When a fight broke out during a Nets practice on Sunday, everybody thought it was a good thing.

The Nets' Paul Pierce during Saturday's preseason game against Detroit. Associated Press

In what starting point guard Deron Williams described as a "typical NBA fight"—because no real punches were thrown—reserves Mirza Teletovic and Andray Blatche tried to attack each other before being separated and exchanging a few words from a safe distance.



Neither player spoke with the media on Sunday, but Kidd had plenty of other problems to discuss for perhaps the first time in his four-month coaching career.

Williams's status for the Oct. 30 season opener was already clouded by a sprained right ankle, and then third-string point guard Tyshawn Taylor injured his right ankle on Saturday. Kidd said both are "day to day" before describing Shaun Livingston as the team's starting point guard "right now."

The more urgent issue may be on defense, where the Nets have allowed 96 points in the paint in two preseason games.

On Sunday, Kidd responded with a series of drills aimed at keeping the ball "out of the paint," which naturally led to some physical play under the boards—and, hence, the fight.

The Nets have some other issues, too. Andrei Kirilenko missed Sunday's practice with a sore back; Jason Terry is still recovering from off-season surgery on his right knee; and the team is averaging a turnover every 2:14.

As for the offensive hiccups, Kidd preached patience and dismissed the 43 turnovers as players "trying to do the right thing."

Kidd had less to say about the injuries, but did rule Williams, Terry, Kirilenko and Taylor out for Monday's preseason game against the Philadelphia 76ers.

He also said he'd be careful not to wear out Livingston.

For the time being, that's not such a bad thing. Kidd can use veteran camp invitee Marko Jaric to keep Livingston's minutes down, and Livingston can spend more time learning the offense and his new teammates, who already appreciate his game.

"I think Shaun's doing a great job," forward Kevin Garnett said of Livingston on Saturday. "He's communicating to the team. He has a presence about himself. He's demanding. That's what you want your quarterback, your point guard, your coach on the floor, to be like. Obviously we don't have D-Will, but Shaun's doing an excellent job."

Livingston—who has 12 assists in 40 preseason minutes—has played well enough to start, but his absence on the bench will be felt if the Nets don't get one of their two injured point guards back before the regular season starts. They currently have 15 guaranteed contracts on the books, and unless a move is made, we could see a nontraditional point guard initiating the offense.

"There's a lot of guys that can play the point," Kidd said when asked if Joe Johnson could run the offense. "If we're not calling it the point, we got a lot of guys that can handle the ball."

Kidd and his players were much more specific when discussing the defensive issues. Livingston, who insisted the problem was conceptual, said the Nets' defense is aimed at pushing teams toward their weaknesses and away from their strengths.

On Saturday night, that meant denying entry passes to the Detroit big men Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond, who ultimately scored 27 points in limited action.

"If we have a team that's not a good three-point shooting team, then we need to make them shoot threes," Livingston said of the Pistons, who hit just four of 15 three-point attempts on the night. "We can't let them get in the paint and get easy scores."

For now, the good news is that the Nets still have weeks to tinker and recover before the start of the regular season. Also, they got to see a fight and nobody got hurt, so Sunday wasn't all bad.