The overall record isn’t a surprise.
The Nets are right around where most preseason projections had them, slightly above .500, on pace to be in the mix for a spot in the play-in tournament.
They have played 19 games and won 10 of them.
They are 4-7 against teams above .500 and 6-2 against everyone else.
More or less what was expected.
The big surprise? How they’ve gotten there.
With an explosive attack that is sixth in the league in offensive rating (117.5), second in 3-point percentage (39.0) and top 10 in turnovers committed per game (13.5), assists to turnover ratio (1.93), offensive rebounding percentage (31.0) and scoring (116.7).
Seven different Nets — surprising leading-scorer Cam Thomas, Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Spencer Dinwiddie, Lonnie Walker IV, Nic Claxton and Dorian Finney-Smith — are averaging in double figures.
Bridges, Dinwiddie, Johnson, Walker, Finney-Smith and Royce O’Neale are all shooting at least 35.3 percent from 3-point range.
This is a team that, after the Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving trades last February, was 23rd in offensive rating (113.2) last year. It has taken a major leap offensively with basically the same core.
The Post takes a look at three other developments over the first quarter or so of the Nets’ season:
• There was offseason talk of Ben Simmons being Ben Simmons again. He was healthy. He was motivated. He was determined to recapture his All-Star form.
So far, that has just been talk.
Simmons has appeared in just six games, injured again and not necessarily close to returning.
Simmons is dealing with a lower-back impingement and is weeks away from returning after receiving an epidural injection early last week.
He did average 10.8 points and 6.7 assists across 31.8 minutes in those games, improvements on his numbers from last year, though his offense remained a work in progress.
He has attempted only six shots per game, shooting a career-worst 52.8 percent from the field.
The Nets weren’t cohesive or productive when he was on the floor, outscored by 7.1 points per 100 possessions — the worst of any rotation player — and allowed a woeful 118.6 points per 100 possessions.
He has played in only 48 games with the Nets and has missed 80 of the 128 the team has played since acquiring him on Feb. 10, 2022 in the James Harden trade.
• To be fair to Simmons, the Nets have not been a very good defensive team no matter who is on the floor.
They are 20th in the league in defensive rating (115.0), 25th in made 3-pointers allowed per game (13.8) and 27th in 3-pointers attempted by the opposition (38.4).
The wing-heavy Nets were supposed to be a strong defensive team.
One major issue has been allowing too many second-chance points — they are 27th, giving up 15.9 per game.
They had recently been shorthanded, without two of their defenders in Simmons and Dennis Smith Jr., until Smith returned in Saturday’s win over the Magic.
He had missed the previous six games with a lower-back sprain.
“That’s definitely a big problem right now,” Claxton said recently. “We have a lot of individual good defenders, but I think it just comes down to trust in our system in what we’re trying to do here, and also just taking the pride of keeping whoever you’re guarding in front of you.”
• The season started with a 36-point scoring outburst from Cam Thomas in a loss to the Cavaliers, and the third-year shooting guard’s play hasn’t tailed off.
He is averaging 26.1 points on career-high 46.1 percent shooting from the floor in 32.2 minutes, almost double his output of a season ago.
Most impressively, Thomas missed nine games due to a sprained left ankle and didn’t lose anything, scoring 26 points in a narrow loss to the Hornets in his return.
He started the season as a spark off the bench, and joined the starting lineup when injuries struck.
An argument can be made that the former first-round pick has been the biggest positive so far for the Nets.
It will be interesting to see how the Nets use him from here on out. In a small sample size, just 10 games, Thomas has shown he can be an impact player.
