The Brooklyn Nets are 4-16, good for only the fourth-worst record in the grotesquely crowded bottom of the league. But over this past weekend’s back-to-back against the Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks, Egor Dëmin, Danny Wolf, and Ben Saraf each had his best NBA game yet. And Monday night’s win over the Charlotte Hornets was the most fun home game this season, likely longer. That’s enough to outshine their terrible record, and while we’ll discuss the rookies intensively in this week’s Rookie Report, it’s part of a larger trend: Things ain’t so bad.

The first-round picks are playing more and more. That’s a more convincing reason to tune into a game than nearly anything the Nets gave us last season, not to mention 21-year-old Noah Clowney showing signs of a leap as opposed to missing chunks of the season with injury. And depending on your mileage, you might enjoy watching Tyrese Martin, Nic Claxton, and Michael Porter Jr. show previously unseen flashes in their mid-20s, all of whom are less obvious trade bait than Cam Johnson and Dennis Schröder were last year.

They also haven’t been that bad lately. Following their 0-7 start, they are 4-9 with a -6.2 net rating, better than eight other teams over that span. That’s quite a mundane level of bad, a far cry from going winless with a 130 defensive rating.

Let’s address the elephant in the room: Cam Thomas got hurt at the start of their first win, and the Nets have been better without him. Causation doesn’t imply causation, but with CT, Brooklyn is averaging 21.9 assists per 100 possessions, a mark that would easily rank last in the league. Without CT, Brooklyn averages ??? 26.8 assists per 100 possessions, which would tie for 11th in the league. More assists don’t necessarily mean better offense (though the front office has made clear their desire for more ball-movement), but Brooklyn’s offensive rating thus far is virtually the same with or without Thomas. It’s probably more fun to watch, too.

The Nets’ defensive rating is also a whopping 7.66 points better without Thomas on-court, far less hopeless on that end as they were in October. Some of that is addition by subtraction; he’s not a positive defender even when the effort is there, and this season, well…

But Michael Porter Jr. has since raised his energy level on defense. Egor Dëmin is getting deflections left and right, Nic Claxton has been up and down instead of just down, and Noah Clowney has 23 stocks (steals + blocks) in his last 11 games after having just four in his first nine appearances. CT is a corrosive defender, but is his absence responsible for their individual improvements? Do his ball-pounding tendencies just suck the life out of his teammates? I can’t go quite that far.

In any case, the Nets are now giving enough defensive effort to flash the future they want. They play some huge lineups. Often, it’s Terance Mann or Tyrese Martin plus four guys that are at least 6’9”. They closed Monday’s win out with the 6’8” Egor Dëmin as the smallest guy out there. With Jordi Fernandez upping the switching recently, you’ll see opposing ball-handlers cycle through screeners, searching in vain for a size advantage…

“This is the Nets, their physicality and their size is overwhelming the Celtics right now,” said Brian Scalabrine on the Boston broadcast during their November 21st showdown.

It’s not just more switching, to be clear. We’re seeing more activity, forcing opposing offenses to make four or five passes before Brooklyn’s defense completely breaks down. No, that’s not the highest bar — opponents are shooting a stable 70% at the rim against BKN, the fourth-worst mark in the league (Cleaning the Glass) — but they at least pop their head above water from time to time. Throw in more ball-movement on the other end, and you can see what they’re aiming for.

Suddenly, 4-16 doesn’t taste too bad. Not when Danny Wolf is baptizing (or perhaps Bar Mitzvah’ing) Miles Bridges with nearly every game close in the second half. Here are a few more (non-rookie) takeaways from Brooklyn’s recent stretch of play.

Go-to guy Michael Porter Jr.

Before the season, many poked fun at the idea of Cam Thomas and Michael Porter Jr. on the same bad team, set to be the Keystone Cops of shot-chucking. And yes, MPJ has taken some laughable shots and short-circuited on defense here and there, but as a high-usage offensive player, he functions much differently than CT.

Thomas: averages 4.14 seconds per touch, second-highest on the NetsMPJ: 2.09 seconds per touch, third-lowest on the Nets

Preposterous it may seem, but MPJ as a primary option actually helps Brooklyn facilitate ball-movement: They average 27.6 assists per 100 possessions with him on the court, down to 22.8 without him. Porter Jr. doesn’t create for himself from a standstill, needing plenty of off-ball screens and dribble-handoffs to get to his 18 shots a night.

This can rear an ugly head, particularly in crunch-time. However, Fernández has done a wonderful job designing an offense around MPJ’s skillset, and the others are nailing down the spacing principles…

In turn, Porter Jr. has made the basic reads when required, whether that’s back-cutting at the right times, or throwing a lob to his screener, as we see above.

This is the best-case scenario for MPJ’s offense in his first year as a Net and his first year as a go-to option in the NBA. He’s averaging 24.9 points and 3.1 assists per game, both career-highs, on 60.7% true shooting, right in line with his 61.7% career average despite scaling way up in usage.

When asked how he’s been able to adjust so cleanly, Porter Jr. did not mince words: “Well, I think Jordi — he’s a genius of a coach. You know, we’re a young team, we’re going to keep growing, but he’s a genius in terms of the schemes that he puts out, especially offensively for me. The way teams are guarding me, really just face-guarding me and trying not to let me catch the ball, the different creative ways that Jordi has our team running plays to help me get touches and get looks off is really next level. He’s making it so easy for me to play my game. So I really have to thank just Jordi and the offensive coaching staff for how I’ve been able to produce.”

Ziaire Williams gets benched

Ziaire Williams did not play in a November 24 loss to the New York Knicks, after which Jordi Fernandez said, “I wanted to challenge him with his defense.”

Before Monday’s game, Fernández simply said: “He can do better.”

Finally, after Monday’s win, Fernández praised Williams’ defensive activity and energy as a key to securing the win. There’s something! Williams, who was brought to Brooklyn on the wrong end of a salary dump in the summer of 2024, was/is Sean Marks’ first attempt at a true reclamation project in this rebuild. In the summer of 2025, he inked a 2-year, $12.5 million contract with a team option on the second year. Why not? He played hard enough last year while shooting 34.1% from deep on over nine attempts per 100 possessions, both career-highs at just 23 years old.

Through one-quarter of the season, he hasn’t given Brooklyn much reason to pick up the team option next offseason. His $6.25 million for next season is no great burden, but he’s a fairly a known commodity at this point: a 3-and-D wing who doesn’t excel at either the 3 or the D.

Now in his fifth year in the NBA, Williams’ teams have been better with him off the floor in each season. This year has been particularly rough, with Brooklyn nearly 12 points per 100 possessions better with him sitting on the bench, per Cleaning the Glass. That will normalize to a less frightening number, but I’m not sure where he theoretically helps this team, even if he does match his career-high 34% from deep, as he did last year.

There’s no on-ball creation to speak of, little passing ability evidenced in his nearly one-to-one assist:turnover ratio as a Brooklyn Net, and the defense is far too inconsistent to label him as a positive on that end. This season, it’s just been bad…

In theory, Williams could be a nice building block for the iteration of this team that wants to win a little bit. Maybe even next season, when they owe a pick-swap to Houston. He’s a spark-plug, 6’9” wing off the bench who can do a little of everything and fit in most lineups, a cheerful guy who just wants to win and smile, in that order.

But in practice, I just don’t see it. Same with Jalen Wilson, to be honest.

Last week, time caught up to me and I didn’t get to write the Rookie Report. Then three of the rooks had their best NBA game, while another one had his best G League game. Hopefully this column isn’t a jinx, but we’re about to find out.

In the meantime, the Nets have an upcoming back-to-back, starting a visit to the Second City to face the Chicago Bulls. Tip-off is schedule for Wednesday night at 8:00 p.m. ET.