After seeing arguably the Nets’ best rim protection of the season fuel their easiest rout of the year, it begs the obvious question: Where had this been?
And can they do it again?
Nic Claxton’s six blocks Wednesday in Charlotte were a season-high, and the Nets’ eight were one shy of their top mark.
It was a rare showing of rim protection from a squad that came into that night last in the entire NBA.
“I spoke to Jordi [Fernandez], I want to be impactful on the defensive side of the ball,” said Claxton, whose Nets play Saturday in Houston. “And that’s my challenge, figuring out ways to do that with our defense and just having that consistency on that side of the ball especially.
“This season has been kinda rough for me defensively, honestly, because it’s different schemes. It’s been different for me, but I’m growing into what the coaches want me to be. … The pick-and-roll defense is a lot different than what I’m used to. But I’ve been doing a lot better at it and there’s definitely a lot of areas I can keep growing.”
That scheme change can’t be overstated.
Fernandez’s defense — especially against the pick-and-roll — is different than that of previous coaches Jacque Vaughn and Kevin Ollie.
And it’s been an adjustment for all of the bigs — Claxton, Day’Ron Sharpe and Noah Clowney.
“Right now, [Claxton’s] pick-and-roll defense is what we want him to be: aggressive, using his length and disrupting the basketball. And same thing when he’s the low man or he’s protecting the rim,” Fernandez said.
“The other thing is, we haven’t had the centers healthy. So what we could’ve taught and gone through the process before, we couldn’t go through the process. That’s why the process is a little late. … When we do what we’re supposed to do, we’re a top defense in pick-and-roll.”
The Nets have been switch-happy for years, but the bigs were also able to protect the rim. Now under Fernandez, the bigs are tasked with being more aggressive defending the pick-and-roll, blitzing and trapping ballhandlers.
“Last year it was more try to keep the center at the rim,” Sharpe told The Post. “[Vaughn] wanted us to go block every single thing, disrupt the ball at the top of the screen [then] go try to block it. No matter who the low man is, we’re going to try to block it. Jordi’s got a different concept. So, you’ve just got to buy into it, try to make it work.
“Now you’ve got to know, ‘Oh, I’m not low man, so I’ve got to sink. Or when I’m up on the screen, jab pocket, high hands. And when they rotate, the low man has got to pick up the center, I’ve got to rotate.’ So it’s just different.”
Different, and an adjustment.
“I don’t really like to make excuses. I just need to be better. I just need to be more locked in, that’s all,” said Claxton, with a long pause when asked about the new schemes. “Different.”
Good different or bad different?
“At the end of the day, if we’re blitzing, I just have to do it to the best of my ability,” Claxton said.
The same holds true for Sharpe and Clowney.
“Our baseline coverage is different,” Clowney told The Post. “It ain’t much to it. Just do it, execute it at a high level.”
Per 100 possessions, Claxton has seen his blocks fall from 4.1 in 2022-23 — when he garnered Defensive Player of the Year votes — to 3.4 to the current 2.3.
Sharpe has fallen from 2.4 last season to 1.4, while Clowney nearly halved from 2.1 to 1.1.
“Our coach wants to do different things,” Sharpe said. “But that comes with different coaches. Jordi is my fourth coach in four years, so I’ve got to learn how to adjust to a different defense every year. But like Jordi said, just focus and play hard. So as long as you play hard and focus on what he wants to do, we can get it done.”
