Nets Are Scorching

Hornets 247 – At The Hive

So you’re the New Jersey Nets. You’re 3-32 and fresh off two very embarrassing losses to the Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks earlier in the week. You’re facing a team that’s a great home team and has won their last four games. You manage to hang around most of the game but are still down 9 with about three minutes to go. Then, through a series of bizarre calls and fortuitous bounces, you find yourselves up 1 point with about 12 seconds left. You look at the stat sheet and you realize two areas that have absolutely killed you all year – rebounding and three-point shooting – are in your favor.

And you still lose. You lose because one of the league’s best player’s made a bucket and a foul with 7 seconds left off a bread and butter pick and roll play, and you can’t even get a final shot off because of a nickel and dime offensive foul call off a “moving” screen by Yi Jianlian. Most of the time, I bet the refs ignore what Yi is doing on the screen, but when you’re 3-32, the refs are looking for you to shoot yourself in the foot.

So my question to you, the Nets, is how are you going to respond? Is this a team-building experience where you emphasize the fact that you came back and nearly pulled what would have been one of the best comebacks in the NBA this year? Or does this become just another demoralizing loss, a belt that already has enough notches this season?

With the 2009-10 New Jersey Nets, you just don’t know. I thought their gritty loss to Cleveland last Saturday was a turning point, and it set the stage for one of the most frustrating 5-day stretches for the Nets this season, which says a lot. Obviously, I hope last night’s 103-99 loss to the New Orleans Hornets is a stepping stone. The Nets were down 94-85 with 2:46 left in this game when Brook Lopez was fouled and hit a free throw. Devin Harris was actually taken out of the game and I had figured the Nets were going into shutdown mode, destined for another innocuous 12-point loss.

But I guess the Nets have a little spirit after all. With Harris struggling (4 points, 2-9 shooting), Brook Lopez and Yi Jianlian having so-so nights (14 and 8 points respectively), it was going to have to be one of the Nets wingmen who stepped it up, and Courtney Lee answered the bell. He had been deadly from long-range all game, finishing with 28 points including, 5-7 from three. But what was more impressive was how Lee just took over in the closing minutes. He hit a three to cut the Hornets’ lead to seven, and then was 5-5 from the free throw line down the stretch, finding his way there through bizarre circumstances.

First, with the Nets were inbounding the ball, down 3 with 20 seconds left, James Posey made a foul away from the play, giving the Nets a FT and the ball. A layup by Keyon Dooling, who also seemed determined to carry this team, scoring 21 points in 23 minutes on 8-11 shooting (4-7 three), cut the Hornets lead to 1. Then Lee made a steal off the inbounds pass. Was there a foul on the play? Who knows. Lee actually missed a makable layup, but got awarded FTs and hit them both.

Freeze it in time, and the Nets have an improbably comeback. Of course it didn’t work out that way. It never does. Now, I wait anxiously to see which Nets team show up on Sunday.

More thoughts after the jump.
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In addition to the Najera-Humphries trade, here are a few additional news tidbits:

Chris Douglas-Roberts on the new no gambling rules for the Nets: “A couple of guys gamble, but it’s nothing that’s going to affect anybody,” said Chris Douglas-Roberts, who excluded himself from that group. “I relax, listen to music,” he said. “That’s time to get some rest. It depends on how much we’ve been traveling. But I don’t gamble at all. I don’t gamble, period.”

The neighboring Knicks, on the other hand, won’t ban gambling on flights.

Dave D’Alessandro continues to talk to the Nets about their “Twin Towers” approach with Brook Lopez and Yi Jianlian: “To me, that’s something we need to look for, because it’s a huge advantage for us: two 7-footers who can shoot and score,” Vandeweghe said. “You want to maximize that with a high-low game that (emphasizes) interaction together. Unfortunately, I wish you could snap your fingers and it would happen. That’s a work in progress.

Next up for the Barclays Center: $50 million in steel.

Atlantic Yards Report looks at a stretch of Vanderbilt Avenue in Brooklyn that was declared “blighted” by the Empire State Development Corporation. Good rule of thumb mention here: But a friend suggested an easier measure: “If you’re within five minutes of getting decent capuccino, there can be no blight.”

NetsDaily explores all of the team’s draft picks (10) in the next three years.

Dave D’Alessandro wasn’t kidding when he said a deal between the Nets and the Dallas Mavericks was imminent.  Overnight, the Nets and Mavs agreed to swap Eduardo Najera and PF Kris Humphries, according to Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Nets also received Shawne Williams in the trade, who hasn’t played this season, and is expected to be bought out of his contract. To make room on the roster, the Nets will formally end the Sean Williams era, cutting the troubled F/C. Wojnarowski expects the deal to be formalized by the league on Monday morning.

Beat writer Al Iannazzone, picking up on the report, makes the deal sound a little more tentative, but agrees that it should all come together on Monday. Iannazzone also thinks the Nets could send a trade exception over to Dallas.

Let’s take a tale of the tape here regarding the two main pieces in this deal, Humphries and Najera. Humphries is going to add anywhere between $200K and $700K to the salary cap next season and is 10 years younger than Najera.

Humphries doesn’t get a lot of minutes in Dallas, but he’s fairly efficient when he plays. He’s currently averaging 17.2 points and 10.6 rebounds per 40 minutes, good for a Player Efficiency Rating of 15.25, which is slightly above average. According to his 82games profile, he takes about 54 percent of his shots close to the rim or at the rim, good for a 54 percent effective field goal percentage. His eFG is about 37 percent on his jump shots.

Here’s ESPN’s John Hollinger scouting report on Humphries, before the season started:

Humphries has two major weaknesses. First, he’s a selfish offensive player who forces shots. Even though he can score, he too often flings quick jumpers and breaks plays, especially when he catches in the high post area. He shoots the ball like it’s contagious, flicking it from in front of his face within nanoseconds of picking up his dribble. The result is usually a low liner into the front rim. He can finish and draw fouls around the basket and is an impressive offensive rebounder, but he doesn’t earn brownie points with the coaches when he lets it rip off the dribble from 15. Also, he needs to improve his foul shooting (58.5 percent career).

The other weakness is his defense. Humphries has a strong build but is undersized for a 4 at 6-foot-8, and his effort is inconsistent. He keeps gambling by trying to steal post entry passes instead of playing solid D behind his man, and with his quickness he should be a better pick-and-roll defender.

As for Najera, the man was never healthy enough in his tenure with the Nets to make an impact, only playing in 27 games last year and 13 this year. Many thought the Nets were insane for giving him a four-year deal before last year, and those critics were proven correct. Najera was supposed to bring leadership and toughness on the defensive end to the Nets, but did neither. When the Nets were showcasing him Tuesday night against the Bucks, he looked slow and out of shape, so we’ll see if he even plays with Dallas.

Sean Williams was probably an even bigger enigma. Swat looked like he had potential his rookie year, starting 29 games and averaging 5.6 points and 1.5 blocks. But he continually did things on and off the court to play himself out of the rotation. Last season, the Nets sent him down the the D-League where he was ejected from a game, and he was also arrested in Denver for throwing a monitor at a store clerk. The guy probably needs help in a venue away from basketball, and from one human to another, I hope he finds it.

Ouch. The Nets lose a heartbreaker in New Orleans tonight, 103-99.

• The Nets were actually up 99-98 with about 13 seconds left in this game, after being down 9 with less than 3 minutes to play. Courtney Lee stole an inbounds pass with 13.5 seconds left and the Nets down one, and was fouled going to the rim, sinking both FTs. Chris Paul responded with a layup and the foul, off the pick and roll to put the Hornets up 101-99. On the Nets last offensive set of the game, Yi Jianlian got called for an offensive foul when he set a moving screen.
• Lee had a fantastic game. In addition to the steal and some late FTs, he scored 28 points and collected 6 assists. He was 5-7 from three-point land
• Keyon Dooling also had a great shooting night, collecting 21 points in 23 minutes, including 4-7 from three. Overall the Nets were 9-17 from three.
• For the first time in 23 games, the Nets won the rebounding battle, 44-41.
• Chris Paul didn’t have his best night scoring-wise with 11 points, but he contributed 18 assists, and made the plays when his team needed them most. Devin Harris on the other hand was a non-factor, scoring 4 points on 2-9 shooting. Harris was actually benched with about 3 minutes left, but was reinserted when Chris Douglas-Roberts was taken out of the game with an eye injury.
• David West had a monster night with 32 points and 11 rebounds, leading all scorers.
• For those keeping count, Brook Lopez had 14 field goal attempts, and Yi had 10. Neither one had a great game, with Brook collecting 14 points and 9 rebounds, and Yi with 8 points and 10 rebounds.

In his mailbag over at the Star-Ledger web site, Dave D’Alessandro speculates that talks between the Nets and the Dallas Mavs regarding a Eduardo Najera for Kris Humphries swap are heating up and a deal is “imminent.”

There was a little confusion about this when we posted about it earlier in the week so let me source Dave D. here. He believes adding Humphries for Najera would add about $700K to the payroll, not a significant amount.

Humphries, a PF, is averaging 5.2 points and 3.8 rebounds in about 13 minutes of play this season.

In another nugget from the mailbag, Terrence Williams’ playing time has been reduced recently because he slept through the team’s shootaround before the Bucks game on Tuesday. Maybe if more Nets players overslept, they wouldn’t look like they were sleepwalking out there, right?

The last two games sucked.  We know that.  The game against Atlanta was especially depressing.  The Nets are going to have some bad games, they are young and there have been nights that the effort wasn’t there.  The good thing though was they always came back strong and put out a good effort, and that is why I have expected the Nets to keep Wednesday night’s game close.  It wasn’t close.

Seeing the Nets play against a real run and gun team makes me wonder about why Kiki still insists of having a run and gun team.  The Nets are good at pushing the ball when they have the advantage (when they get a turnover or have a guard/wing get the rebound and just push it up) but if they don’t have the numbers, they need to pull it out and run their half court set.  That is where Kiki loses me, he seems to encourage the Nets to run it no matter what, no matter the situation.  As I showed you the other day, the Nets’ offensive sets are pretty good, and against a team like the Hawks, they should have been slowing the ball down and running those sets, not trying to out run them…onto the matchups!

Devin Harris vs. Chris Paul

Last year, this would have been a fun matchup to watch.  This year, meh.  I have fears that Chris Paul will just run circles around Devin.  He did that last year, but Harris was able to respond.  This year, Devin Harris is struggling on both sides of the basketball.  I have been watching past Nets’ games trying to see what the problem is with his defense, and I think he uses his hands too much (there will probably be a post on this soon).  He reaches too much instead of relying on his feet and staying in front of his man.

Advantage:  Chris Paul

Courtney Lee vs. Devin Brown

You wouldn’t believe me when I told you this, but Devin Brown is actually the key to the Hornets success.  Don’t laugh, I am serious.  They are 11-1 when he scores over 11 or more points.  This makes sense when you think about it though.  You are going to get your points from Peja, Paul, and West, so if the Hornets get a 4th guy to go into double figures, it means they are flowing on offense.

Advantage:  Courtney Lee

Chris Douglas-Roberts vs. Peja Stojakovic

CDR has been one of the few bright spots for the Nets.  His offense was always expected to be there, but on the defensive end, CDR has been able to hang with guys like Peja.  Peja, doesn’t have the speed to get by you and he isn’t really that good in the post, so you just gotta watch the shot, and I think CDR’s long arms will be able to effect him.

Advantage:  Push

Yi vs. David West

These are the games you worry about Yi…even “new Yi.”  West has a nice touch from the foul line extended, and he with his nice size he has a good back to the basket game.  I can’t wait to see how Yi handles West, I am looking forward to this, this can be the matchup of the night.

Advantage:  David West

Brook Lopez vs. Emeka Okafor

If you want to see how Brook will do against Emeka, just look at his performance against the man he was traded for, Tyson Chandler.  Both Emeka and Tyson are tall/athletic shot blockers.  Brook played well against Chandler because he was able to get into his body and negate his athleticism, I think he can do the same to Emeka.

Advantage:  Emeka Okafor

A year ago, a January match-up of Chris Paul and Devin Harris would have been touted as a game highlighting two of the best young point guards in the league. Unfortunately, for Harris and the Nets, tonight’s game against Paul and the Hornets no longer seems to have that feel to it.

Devo’s decline from last season has been well documented at Nets Are Scorching. But tonight’s game got me thinking about how Harris now stacks up against the rest of the league’s point guards. After having the fourth best Player Efficiency Rating (PER) among point guards last season, I think an argument can be made that the 2009-10 version of Devin Harris is not even a top 20 point guard in the league.

Trust me; this is not a statement I make lightly – especially because so much of the Nets rebuilding efforts are centered around the idea that they currently have young talent at PG and Center – two of the hardest positions to fill in the NBA.  But stats are stats – and currently, Devo’s stats are very mediocre.

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Allright, this is going to be a quick one, short and sweet.  We are going to be looking at defense exclusively here.  In each one of these games, the Nets couldn’t stop one thing.  Against the Bucks, the Nets couldn’t stop the pick and roll.  Against the Hawks, the Nets couldn’t stop the three point shot.  After the jump, we are going to look at some clips.

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