Nets Are Scorching

I will be the first to admit that I am not a big fan of workouts.  Now I know they are necessary (you do get some valuble stuff – like seeing Casspi manhandle Daye), but I just think teams put too much value in them.  Anyway, that is why I haven’t really been talking about the workouts, but I figured I should do a little update about it for you guys (that’s just how much I care about you guys).

Over the past two days, we have been working out guys that we might be taking at 11 (Even though most of the talk here over the past couple of days have been Casspi related).  On Tuesday, Nets staff got an up close and personal look at Earl Clark and James Johnson (My two favorite guys in the draft – and coincidentally two guys with names consisting of two first names).   Ben Couch, NJNets.com blogger, wrote about the workouts:

The duo has been matching up in workouts for team after team (Clark: “I forget how many. I go blank-headed, I’m traveling so much.”) and have developed a friendship through their shared itineraries. Each said it’s been fun hanging out, but that they’re all business on the court, which was apparent to Nets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe during Tuesday’s workout.

“They did very well,” Vandeweghe said. “They’re both very skilled players. Both athletic, both competed very well today. This is getting toward the end of it for both guys. They’ve had a lot of workouts, and you can tell they had to push through some fatigue, but they were both very impressive.”

Vandeweghe said he thought each could play both forward positions, and that each shot well enough that it was hard to distinguish who was the better shooter. However, he cautioned that each would need to work on extending their range. Competitiveness was the quality Vandeweghe most sought to measure in this instance, because NBA players are always “tired and a little bit injured.”

Even though I don’t really like the idea of the workouts, I do like the fact that both Clark and Johnson have been playing against each other in workouts.  I am also happy that Kiki thinks that both men can play the 4 and the 3.  We already knew Earl Clark could do it, but I wasn’t sure if James Johnson could.

That wasn’t it for the workouts.  Yesterday the Nets worked out a number of guards.  Ty Lawson was the headliner, and it seems that he struggled.  Again, I will let Ben Couch tell you about it:

Ty Lawson played horribly.

Worst workout of his Draft process.

Was a little tired and it showed.

But UCLA point guard Jrue Holiday said that his matchup with the UNC junior was competitive, Duke swingman Gerald Henderson Jr. — who has traveled Tobacco Road enough to know — echoed the sentiment, and Nets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe called the overall session one of the best workouts he’s seen this year.

“Holiday and Lawson were a good matchup,” Vandeweghe said. “I think Lawson is a guy you can see has played a lot of basketball, really knows how to play basketball. Jrue did very well also. Henderson was very good — he’s a tough competitior, comes from a great program and is a guy who really knows how to play basketball and is going help an NBA team. I don’t think there’s any question.”

Henderson, whose father played 13 seasons in the NBA, seemed freshest at the workout’s conclusion, fluidly nailing long jumpers and three-pointers on-the-move when team president Rod Thorn asked his group to take an extra trip around-the-world. His strong conditioning was an effect caused by a tip from dad that being in shape to handle anything thrown at him would put the younger Henderson in the best pre-draft position possible.

There is also this nugget:

He [Kiki] added that it would be dangerous for a team to pass up on the best player available solely to fill a need, and having point guards Devin Harris and Keyon Dooling wouldn’t prevent the Nets from taking a third PG if one they were enamored with were available at No. 11.

Ugh.  I still hope Kiki and Rod are trying to fleece everyone and we aren’t thinking about the PG position.  But everytime I hear this, my hopes dwindle.  It’s not that I don’t think these guards aren’t good players, they are, it is just that I think if we get a solid 4 or a 3 we make the playoffs.  This is because we improve right away.  If we draft a guard, we are pretty much trotting out the same team as last year (Granted the young guys are going to improve just because of their experience last year), and I don’t think we make the playoffs that way.

We will see what happens though.  The draft is a week from today, and soon the speculation will stop and we will be able to put all the rumors to rest.

Despite the fact that Rod Thorn and Kiki have been telling everyone who would listen that they are not moving from the 11th pick, it seems like the Nets moving down is a legitimate possibility.  Why would they move down?  Omri Casspi.  Check out what Jonathan Givony has to say on the situation in his latest Word On The Street:

One team that might be interested in moving down in this draft is New Jersey, as they are reportedly very high on Israeli Omri Casspi, but may not want to invest such a high pick on him.

Now the Nets have been interested in Casspi for some time now (right before the Chicago Combine), and it appears that he just continues to impress.  He had two group workouts in New Jersey and an individual one and the Nets are still interested, so that has to mean something.  Now why not just pick Casspi with the 11th pick?  While Casspi is a solid player, he would be a reach at 11.  If we can get something along with trading down (like a second round pick), moving down would be a nice move.

For those who are interested in what Casspi can do, here is a little excerpt from Jonathan Givony’s New Jersey Group Workout Wrap-Up (Austin Daye fans pay attention to who Casspi is doing this to):

“Austin Daye vs. Omri Casspi turned into a real wrestling match. Casspi just manhandled Daye, really threw him around. It was a bit disappointing to see how little Daye was able to compete from a strength perspective—Casspi is a kind of a skinny guy himself. At one point Casspi cut Daye’s lip open–he had to go to hospital for stitches. The Nets should have done a better job of getting someone to call fouls. Casspi was fouling the hell out of Daye. Some of the guys were looking at each other like ‘what are we watching here?’

Casspi was impressive, just like he’s been everywhere he’s gone. He plays hard, competes. He hit tough shots. Step-backs, runners. Then he missed some wide open J’s—go figure. He hits the toughest shots, but can’t always make the easiest ones. He looked like he could be a great complementary player in a 5 on 5. Definitely an atypical player for a European. “

Toughness is something that the Nets frontcourt (besides Brook) lacks, so I am all for someone who likes to bang inside.

Now I don’t usually talk about non-Nets related news, because this is in fact a Nets blog, but I do want to send my congrats to Kobe and the Lakers.  I have mixed feelings on this win.  On one hand, I really hate Kobe.  On the other, I do respect Phil Jackson, so I guess I am happy for them.  For some real analysis and thought, check out the following links:

• Nine Things To Remember About The Finals
• 15
• Instant Reaction: Game 5

One last thing about the series, despite only being 5 games, this is one of the most exciting series in recent memory.  Two overtime games that were very exciting.  Orlando is probably kicking themselves in the ass right now after blowing two games, but Dwight and the boys shouldn’t worry too much, because I think they will be back in the finals soon…just not next years.  Next year is going to be all about the Nets…what?  I am serious…

This video is pretty old (from Halloween obviously), but I just stumbled across it.  It is a video of Ryan Anderson and Brook Lopez just walking around NJ trick or treating.

My favorite quote is from Brook:

“My name is Brook and I want MORE candy” gets hit with Ryan’s sword “uhhhhh!”

This video reminds me of when Brook and Ryan were at Comic-Con.  These two genuinally seem like friends, and that is good to see from teammates.  Yardbarker, NBA.com, Twitter, or somebody else has to get Brook their own blog/twitter.  That would be amazing.

I got an e-mail yesterday from Yaniv Orgad of Haaretz Sports wondering about Omri Casspi’s situation and if I knew whether or not the Nets were going to draft him.  Now even with my big ESPN title (ok fine, not so big), I still have no clue.  However, Yaniv included a link to an article from Haaretz, and it had an interesting excerpt:

Omri Casspi is just one of 36 players invited to tryouts this weekend with the New Jersey Nets, a senior executive said yesterday. Gary Sussman, the team’s vice president of public relations, would not comment on the Israeli’s chances to be chosen by New Jersey, which has the 11th overall pick in the upcoming NBA draft’s first round. But he did say Casspi made an impression on Rod Thorn, the Nets’ president, who watched him in camp in Chicago. He added that New Jersey would probably invite him to a personal tryout next Tuesday.

I can’t tell from the article if the workout happened yesterday or if it will be happening next Tuesday (I am guessing it happened yesterday), but this is real interesting.  When I talked about this a little while ago, I was talking about a group work-out.  Now, he is getting an individual one.   What does this mean?  Well a couple things (remember, this is only 1 blogger’s speculation).

• Thorn has got a trade completed that has us drafting late in the first round, but it all hinges on whether or not Casspi impresses everyone at his work-out.  If Casspi doesn’t impress, we won’t go through the deal.
• We have a trade done that has us drafting later in the first round and haven’t announced it yet and now we are working out guys who are late round projections.

This can be all wrong, but really who knows?  This could even have something to do with that Carlos Boozer sign and trade (probably not though – I still don’t think it will happen).

Julian Garcia caught up with Devin Harris yesterday, and he made it clear that he hopes the Nets take another PG in the draft.  Quoting the article:

Still, Harris believes drafting a point guard would make sense because he and Dooling are often on the court at the same time. In fact, Harris said, going with a lineup like that more next season, with Carter playing small forward, has been “talked about” by players and coachLawrence Frankand team presidentRod Thorn. Frank went with Harris and Dooling in the backcourt and Carter at small forward toward the end of the season and the Nets thrived. The Nets also used Carter at point guard frequently, but they would rather stay away from that as much as possible since he’s such a scoring threat.

It is interesting, but I disagree with Devin.  Sure, a 3rd PG is important for the Nets (especially because we use Dooling at the SG as well as at the PG) but the team has much more important needs.  They need a starting PF, and if one of the “big three” in my mind are available (Jordan Hill, DeJuan Blair, or James Johnson) we should draft one of them.

Now if they are all off the board (I don’t see that happening) and Earl Clark is gone, then we should look at the PGs available.

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Devin Harris was also on First Take this morning, and it was an interesting interview.  He talked about how the team asks him his opinion about who he is interested in, during the draft.  He also chatted about his buzzer beater, if he wants LeBron on the Nets  (“Sure, but I think he is staying in Cleveland”), and how it feels not to be in the playoffs (“It hurts, I’d rather be playing instead of watching”).  He then closed out the interview with a great impression of Avery Johnson.

It is good to see a Nets’ player getting out there and doing a whole bunch of different stuff for the media.  It is starting to look like Devin Harris is going to be the face of the Nets for years to come.

Previous Free Agent Targets:

Brandon Bass

Way back when Rod Thorn gave his state of the team address, he called this upcoming free agent class average at best.  While he was unable to talk about any specific player (due to NBA rules), you just got the feeling that the Nets wouldn’t be too active in free agency.  With that being said, there are a couple guys I want the Nets to take a look at.  Today we will look at Anderson Varejao.  Now Varejao isn’t officially a free agent yet, but he has let anyone who will listen to him know that he plans on opting out.

(For some reason, this picture just makes me laugh – I think it is because it reminds me of this).  Anderson Varejao is the type of player that you hate when he plays against you, but when he is on your team, you love him.  Anderson Varejao gets a bad rap from everyone except the Cleveland media.   I don’t know how valid these complaints are, Anderson Varejao’s job is to be a disrupter, and he does that job very well.  Varejao (along with his bouncing hair) is all over the court, grabbing rebounds, swiping at basketballs, and taking charges (or flopping).  He frustrates everyone he plays against.

For an example of his ability to frustrate player, just look at some of the reactions he got from Dwight Howard (picked up like 3 or 4 Ts during the conference finals.  Most were with Varejao somehow involved) and Zaza Pachulia (in the first round).

Pros For Signing Anderson Varejao

Despite Varejao’s poor performance in the conference finals (the main problem was that Anderson didn’t really have a match-up during the series.  He was forced covering Rashard Lewis for most of the series), Anderson Varejao would be a huge asset for the New Jersey Nets.  He would give the Nets an energy and a toughness that they don’t really have in their backcourt currently.  Lets look at his numbers compared to our PFs:

Much like Brandon Bass, Anderson Varejao does things on the court that the two PFs on our roster aren’t able to.  He likes to mix it up inside, and he winds up with a lot of rebounds.  Varejao isn’t a shooter (he doesn’t shoot too frequently, but when he does he misses a lot), but that wouldn’t be his job on the Nets roster.  Here is a look at his shot chart

Many teams would hesitate to sign Anderson Varejao because of his lack of shooting ability and because of the lack of his minutes played (Despite being a starter, Varejao’s minutes are low due the amount of fouls that are drawn on him.  This is because of his playing style).

The Nets shouldn’t be worried about this because they have two PFs on their roster that could compliment, and again like Brandon Bass, if signed, he will be splitting time with Yi and Ryan Anderson.  So foul trouble/not being able to stay on the court shouldn’t be an issue.

Cons For Signing Anderson Varejao

The biggest reason for not signing Anderson Varejao is the money that it would cost.  Varejao is opting out of a contract that was set to make him a little over 6 million dollars (For a comparision, Brandon Bass made under 1 million last year and will probably be signed for something less than the MLE this year).  This means there is no question that he would be expecting more in his next contract if he does in fact opt out.  I don’t think Rod Thorn (or many Nets’ fans for that matter) would be willing to pay around 7 million for a guy who would basically become a platoon player playing around 25-30 minutes per game.

Another factor would be Varejao’s greed.  Many stories out of Cleveland has proven that he is in fact a Greedy Gus.  Two years ago, when he was unhappy with his deal Varejao sat out the early part of the season.  Also the fact that he is opting out of his contract shows his greed.  The thing is, if he would be only getting 20 minutes a game here in New Jersey would he cause problems?  Or would he be happy with the money, not really caring about his playing time?  You don’t really know, but his past greedy actions has you leaning in a direction.

Another thing that should have the Nets worried about Anderson Varejao is his flopping.  Say what you will about flopping, but Anderson is great at it.  When he successfully flops on someone, he both gets a foul called on them and gets them frustrated.  In my opinion flopping is part of the game.  However, there are many people out there who strongly disagree with me.  In fact, there are even rumors that there will be talks about implementing rules that would punish floppers (rumors include everything from calling a foul on the flopper to calling a T on the flopper).  If this does in fact happen a big part of Varejao’s game will be taken away, and he would definitly not be worth the money he is trying to get.

The Final Word

Would I be mad if the Nets shelled out 7 to 8 million dollars to sign Anderson Varejao?  Not really, because he would be a valuble asset to the team.  He would give them both rebounding and toughness, and in my opinion he would be great playing alongside with Brook Lopez.  With this being said, I do think that there are cheaper options though.  Brandon Bass does much of the same stuff that Varejao does but at a much lower price-tag.  Like I said, the signing of Anderson Varejao would make me happy.

The Board

I am going to be doing a lot of these FATs in the future and as I profile a Free Agent, he will be added to the Board.  The Board is how I rank the Free Agents that I would want to see the Nets sign.

1.  Brandon Bass

2. Anderson Varejao*

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* – Player Option this upcoming year

** – Restricted Free Agent

Every Wednesday I will go through some of the Mock Drafts that can be found on the web and tell you who they say the Nets will be picking. Here are what the mocks say this week (If there is a mock draft I am missing, or one that you think should be taken off the list, let me know via e-mail or in the comments):

• Chad Ford – ESPN – DeJuan Blair/PF/Pitt
• Dime Mag - Gerald Henderson (No!)/SF-SG/Duke
• FanHouse – Earl Clark/SF-PF/Louisville*
• DraftExpress – DeJuan Blair/PF/Pitt
• NBC Sports – DeJuan Blair/PF/Pitt
• NBADraft.net - James Johnson/PF/Wake Forest
• InsideHoops – James Johnson/PF/Wake Forest
• MyNBADraft.com – DeJuan Blair/PF/Pitt
• HoopsHype – Ty Lawson*
• Yahoo Sports – Earl Clark
• RealGM – Earl Clark/SF-PF/Louisville
• Slam Online - DeJuan Blair/PF/Pitt

*These have not been updated since the last Following The Mock.

Thanks to the help of the commenters, we now have 12 mock drafts we are following.  You can see a big shift in the direction many people got us going:

• DeJuan Blair – 5
• Earl Clark – 3
• James Johnson – 2
• Ty Lawson – 1
• Gerald Henderson (REALLY?) – 1

All of the mocks except two have been updated since the last following the mock, so there is some stuff we can look at.  The first thing one notices is that the PF of preference for the Nets have shifted from James Johnson to DeJuan Blair (You will notice a change in my big board too when I post the new one tomorrow).  The reason?  His measurements.  Sure he was only 6’6″ with sneaks on, but his wingspan is that of a 7’2″ person.  That is just insane, plus he lost a ton of weight and looks more in shape with his body looking more chiseled.  This is a testament to his work ethic, something that GMs are sure to like.

Now I am still a little surprised that Earl Clark didn’t get a ton of votes with the Carlos Boozer rumors spinning around
(I still don’t think it will happen).  It could be that some of these were updated after the combine, but before the Boozer rumor.