Nets Are Scorching

I will be on Sports Radio 620 WHEN in Syracuse today around 3:45.  I will be talking about the Nets winless start, their outlook going forward, that night’s game with Philadelphia, and I might even touch on some Atlantic Division stuff, not sure though.

I don’t know how many readers we have from Syracuse, but if you get that station check it out.  I do believe they stream as well, but I am not positive.

WHEN

If anything it should be interesting.  Check it out if you can!

The impending free agency of LeBron James this summer is obviously going to be major storyline throughout this season, especially with the New York Knicks (and yes, the Nets) expected to make a run at him,  but a column by Brian Schmitz in the Orlando Sentinel this morning is a bit of a head-scratcher.

In the column, Schmitz clearly doesn’t want to wait for the summer to find out where LeBron may end up (again, in all likelihood, he’s going to stay with the Cavs because they can offer him the most money, but facts like that don’t make good column fodder outside of Cleveland). So, while calling LeBron a “diva” in the process, Schmitz advises the Cavs to trade their franchise player mid-season in a variety of scenarios, including one where the Nets would send Devin Harris to Cleveland.

Schmitz writes:

LeBron wants the best for his Cleveland Cavaliers, but he isn’t willing to make a commitment. In the real world, the Cavs should demand an answer now. But this is diva basketball, so they are at his mercy and will wait to see how the postseason plays out.

A possibility looms that the Cavs might have to trade him, most likely in a sign-and-trade this summer if he says he’s resigning, not re-signing.

Schmitz sees the most practical secenario as a mid-season trade so the Cavs could net some real talent. His first suggestion, a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers for Andrew Bynum (their salaries, $15.7 million for LeBron and $12.5 million for Bynum are kind of close). Granted just the thought of this trade and the idea of LeBron and Kobe on the same team together, dominating the Western Conference until the end of time, just made me vomit in my mouth a little. Okay, I’m better.

Other trade scenarios in addition to the Devo-for-Lebron deal mentioned above? LeBron to Orlando for Vince Carter, to Denver for Carmelo Anthony, to Atlanta for Joe Johnson, to Phoenix for Amare’ Stoudemire, to Toronto for Chris Bosh, to New Orleans for Chris Paul and to the Knicks for …. well, he really doesn’t propose a name here but I guess he felt inclined to include them because they’re the New York Knicks damnit and the entire NBA is just so desperate to make Madison Square Garden matter again that they’re continuing to build this storyline up despite how illogical it is.

So it seems like Schmitz’s solution to LeBron-a-palooza is to just trade him for some other team’s best players and let the chips fall where they may. I guess that idea makes sense if you ignore some other things, most notably there is no way Cleveland would ever trade LeBron mid-season, and they still have the best chance to resign him at the end of the season just based on dollars and cents.  I understand the LeBron-Shaq tandem is off to a shaky start, but it’s not like the Cavs are 0-7 right now (ahem). You would think the Cavs would want to wait a little longer for the team to gel, or try to acquire more complimentary talent at the trade deadline before giving up on their franchise guy and the best player in the NBA.

As for the idea of a Devin-LeBron idea – with Devo out with his groin injury, it’s certainly a great time to think about what this Nets team would look like if the organization was able to trade him for another superstar, but it goes against what the Nets seems to be attempting to do here. The team’s much talked-about salary relief this summer will come in the form of dead weight players like Bobby Simmons, Rafer Alston and Tony Battie. By cutting out those guys and adding a superstar like LeBron or whoever to the Nets young core of Harris-Lopez-Lee-CDR-TWill, the Nets will instantly become one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.  Why trade Devin Harris away for LeBron when it seems like all it could potentially take this summer is money to get him here?

Don’t expect CDR or Courtney Lee for tonight’s game against the Sixers.

The big news out of practice yesterday was that Devin Harris started light practice and could take on more strenuous activity later in the week. Tony Battie was also spotted practicing.

Lawrence Frank talks about how Terrence Williams has been asked to do a lot in the early part of this season.

Despite the injuries and adversity, Lawrence Frank is still talking 40-wins for this team.

Business West profiles the Springfield Armor, the Nets D-League affiliate.

The Canadien Press mentions how the Nets are paying their dues right now with their tough start.

In a response to people who think everything is great about New York sports, NYTimes columnist George Vescey mention the Nets (along with the Knicks, Giants, Jets, etc.) regarding some things that are wrong with NY sports.

The Video Breakdowns took a little break because I was unable to get my hands on game video for the past couple games, but I was able to get video from the Boston game, so I thought I would hit you with a breakdown.  I gave it a few days, because I was high on the Nets’ performance right after the game, and I wanted to see if I would have felt the same way watching it with a clear head.

Do I?  Yes and No.  I still think the Nets played the best they could given the circumstances on defense, but their play on the offensive end was well, offensive.  The Celtics forced a lot of turnovers yes, but the Nets contributed to it a ton.  If the Nets gave up the ball less on offense, I think they could have won this game (gasp!).

P.S.  Brook, isn’t in this too much because I already looked at his performance in depth yesterday.

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Lawrence Frank seems like a chill bro (minus the whole “not being a real good coach thing”).  With the swine flu on everybody’s mind, chill bros need a way to show other bros some love.  Coach Frank knows what’s up.

I mean, I could totally see us throwing down some Heinekens in Hoboken, bro-ing out real hard.  He’d tell some hilarious joke and I’d go for the pound and he’d rebuff.  ”Swine Flu bro!”  I would then knowingly nod as we pound elbows.

Just saw this nugget via NetsBasketball on Twitter:

Just got word that @therealtwill won’t tweet until the Nets get a ‘W’ … and he liked using Twitter, so don’t expect it to be long.

For those of you not up-to-speed on your social media, therealtwill is none other than Nets rookie Terrence Williams.  Looking at his Twitter account, Williams hasn’t made a post since November 3rd, so this self-imposed embargo must indeed be legit. This is certainly a disappointment, since TWill is probably one of the most entertaining NBA guys on Twitter and one of three Nets (along with Chris Douglas-Roberts, and to a much lesser degree, Devin Harris) on the social media platform.

Looking ahead, if the Nets can find a way to at least get CDR and Courtney Lee healthy enough for the 76ers tomorrow night, we might get TWill back sooner rather than later. But Friday and Saturday night the Nets swing through Florida on the road against the Magic and the Heat, so fingers are crossed that @therealtwill gets his tweets back.

In what may be considered a bit of an eyebrow-raiser, the NBA released their All-Star ballot today and Yi Jianlian was not included as a potential selection (hat tip NetsDaily for noticing).

This is defintely a curious development as Yi, who will likely miss the next month with a knee sprain, gained 1.8 million votes last year and finished third at the forward position on the Eastern Conference ballot. With Yao Ming expected to miss the entire season, Yi is China’s only marketable “star” playing in the NBA this season. While he certainly didn’t put up All-Star numbers last season, and wasn’t really on pace to before his injury this season, you would think in it’s efforts to be an international brand, the NBA would have kept Yi on there, even if there was potential for him to undeservedly start because of some ballot-stuffing. It’s the price you pay for opening your league to players from the world’s most populated country.

As it stands, the only Nets on the ballot this season are Devin Harris, Brook Lopez and Courtney Lee. If Yi, or any other Net is going to get voted into the All-Star game, they’re going to have to be written in.

Update: The Nets aren’t the only team with key players missing from the ballot. Over at Bulls Confidential, Mark Deeks notices that Joakim Noah, who in the early-going is averaging 11.3 points and 11 rebounds, was also snubbed from the ballot, though Bulls fans desperate to get one of their bigs on the team, have Brad Miller as a choice.

The Nets are now officially off to their worst start in franchise history, which says a lot considering the nefarious history of this organization. However, even with the 0-7 start and half of the roster injured – including having the first player in NBA history to be diagnosed with the “Swine Flu,” I think it’s always good to put things in proper context. So, with that in mind, I have developed the “Nets Misery Index.” I’m going to take a look at some other miserable seasons in Nets history and rate each one of a scale of one to five Dwayne Schintziuses – one equaling not so miserable, and five equaling misery comparable to building your roster around Dwayne Schintzius. For each season we’ll look at three factors: expectations for the team, overall performance and long-term impact on the franchise. The caveat here is I’m only looking at seasons that I’ve personally experienced as a fan. We’ll then see how the start and ultimate outlook for the 2009-10 New Jersey Nets compares on the Misery Index.

Check out the misery after the jump.

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