On these reconfigured Nets — about as starless as a rainy night in the city — offense was supposed to be at a premium. Defense was going to have to carry the day.

But during a bizarro preseason in which the offense exceeded expectations, the Nets struggled on the other, supposedly stronger end of the court.

The Nets have a plethora of highly regarded individual defenders. Jacque Vaughn intends to leverage that by installing a more versatile, multiple defensive scheme than the Nets has used over the past few seasons.

And that is requiring some growing pains.