Nets Are Scorching

Who says that a good benching doesn’t send a message?

While the Nets as a team have continued to struggle with their field goal percentage, Terrence Williams has seen a dramatic turnaround in his offensive efficiency since his two game benching earlier this month after being late to a practice, and “tweeting” about his lack of playing time and his desires to be playing elsewhere in the NBA. While I would have doled out a little more punishment to TWill, especially after he mouthed off to a few reporters when they asked him about his benching, the rookie out of Louisville seems to have received the message and is listening to his coaches more – especially regarding the idea of him taking less outside shots and taking it more aggressively to the hoop.

“Everybody has strengths and weaknesses,” said Kiki Vandeweghe at practice yesterday. “What you do during games is you try to go to your strengths. Terrence is very athletic, and he attacks the basket well. That’s his strength. Practice time is for working on your weaknesses, but in games, you go to your strengths. That’s a strength. So we would like him to keep attacking.”

For the season, TWill’s is still taking about 59 percent of his field goal attempts from 10-feet out and further, but that’s after a very definitive shift in Williams’ approach that started on December 11, after he was put back into the rotation by Kiki against the Indiana Pacers. In that game, Williams was 2-4 from the field, including a 70-foot three-point attempt at the end of a quarter, and only took 1 other shot from beyond 15-feet. In the following games against the Hawks, Williams was 8-14 for 18 points, and was 2-5 from beyond 15-feet. Last week against Utah, Williams was 6-10, only taking two shots from beyond 15-feet (missing them both).

The end results have been positive for Williams. While his playing time has see-sawed a bit from game to game (he barely played Saturday against the Lakers), Williams is shooting a robust 56 percent in his last six games and approximately 68 percent of his field goal attempts have come near the rim. This is the same player who shot 36 percent in November, and started off the Kiki Vandeweghe era by going 2-12 against the Bobcats (including 0-6 outside of 10-feet) and 0-5 two days later against the Knicks (0-3 outside of 10-feet). It was during the Knicks game that Kiki initially benched Williams, who then went on to tweet about his playing time, while telling reporters that he wasn’t about to change what has worked for him as a player.

It’s a good thing Williams got over his pig-headishness, because he’s starting to reflect a competent NBA rotation player, and the less he worries about his outside shot, the more he can focus on doing some of the things that made him a lottery pick – namely being able to score, rebound, and pass in ways that help his team out, not his final stat sheet.

A translation of a recent Mikhail Prokhorov interview regarding his ownership plans for the Nets.  Good work by Nets Daily.

A court ruling of yet another rejected lawsuit by Brooklyn opponents: “If every change were to be viewed as a new plan so as to trigger anew each mandated review process, no development plan could ever reach final approval — let alone ultimate completion,” the ruling read. “The MTA had a rational basis for continuing to use the 2005 appraisal rather than ordering a new one in 2009.”

The great Ben Couch is at practice yesterday and talks about the return of Yi Jianlian: Vandeweghe has been among Yi’s biggest supporters since trading for him two summers ago, valuing the 22-year-old’s mid-range shooting and rebounding. In three full games before being injured, Yi had averaged 11.6 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks. All signs point toward an on-court appearance Wednesday, none moreso than Yi banging throughout practice and then running fluidly and fast during full-court conditioning drills.

An article that talks about betting on the Nets/Wolves game Wednesday has this to say about Brook Lopez: Brook Lopez (19.5 PPG, 9.6 RPG, 20.94 PER) is a nice young piece on the inside, but he’s really just a more-skilled version of Joakim Noah or a rich man’s Robin Lopez. Double team Lopez, and you pretty much have the Nets’ offense figured out.

Video from Borough Hall in Brooklyn, where the Nets gave out toys to children:

I was once again allowed to go to Nets practice today, and the theme of today’s practice was “change.”  Before we get to the Kiki interview I got, I wanted to go over some things I noticed.  First, it was a long practice, the media assembled around noon in the waiting room, we weren’t allowed in practice until 1.  When everyone entered the practice, the team was still running through some things.  I have only been to 3 practices this year, but I have to say the energy was different.  Everyone on the court were going through in game situations, and they were going hard.  The team looked like they were enjoying themselves as well.  They were celebrating after every big play, and looking like a real team.  Also, from what we saw, the team was doing everything together as one unit.  When Lawrence Frank was coaching the team, he had everyone split up, but Kiki had everyone together.

The other thing that the media got to see, was Del Harris coaching the Nets up.  The part that we got to see was the Nets working on their pick and roll defense and offense, as well as doubling the big man and how they handle getting double teamed.  Coach Harris was stopping play every once in a while to correct something or to give the guys something to look for.  It was awesome to watch.  As for coach Kiki, he wasn’t just standing around, he was pulling guys aside and coaching them up individually.

After the practice, when the media gathered around Kiki, he went out of his way to tell everyone this is the team’s first real practice.  “This is the first chance we’ve had to have a real practice.”  Kiki also talked about the length of the practice, “I am not a proponent of long practices, but today we needed it.”  So what did they talk about?  Well Kiki went on to explain,  “We tried to do a couple things a little bit differently,”  he went on, “Obviously when you come in and the team is 0-18, you have to change some things, and we have.”

One thing that won’t change is Kiki urging his team to run.  “I think we are a very good transition team when we get out and run.  Devin is very good in the open court.  Our guys are scorers and they can take it to the basket.”  Meanwhile stopping the break seems to be a problem, and Kiki is looking to correct it.  “Transition defense is something we need to work on.  As you guys can see, it is going to take a little while.”

The rest of the interview was talking about the team’s injuries.  Kiki opened up these talks by joking, “Everybody is still injured.”  But he then got serious and talked about the three guys who are still battling back from injury.

Yi:

Will he play Wednesday?  “We don’t know, he practiced today, obviously he hasn’t played in 6-7 weeks.  It takes more than 1 or 2 practices to be ready.  He wants to play very badly, we just have to make a judgment call to see if it is the right thing to do,”  Kiki said.  I personally saw Yi running through some conditioning drills, and I was very impressed.  He was running full speed with no sign of injury besides the wrap on his knee.  He also looked very good when going through the live stuff as well.

Jarvis Hayes:

Kiki talked about him briefly.  “Jarvis practiced, got a good run in . We pulled him out a little bit early, as we should.  It was great to see him back on the court.”  Jarvis was pulled out before the media was allowed in, but Kiki is right, it is good to see him out on the court.  Once Jarvis and Yi returns, the Nets have 2 shooters at their disposal.

CDR:

CDR put to rest any chance of him playing.  He told reporters that he was doubtful for Wednesday, but he went out of his way to say that he wasn’t worried too much about the injury.  He said that it was ok because it was just an ankle and not his knee.  I would expect him back by Saturday, but ankle sprains are funny.  Kiki said that we will know more when they re-evaluate after the game on Wednesday.

An interesting note here.  The Nets were going starters for second unit, and Rafer and Devin were on the court with Courtney playing the three.  That could be how this team approaches playing the Timberwolves without CDR.  If Rafer and Devin are both playing at the same time, who is the backup point?  Terrence Williams was taking PG responsibilities for the second unit.

E.A. SPORTS: It’s In The Game (Unless You’re Josh Boone)…

By Tony Maglio

On Wednesday, the NBA’s worst two teams will battle each other with the winner being awarded the ultimate in lame bragging rights: 29th best team in the league.  I can’t even imagine what the attendance will be when the Minnesota Timberwolves come to New Jersey to play the Nets – the Izod Center will be emptier than a lonely old person’s funeral.  To add some flair to it, I think the game should be played with WWE Retirement Match rules, where the losing coach has to leave NBA for good (until he ultimately returns as a heel).  I’m not sure that I’ll be able to watch the actual game without getting worse at fundamental basketball through osmosis, so what I decided to do is load up “NBA Live 10” on my PlayStation 3 and see how this contest of inadequacy goes down in a simulated world.

If you think real-life Josh Boone sucks (and we all do), video game Boone must be even worse.  I had to download “Dynamic DNA” (which is a cool new feature in the “NBA Live” series that updates attributes and injuries in accordance with the happenings of the current NBA season) just to get Josh Boone ON MY ROSTER.  He wasn’t even originally on my bench; I thought I was going to have to create Josh Boone just to get the proper starting lineup.  I was a little disappointed when I didn’t have to do that because I wanted to see just how low I could set the attributes before the computer argued that there’s no way this could be an NBA player that I was creating, and promptly self-destructed.

For reality purposes, I set the game in the inexplicably packed Izod Center, with 12-minute quarters, and set the “Game Environment” to “Season” (as opposed to “Playoffs” or “NBA Finals” which for realism should both be automatically disabled options when you’re playing with the Nets or Timberwolves).  Mercifully, I will not be controlling either team, we’ll let the computer A.I. tackle this storied rivalry.

A final pre-tip-off note: Video game Brook Lopez has the thickest uni-brow and meanest expression I’ve ever seen.  He is unkempt and he is PISSED.  I can’t really blame virtual Brook, look who he’s surrounded by.  I’m just not sure why EA Sports took such a liberty with his extreme hairiness – he looks like a Geico Caveman.   If you recall in Episode One, I referenced a story about how smitten the Lopez twins were with their PS3 – so you would think EA Sports would give him a break on the ugliness of his likeness.

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Watching Courtney shoot the basketball is starting to get real frustrating.  I am not talking about him as a player really, but this slump is almost unexplainable and incredibly frustrating.  Yes, his shooting percentage was supposed to go down with his increased usage, and his detractors are going to say he was never that good to begin with, but every time Courtney makes a correct decision (for example, pump faking a three, taking two dribbles and pulling up), it sucks to see him miss.  If he can get his shot going, Brook would have more room to operate and the opposing defenses wouldn’t be able to load up on Devin.

So why can’t Courtney hit a shot? I have been watching his shot all year looking for something, and I haven’t been able to find it.  Up top, his form is very good.  His elbow in, hands in the right spot, and he has a very good release.  On Saturday though, I noticed something down low, something with his feet.  As a shooter, you want your feet to not only be shoulder width apart, but you want them pointing to the basket.  If your feet are pointing towards the basket, your whole body by nature is forced to be aligned with the basket.  This gives you the best chance to make a basket.  You also want to land where you take off on jump shots.  In the NBA, players tend to fade more often (because defenders are tall and good at contesting shots), but you still want to be taking off and landing more often than not.

On Saturday against the Lakers, I noticed that Courtney’s feet were too close together, and they were pointing in the wrong direction.  I decided to look back at past games to see if this was a one time thing, or if this is something that could be leading to his shooting troubles.  On his makes, Courtney usually does everything right from up top to down low.  On his misses though, his feet are usually in the wrong spot, and he has a tendency to fade.

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In a sign that opponents of the Atlantic Yards development are going to continue to disrupt the progress of this project, despite the recent legal victories and financing handed over to developer/Nets owner Bruce Ratner, patrons at Freddy’s Bar in Brooklyn, which is slated to be knocked down for the Nets new arena, chained themselves to the bar in protest.

Meanwhile, on the legal front, opponents are jumping on recent statements by New York state Senator Bill Perkins, who said the bonds issued for the project, may not be legal. From Saturday’s Atlantic Yards Report:

Had the bonds been issued by an Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) subsidiary, they could be repaid via for payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs), but the issuance would have had to have been approved by the Public Authorities Control Board (PACB), Perkins wrote in a letter. However, in an apparent effort to avoid the PACB, the ESDC created the Brooklyn Arena Local Development Corporation (BALDC), and that murky entity–which issued $511 million in bonds–should not possess a property tax exemption, the letter said.

Here are some photos from the chaining event. There’s also some video from YouTube:

Forum Blue and Gold

The final score of this game won’t show you how close this game actually was.  The Nets had a 48-46 lead on the Lakers at the half, and they effectively silenced the pro-Laker crowd.  Now all of the reporters covering the game are going to talk about how the Lakers took the first half off, and that was the only way that the Nets were in it.  I hate that excuse.  The Nets went out and worked their butt off in the first half, they can’t control how hard the Lakers play.  But, maybe the Lakers were taking it easy on the defensive end, but that doesn’t take away from the Nets’ effort defensively, they only have up 46 points in the first half, including a 17 point quarter for the Lakers.

For at least one quarter last night, we saw glimpses of the old Devin.  In the second quarter he was 7-7 from the field including a 3, totaling 17 points.  Other guys for the Nets were scoring, Brook was doing his thing and CDR was effective as well, all of a sudden, Devin went off.  After his spurt though, he was effectively shut down for the rest of the game.  This just shows that Devin can’t be the number 1 guy on a basketball team.  That isn’t a bad thing though, and it doesn’t mean that Devin is a bad player, it is hard though to get open looks as a PG when you are the guy bringing up the basketball.  Hopefully, when there is more talent on this team, this is how Devin is going to operate, distribute the ball and as the defense starts to focus on everyone else, he will be able to get to the lane and do his thing.

After the game, I thought I was going to have to talk about how Brook struggled, but then I looked at the boxscore to see he was 6-16 with 18 points and 11 rebounds.  I love how off-nights for Brook end up being double-doubles.  This was a game where it was hard for Brook to be dominant.  At first the Lakers were playing him straight up with Bynum, but after he got in foul trouble, they were matching Pau on Brook and sending Lamar Odom on a double.  That is two 7-footers, and that didn’t allow Brook much room to operate.  He was patient when he got the ball, made his move, and was somewhat effective.  Oh and his passes out of the high post are awesome.  After the jump, check out a few bullets:

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Filip Bondy of the Daily News on the Nets relationship with the Knicks once they move to Brooklyn: No matter what, however, the Knicks better get used to the idea of having a very real rival in the city, competing both for fans and for talent. The Knicks have fared poorly enough without such a challenge. If they don’t get LeBron James, they may well be the second-most popular NBA team around here within four years.

Wondering what’s up with the Nets and their defense? Maybe they’re not having enough practice writes Al Iannazzone: Vandeweghe, who believes in pumping up players and keeping them upbeat, has said the Nets haven’t had enough practice since he took over, but that seems to be an excuse. The Nets have had six practices and six shootarounds since he became coach. They have been banged up, but have had time to go over general sets and principles on both ends of the floor.

Kiki also has a simple approach to defense: “Obviously there are offensive-minded players and defensive-minded players,” Vandeweghe said. “But rather than focus on more rotations and things like that, we’ll focus on guarding your own man.

The Bleacher Report looks at the Nets roster and tries to determine who should be part of the future. An interesting nugget about Courtney Lee: Perhaps his injuries have held him back? Perhaps he’s still psychologically scarred from the abuse he took at the hands of Kobe Bryant during last season’s NBA Finals? Or perhaps he’s simply not as good as expected to be?

The Merced Sun Star lists Brook Lopez as an all-star you may not have heard of.

Could the Nets be interested in George Karl as coach next year?: With LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh among those who could be free agents next summer, the Nets have cleared an enormous amount of room under the salary cap — potentially $30 million or more. Former Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe is interim coach of this year’s stripped-down roster, but if a big-name coach is available, Prokhorov is not expected to be shy.