Kenny Atkinson endured a painful — and successful — rebuild in Brooklyn, so he knows exactly what Jordi Fernández is going through.
And the Cleveland coach said the suffering is going to pay off — even if it feels like the losses will never end.
And the Nets took another on Sunday, beaten 106-102 by the Cavaliers before a sellout crowd of 17,804 at Barclays Center.
“No doubt. You definitely go through those moments,” said Atkinson. “You love to stay process-oriented and stick with the process, but you’re going home and you’re taking that ‘L’ after the game. It’s hard, especially when they start stacking up. Everybody says, ‘Don’t worry.’ Of course you worry if you’re a competitor. But that’s part of it, part of going through a rebuild and part of being a young coach.
“And you see the development. …Once you break through — even that third year when we broke through and made the playoffs, it was doubly rewarding because you went through these real struggles and tough times. And man, I’ll never forget when we clinched the playoffs. It was like you’re winning the championship.
“It was crazy because you look back at Year 1, we lost 27 of 29. It was insane: ‘Are we ever gonna win another game?’ [The breakthrough] will happen here because they drafted really good talent. They got really good coaching, good coaching staff, good front office. It’ll break through. You’re just waiting for that, ‘When is that gonna happen?’ I’m sure Jordi’s going, ‘Man, everyone is saying it’ll happen.’ But they play so hard, it’s eventually going to happen with their talent.”
The Nets played hard, and put some of the young talent on display.
It just wasn’t enough against a Cleveland team that was better, even sans Donovan Mitchell.
Michael Porter Jr. poured in a game-high 26 points, but the rest was youth.
First-round pick Danny Wolf added a career-high 23 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals — joining Bernard King, Chris Morris and Mike O’Koren as the only Nets rookies to reach those stats.
Teen guard Nolan Traore scored 17 and undrafted rookie Grant Nelson — on a 10-day contract — added 11 and four boards.
But former Nets James Harden (22 points, nine rebounds, eight assists) and Jarrett Allen (20 points) were too much for their old team.
The loss pulled the Nets (15-45) into a tie with Indiana for second in the lottery standings, pending the Pacers’ game against Memphis.
Brooklyn is 1 ½ games behind Sacramento for the top spot.
Atkinson coached the Nets for four years, and took them from the league’s worst team in his first season to the playoffs in his third.
He helped GM Sean Marks build the Nets, and is convinced this second rebuild can work every bit as well.
The Nets got torched Friday in Boston, letting the Celtics put up the highest effective field goal percentage in history (80.8%).
They showed more fight this time, down by a bucket in the waning seconds when Wolf intentionally missed a free throw.
But they couldn’t get the board and watched the Cavs close it.
After falling behind 16-5 early — ex-Nets Allen and Dennis Schröder and Allen combining for a basket each — Brooklyn rallied.
Still down 36-29 with 9:45 left in the first half, the Nets went on an extended 21-7 run to flip a seven-point deficit into a seven-point cushion.
Traore’s short jumper put Brooklyn up 50-43 with a minute left before the break.
The Nets were still up 62-55 after Porter found Noah Clowney for a layup.
They coughed up a 15-2 Cavs blitz, capped by Harden’s free throw.
The fourth quarter was tooth-and-nail.
Josh Minott’s 3-pointer put Brooklyn up 80-78 with 9:59 to play.
But they conceded an 18-8 run over the next six minutes and never regained the lead.
Allen’s layup left his former team in a 96-88 hole.
Brooklyn clawed within a point on Wolf’s free throws with 9.2 seconds to play.
But Schröder sank two on the other end to put the Nets back where they were.
With 5.9 seconds left, Wolf made a free throw and purposely missed the second, but bounced it off the backboard to give away possession down 104-102.
Brooklyn got the break they needed when they fouled Schröder and he missed the second free throw, but Day’Ron Sharpe couldn’t fend off Evan Mobley for the rebound, and the Cavs big man sealed it.