Jordi Fernandez calls out tanking Nets unacceptable effort after humbling loss to Rockets

HOUSTON — Early days, the Nets tank appears safe.But losing is the easy part.The hard part is walking the tightrope of losing without becoming losers.In the most star-driven league in sports, the most direct path to getting one is through the draft — or more to the point, through the lottery.

Through losing.And the winless Nets certainly are doing that.But capitulating the way they did Monday — a 137-108 humbling in Houston before 18,055 at Toyota Center — was “unacceptable.”“I need consistency and urgency.

And that’s got to be like something that we cannot decide if we’re doing it or not,” coach Jordi Fernández said.“It’s a matter of who we want to be, right? Giving up 42 to start, it’s not great.“It’s just unacceptable to take an NBA game for granted.

And our guys are trying.They just don’t know how much harder and focused they can do things.

And I believe they’ll keep taking those steps.A lot of it is just lack of experience.”That’s the tightrope the Nets (0-4) are walking.After drafting five first-round picks, the Nets want that experience to see those rookies grow up, not get beaten down.Only one was in the lineup — Ben Saraf, whose minus-9 was actually best of the starters, an indictment of how bad this rout was.

Nolan Traore backed him up with Egor Dëmin rested to manage his plantar fascia, while Drake Powell and Danny Wolf started G-League rehab assignments.They were spared this caning.Cam Thomas had a rare off night with nine points on 3-of-9 shooting, his myriad injuries possibly catching up to him.

Terance Mann had a team-high 21 points, but the defense allowed 57.6 percent shooting from the field, leading to the blowout.The Nets have the worst field goal defense in the league and have allowed over 50 percent shooting every game.Unlike a year ago — when a 9-10 start saw Brooklyn end up drafting a disappointing eighth — this time, their lottery prospects seem much safer.Understand that players do not tan...