as a situation warrants.

I'm also not really crazy about reading too much in to Kenny's sideline demeanor or getting on him too much at this point. We already know how hard he busts it, and how he gets on players (in a conductive way) behind the scenes. If there's one guy who we know isn't slacking, it's him.

Instead of looking at Kenny, I think you have to look at Sean Marks right now. Because outside of Kyrie, none of the new players (not counting Claxton) are impressing much, and so far have been a pretty significant downgrade over the ones they replaced. Or instead of blaming Sean Marks, maybe it's better to put this stuff down to integrating all the new faces. These things can take time after all, no matter how angsty that can be for the fans.

[DarkXaero]

Our coach Kenny Atkinson has been frank (hopefully not Lawrence) about our struggles, but has yet to own responsibility personally for his tactics in press conferences. We need bold leadership, to not only call out poor performance and Spur on better play, but to put the onus on themselves to right the ship...

Pardon me for the snippage there, but what are you meaning by this, exactly? Now, it's been a while since I've seen a postgame, but my impression is that Kenny is a straight-shooter, and will generally try to answer Q's as honestly as a situation warrants.

I'm also not really crazy about reading too much in to Kenny's sideline demeanor or getting on him too much at this point. We already know how hard he busts it, and how he gets on players (in a conductive way) behind the scenes. If there's one guy who we know isn't slacking, it's him.

Instead of looking at Kenny, I think you have to look at Sean Marks right now. Because outside of Kyrie, none of the new players (not counting Claxton) are impressing much, and so far have been a pretty significant downgrade over the ones they replaced. Or instead of blaming Sean Marks, maybe it's better to put this stuff down to integrating all the new faces. These things can take time after all, no matter how angsty that can be for the fans.

I don't think anyone is arguing that Kenny doesn't work hard enough, I think we all know by now that dude lives basketball. But that doesn't make you a great coach. Thibodeau was of the same ilk and he's no longer coaching in the league.

Obviously Kenny and Thibs are very different coaches, but that's not the point I'm making. There is statistical proof present of Kenny's weaknesses as a coach (look at my post above). Whether we have the personnel or not, our defense will underachieve because of our schemes. We're horrible at defending the P&R, which is the most used play in the entire league.

[ecuhus1981]

Our coach Kenny Atkinson has been frank (hopefully not Lawrence) about our struggles, but has yet to own responsibility personally for his tactics in press conferences. We need bold leadership, to not only call out poor performance and Spur on better play, but to put the onus on themselves to right the ship...

Pardon me for the snippage there, but what are you meaning by this, exactly? Now, it's been a while since I've seen a postgame, but my impression is that Kenny is a straight-shooter, and will generally try to answer Q's as honestly as a situation warrants.

I'm also not really crazy about reading too much in to Kenny's sideline demeanor or getting on him too much at this point. We already know how hard he busts it, and how he gets on players (in a conductive way) behind the scenes. If there's one guy who we know isn't slacking, it's him.

Instead of looking at Kenny, I think you have to look at Sean Marks right now. Because outside of Kyrie, none of the new players (not counting Claxton) are impressing much, and so far have been a pretty significant downgrade over the ones they replaced. Or instead of blaming Sean Marks, maybe it's better to put this stuff down to integrating all the new faces. These things can take time after all, no matter how angsty that can be for the fans.

I don't think anyone is arguing that Kenny doesn't work hard enough, I think we all know by now that dude lives basketball. But that doesn't make you a great coach. Thibodeau was of the same ilk and he's no longer coaching in the league.

Obviously Kenny and Thibs are very different coaches, but that's not the point I'm making. There is statistical proof present of Kenny's weaknesses as a coach (look at my post above). Whether we have the personnel or not, our defense will underachieve because of our schemes. We're horrible at defending the P&R, which is the most used play in the entire league.

gigantes: DarkXaero basically answered your question for me.

Kenny is a worker bee, no doubt. He doesn't seem all that open to adapting to a changing NBA landscape. To DX's point, we've been last in the league in P&DR defense each of the last 4 seasons. Each of those seasons, I would be the league has trended upward in % of total possessions that utilize it now. Our defensive scheme is a dinosaur, and it'll cost him his job if he doesn't change his stance.

You can say that certain players have impressed you more than others in adapting to the system, and that's fine. I say, we know that none of the players under Kenny have developed defensively. If they are a savant like RHJ or Jarrett, he can use you, but he isn't making anyone better on that end. I would wager that good (not even great) defensive coach could take our roster and improve on our defense, without sacrificing our offense.

It's not the players, not this time. Everyone deals with injuries, we have the talent to perform far better on D than we do. We expect that guys like Temple and Nwaba are just plug-and-play, and they will automatically improve us on D. They make more individual defensive plays than other guys on the team, but they work better within a better defensive framework. At least, one that isn't blood-oath-bound to give up easy P&R offense to the most basic replacement-level PGs in the league.

Middling P&G guards (Holiday, Brown) have looked good against us all season, good ones (Morant, Rubio) have looked great, and great ones (Lillard) have looked unstoppable. If you wonder why DeVonte' Graham looks like Pistol Pete Maravich out there tonight, blame Kenny's outmoded defensive tactics.

[gigantes]

Pardon me for the snippage there, but what are you meaning by this, exactly? Now, it's been a while since I've seen a postgame, but my impression is that Kenny is a straight-shooter, and will generally try to answer Q's as honestly as a situation warrants.

I'm also not really crazy about reading too much in to Kenny's sideline demeanor or getting on him too much at this point. We already know how hard he busts it, and how he gets on players (in a conductive way) behind the scenes. If there's one guy who we know isn't slacking, it's him.

Instead of looking at Kenny, I think you have to look at Sean Marks right now. Because outside of Kyrie, none of the new players (not counting Claxton) are impressing much, and so far have been a pretty significant downgrade over the ones they replaced. Or instead of blaming Sean Marks, maybe it's better to put this stuff down to integrating all the new faces. These things can take time after all, no matter how angsty that can be for the fans.

I don't think anyone is arguing that Kenny doesn't work hard enough, I think we all know by now that dude lives basketball. But that doesn't make you a great coach. Thibodeau was of the same ilk and he's no longer coaching in the league.

Obviously Kenny and Thibs are very different coaches, but that's not the point I'm making. There is statistical proof present of Kenny's weaknesses as a coach (look at my post above). Whether we have the personnel or not, our defense will underachieve because of our schemes. We're horrible at defending the P&R, which is the most used play in the entire league.

gigantes: DarkXaero basically answered your question for me.

Kenny is a worker bee, no doubt. He doesn't seem all that open to adapting to a changing NBA landscape. To DX's point, we've been last in the league in P&DR defense each of the last 4 seasons. Each of those seasons, I would be the league has trended upward in % of total possessions that utilize it now. Our defensive scheme is a dinosaur, and it'll cost him his job if he doesn't change his stance.

You can say that certain players have impressed you more than others in adapting to the system, and that's fine. I say, we know that none of the players under Kenny have developed defensively. If they are a savant like RHJ or Jarrett, he can use you, but he isn't making anyone better on that end. I would wager that good (not even great) defensive coach could take our roster and improve on our defense, without sacrificing our offense.

It's not the players, not this time. Everyone deals with injuries, we have the talent to perform far better on D than we do. We expect that guys like Temple and Nwaba are just plug-and-play, and they will automatically improve us on D. They make more individual defensive plays than other guys on the team, but they work better within a better defensive framework. At least, one that isn't blood-oath-bound to give up easy P&R offense to the most basic replacement-level PGs in the league.

Middling P&G guards (Holiday, Brown) have looked good against us all season, good ones (Morant, Rubio) have looked great, and great ones (Lillard) have looked unstoppable. If you wonder why DeVonte' Graham looks like Pistol Pete Maravich out there tonight, blame Kenny's outmoded defensive tactics.

Thanks for the in-depth reply! However, I'm still curious about my original question, i.e. the one about Kenny... dodging tactical Q's in post-game conferences, was it?

Anyway, I'll try to keep the relevant metrics in mind and pay closer attention to the games (I've missed a lot of game time recently).

That said, I don't know that my basic points have really been answered or dismissed, above. For example, following my point about the difference the new faces are making, Prince and DJ in particular have both been disappointing on D, and they play loads of starter minutes. That's pretty big. Turnovers have also been a huge problem, and that likely ties in to the number of new faces, struggling to get used to each other. So yeah-- I do think the new faces are making a difference, not in a good way so far.

Not saying your overall or specific criticism is wrong, but given these factors, I think the team can be expected to gradually improve on some of this stuff through the course of the season. Up to a point, of course. But that point also seems to intersect with what some long-term posters here are saying about this being a team, personnel-wise, that will overcome you with offense, not defense. That's just the way it was built.

Also, the poor P&R defense you mention does seem to be a staple of the team's welcoming others to shoot midrange shots. How much of that is really going to change, I wonder?

[GTR11]

If we do not defend the perimeter we have a very high chance of losing this game. Graham and Washington are no joke.

In believable how low expectations been dropped. I'll be living it if we lose.

[therealbig3]

Jarrett Allen is so close to being an All-Star level player. Just needs to show a little more offensively, or even developing a jumper to where he can punish defenses for leaving him wide open at the top of the key. I don't want him to change his game at all, just be a little more useful offensively.

Because as a defender and rebounder, he's already there imo. The one bright spot in our defense to be honest, he's quick enough to hang with guards (for the most part), and he's a legit presence at the rim.

[therealbig3]

Looks like Allen tweaked his ankle.

[3pt_chucker]

Wow, this Hornets team is terrible. No way the Nets should lose this, injuries and all.

[GTR11]

Wow, this Hornets team is terrible. No way the Nets should lose this, injuries and all.

I wish I can share your confidence.

[3pt_chucker]

Wow, this Hornets team is terrible. No way the Nets should lose this, injuries and all.

I wish I can share your confidence.

Not saying it'll be a blowout or anything but this should be a win.

[therealbig3]

Musa really needs to start knocking down his outside shot, it's really limiting him in the half court.

[DarkXaero]

Musa needs to be better.

[FrenchNBAFan]

I believe in Musa but he's playing really bad