The Nets ended their preseason without having installed any actions specifically for Mikal Bridges.
But they’ve been on a crash course since.
“Yeah, a couple plays. There’s a couple of good ones,” Bridges said after Sunday’s practice. “Yeah, I don’t really trip. I just try to be aggressive in any type of situation we get.”
The situation: After closing out the preseason with a win in Miami last Wednesday, the Nets have had days to gear up for the regular-season opener against Cleveland.
Coach Jacque Vaughn hadn’t put in any plays for his best scorer through that Heat game, concentrating more on concepts.
That changed as soon as the Nets came back from South Florida.
After Bridges shot just 36.6 percent in the preseason, now preparations are starting in earnest.
“I put the full-court press on in introducing a lot of different concepts with these four days of practice,” Vaughn said. “So our terminology booklet has definitely increased last four days, and we’ve got two more days before we tip it off. Some of the things are entirely new that we put in; some are additions; some [are] continuity to some things we did last year but definitely a different look and play set than we had previously.”
That play set had been heavy isolation.
The Nets ran the third-highest rate of isolation plays in the league last season, the best way to leverage the one-on-one dominance of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Times have changed in Brooklyn, and the scheme has to change as well.
“You’ve got to think of the guys that were here right before February happened. You’ve got two of the best iso players in the world, so the offense is going to fit them. And it’s tough to really change an offense halfway in,” Bridges said. “But now just having an offseason and just playing to our strengths.
“Pick-and-roll is really good for us, screening away, just a lot of those actions is good for us.”
Both Vaughn and Bridges acknowledge that isolation is no longer the Nets’ strength, with the exception of young guard Cam Thomas.
Instead, expect to see Ben Simmons pushing in transition and tons of off-ball cuts from Bridges and Cam Johnson.
NBA general managers in their annual survey picked Bridges as the second-best player in the league at moving without the ball, behind superstar Stephen Curry.
That’s something the Nets will use.
“When we had our previous group, it was probably smart to play iso basketball; those dudes shot at a high clip,” Vaughn said. “This group has different talents: Mikal, CJ [and] their ability to cut off the basketball. So how can we incorporate that? They’re growing as pick-and-roll players. Their points-per-possession is pretty good [1.06 and 1.00]. But we want to increase that. That comes with spacing, with who’s on the floor with them. But they haven’t mastered that skill.
“So we don’t want to put Mikal in pick-and-roll every single time just to grow that part of his game because I’ll always do what’s best for the group. Now we can grow his game by having sets that put him in position where he’s playing pick-and-roll. … So it’s going to really dictate who’s on the floor of how we grow our guys and challenge them. Grab hold to what we can do and do that well.”
What the Nets did well after the trade deadline was ride Bridges’ scoring.
They simply put him into the same midrange actions they had for Durant, and he excelled by averaging 26.1 points for the Nets.
Now, he’ll have plays tailored to him rather than him being forced to do a Durant imitation.
Bridges and the other Nets will also benefit from Simmons’ pace creating open 3-point looks for them as they run to their spots.
“You get good looks,” Bridges said. “You’ve definitely got to adjust and be ready to run, because he gets it and he just wants to sprint. So you’ve just got to always just have your head turning and be ready to use your track shoes.”
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