Rebounding hasn’t just been a weak spot for the Nets, it’s been a glaring Achilles’ heel.
They haven’t been just bad, but arguably the worst in the entire NBA.
With training camp underway, fixing the problem isn’t going to require an attitude adjustment, a schematic switch or team buy-in.
It’ll require all of them.
“The personnel doesn’t change. Having more strategy into where guys are positioned on the floor, that’s going to help us,” said Jacque Vaughn, who had the Nets switching more than any team in the league last season but plans to have more variety and a healthy dose of drop coverage. “Our toolbox will be full. That’s one thing I’ll do in camp is give that to the guys pretty early.
“It won’t look pretty in the beginning, but I want them to digest it and be able to understand that last year was last year. We switched everything because that was the simplest thing to do with three different teams on one roster; so I tried to keep it real simple. … We’ll challenge this group to be able to play different schemes. Part of that will be keeping Nic [Claxton] close to the rim at times.”
Claxton’s unique ability to switch 1 through 5 has prompted Brooklyn to switch, and throwing four newcomers into the starting lineup in February made system updates hard.
But that’s what this camp is for, installing a more versatile scheme.
“Nic will still switch. I wish drop equated to rebounding. It does have the big closer to the rim — which is great — but that big still has to turn and rebound. Then he has to play pick-and-roll at a high level,” Vaughn said.
“The switching takes some of the decisionmaking out of the big’s hands, so then you’re asking the other four dudes to really be at a high level and be on the string together, which we’re going to ask them. We’re going to ask them to rebound, too.”
In the drop, the screener’s defender will — you guessed it — drop back into the paint, taking away cheap baskets for the roller and forcing the ball-handler into a tougher jumper off the dribble.
That’s something the Nets were allergic to. They were second-worst in the NBA in total (47.2), defensive (68.9) and offensive (22.6) rebound percentages.
The nature of switching hurts defensive rebounding.
Playing more drop defense will help, and also let Day’Ron Sharpe get on the floor.
Sharpe is a traditional center uncomfortable switching.
But he’s their best rebounder (17.7 per 100 possessions) and much-needed on the defensive glass. Hence the lengthy chat Vaughn had with Sharpe, sitting off to the side after practice.
“The drop coverage at times will give Day’Ron more opportunities to be in. But just like my conversation with him now, he has to impact the game on both ends of the floor, and that’s rebounding on both ends of the floor,” Vaughn said. “But that coverage will help him. We’ll have some opportunities where we’re using it all. We’re gonna have the full toolbox.”
Their toolbox was lacking last season.
They got battered 80-22 in second-chance points during a first-round sweep at the hands of the 76ers.
And as Vaughn alluded to, the rotation won’t change much even after adding forwards Trendon Watford, Darius Bazley and Harry Giles III, the former pair on veteran minimums and the latter an Exhibit 10.
The improvement will have to be internal.
“It’s a mindset. For me, I’m just trying to buy-in to whatever the coaches want to do,” Ben Simmons said. “Not everyone wants to rebound, but it’s something that if it’s going to help the team win, we’ve all got to buy in and do that. Rebounding’s important: It’s part of the game. If we all buy in and rebound and put that effort in and box out, it’s going to show,” said Simmons, adding more drop will help but not enough.
“Yeah, [but] at the end of the day it’s a mindset, too. Certain guys will go to the glass on offense and some won’t. It’ll be different every night. Some guys will have key matchups where we’ve got to box them out and not even worry about the ball itself. But just staying on top of that and consistently reminding ourselves we have to rebound, we don’t have a bunch of 7-footers. We’ve just got to do that.”