Shocking stat exemplifies dismal Nets season

Brooklyn is dead last in the NBA in charges drawn, forcing offensive fouls at the league’s lowest rate. That’s not even half as many as the 28th-place Detroit Pistons and Denver Nuggets, who have had 13 as a team. The Golden State Warriors have drawn 65 charges, more than 10 times as many as the Nets.

It’s a shockingly low total. There are 30 individual players who have drawn more charges than the Nets have as a team. Brooklyn is at the bottom of the league in many of what the NBA calls “hustle stats”: 6th-worst in deflections, seventh-worst in loose balls recovered, and below-average in contested shots.

Those aren’t a perfect measure, but interim coach Kevin Ollie believes it indicates a lack of effort, from a team that’s been slumping for more than two months.

Brooklyn may have a talent deficit, plus a roster that doesn’t exactly fit together after trading Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. There’s no reason this team, which is heavy on wing players, can’t grab loose balls or get in front of players on defense.

That may be a good indicator of Ollie’s future in Brooklyn. If he wants to get the permanent head coach job, he better improve the team’s hustle numbers.