Nets Are Scorching

How much is some Hump schwag worth to you? How about $29.99 for this fabulous 2004 rare Fleer basketball card.

A lot of people are blaming Yi for CDR’s lack of production the past couple games.  The rest seem to be blaming Kiki Vandeweghe (oh excuse me, Yi-Ki.  Right?  Right???  sigh…) for his philosophy of running the offense through the big men.  Now these two factors probably have had an effect on the number of shots CDR takes, but the dip should have been a small one, not what has been happening (he hasn’t taken over 10 shot attempts since the Spurs’ game early in the month).  So what is it?  Well, what I have been seeing is a lack of aggression on CDR’s part.  The same opportunities he has had in the beginning of the year are there, but he just isn’t taking advantage of them.  What do I mean?  Well, take a look at this picture:

Read more…

Filip Bondy, of the Daily News, on the Nets and losing: Nobody but Casey Stengel ever derived much amusement from losing. So no matter how easy it is to poke fun at the Nets this season, or to remind them they are well on the way to becoming the most certifiably horrible team in NBA history, it’s tough to laugh directly into those long faces.

Dave Perkins of the Toronto Star tries to give Nets fans a boost: So, yes, the bar has been set high in this regard. Can the Nets really threaten it? Well, they lost their first 18 games – after 16 of which Lawrence Frank was gassed as coach – and set a record there. Still, it seems 7-31 the rest of the way is a long shot. Plus, record attempts usually fall apart. The 1993 Dallas Mavericks were 9-71 and threatening, but won their last two games. The 1998 Denver Nuggets also ended 11-71.

The Bright Side of the Sun blog runs through potential Amare Stoudamire to the Nets scenarios.

LeBron James has single-handedly produced more wins than the Nets (and the Timberwolves and the Pacers).

Chris Douglas-Roberts has been glued to the gym, trying to turn his fading season around: “Just the whole situation, the record, my game fell off and I just let that weigh on me in a negative way instead of doing what I usually do and turn it into a positive. So that’s the whole reason I’m getting back with Jerry and the whole reason I’m clocking in hours like I was in the summer.”

Keyon Dooling reacts to the lost weekend out west: “This was the worst road trip of my life,” the nine-year veteran said. “We got blown out every game. We weren’t competitive. We’re just not a very good team right now.”

Devin Harris is still suffering from his wrist injury and will probably not play against the Clippers tonight: “It’s on me at this point,” Harris said Tuesday  at practice about determining when he will be back. “When it’s healthy enough to play you’ll definitely see me in a game.”

Al Iannazzone thinks the Nets have some “winnable games” this week.

Kiki Vandeweghe tells the Star-Ledger that a team can still recruit free agents with a bad won-loss record:  “Having been through this before, having been down the recruiting process, having had a lot of cap space, having had a really bad rebuilding season, I was never asked once by an agent or a free agent about our record the year before,” Vandeweghe said. “You’re judged by not necessarily on your record, if you fast forward to July, you’re judged on the assets you have in place and what the free agents are going to come join. Having been through this, we had a 17-win season, we recruited all the best free agents available in that year and never asked once about the record.”

Since the return of Yi, the Nets have had a stable starting lineup (with the exception of the last game – Devin’s wrist injury), but let’s face it.  The lineup we have on the court isn’t working right now, and I think that a switch in the starting lineup is well overdue.  In my opinion, there are two players you can consider moving to the bench and have them be the new sixth man.  Those two players are Yi and Chris Douglas-Roberts.  This is because these are the two guys that are “struggling” the most right now.  So how are we going to analyze this?  Well, in the book Mathletics (a book I highly recommend), Wayne Winston dedicates an entire chapter to analyzing lineups, and we are going to use some of the techniques he uses to see which lineup the Nets should start with.

Read more…

Before the season began, NAS polled some team beat writers and bloggers for some predictions about the Nets. Participating were Dave D’Alessandro of the Star-Ledger, Al Iannazzone, from the Bergen Record, Julian Garcia from the Daily News, Rory Toohey from Slippery When Nets, Gregory Hrinya from Nets Examiner, Henry Abbott from ESPN’s TrueHoop and Kelly Dwyer from Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie. Since we’re now about halfway through the season, I thought it would be a good time to check in on these predictions, to get a sense of where our heads were in October, versus where they should be now.

Read more…

Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don’t Lie takes another look at the Kidd-Devin Harris trade: The premise, the ideology, was correct. The Nets won the trade that sent Jason Kidd(notes) to Dallas. They acquired a very good, borderline All-Star, point guard. The enjoyed some payroll relief and pulled in two first-round draft picks. Jason Kidd won’t be playing in a few years, Devin Harris(notes) will be. And he’ll be playing well. They won the deal. Without actually winning anything, though. They won the ideology battle but lost the basketball war. Because after turning in a near All-Star campaign last season, Devin Harris decided to take 2009-10 off.

Dwyer also pegs Brook Lopez as an Eastern Conference All-Star.

Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com profiles Yi Jianlian and his success on the offensive end this season.

If the Nets want Amare Stoudamire, Julian Garcia speculates what the Suns want: The Suns are said to be looking for a combination of young players, draft picks and salary relief, all of which the Nets could provide.

We heard after the Nets’ game in Phoenix that Amar’e liked the Nets’ potential:

“There are some teams you may say, ‘no way,’ ” said the 6-foot-10 Stoudemire, who scored 27 points in the Suns’ 118-94 win that dropped the Nets to 3-38 at the season’s halfway point. “I don’t think the Nets are one of them.”

Well now we are hearing that the feeling may be mutual.  Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting the Suns, who will most likely be unable to work a deal with Stoudemire before the deadline, are looking to trade the All-Star.  Wojnarowski wrote & tweeted about the news today:

Add Detroit to list of teams — including Chicago, Miami, Phily, NJ — with interest in doing a deal for Amar’e Stoudemire, sources say.

From what I am reading, any deal has to include Amar’e signing an extension.  Is this the right move for the Nets to make?  While he isn’t my favorite selection at the PF spot (I like Bosh and Lee a bit better), Amar’e could fit with the Nets.  He makes the frontcourt defense (an area where the Nets have really been struggling) a lot better and will take attention away from Brook on the other end.  This trade will also make the Nets more attractive to any free agents.  The Nets should have enough cap space to sign close to 2 max contracts, so this trade for Stoudemire doesn’t mean the Nets will be sitting still during the offseason.

So who or what will the Nets have to trade to make this happen?  It most likely won’t be Devin Harris as the Suns are set at point guard.  My guess would be that it would be an expiring contract or two and some draft picks (Probably the Mavs’ first rounder this year and a second rounder or two).  Pay attention guys, we might be seeing some changes with the roster.

With the 2009-10 season more than halfway over, we thought it would be a good time to do a little report card for the Nets. And despite our temptations, we’re not just going to give everyone Fs.

Read more…