The Brooklyn Nets are one of the smallest teams in the NBA. But, the size is more about bulk than height.
In Brooklyn’s normal starting lineup (Ben Simmons, Kyrie Irving, Royce O’Neale, Kevin Durant, and Nic Claxton), the team puts out two seven-footers. However, the biggest player, in terms of weight, is Durant/Simmons with both being listed at 240 pounds.
This lack of size that some would refer to as a ‘lack of bricks in the back pocket’ results in the Nets having trouble rebounding quite often. Coming into Friday’s win against the Atlanta Hawks, the Nets ranked 28th in the league in defensive rebounding percentage (73.6%).
However, against the Hawks on Friday, the Nets broke even on the boards (38-38) and that led to head coach Jacque Vaughn praising the team’s effort on the boards:
“Megan (Triplett), we out-rebounded somebody today. Come on now, huh? You gonna lead with that? Let’s go! We showed that to the team after. Some big possessions and winning plays. And that’s what it boiled down to. It’s just the opponent that night and for us, whatever it’s going to take to win. Whether a different rotation, somebody’s in, out, all the above, we’re getting to a place where you’re just doing your role in order to help us to win. So big rebounds at the end of the game. Some execution that was pretty good.”
Brooklyn’s next game is Saturday at the Indiana Pacers.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01fv0185pfxtewh01r player_id=01f5k5xtr64thj7fw2 image=]
[listicle id=49348]