Russell, Okafor returns delayed for slipping Nets

With the Nets mired in a season-worst four-game slide, everything is on the table right now for the Nets, including possible benchings and lineup changes. But those changes won’t include D’Angelo Russell or Jahlil Okafor, both of whom are still weeks away from contributing.

Russell is recovering from arthroscopic surgery back on Nov. 17. General manager Sean Marks said on WFAN on Thursday the initial timeline for the point guard’s return was seven or eight weeks, which would leave another two or three.

“The plan definitely is to see D’Angelo again. I wouldn’t tell you when exactly but hopefully it’s sooner rather than later. He’s progressing well,” Marks said. “He’s five weeks post-op now. I think the timeline was between seven, eight weeks depending on how things go. So we’re still a couple of weeks away.”

Okafor was acquired from the 76ers in a trade on Dec. 7, while the Nets were on a twogame trip to Mexico City. Inactivity when he was with Philadelphia (he logged just 25 minutes for the Sixers this season, none after a threeminute cameo Nov. 7) hurt his conditioning, and the center remains a couple of weeks away from optimal fitness.

“I’d hate to put an exact date on it. Depending on how he feels, we’re going day-today,” Marks said. “I’d assume he’s still probably a weekand-a-half or two weeks away from where he feels comfortable out there and be able to play at the pace in which coach Kenny [Atkinson] and his staff want to play at.”

Until Russell and Okafor are ready, the Nets have to make do with what they have — and they must do a better job of that. As a result, there could be some shuffling of the lineup before Friday’s home game against the Wizards.

“Four losses in a row, we have to look at everything. We have to look at the start, what our lineup looks like to start. I definitely think we have to look at it,” Atkinson said. “We have to analyze it and see if there is something to change up. We will look at that in the next day and see what is going on there.

“We got to get our rhythm in general. We’ve lost it these last four games. It’s a little perplexing.”

The Nets have lost the fight, scrap and grit that had been the building blocks of their much-hyped “culture.” While Atkinson’s options are limited — he could start Caris LeVert instead of Allen Crabbe, or Jarrett Allen instead of Tyler Zeller — the Nets’ issue may be more languidness than lineup.

“It’s more us understanding we can’t take any team for granted, can’t take any play for granted,” DeMarre Carroll said. “We’ve got to come out more physical. I don’t care if we have to foul out or whatever, we have to come out more physical and be the more aggressive team.”

Physical? Not lately. Aggressive? They lost that a while ago.

After winning three out of four games, the Nets have had trouble staying close in those four straight defeats. Over that span their fieldgoal defense (51.7 percent), defensive rating (115.1) and net rating (minus-15.0) were all dead last in the NBA.

“The guys on the court have to look each other in the mirror, hold each other accountable. Once we start doing that, we’ll start winning these games,” Carroll said. “We’ve got to be a scrappy team, and until we become a scrappy team we’re going to keep seeing the same story.”

They’re hoping to rewrite that story against the Wizards, a team they beat 103-98 on Dec. 12. They haven’t won since that game, while the Wizards, after getting John Wall back, have taken three of four.

“We’ve got to come out stronger,” LeVert said. “[We’ve] just got to play harder, play with more energy, make it tougher for guys.”