The day after the Nets opened their preseason with a 101-96 loss to Turkish club Fenerbahce Ulker, their poor defensive showing was repeatedly explained away by a lack of communication.
There’s no doubt that played a part, as the Nets routinely looked like a group that had no idea what it was supposed to be doing defensively — which resulted in Fenerbahce getting one wide open shot after another — and the Nets looked like they were attempting to herd cats as they hopelessly chased the ball around the court.
But as coach Lionel Hollins tries to find a way to improve on last season’s 23rd-place finish in defensive efficiency, he has a fundamental problem to try and solve: a lack of premium defensive players.