No surprise, considering what Kenny Atkinson has said about the value of team defense — the Nets are focusing on that end of the court their first few days of camp.
"We need to be clear on what we’re doing right from the first day," Atkinson said. "It’s the first thing we addressed and we understand that we need balance to be a good team, we understand that, so it’s not like we’re forgetting about the offense, but that was our mindset a little bit."
As John Schuhmann of NBA.com has noted, the Nets were 29th last season in team defense —and got progressively worse— while Atkinson’s Hawks were second in the NBA, first in the East.