Brooklyn’s new leadership is building a towering, free-flowing roster designed to stifle opponents defensively and ignite a stagnant offense through unique mismatches.
The Brooklyn Nets have abandoned the typical hierarchical offense led by a bona fide No. 1 option, opting instead for a free-flowing offense where every player can score.
Positional size is key to what general manager Sean Marks and coach Jordi Fernández are trying to achieve. Marks said he and Fernández worked in lockstep, discussing which players they wanted on the roster.
Their partnership steered Brooklyn toward a rather tall team. Rookie Mikal Brown Jr., Keon Ellis and Nolan Traoré are the shortest players at 6-foot-4 barefoot.
Thirteen of the 20 Nets in training camp measure out at 6-foot-8 or taller.
Fernández said he often played players "one through four" or "one through five" last July. There was more size, length and athleticism on the court.
That combination can transform a Brooklyn offense that finished last, averaging 105.9 points.
The Nets will likely trot out a starting lineup of Brown, Egor Dëmin, Michael Porter Jr., Julius Randle and Day'Ron Sharpe.
Every player in that lineup is 6-foot-9 or taller besides Brown. Fernández also has three players who can thrive with on-ball reps, which would struggle in a hierarchical offense, but work in a free-flowing one.
Randle is an established high-usage playmaker. He's averaged over four assists per game since his second season with the New York Knicks in 2020-21.
Brown is a natural fit to assume ball-handling responsibilities as a point guard. He led the Louisville Cardinals offense as a freshman, averaging 4.7 assists per game.
Dëmin is developing as a ball-handler heading into his second season. He was Brooklyn's No. 1 option in summer league before Brown joined in Las Vegas.
Positional size also led Brooklyn to become the No. 1 defense last December, leading the league in defensive rating. The team bested contenders like the Oklahoma City Thunder in that stretch.
They held teams to 104.6 points per game, a shocking jump from the 113-plus points it allowed earlier in the season.
Fernández's defense is aggressive, often pressuring ball screens to disrupt the offense. It's a scheme that matches Ellis as the point-of-attack defender and Wagner, who prefers perimeter defense over protecting the rim.
The Nets' tall roster could make them a difficult team to play against, with no explicit mismatch to exploit. Fernández is known for maximizing his players' efficiency, and he's doing that on both ends of the floor.
He and Marks working together show a clear vision for where they want the franchise to go, and they are building the foundation right now.
