The Brooklyn Nets currently sit at 5-8, which is good for the 9th seed in the Eastern Conference. The Nets are off to a disappointing start after they came into the season with a lot of expectations. Poor defense and injuries have taken a tole on the Nets so far, so taking advantage of their next 4 game will be key. Brooklyn faces the Hornets at home on Wednesday, the Kings at home on Friday, at the Knicks on Sunday, and at Cleveland on Monday over their next 4 games. Even if Kyrie Irving is unable to play in some of those games, the Nets absolutely should win most if not all of those games. They’re more talented than every one of those teams, and if they play their brand of basketball, they should find themselves back over .500. The only problem is, the Nets haven’t been playing their brand of basketball so far. They haven’t gotten the production off the bench that they received last season, and injuries to Kyrie and LeVert really has depleted the bench. Dinwiddie is back to his regular stellar form, but forcing him into the starting lineup has caused Theo Pinson to receive minutes when he doesn’t belong on an NBA court. I love Theo to keep the morale up on the bench, but he really should be playing in the G-League. Musa and Claxton have been solid in their minutes, but neither of them are a dynamic scorer. The Nets have been brutal when Dinwiddie is on the bench, and need to fix that to get back on track. Iman Shumpert should help because of his excellent defensive skills, but he is another player that cannot score on his own. Basically, the Nets only have Dinwiddie, Joe, Taurean (when he can hit 3’s) and Jarrett/DJ in the paint to score which can result in a game like the Nets had against the Pacers. It’s key the Nets play like the did against Chicago on Saturday, which involves not turning the ball over and grinding out wins. It won’t be easy for the Nets, especially against the Hornets who have exceeded expectations thus far and the Kings who have gotten back on track after a rough start, but they need to find a way to win these games.

Final Prediction : 3-1 over the next 4 games

#WeGoHard

(All photos via @BrooklynNets on Twitter)