The Brooklyn Nets are 4-2. And though Lionel Hollins’ teams of the past were known for winning with defense, it’s this group’s play on the other end that has spurred them to early season success – Brooklyn’s 109.5 offensive rating ranks second in the league. According to Joe Johnson, though, the Nets should be scoring the ball with even more ease. After shootaround on Tuesday, the seven-time All-Star ripped his teammates for “very selfish” play on offense.
Via Devin Kharpertian of The Brooklyn Game:
“It’s just- as individuals, as players, (we have to) have each other’s backs out there,” Johnson vented to the media after the team’s Tuesday afternoon practice. “I just felt, I didn’t believe it. I go back, and I watch the tape, and I watch film just to try to get a different perspective, and I mean, my feelings haven’t changed.”
“It’s just kind of what it is. Defensively, we help from time to time, offensively, I just think guys kind of exhaust their options and then when there’s nothing else for them, then they’ll pass it when they have to. For the most part, we’ve been very selfish…”
“I’m not hiding anything,” Johnson vented after the team’s practice Tuesday. “We’re 4-2 six games into the season, but it’s early. We haven’t played anybody, and the Minnesota game (is) obviously a game we should’ve won. I thought this last game that we played against Orlando was almost a carbon copy.”
Kharpertian notes that Johnson didn’t exactly seem pleased on Sunday after the Nets beat the Orlando Magic 104-96, either. He took to Twitter to vent frustrations:
https://twitter.com/TheJoeJohnson7/status/531590580556816384
No one knows for certain whether or not Johnson was exasperated by his team or anything else, but today’s comments lend credence to the former possibility. And though he’s right that Brooklyn has feasted on a cupcake schedule so far, his diatribe still comes completely out of left field.
Again, the Nets have been basketball’s second-most efficient offensive team thus far. Their true shooting percentage is a sterling 57.7, also falling just below the league’s top mark. It hardly seems appropriate to ridicule Brooklyn’s play on that end, especially when Johnson’s very performance accounts for the problems he’s discussing.
If “Iso-Joe” was really intent on changing his team’s offensive id, you’d think he’d make a concerted effort to move the ball. Brooklyn, after all, is assisting on fewer baskets than all but one team in the NBA. But instead, Johnson has only contributed to the “woes” he describes – a whopping 93.9 percent of his made-two pointers have been unassisted, up from his typically high mark of 75.0 compiled last season.
Playing on a team with a healthy Deron Williams, re-emerging Brook Lopez, and several other shoot-first players, what exactly is Johnson expecting? The Nets aren’t the San Antonio Spurs or even this year’s Golden State Warriors; they’re rife with players that believe individual scoring is their greatest strength. And as long as Brooklyn is managing an above-average offense – let an elite one – there’s no reason for its team-wide identity to change.
The process matters far more than the results. That’s what Johnson is getting at here, and that’s a mantra to which we subscribe wholeheartedly.
If we were him, though, we’d be griping about mediocre defense against inferior competition as opposed to league-leading offense. And considering that undeniable reality of the Nets’ two-way performance, Johnson might want to look in the mirror next time before calling his teammates selfish – he’s doing nothing on the floor to help them play any other way.
*Statistical support for this post provided by nba.com/stats.
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