Nets Are Scorching

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.

In his most recent column on Nets Insider, beat writer Al Iannazzone comprehensively looks at the many factors that have led to an 0-13 start for the Nets. There are some things mentioned that we’ve heard before: Bruce Ratner’s interest in real estate rather than winning basketball, poor drafting, like passing on Gilbert Arenas for Brandon Armstrong  or Danny Granger in favor of Antoine Wright, injuries to a bunch of key players this season, and not doing anything to provide quality depth this year after trading away Vince Carter.

However, there were two points in particular in Iannazzone’s column that caught my eye. First, the Nets’ propensity to go “small” with their lineups:

You can win a game or two by playing small, but you won’t win regularly unless you have the perfect mix. The Nets don’t and the past two years have gone small too much. This season, coach Lawrence Frank has been forced to play that way at times because of the injuries, but the Nets aren’t a good rebounding team. They need their best rebounders on the floor late in games because they give up too many late offensive boards. That’s all about heart and will and the Nets just have to keep guys off the boards.

Then, for something even more alarming, the idea that the Nets tend to play “not to lose,” which is always a surefire sign of a losing ballclub:

They’re playing not to lose instead of playing to win. They don’t know how to win yet. The Knicks were picking-and-rolling them to death yesterday and then after a timeout late, the Nets knew it was coming and yet David Lee made the pick, rolled and scored to put the Knicks up four with 1:44 left. The Nets also gave up two big offensive boards late. They come out slow every third quarter and it seems to set them back mentally. When Dwyane Wade fumbled the ball on Nov. 14, Trenton Hassell should have grabbed it but was afraid he would be called for a reach against a superstar. All of that and not getting a shot off in both games against the Sixers when the Nets lost both by three are marks of a team that can’t get out of its own way.

I tend not to get caught up in columns like these, because they’re usually crafted by people who don’t follow the team day-in and day-out, but Iannazzone is a beat writer who has covered the Nets since 2004, so I think his opinions and observations carry a little more weight.

Both of these points come down to coaching and preparedness. The “wildcat” offense that Lawrence Frank talked about in preseason, has been a definitive flop, in large part because without a playmaker like Devin Harris running it, there’s not enough speed and versatility on the court to make up for the lack of height and strength. Meanwhile, Frank is obsessed with pigeon-holing Bobby Simmons at the four, when a guy like Sean Williams is proving to be a better option (more on this tomorrow).

As for the “playing not to lose” thing, it’s interesting that Iannazzone mentions the Wade shot, because after watching it a few times last weekend, I still don’t understand how after losing the ball for a second, he was still able to get that shot off. Meanwhile, the Nets have had a number of close and late situations, two of which ended without even getting a shot off against Philadelphia, and one other instance on opening night against Minnesota, where the team played so tentatively on the final play, they ended up getting beat on an offensive rebound anyway.

Yes, it’s easy to beat up on an 0-13 team, and it’s even easier to rewrite history and talk about how the Nets catered to Jason Kidd too much, or should have retained Kenyon Martin on a max deal (was he really worth it given his injury history?). But still, Iannazzone makes a number of good points that go beyond the “Nets are too injured” excuse. It appears to me that a legitimate case is starting to be made against Lawrence Frank, so this is going to be fascinating to watch, even if the Nets continue to lose games.

Devin Harris feels good after his first game back.

ESPN Insider ranks the top NBA sophomores. Brook Lopez comes in at #6 and CDR at #10.

Steve Politi of the Star-Ledger thinks it’s only going to get worse for the Nets.

CDR is not dealing well with the losing, and it sounds like Lawrence Frank wants him to stop complaining about it.

Ken Berger of CBS Sports looks at the Nets and Knicks and speculates that this could be the end of the line for Frank.

By the way, officially add Eduardo Najera to the injured list, after he received two cortisone shots in his back.

AP Photo/Morry Gash

Knickerblogger, Posting and Toasting, Devin Harris Interview,  Lawrence Frank Interview

The Nets aren’t going to finish the season 0-82, but after games like today’s 98-91 loss against the Knicks, it sure feels like it’s a possibility.

Outside of a third-quarter run where the Knicks extended their lead to 15, they never came across to be a better team than the Nets. Both teams shot about the same (42 percent for the Knicks, 41 percent for the Nets), they only outrebounded the Nets by two (47-45) and they had two more turnovers than the Nets (15-13). Yet, the Knicks were consistently in control of the game and did their best bend but don’t break imitation as the Nets went on a 16-2 run in the fourth quarter, to cut the Knicks lead to one.

So if the Knicks weren’t necessarily better, why did they win their third game this afternoon in New Jersey, while the Nets are still desperately seeking their first win of the year, with an ominous four game west-coast trip on the horizon and a record-tying 0-17 start staring them straight in the face?

There were two key sequences/plays that seemed to be turning points of the game, that also happened to tie-in to the one aspect of the game where the Nets were truly deficient when compared to the Knicks: favorable calls from the refs.

This will naturally come across as sour grapes, but I don’t care. At the 7:02 mark in the third quarter and the Knicks up 62-54, the returning Devin Harris, who was absolutely dynamite off the bench with 12 points and 7 assists in 25 minutes of play, appeared to get his hand on a Knicks pass. The refs, however, called it a kick ball, given the ball back to the Knicks. Six seconds later, Brook Lopez, who also had a nice game with 18 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks, looked like he got what would have been his fifth block on the Danilo Gallinari dunk attempt. The refs blew their whistles again, giving Brook his fourth foul and then hit him with a technical after Lopez justifiably went berserk. The Knicks rode that momentum to an 8-3 run that gave them a 15-point lead, their largest of the game.

The Nets were still able to fight their way back, after rolling on a 16-2 run in the fourth. That set up key whistle number two, at the 5:27 mark of the fourth with the Knicks up 82-79. Sean Williams, who had checked in for Brook who after Lopez collected his fifth foul, stepped in front of a driving David Lee to draw the charge. Williams’ feet look planted and he was a good two feet out of the restricted area under the basket, yet the refs still called a blocking foul, giving Lee two free throws (he made one).

So how can I say the refs were jerking the Nets around a bit just based on two calls? Well, consider how the Knicks are one of the worst teams at attempting free throws in the NBA, it’s curious how they shot nine more free throws than the Nets, and drew six more fouls. In the first quarter, Eddy Curry had checked in and instantly drew two quick fouls on Brook Lopez. That’s right. A player who had sat out the start of the season because he was basically fat and out of shape was able to draw two ticky-tack fouls on Brook Lopez within a minute of each other. Something doesn’t add up here.

For those who don’t want to simply blame the refs, another ongoing problem for the Nets reared its ugly head again – namely, they can’t hit threes, and they give up far too many treys to the opposition. The Knicks were 8-23 from three-point-land, which isn’t necessarily an abomination, but the Nets were only 4-18. And while coach Lawrence Frank keeps preaching defense with this team, especially on the perimeter, why did he stick a slow-footed defender like Josh Boone on Danilo Gallinari, the Knicks’ best shooter,  at the start of the game. Gallinari naturally made the Nets pay with a pair of threes in the first.

To try and harvest something positive from this game, there was a ray of light with the return of Devin Harris. Unlike the Devin we saw in the first two games of this year, where he just seemed to be missing something, this Harris seemed to have his explosiveness back. He took the ball to the hole on his first shot attempt of the game and got two points. Soon after, he ran his first successful pick and roll with Brook, which lead to an alley-oop dunk for Brook. Then, in the quintessential Harris play, at the 2:21 mark in the second he got the screen from Sean Williams, giving him the space to split Al Harrington and Chris Duhon and tomahawk jam the ball over David Lee.

Because he was coming back from an injury, Harris was limited to 25 minutes, so there is a silver lining in thinking that once he shakes off some of the rust and rebuilds his stamina, he will be able to regain his form that made him a real scoring/passing force for the Nets last season. But that doesn’t change some of my concerns about this Nets team. Even with Devin Harris at 80 percent, they had ample opportunity to beat the Knicks today. Instead, they continued to miss open shots, and they continued to be dogged by bad luck. How fitting for a team that just lost its 13th game in a row.

For a look at some key plays, read more after the jump.
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How does 0-13 sound Nets fans? The Nets are now four losses away from matching the worst-ever start by an NBA franchise as they fell to the New York Knicks (3-9) 98-91 at the Izod Center this afternoon.

• While the continuing losing streak will be the main headline, another big story was the return of Devin Harris, who hasn’t played since the season’s second game against Orlando. Coming off the bench, Harris scored 12 points and made 7 assists in 25 minutes. He looked energetic and even got a thunderous tomahawk jam in the second quarter off a Sean Williams screen.
• Brook Lopez battled foul trouble all game, but still finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks.
• Speaking of fouls, lots of iffy calls by the refs against the Nets this afternoon. What appeared to be a clean block by Brook on Danilo Gallinari led to two FTs and a technical on Lopez. In the fourth, Sean Williams picked up his fifth foul on a blocking charge, when it looked like his feet were planted and he was out of the restricted area.
• Another good scoring effort from Chris Douglas-Roberts who finished with 24 points on 11-19 shooting, including a great step-back 19-foot jumper with under 2 minutes to go in the game to cut the Knicks lead to one.
• Sean Williams didn’t score a point, but he contributed 5 rebounds and 3 blocks in 15 minutes, before fouling out.
• David Lee chipped in a double-double for the Knicks with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
• Terrence Williams had 17 points off the bench.

This game right here could be the Nets final chance to get a win before they break the record for most losses to start a season.  Denver, Portland, Sacramento (who is much better), and Lakers, that is a gauntlet right there.  As for the game this afternoon, it is good to finally see Devin back (even if he is coming off the bench today), because it puts guys back to their normal roles.  Rafer Alston won’t be playing as many minutes, T-Will won’t be getting any minutes at the PG, and that means it cuts Bobby Simmons minutes at the 3.  All of those things are good things, and it is good to see this team finally getting healthy.

This game is going to be a battle of styles.  The Knicks play very little defense while the Nets can’t score.  Whoever wins tonight will play their style the best.  If the Knicks score over 100, they are going to win.  If the Nets can keep them around 85-90, I think they can win.  The key to keeping the Knicks from running is limiting turnovers and making/taking good shots.  If the Nets can do that, they will win today.  Let’s look at the lineups:

Chris Duhon vs. Rafer Alston:

Like we already said, Harris is coming off the bench today, so that leaves Alston matched up with Duhon.  Duhon is probably more unpopular with Knicks fans than Rafer is with Nets fans, so that tells you how he has been playing.  Rafer is getting a lot of flack for not playing well, but he is playing how he has always played.  He takes a good amount of threes and there are days he hits them and plays great and there are days he misses them and plays awful.  The Nets aren’t 0-12 simply because of Rafer.

Advantage:  Rafer Alston

Toney Douglas vs. Chris Douglas-Roberts

Toney Douglas is the guy that is preventing Allen Iverson for being a Knick.  The Knicks brass (and myself) love this kid’s toughness and defense, plus he can score.  He could be a real good player going forward, but CDR is going to have his way with him today.   CDR is quicker, and his length will be a big problem for Douglas.

Advantage:  Chris Douglas-Roberts

Danilo Gallinari vs. Trenton Hassell

After going up against a few great players (Wade, Anthony, and Carter), Hassell gets a bit of a rest here.  I am not saying Gallinari isn’t a good player, he is one of the best three point shooters in the league right now, but I am willing to bet that Hassell would rather cover him than the guys I listed before.  Plus on the offensive end, Hassell will be able to use his new-found post game to body up the weaker, slower Gallinari.

Advantage:  Trenton Hassell

Wilson Chandler vs. Josh Boone

Wilson Chandler is a guy like Thaddeus Young.  He has a guard’s skillset in a forward’s body.  If he is matched up against Boone he will be able to take him off the dribble, and Boone’s size advantage won’t play a factor at all because Boone can’t score in the post.

Advantage:  Wilson Chandler

David Lee vs. Brook Lopez

This is a game where you want to see Brook Lopez not take a shot from farther than 15 feet out.  David Lee is a great player, but he is really a PF and not a C, Brook Lopez is the bigger body, and he can just body him up and score in the post.  The only worry I have is Lee out-running him, but Brook showed in the preseason that he can handle that.

Advantage:  Brook Lopez

Keys To The Game

Make Shots:

If the Nets make shots, it limits the Knicks possessions.  The Knicks like to run, but they can’t run if they have to grab the ball out of the net.

Keep Using CDR and Brook in the pick and roll:

The one (and maybe only) good thing I took away from the game last night was how successful the pick and roll was with CDR running it.  They would give it to him on the wing, and then they had Brook set the screen for him.  It makes sense, CDR is a much more comfortable shooter off the dribble (rather than catching and shooting), plus he is a good enough passer to hit Brook on the roll if he is open.  It worked well, and lets hope that continues.

Limit Turnovers:

For the same reason, you want to limit the Knicks chances to run and get easy baskets.  You can do that by not turning it over.  You also want to get as many attempts at the basket as possible since the Nets aren’t the best shooting team.

Prediction

Current Record = 7-5

I think the Nets pull this one out.  They needed a crazy comeback to beat the Pacers and two overtimes to beat the Bobcats.  Granted, both of those teams beat the Nets, but I just think with Devin back, it will make a bunch of players better, especially Brook Lopez.  Nets win this one.

So today, a team we’re all pretty familiar with comes to town, the New York Knicks. Still, despite being completely saturated by the New York media market, I thought it would be fun to discuss the Knicks with Mike Kurylo, of the great TrueHoop site, Knickerblogger.

NAS: So the Nets and Knicks are each off to terrible starts. Convince me that the Knicks are in better shape than the Nets right now.

No thanks. Doing so would be like arguing who is going to win the next Miss America pageant, Harvey Keitel or Steve Buscemi.

NAS: What do you think of the recent Allen Iverson to the Knicks rumors?

As someone who’s in the business of promoting debate and readership, the rumors have been great. However I hope they remain that way, rumors. However you view Iverson, he’s older and he has been benched and released by his last two teams. I don’t think bringing in a former All Star who is demanding starters minutes is good for a team with so many young players that need court time.

NAS: Are you surprised by Danilo Gallinari’s solid November? Can he keep it up?

Because he was limited both by minutes and injury, Knick fans didn’t know what to expect from him this year. So far we’ve been pleasantly surprised. Gallo’s shooting has remained incredibly good, but of coruse he still struggles in other areas which you’d expect from a very young player. Luckily D’Antoni isn’t shy about giving young players minutes, and Gallo is getting lots of minutes which should aid his development.

NAS: Is Eddie Curry the help the Knicks need right now?

No. Oh wait this is going to appear on another team’s blog? Yes absolutely. His post scoring is just what our team needs to open up the outside. And his recent commitment to his diet shows he’s turned a new leaf. I hope another team doesn’t give the Knicks an offer for him, because I think he’s finally putting it all together and will live up to his potential.

NAS: Be honest. How tired are you of all of this LeBron to the Knicks talk?

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being Rip Van Winkle and 1 being a somniphobic on speed, I’ll go with 3. With the abysmal start and lack of a draft pick, there’s nothing to look forward. Knick fans are like extras in the Iceman Cometh, we don’t have much to keep us going other than a pipe dream, and we’re OK with it.