Nets Are Scorching

Roundball Roundtable

By Tony Maglio

In honor of the midway point of the season, I swapped emails with some of the best young New York comedians:  J-L Cauvin (www.JLCauvin.com), Pat Breslin (www.PatBreslin.com), and comedian/actor Mike Bernardi (no website yet, so I considered just giving out his cell phone number).  The following is the transcript – after very heavy censorship.

NAS: We’ll get to your teams in a bit, but from an outsider perspective – what do you think of the Nets 3-40 start, and are they the worst team of all time?

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Dave D’Alessandro always has a way of cutting through it all and asking the obvious but important questions: Which raises the question: If they spent nearly four hours practicing defense on Tuesday and another 90 minutes reviewing their principles on Thursday, what was the emphasis exactly?

Al Iannazzone talks about how the Nets are actually getting worse: But here’s looking at a small sample of games before we go big picture. Over the four-game trip, the Nets allowed the opposition to shoot 55.4 percent and average 112.8 points per game. They were beaten by an average of 25 points, prompting one of most honest answers a player ever uttered.

The always super Hardowood Paroxysm looks at PER and usage rate midway through the season for every team – including the Nets, who contrary to popular belief, are still part of the NBA.

Hoopdata Box Score – Salt City Hoops – SLC Dunk

How inadvertently funny is it that after the game ended last night and the YES broadcast team announced that the Nets 116-83 teeth-kicking they received by the Utah Jazz was actually their worst loss of the season?

Really? Not their December 18 loss to the Toronto Raptors (just 23 points), or their January 6 loss to Atlanta (30 points), or their January 13 loss to the Boston Celtics (24 points)? Maybe, those games just felt worse while I was watching them because all of those teams jumped out on the Nets so early, it looked like they could win by 50-60 points if they played all out for the full four quarters. The Jazz just systematically destroyed the Nets for all four quarters, never backing away from their game plan of embarrassment. Good for them. If the Nets were going to keep letting them get points, they should take them.

As it stands, and I hesitate to say it, but THIS might finally be rock bottom for the 2009-10 Nets. Because if it gets any worse that it’s been the past two games against Utah and the Golden State Warriors, the league should really consider contracting the organization, throwing Bruce Ratner in jail for fraud and blacklisting Rod Thorn and Kiki Vandeweghe from ever having a role with an NBA roster again. Because while the Nets may technically be an NBA team, they’ve lost their last two games by a combined 65 points, allowing 113.5 points and only scoring 81. If there really is a further low-point in what I’m assuming is going to be the worst NBA season of all-time, then David Stern might just has to step in and cancel the rest of the Nets season, so that paying NBA fans (and those of us who are compelled to blog about this team ) aren’t forced to watch a team that looks like there’s two million things they’d rather be doing than playing an organized game of basketball. Maybe if the Nets season gets cancelled, they can develop a mid-season replacement reality show on YES where Brook Lopez dresses up as one of those blue guys in Avatar and parades around a New Jersey suburbs. Or maybe there’s some truth to the rumor that Chris Douglas-Roberts is going to be a patient in the upcoming season of HBO’s therapy show, “In Treatment.”

As for last night’s game, what kind of analysis can I really provide? In the first, Utah exploded for a 21-1 run and ended up shooting 86 percent for the quarter. They shot 61 percent for the entire game. They were able to score 70 points in the paint (versus 34 for the Nets). They outscored the Nets 27-5 on the fast break. Utah did all this by essentially running some variation of the same play – a curl set on offense where a player curls around a screen and towards the rim (I’m sure Sebastian can do a better job verbally and visually than I did). The Nets, who have an assortment of big men (Brook Lopez included), who are just terrible help defenders, couldn’t do anything of note in the interior defensively, just gave up points at the rim again and again.

What is most concerning now is the Nets have become such a pathetic mess since Kiki Vandeweghe took over, that even the “hope” of improving through the rich crop of free agents this summer seems like a long shot. We’ve already heard Chris Bosh express zero interest in coming here. Here’s Carlos Boozer last night, a guy who by most reports, could have been a Net before the season started via trade: “I think anybody that wants to win, it would be tough to walk into a situation like that,” Boozer said.

Fans who have legitimate hope for the direction of this franchise, say aye? Mikhail Prokhorov is reportedly very close to becoming owner of the Nets, but even Russia’s richest man won’t make a difference if he doesn’t start looking to change the culture of this organization, IMMEDIATELY. Not once the season ends, not after the Nets get burned this summer and can’t sign any free agents. If the Nets want to have anyone waiting for them in Brooklyn in two years, Prokhorov has to take dramatic steps to show the players he wants to keep, his fans, and most importantly the rest of the NBA, that the Nets are serious about becoming winners again, not sitting on their hands, and hoping for the best.

I guess I can give you a few bullet points after the jump.
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Dave D. is reporting that Mikhail Prokhorov is “days away” from becoming Nets owner. Now, will it actually make a difference?

In a report that should shock no one, John Wall is entering the NBA draft this summer. Meanwhile, Bleacher Report has their mock draft up.

The Salt Lake Tribune looks at their first lottery pick, Kris Humphries.

More talk from AK-47 suggesting he and Mikhail Prokhorov are a match made in Russian heaven.

The Nets shockingly suffered their lost of the season falling to the Uah Jazz in Utah 116-83.

• The Jazz shot 86 percent in the first quarter and more than 60 percent for the game. The Nets were also outrebounded 46-31.
• Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur combined for 42 points and 20 rebounds.
• Yi Jianlian led all Nets with 16 points.
• Chris Douglas-Roberts only attempted one shot for the entire game, finishing with 2 points.
• Terrence Williams finished with 13 points in 28 minutes.

So last night was fun huh?  Again, the Nets were able to keep the game close until the second half and in that second half, the Nets just were unable to keep up with the Warriors.  The Warriors’ are 26th in Defensive Efficiency, and they were able to hold the Nets under 80 points (yes, the benches were cleared early in the 4th, but still they should have gotten over 80).

After staying healthy and having a full squad for a little while, Devin Harris is being held out of tonight’s game.  It makes sense when you think about it, the Nets probably won’t be winning this game, and they have 3 days off after this one.  Just give Devin 4 days off and let him return on Wed. against the Clips.  Onto the lineups!

Keyon Dooling vs. Deron Williams

Don’t take last night’s game as an indicator of what Dooling can do when he gets a bulk of the minutes.  He was stuck covering Stephen Curry, a very good shooter who presents problems for everyone.  On the offensive end, he played with the second unit and couldn’t really get anything going.  As for tonight, I think Dooling actually matches up better with Deron Williams than Devin Harris does.  Just because Dooling is a good on the ball defender who can play physical.  Deron Williams likes to take it into the post against smaller guards.  He might not do it as much against Dooling as he would against Harris.  Williams is also battling a wrist injury.

Advantage:  Deron Williams

Courtney Lee vs. Ronnie Brewer

Ronnie Brewer is an athletic 2-guard who can really attack the basket.  I think Courtney will be able to contain him though.  On the offensive end, Courtney Lee showed what he can do last night.  He was really aggressive attacking the basket, but he was also knocking down shots.  When Lee is open, takes his time, and gets both feet set, he is a solid shooter.  He was able to do that last night.

Advantage:  Push

Chris Douglas-Roberts vs. Andrei Kirilenko

CDR showed some life early in the game last night, and I was very pleased.  His first couple trips down the court, he attacked the basket and was looking for his shot.  I love seeing that.  As the game started to get out of hand though, CDR started to fade.  He needs to stay aggressive and attack the whole night.  Still there is progress being made, and I like to see that.

Advantage:  Push

Yi vs. Carlos Boozer

It is going to be funny to type this sentence, but Yi is being too aggressive.  He is attacking when there isn’t anything there, and he is forcing up some bad shots.  What’s worse is that he isn’t taking advantage of the open looks he is getting.  He isn’t even looking for his shot on the outside, and that is what defenders are giving to him right now.

Advantage:  Carlos Boozer

Brook Lopez vs. Mehmet Okur

Brook Lopez has really been the only positive in the past few games and the fact that he is still able to put up 20+ is amazing at this point.  I can’t wait to see how this kid ends up developing.  As for tonight, Mehmet Okur may present some problems.  Okur loves to play on the outside and he has range from everywhere on the court.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see Yi covering Okur and Lopez covering Boozer.

Advantage:  Brook Lopez

Warriors World – Golden State of Mind

The Nets have had a hard enough time resembling an NBA team with Devin Harris and Brook Lopez on the floor this season. Take them both out for an extended period and the end result is what happened in last night’s 111-79 loss to the Golden State Warriors, New Jersey’s 10th “L” in a row, pushing their record to an abominable 3-39.

With their full lineup in tact for the game’s first 24 minutes, the Nets survived a more down than up half, whittling Golden State’s lead from 17 to 6 once the second quarter ended. During the 19-8 run to close the second, the Nets rode Courtney Lee (17 points, 6 rebounds, 6-13 shooting), who hit two threes and scored 10 points during the spurt, and had capitalized on some poor shooting by Golden State.

The problem with the Nets these days, especially since Kiki Vandeweghe took control of the team from Lawrence Frank in December, is that the Nets can only manage these competitive spurts for about 6-10 minutes a game. For the remaining 40, they’re selfish and lazy on offense, lazy and inept on defense, and overall just a miserable basketball team that’s capable of getting embarrassed by anybody in the NBA, from first-place teams like the Boston Celtics, to bottom feeding teams like the 13-28 Warriors.

The first turning point for the Nets came when Devin Harris  sat the entire second half on the bench, nursing his wrist injury which, to his credit, he’s been trying to play through for the past few weeks. While I admire the leadership, it’s not like he’s doing anything to help this team. He had another poor shooting night, finishing with 4 points on 1-6 from the field, including 1-4 from within 10-feet.

But with the Nets, all it takes is the slightest bit of adversity for them to fold like a cheap suit and turn a competitive game into a laugher for their opponents. With Keyon Dooling running the point and the other four starters on the floor, the Warriors pushed their lead back to 16, nevermind the fact that they were without one of their best players, Monta Ellis, for the second half as well. I guess those things are irrelevant when a team is playing the Nets.

Still, the start of the second half wasn’t even rock bottom for the Nets. With about 4:39 left in the third quarter, Brook Lopez (21 points, 6 rebounds), probably the only Net who can be relied upon for anything positive anymore, picked up his fourth foul. The Nets were trailing 76-63. The Nets were outscored 35-16 the rest of the way, including only two points for the rest of the third quarter, and 14 points for all of the fourth.

It would take thousands of words to break down everything the Nets did wrong in this game – getting outrebounded 44-41, turning the ball over 20 times, shooting just 35 percent from the field, allowing Stephen Curry, who Don Nelson for some insane reason played for all 48 minutes in blowout, to get open time and time again enroute to 32 points – but I think instead I’m just going to focus on the play of Yi Jianlian (2 points, 1-6 shooting), who on this road trip, seems to be sliding back to the player we regrettably remember from a year ago, rather than the changed player in the weeks following his return from injury.

For starters, Yi is just truly, truly deplorable on the defensive end. It just feels like whoever the opposition throws out there against Yi is going to have a big night. With the Warriors going small, Yi was matched up a bunch against Corey Maggette, and the results weren’t pretty.Maggette finished with 29 points on 9-14 shooting, including 10-12 from the free throw line. At the 4:08 mark in the third, Maggette gave a slight head fake near the top of the key, which was just enough to get Yi ridiculously airborne, opening up a clean path to the basket (what, no help D? Wait, we’re talking about the Nets here) for a dunk. It wouldn’t be such a big deal if plays like that didn’t happen with Yi at least a half dozen times per game.

From the naked eye, it just appears that Yi is only focused on his offensive game. And he’s starting to develop some bad habits. For example, at the 9:17 mark in the first, the Nets put Yi in isolation against Anthony Tolliver where Yi went baseline and picked up a travel. For the whole play, it was like he was in tunnel vision mode, looking only to shoot, never considering a  pass out and reset once it started breaking down. Even if Yi didn’t travel, Tolliver had such great position defensively, the angle Jianlian had for the shot was so impossible, he wasn’t getting those two points.

Which brings me to the larger point, and my biggest gripe with Kiki, who I think coaches sometimes like he’s a lame duck who wants nothing to do with the position. If Kiki is really all about bringing the young players along, he needs to start enforcing a team concept with Yi, even if it means Yi has to watch some of the game from the bench. Yi just had absolutely nothing last night. Nothing. He wasn’t taking ill-advised shots per se, but he was just getting tortured by Warriors. It’s nice that Kiki is encouraging Yi to be aggressive, but Yi needs to trust his teammates more when defenses are primed for him. Instead, Yi is a black hole with the ball, and while his scoring average is up, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Nets have put up some of their most pitiful performances since Yi returned from injury. He’s just not a good team player.

More thoughts after the jump.
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Sebastian may think Terrence Williams could get a better basketball experience in the D-League (and I agree), but Rod Thorn disagrees: “The last two games, he’s played winning basketball,” Nets president Rod Thorn said. “He played in a way that, if he continues to progress, he’s going to get minutes – and he’s going to get important minutes. But we really needed to see that.”

JB McCandles over at Bleacher Report laments the descent of now former Net Sean Williams.

Kris Humphries is making a positive impression on his new team, and even beat writer Fred Kerber is impressed: The Nets have to be happy with Humphries, who has been the epitome of an opportunistic player so far. He basically gets points with hustle and will. Basically, he does exactly what the Nets thought he did – only better.

Brook Lopez is playing like an all-star recently, and a case could be made for him to get selected, but will he?: “It’s a goal of mine,” (Lopez) said. “I’m confident enough that if I keep playing the way that I know I can I’ll make it. It’s tough because that was a goal this year.”

With Lopez back on the west coast, the San Jose Mercury News profiles the Nets center, talking about how he’s the “center” of the Nets rebuilding efforts: “He’s proving obviously that he can score the basketball, we all know that,” Nets coach/general manager Kiki Vandeweghe said. “But his passing is improving, his rebounding, defense. He’s a guy that you can play through on a consistent basis.”