Check Me Out At The Daily Dime
Nov 5, 2009 Tooting My Horn
I know there isn’t a Nets game or anything, but come over and enjoy the chat:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-091105
I will be there. Is there anything more you can ask for? Probably not.
Injury Update: Devin Out Longer, CDR Doubtful for Friday
Nov 5, 2009 Chris Douglas-Roberts, Devin Harris, Injuries
The injury news around the Nets keeps getting comically worse.
First, Lawrence Frank told the beat writers today that Chris Douglas-Roberts, was experiencing “flu like symptoms” and will not be on the team bus down to Philadelphia for tomorrow night’s game against the 76ers.
As explained by Al Iannazzone in the Bergen Record:
The league policy – due to swine flu – is with flu-like symptoms a person has to be isolated for 24 hours, take tests, etc. Frank said they’re not sure if it’s a cold or the flu so Douglas-Roberts stayed back when the team bussed to Philly. There’s a chance he won’t be there tomorrow night.
Even if Douglas-Roberts wants to play through it, if it’s the flu he can’t.
This would leave the Nets with 9 healthy bodies for tomorrow night. Terrence Williams would likely get the call at the 3, while backing up Rafer Alston at PG.
There was also a status update on Devin Harris today, and it’s not looking good. His original 7-10 day prognosis was a wee bit optimistic and he’s now talking a return in two weeks, maybe longer.
As reported by Dave D’Alessandro in the Star-Ledger:
“It could take four weeks to heal,” Devo said. “If I come back in two weeks and I still feel it, I’m going to take the next two weeks. I’m hoping to be back in two weeks. That’s what I’m hoping for.
“We don’t have a date quite in mind. It comes down to when I come back I want to be completely healthy.”
With the way everybody’s injuries are lining, the Devin, Yi Jianlian, Jarvis Hayes and Keyon Dooling could all be returning together before the four game West Coast swing during Thanksgiving week. Granted with the injuries piling up, and the schedule not getting any easier, it’s quite possible the Nets could still be searching for their first win of the season by that point.
This season is officially becoming a nightmare and it’s barely started. I was lucky enough to suffer through a similar situation as a Mets fan this past summer, and trust me, this is not fun. There’s nothing more deflating than losing player after player to injury. And each one of these injuries seems to be so flukey and disconnected, it’s hard to really fault anyone on the team’s training staff, though I’m sure many fans are going to start looking for some kind of scapegoat.
What’s even more disconcerting is the bodies may not be done piling up. Not to be a pessimist, but Eduado Najera, our starting 4 by default right now, hasn’t exactly been the beacon of good health in recent years, and Rafer Alston is now on the wrong side of 30.
I’m trying to find the silver lining in all this right now, but I really can’t. If the Nets are going to build on anything this season, they need guys like Devin, Yi and CDR on the court, logging 30+ minutes a game. Guys like Jarvis Hayes and Keyon Dooling, whoprovide nice depth and veteran leadership, need to get into game action sooner instead of later. The Nets are being forced to play the back of their bench and they’re just not going to win games if this trend continues.
There’s still a lot of basketball season left, but that’s not going to stop teams from feasting on the Nets when they try to get healthy. If the team can’t find a way to gut out a couple of victories over the next two weeks, there’s going to be talk of this being a historically bad season in New Jersey. Even with the promise of a lottery pick and a new billionaire Russian owner, that can’t be good for the long-term needs of this organization.
Thoughts on the Game: Nuggets Outrun, Outgun Nets
Nov 5, 2009 2009-2010 Regular Season, Nets vs. Nuggets, Thoughts On the Game
Headed into the game last night with the undefeated Denver Nuggets coming into town, you just had to have a sinking feeling in your stomach about the Nets chances to pull out their first win of the season. Between the onslaught of injuries and just the overall poor fundamental play that has plagued the team in the season’s first four games, the Nets reminded me of a TV actor embroiled in a contract dispute with the producers headed into the season finale. As a viewer, you’re watching the show and waiting to see if the writers bump the character off, or keep them hanging around in some kind of open-ended way that suggests there could be a resolution over the summer if cooler heads prevailed.
The Nets last night made it through the first half of the show unscathed, and even looked like they could end the program conclusively on the winning side before getting smashed in a car wreck, thrown off a bridge, dropped into a burning building and shot 30 times by the explosive Nuggets offense. By the time the fourth quarter had started, with the Nuggets up by 17, it was pretty clear to me that the producers had made their decision about the Nets’ fate.
This is going to be a recurring theme with the Nets this season. They are yet to put four consistent quarters of play together. Maybe if they had, they wouldn’t be winless and off to one of their worst starts in franchise history. While the abomination known as Monday night’s third quarter against the Bobcats showcased how completely clueless the Nets could look on offense for long stretches, last night’s third quarter showcased their porous defense. With Carmelo Anthony struggling throughout most of the first half, it was clearly inevitable that he was going to hit his shots eventually. Meanwhile, the Nuggets were able ride Nene on the inside and Ty Lawson created havoc pretty much everywhere else. The Nuggets scored 44 points in that quarter and never looked back. Read the rest of this entry »
Nets on the Net: 11/5/09 Edition
Nov 5, 2009 Brooklyn, Courtney Lee, Nets on the Net, Rafer Alston
Courtney Lee and Rafer Alston, the Nets current starting backcourt, are trying to make the most of their opportunity.
Forest City Ratner, the developer of the Atlantic Yards project, will get $55 million from the federal government.
Bleacher Report makes a case for the Nets to build a new arena in the Bronx. Sounds like someone is still experiencing a Yankees World Series win hangover.
Atlantic Yards Report looks at the IRS deadline for tax-exempt bonds as it related to building the Barclays Arena in Brooklyn.
The Growth Spurts of Yi
Nov 5, 2009 Kiki Vandeweghe, Yi
While the loss of Devin Harris to injury will likely have the most detrimental impact on the entire Nets team, the knee injury recently suffered by Yi Jianlian is probably the most disappointing when it comes to player development.
In a season where the Nets are not expected to do much of anything in the standings, the development and growth of individual players like Courtney Lee, Brook Lopez and Terrence Williams is paramount. For Yi, the opportunity to grow and to prove he belongs in the NBA after two floundering seasons to start his career, is absolutely critical. With an injured knee, Yi’s development is indefinitely on hold, his career, now starting to resemble the Nets long-stalled move to Brooklyn.
“He was playing very well,” Nets GM Kiki Vandeweghe told the beat reporters at practice yesterday about Yi. “He’s clearly improved from last year. He’s bigger, stronger and you can see he’s made a difference for us.”
No other player on the Nets roster was watched more intensely this summer thanYi. While he wasn’t exactly playing against top-shelf competition, he averaged a double-double in the FIBA Asia Championship tournament, looking more aggressive around the rim, relying on his jump shot far less than he did with the Nets last season. There was much to-do about some of the bulk Yi added over the summer. While it may not make him a smarter player, by becoming a stronger, tougher player, he might finally start to put his game together.
It’s hard to judge someone on only four games of play, but Yi was already showing signs of being a new and improved player. While the scoring (9.8) and rebounding (7.6) numbers weren’t off-the-charts, there were other signs of encouragement. Yi’s rebound rate (14.2) and True Shooting Percentage (50.5) were personal highs for the power forward. Defensively, Yi was blocking 1.3 shots a game in the early going, after barely registering half a block per game a year ago, despite his tall, 7′0″ frame.
But what was most encouraging was how active Yi was around the rim offensively. Last year, 75 percent of Yi’s field goal attempts were jumpers, according to 82games. And he stayed away from the paint with good reason. His effective field goal percentage was .465 on inside shots, including a terrible .363 percent on all close shots, which accounted for 18 percent of his field goal attempts.
This year he was attempting 3.3 of his 8 field goal attempts within 10 feet of the rim, including 2.5 shots at the rim, according to Hoopdata. His field goal percentage on those shots at the rim was 60 percent, a tick above the league average of 59.3 percent.
All preseason, I watched Yi turn down the 15-20 foot jump shot and look to take the ball to the rim. He was attempting dunks that, in hindsight, were probably a bit foolish given how far away he was from the hoop and who was there to meet him, but the fact that he was even attempting these kinds of shots was eye-opening.
The quintessential play that demonstrated the different in style for Yi happened two quarters before he hurt his knee against Charlotte Monday night. Yi drove to the rim and missed the show, wrestled the ball out of Tyson Chandler’s hands, and went up strong to get the two points and the foul.
The last time Yi looked so good was during a four game stretch in January, where he averaged 17.75 points per game before injuring his thumb. When he returned, Yi was back to being passive. He shot too many jumpers and eventually played his way out of the starting lineup.
It’s unknown what kind of player Yi will be when he returns in another month or so. But it’s vital for us to eventually find out. While Yi may never be the all-star he was touted to be when he entered the league, we’ll never know what his ceiling will ultimately be if he keeps going through this growth spurts. There is enough uncertainty surrounding the Nets organization – Yi’s role and how he fits in to the future of this team can’t be one of them.