Brooklyn Nets Primarily Focused on Defense in Training Camp

With the increase in offensive talent, naturally the Brooklyn Nets coaching staff focused primarily on defense during practices. Last year, the Brooklyn Nets weren't particularly great at defense. They may have ranked 7th in points allowed per game, it was largely due to their slow offensive pace, where they placed 27th in possessions per game (just 93 per game). When you look at shooting % of opponents, you see that the Nets ranked 23rd, allowing their opponents to shoot 46.4% from the field.

During practices this off-season, Jason Kidd explicitly stated that defense is the main concern.

"We're focused on defense," said first-year coach Jason Kidd before the team boarded its plane back home to Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon. "We put in a little offense, but we're strictly thinking about defense right now."

via Alex Raskin of The Wall Street Journal 

However, according to Paul Pierce, this isn't an uncommon practice during training camp. Keep in mind though that the Nets have new coaches and players, and last year's offense wasn't exactly the most efficient. Despite the lack of emphasis on the offensive end, it is clear that the offensive will be run much differently.

Putting a few clues together along with a few statements by the players, one can expect that the Nets will be running an offense similar to the Denver Nuggets: a "run-and-gun" offense. One of the Brooklyn Nets' assistant coaches is John Welch, who worked with George Karl for eight years. When talking with Gary Forbes, a former Denver Nuggets player, said that offense installed is "similar". During Media Day, Deron Williams hinted at running.

“We’re going to run. We’re definitely going to run. I’m going to run. I’m gonna push the ball and hopefully they run with me.”

What the Nets ultimately release will show its face during the preseason games. One thing can be expected, the offense will be even better than last year's.

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