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A fast start for either of the last two tanking Nets teams would’ve been a disaster.
But for a franchise finally trying to win, now it’s the goal. Maybe even the expectation.
Expectations that started with Wednesday night’s opener against visiting Charlotte.
“It’s about us setting the tone, how we play, our staples and how we approach every single game,” Julius Randle said. “I’ve always been somebody that’s fallen in love with the process and the results usually follow. Yes, we’re playing every game to win. We want to win every single day. It’s about how we’re going about it every single day, and are we doing the right things?
“You can win a basketball game and not do anything principle-wise how you’re supposed to do as a team. So, we don’t want to do that. We want to win every game playing our style of basketball, holding each other accountable, doing the things that it’s going to take not just to win games but just establish the culture and identity of the team that we want to be.”
For a young, inexperienced Brooklyn team trying to turn the page after two overtly tanking campaigns — and three straight losing records — setting that culture early this season is going to be vital.
Or more to the point, factory resetting it.
A disappointing campaign in 2023-24 convinced the franchise to pivot into a rebuild. They tanked the next two years to get Egor Dëmin and Mikel Brown Jr.
But between owing a 2027 swap to Houston and the NBA’s lottery reform, now Brooklyn is trying to build a winning atmosphere. That started against the Hornets, and will continue through a nasty stretch of schedule.
“Since I’ve been here, everybody’s focused on winning. It’s not like we’re putting development at the forefront. Obviously we’re all trying to get better and develop, but it’s what does it take every single day to come in and do the right things to win basketball games,” Randle said. “We’re doing all the necessary things to give ourselves the best possible chance to win every night.”
Their first chance to win a game that counted in the standings was Wednesday.
After that comes a stretch of six straight tough playoff hopefuls, so veterans like Randle and Moritz Wagner fully understood the importance of a solid start to build the right kind of momentum.
“I think everybody knows that. … You want to start off the season right,” Wagner said. “Having a good start to the season — whether it’s one game or five games — means a lot. Yes, I do think it carries weight. It’s funny because I thought about that. We prepare so intensely for the first game, and then in February if you have a back to back you can barely prepare. It’s absurd because they count the same, but it does make a difference because you want to start off to a right start. You’ve worked so hard the last two, three weeks, you want to execute the things you worked on.”
A slow start is a very real possibility, especially looking ahead at the slate.
After Wednesday’s opener against Charlotte, the Nets have to run a gantlet of six straight Eastern Conference foes projected for at least 44.5 wins by Las Vegas oddsmakers.
It’ll start on the road Saturday in Cleveland. And after playing the Pacers, at Boston, the Pistons and at Indiana, it’ll end Nov. 2 in the Garden against the reigning champion Knicks.
“The East is so deep. There’s not one team where you can say, ‘They’re not good.’ The West, I haven’t even looked at [the schedule] much, but I feel like the league is so deep this year, so unpredictable,” Wagner said. “I just care about us and what we want to do, what we want to execute, and I care more about that momentum.”