Through 15 games, here's how Brooklyn stacks up against other teams in the NBA, according to NBA.com team stats.
Defensive rating: 25th, allowing 105.9 points per 100 possessions. Only the Nuggets, Lakers, Pelicans, and Bucks are worse.
Offensive rating: 28th, scoring only 97.8 points per 100 possessions. Only the Lakers and 76ers are worse.
3 pt%: 29th. Only the Rockets are worse.
Free throws attempted per game: 29th. Only San Antonio gets to the charity stripe less.
eFG%: 25th. Only the Pistons, Lakers, 76ers, Knicks, and Grizzlies are worse.
Opposing eFG%: Dead last at 30th (they give up the highest eFG%)
TS%: 28th. Only the Pistons and 76ers are worse.
Fast break points: 24th.
Points from free throws: 27th.
But it's not 100% bad, unfortunately. They are:
- In the middle of the road when it comes to committing turnovers
- 6th best when it comes to defensive rebounding percentage.
- 11th best in forcing turnovers at 15 per 100 possessions.
- 4th best in scoring points in the paint, thanks to Lopez and Young.
I may have missed an important stat, but you get the point. Overall, the stats correlate with the eye test. Brooklyn is a very bad team and their record reflects just that.
Personally, I'm not holding my breath that we're getting Simmons with the Nets pick. It just seems too optimistic, and the chances of that happening are against us. But the stats above are the reason why I'm optimistic that Brooklyn will struggle for the rest of the season, as many of us had predicted before the season started. I don't think we could ask for anything better than a top 5 pick, and hopefully that will be the end result.
More to come later, likely about Brooklyn lineups. I'm curious to see which lineups are not working, and which lineups really are not working for the Nets.