Nets Are Scorching

The Nets injury woes continue, as Lawrence Frank announced after practice today that Brook Lopez, who hasn’t missed a game yet in his career, had sprained his ankle and would be day-to-day headed into tomorrow’s game in Denver.

The Bergen Record’s Al Iannazzone has some quotes from Brook, who didn’t need x-rays, despite the initial pain he felt when he apparently landed on someone’s foot in practice:

“There was initial pain,” Lopez said. “I don’t think it’s anything serious.”

Will you play tomorrow?

“I don’t know,” Lopez said. “Whatever [Tim Walsh] says. It feels fine right now. Trust me, watching film hurt a lot more.”

Fortunately, according to Iannazzone, it looks like Courtney Lee is good to go tomorrow, though it’s still a game-time decision.

Devin Harris’ return is important for so many reasons. The most important reason might be that he makes it so much easier for his teammates:

When a team is struggling, it’s very easy for fans to clamor for that one guy off the bench who’s not getting a lot of playing time. In the case of Sean Williams and the Nets, Williams absolutely needs to be playing more, because there are a number of statistical indicators that show the Nets are a better team this season when SWat is on the court.

For the first few weeks of the season (let’s say, until about the 0-8 mark for the Nets), Williams spent a majority of the team’s games racking up “DNP – Coach’s Decision.” While the Nets were suiting up eight healthy bodies for many of those games, it was somewhat understandable why coach Lawrence Frank hesitated to Call Williams’ number. There’s no doubt that Williams has a number of athletic gifts, but in his first two seasons, he’s really never been able to put things together on the court. After an okayish rookie season, where he put up a PER (Player Efficiency Rating) of 13.84, a shade below league average, Williams had a disaster of a sophomore campaign, shooting 42 percent from the field, scoring 8.7 points per 40 minutes, turning the ball over on 16.2 percent of his possessions, fouling once every five minutes, and sporting a PER of 8.84. Williams second-season also featured such behavioral issues as getting thrown out of a D-League game and getting arrested in March after allegedly throwing a computer monitor at a store clerk in Denver.

But if there was ever a case of “that was then, this is now,” the early stages of Sean Williams’ 2009-10 campaign is it. While he’s only played in about 18 percent of his team’s total minutes, he’s leading the Nets in simple rating, a metric used on 82games that takes into account a player’s +/- along with a team’s production when a certain player is on the court versus when that player is off the court.

With Williams, the Nets are +6.2 when he’s on the court and -14.0 when he’s off the court, good for a net gain of +20.1. There are currently two five-man floor units that are sporting a positive +/- according to 82games, and both of them feature Sean Williams. Most notably, a rotation of Chris Douglas-Roberts-Terrence Williams-Trenton Hassell- Bobby Simmons and Sean Williams is sporting a +15 in the 17.2 minutes they’ve played together this season. The group has an offensive efficiency of 110, a defensive efficiency of 60 and a win percentage of 100. A second rotation of Rafer Alston- CDR- Hassell- Sean Williams and Brook Lopez has a +1 in 18.6 minutes, with an offensive efficiency of 117, a defensive efficiency of 119 and a win percentage of 100.

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Or is it 3/4 of a season too early?  I said it right after the Nets last game against the Knicks, but I think Lawrence Frank’s tenure as the head coach of the New Jersey Nets is coming to an end.  The beat-writers are starting to pick up on this now, and hell, Lawrence Frank is even joking about it.  You might have remembered my little rant against Lawrence Frank after the Nets’ loss to the Bobcats, I did everything but call for Frank’s head in that post, and that is because I think that firing a coach mid-way through his final season is a silly no-win move.  Especially when coach Frank  has got his guys playing so hard.  I don’t think there is no real divide among the locker room despite the reports of CDR not handling losses well.  If Lawrence Frank gets fired, I am afraid of a large let-down from the players who have been playing so hard for coach Frank.  There is currently not enough talent on this team to suffer a let-down like that.  Another reason why I hate this decision is because I think the idea of an interim head coach in any sport is a silly one.  There is a reason why the coach is currently an assistant and not a head coach.  Sitting down and thinking about it, there hasn’t really been an interim head coach who has kept his job after the end of the season.  Out of the numerous interim head coaches we see on a yearly basis, I can only think of two who stuck, Alvin Gentry and our own Lawrence Frank (interesting isn’t it).  Alvin Gentry was successful because he brought the Suns back to that fun loving up and down game.  Lawrence Frank worked because the team gave up on Byron Scott, and they were excited to play for anyone other than Byron Scott.  None of those situations are at play for the Nets this year.

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With Devin Harris back, Dave D’Alessandro writes that the team must start winning soon, or Lawrence Frank is not going to survive as head coach.

Meanwhile, Dave D. speculates Frank will probably be gone if the Nets get swept away on their west coast road trip. He also talks about how Rod Thorn likely blames ownership for the Nets woes.

Bloomberg profiles the Atlantic Yards development project.

Chris Douglas-Roberts is still fuming over all the losing.

In a comparison I have tried to avoid making for fear or losing my mind, the New York Post says the Nets are like the 2009 Mets.

In a sign that the Nets are officially a national story, Norman Chad of the Charleston Gazette thinks the Nets could go 0-82 (hardy, har, har).

Atlantic Yards Report analyzes the upcoming authorization of bonds for the Barclays Arena.

Nice profile of former Net Richard Jefferson in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.