Nets Are Scorching

Since Kiki Vandeweghe and Del Harris took the reins of the coaching staff last week, there’s been a lot of buzz about how these personnel moves could positively impact the team’s younger players –especially Yi Jianlian.

As Nets Daily reminded us recently, Harris may be most responsible for unleashing Yi onto the basketball world. During the 2004 Olypmics, Harris, then coach of Team China, inserted a 16-year-old Yi into the starting lineup. When Harris and Kiki were hired by the Nets last week, Yi, who has been injured since early November with a sprained knee, and is expected to miss at least another week after getting 50 stitches in his lip at practice Saturday, reportedly was pleased with move.

Now it appears that Kiki is making more exceptions in order to cater to Yi.  In today’s practice report, the Star-Ledger’s Dave D’Alessandro wrote that Jarin Akana has been invited to multiple practices by Kiki Vandeweghe. Who’s Jarin Akana? In the past, he’s functioned as a trainer, a coach on Jeff Bzdelik’s Denver Nuggets staf and, a part of Harris’ Team China staff. Currently, he works for NBA agent (and Yi’s agent) Dan Fegan. Most notably, he’s responsible for working with Yi, according Dave D.

What makes this move even more significant is the fact that Lawrence Frank had asked Akana to leave practice last year when he was brought in for the same reasons. Akana’s recent reappearance points to two things: yet another example of the rift between Kiki and Frank, and Kiki’s desire to make Yi as comfortable and happy as possible.

It makes sense. While most NBA observers think Yi still has plenty of potential, Kiki took a very calculated risk bringing him over from Milwaukee in the Richard Jefferson trade last season. Yi was starting to put together a solid season last year before injuring his hand, and he seemed to fall out of favor with Frank towards the end of the year. He got another chance this season, but got hurt before he was able to prove if he deserved it.

But with this new information, I think it’s safe to say Yi Jianlian is going to be a major part of the Nets future – at least as long as Kiki Vandeweghe is involved with the organization. As D’Alessandro noted, there’s nothing wrong with Kiki bringing in Akana – but considering his history with the organization and the team’s prior coach, this looks to be the first shot of many that Vandeweghe is going to take a very hands on approach with Yi.

Before the season began, ESPN’s John Hollinger was asked in a chat if he thought Brook Lopez had the potential to be a 20 and 10 guy (points and rebounds) this season. Hollinger, a big Lopez advocate last season, even suggesting Lopez was as much of a candidate for Rookie of the Year as eventual winner Derek Rose, told the questioner that he liked Lopez a lot, but it was a “major stretch” to expect him to reach that elite 20-10 level.

But Lopez is proving Hollinger, and some of his other critics who say he’s not athletic enough to become a dominant NBA center, wrong. After 20 games, Lopez is averaging 18.9 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game, and is probably playing the best basketball of his career right now.In his last six games, Lopez is averaging 24.7 points and 10.5 rebounds a game and looks to be reestablishing the chemistry he had with Devin Harris last season. Against the Knicks yesterday, Harris and Lopez were working well with the pick and roll early until New York went zone and started clogging the lane.

As recorded by Basketball-Reference and pointed out by Nets Daily, two of Brook’s recent performances have placed him in an elite group as one of the youngest centers in the NBA since 1986-87 to have scored 30 points and grabbed 10 rebounds multiple times. Lopez actually first accomplished this feat last season against Oklahoma City, making him the fourth youngest center in history to accomplish this. But with his two recent games against Portland (32-14) and Charlotte (31-14), Lopez is the first player under 22 to have at least 30 points and 10 rebounds multiple times since Dwight Howard in 2007. Other under 22 centers who have done it multiple times since 1986-87 are Shaquille O’Neal (one of the best ever) and Brad Daugherty (one of the elite centers in the late 80s an early 90s).

That’s obviously great company to be in. Looking at Lopez’s advanced statistics, he’s improved from last season in nearly every way. His Player Efficiency Rating is at around 19.7 right now, up from 17.94 last season. He’s scoring more points per 40 minutes this season, though his rebound rate is down slightly (14.3, down from 15.8 last year). The one area where Lopez has really disappointed this season, is his field goal percentage, which is around 48 percent – down from 53 percent last year. That has a lot to do with Brook’s shot selection this season. According to 82games, about 48 percent of all of Lopez’s field goal attempts have been jumpers, up from 39 percent last season.

As Sebastian pointed out last week and in his pregame report yesterday, Lopez might see his usage rate increase while moving away from the jump shots under Kiki Vandeweghe and Del Harris. On Friday, only one of Lopez’s 22 field goal attempts was outside of 15 feet. Yesterday, three of his nine attempts was outside of 15 feet. If Kiki and Harris really stress working Lopez in the post more, that 20 and 10 once thought to be a pipe dream by Hollinger, could become a reality.

We are going to quickly get into the breakdowns today, and these are all going to be positive ones.  Over the past two games the Nets have done a lot of things right offensively (Forget about the struggles against the zone.  That will be getting it’s own post tomorrow).  With a more aggressive Courtney Lee and a healthy Keyon Dooling and Devin Harris, the Nets have been clicking on offense for the most part (Yes the Nets struggled in the second half yesterday, but they put over 60 up in the first half).  If they can keep this up, the Nets are going to pick up a few more wins very soon since this upcoming stretch has some very winnable games.

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After the game yesterday, the Nets seemed to understand how they struggled against the zone, and were looking forward to working on it in practice this week.

Mitch Lawrence continues his daily assault of the Nets.

Knickerblogger.net, Posting and Toasting, The Knicks Blog, View from the Couch, Kiki Vandeweghe Interview, Brook Lopez Interview

For the first 24 minutes of today’s Nets-Knicks game, it looked as if the Nets were still brimming with confidence from their first victory Friday against the Charlotte Bobcats. They played an uptempo first half, scoring 61points, off a number of drives by Devin Harris (19 points, 6 assists, 3 steals), and some steady outside shooting from Chris Douglas-Roberts and Keyon Dooling.

But things changed dramatically in the second half. The Nets were stymied by the Knicks zone defense. They were unable to get the ball inside to Brook Lopez (19 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks) as the Knicks clogged the post and Devin Harris lost his ability to drive the lane. The Nets also stopped hitting their open jumpers. One game after his offensive explosion, Courtney Lee (4 points) struggled all day from the outside. Returning from injury for the first time since Wednesday night, Rafer Alston continued his horrid shooting, finishing 3-11 for 8 points, including 1-5 for three point land.

What was most curious about the second half were some of the player rotations used Kiki Vandeweghe. The usual starting five of Devin-Courtney Lee-CDR-Josh Boone and Brook Lopez kicked off the game and played most of the first quarter together, but from the second quarter on, Kiki went with a small line-up to try and match-up better with the Knicks. In some instances, this led to Trenton Hassell and Terrence Williams playing the four and guarding Al Harrington.

While this might have seemed like a good idea on paper, the plan failed in the second half bigtime. The Knicks were able to score at will in the third quarter, and at the end of the game, outrebounded the Nets 48-32, including 15 offensive boards. No one was able to get a big body on Al Harrington, who continued his dominance of the Nets with 26 points and 14 rebounds.

I’m not normally an advocate of Bobby Simmons playing the four, but he never even got into the game today. If you’re trying to go small, why not put him in there in the third quarter as the Knicks went on their run and the Nets were back on their heels? Because of the zone, non-jump shooters like Hassell and TWill were left to take shots with the shot clock expiring. Bobby Simmons, while wildly inconsistent, is at least, technically a shooter, so he might have been able to help the Nets bust the zone from the outside.

It would have also been nice to see either Boone, Tony Battie, or Sean Williams playing alongside Lopez down the stretch, to help out with rebounding. Because the Knicks are a tough team to match up with, Sean Williams, who has more athleticism than Boone or Battie, might have been worth a look. Can’t kill Boone too much however, as despite getting beat by Harrington on a few possessions earlier in the game, played a solid 21 minutes, grabbing 7 rebounds and blocking two shots, including a one on Chris Duhon when Boone was matched up with Duhon off a defensive switch. Boone did a great job sticking with the faster point guard in the one-on-one situation and blocked his layup attempt at the rim.

Despite the letdown today after Friday night’s breakthrough victory, there were some positive signs for the Nets. Devin Harris seemed to be getting some of his mojo back until the Knicks clogged the lane in the second half. Brook Lopez had a good game, despite only taking 9 field goal attempts. It was also great to see Keyon Dooling hitting some shots today, and I can only hope as he gets his conditioning back, he can play well enough to move Rafer Alston further down the bench. If Dooling and Harris can stay healthy long enough, I think it’s a matter of time before the Nets either trade him or buy him out, because Rafer just does not fit on this team.

Read some final thoughts after the jump:
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The Nets have resumed their losing ways this afternoon at Madison Square Garden, falling to the Knicks 106-97, dropping their record to 1-19.

The Nets looked great in the first half, scoring 61 points and leading the Knicks by 8, but they fell apart in the third quarter when the Knicks went zone defense on them, getting outscored 33-18 in the period.

The Kiki Vandeweghe-Del Harris connection channeled their inner Lawrence Frank today, going with a small lineup of four guards and Brook Lopez for a majority of the second half.

The Knicks outrebounded the Nets 48-32, and grabbed 15 offensive boards. They also shot 34 free throws compared to 15 from the Nets.

New York was led by Al Harrington (26 points, 14 boards, 5 assists), David Lee (24 points, 9 rebounds) and Larry Hughes (25 points on 14-17 from the free throw line).

Nice game for Chris Douglas-Roberts who had 26 points on 12-19 shooting.

Brook Lopez had 19 points, but only got 9 field goal attempts. He also added 6 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Devin Harris looked like he was going to have one of those big games in the first half with 17 points, but he was shut down by the Knicks zone in the second half and finished with 19 points.

Before we talk about today’s game, I just wanted to point a few things out about the Nets’ first win.  Up until Friday, Brook Lopez was averaging 14.8 shots per game.  Against the Bobcats, Brook got 22 shots.  One was from 17 feet, one was from 11, and the rest were inside the paint.  As I noted on Thursday, co-coach Del Harris has been blessed with terrific centers throughout his coaching career, and he knows how to get them shots in the paint, and in bulk.  Looks like that is exactly what he has planned for Brook.  Also, how about Courtney Lee huh?  He is still doing all of the little things (4 rebounds, 3 steals, and a block), but he finally coupled it with a good shooting night.  When he can do that, he will have a big-time impact on the game (this sure sounds familiar).  Granted, it is only one game, but I think we can expect more games like these in the future.

To today’s game.  Last time the Nets played the Knicks, they kind of had what looked to be a good offensive game.  The problem though is that they played right into the Knicks’ hands.  They took a lot of quick shots, took too many threes, and they got into a track-meet with the Knicks.  That is the only way that team can win.  Also, the Nets rotated poorly and gave up a good amount of wide-open threes.  Onto the match-ups:

Devin Harris vs. Chris Duhon

What I really like about Devin Harris’ game is that despite poor shooting performances that happen from time to time, he still can score, because he just knows how to get into the lane and draw contact.  Sure he was only 2-14, but he got to the line 13 times, hitting on 11 of those attempts.  Oh and he put up 8 assists with only 1 turnover.  Today should be no different, Harris is much quicker than Duhon, so you can expect to get him into the lane with ease.

Advantage:  Devin Harris

Courtney Lee vs. Wilson Chandler

Courtney Lee looks to be 100% now, but he is going to have his hands full with Chandler.  Chandler has great the size of a forward and the skills of a guard.  It is going to be interesting to see if Lee can use his quickness to his advantage to get around Chandler so he can attack the basket.

Advantage:  Push

Chris Douglas-Roberts vs. Al Harrington

CDR did a pretty good job on Gerald Wallace, only holding him to 13 points, but he did grab 20 rebounds.  CDR is faced with another big SF in Al Harrington, but his job should be a little bit easier since Harrington doesn’t really crash the boards like Wallace does.

Advantage:  Chris Douglas-Roberts

Josh Boone vs. Jarred Jeffries

I don’t think there can be a worse match-up of power forwards in the NBA this year.  Both guys are averaging 19+ minutes, and in those minutes, Boone is averaging 4.6 points and 5.6 rebounds while Jeffries is averaging 3.5 and 2.9 per.

Advantage:  Push

Brook Lopez vs. David Lee

Brook Lopez took 20 shots inside the paint last game.  The result?  31 points.  That was against a solid defender in Tyson Chandler too.  I really think that Brook can do it again this game, because while David Lee is great on the boards, he is more suited to be a PF in this league.  If the Nets commit to getting the Brook the ball inside early and often, he could duplicate Friday’s performance today.  Lee’s best chance is to try and draw him outside with his shot, try to get him into foul trouble.

Advantage:  Brook Lopez

Queen City Hoops, Courtney Lee Interview, Kiki Vandeweghe Interview

Never has one victory, coupled with 18 losses, felt so exhilarating.

With their 97-91 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats in New Jersey last night, the Nets losing streak officially ended. Yes, the 2009-10 New Jersey Nets will always be known for their record-setting 0-18 start, but with this victory, the players now have the 800 pound gorilla off their collective backs. The Kiki Vandeweghe era – which kicked off in similar winning fashion as the Lawrence Frank era in 2004 – should now be about player development and building a foundation for 2010, rather than dealing with questions from the national sports media about the team’s futility.

Yet, when you look at the box score this morning, this Nets game was very reminiscent of the team’s first 18. They only shot 39 percent from the field. They were outrebounded 51-39. They were torched by otherwise ordinary players like Stephen Jackson and Raymond Felton, who each scored 28 points, while Gerald Wallace grabbed 20 rebounds again.

But there was something different about last night’s Nets team from the moment Courtney Lee opened the game with a three-point shot. For starters, Courtney Lee actually opened the scoring with a three-pointer, something that’s been hard to come by for Lee and the rest of the Nets shooters this season.

Kiki Vandeweghe stressed in practice on Thursday that he wanted to return to a “fun” brand of basketball, and that was clearly on display at the Izod Center Friday. They couldn’t shoot, and they couldn’t rebound, but they managed to protect the ball (9 turnovers), while disrupting the Bobcats into 19 turnovers. There should be no questions about the team’s “heart” from Chris Douglas-Roberts or anybody else. The Nets were pushing the tempo offensively, recovering more quickly on their defensive rotations, and diving for loose balls. Devin Harris even ended up in the fourth row late in the 4th quarter, as the Nets clung to a lead, and a ball was trickling out-of-bounds.

Most importantly, the team took a number of right hooks from the Bobcats throughout the game and never fell. The Nets stayed well within striking distance for three quarters, and once they were able to go up by six in the fourth, Stephen Jackson hit a pair of treys to tie it. Cue the “same old Nets” attitude, right? Wrong. The Nets then went on a 7-0 run to ice the game.

Josh Boone (7 rebounds, 3 blocks) managed to lose that hangdog expression he’d been wearing for the better part of a month. He blocked Tyson Chandler and Gerald Wallace early in the 1st quarter. He also laid some hard fouls on Bobcats in the paint – earning props after the game from CDR. We’re even willing to overlook Boone’s embarrassing reverse-layup thingee he attempted in the first quarter, that didn’t come close to the rim.

Devin Harris (16 points) was able to lead the team without having a good shooting night from the field. Typically, a 2-12 from your star player is good for the “L,” but Harris did a great job finding Brook Lopez and Courtney Lee all night, en route to 8 assists. And perhaps no points were any bigger than the three free throws Devo hit in the last 90 seconds to put the Nets up 7. Harris looked energized. I hate to bring this up during a moment of elation, but it was obvious that after last year’s benching in Boston, Devin never really trusted Lawrence Frank again. Whether that’s reason to fire Frank is another story. But Harris looked motivated last night. So, his jump shot wasn’t working. There was never a moment where I could question if Devin Harris actually wanted to be out there last night. I can’t say I’ve felt that way about some of Devo’s other games this season.

Something I really loved: Keyon Dooling in his first game back logged 15 minutes and ended up with 2 points, 3 assists and 2 steals. Yet it was his activity on the bench that really appeared to lift this team. On every defensive possession, Dooling whipped his towel down, cheering on his teammates. It was the kind of emotion and leadership, that’s been sorely lacking all season. Welcome back Keyon.

And then there’s Courtney Lee (27 points, 3 steals) and Brook Lopez (31 points, 14 rebounds, 2 blocks). Sebastian’s post earlier this week citing Courtney Lee was still putting together a better all-around season this year compared to last despite his poor shooting percentage, elicited a lot of negative response from readers. “Stop making excuses,” Lee advocates were told. Well how does 27 points on 11-16 shooting sound? Lee drained his shots from all over the floor – inside and outside. He looked like a legitimate option on offense last night – not some lost, second-year enigma who may have been overvalued by the man who acquired him – interestingly enough the same guy who was coaching his first game last night and who inserted Lee back into the starting line-up. Lee also made a key steal late in the game when he intercepted a lazy hand-off between Jackson and Boris Diaw, streaking all the way for the two-handed slam.

I’m running out of words of praise for Brook Lopez. He put up another 30+ point night, finishing with 31 on 12-22 shooting, and he was active on the boards, grabbing 14 rebounds, and being involved with countless other plays on the inside.  He took one shot beyond 15-feet, and worked the post well against Chandler. This is the Brook Lopez we need to see every game going forward.

For some final thoughts on victory #1, read more after the jump.
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