Nets Are Scorching

The Nets kicked off the second half of their season in style, beating the Charlotte Bobcats 103-94 on the road tonight, notching their fifth victory of the season.

• Courtney Lee, Devin Harris and Brook Lopez supplied the offense for the Nets tonight, but they probably don’t pull this off tonight without Josh Boone, who in playing his first meaningful minutes in more than a month, scored 7 points and grabbed 8 rebounds, including an offensive board with just over a minute left in the game that lead to a Jarvis Hayes three, putting the nail in Charlotte’s coffin.
• Devin Harris had a great all around game with 17 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists.
• Brook Lopez had 16 points and 3 blocks before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
• Courtney Lee scored 10 of his team-high 21 points in the first quarter, fueling an 31-point offensive barrage for the Nets in the quarter.
• The Nets shot 51.9 percent for the game, against one of the league’s better defenses. They also outrebounded Charlotte 47-36.
• Terrence Williams (4 points) had an amazing one-handed dunk in the second quarter from just past the free throw line. Wonder if someone was trying to make a statement regarding the participants in this past weekend’s Slam Dunk Competition.

So now that All-Star weekend is behind us, every Nets’ fan full attention should be on whether or not the Nets can get 6 more wins to avoid the worst record ever in the history of the NBA.  Will they be able to?  I am not sure, but games like these could end up being pretty good indicator.

This isn’t the same Bobcat team that the Nets beat for their first win though.  The Bobcats have been playing incredibly well for the past couple of months.  In fact, they are currently sitting 1 game above 500.  Onto the lineups…

Devin Harris vs. Raymond Felton

The All-Star break was perfect timing for Devin Harris.  He came back from injury, played very well in 4 games, then got hurt again (the collision).  He returned for the last game before the break and played pretty well again, hopefully this can continue moving forward.

Advantage:  Push

Courtney Lee vs. Stephon Jackson

Stephon Jackson is the guy who makes this team go.  There was a noticeable difference in how the Bobcats played before he was traded and then after he was traded.  Also, if he gets going and doesn’t force shots, he could have a big game tonight.  Lee’s biggest responsibility won’t be on the offensive end tonight.  His main objective is to keep Stephon Jackson from getting hot.

Advantage:  Stephon Jackson

Jarvis Hayes vs. Gerald Wallace

Gerald Wallace is another guy who gives you trouble.  In the Nets’ win, Wallace was able to grab 20 rebounds.  That is just plain ridiculous, and a lot of it had to do with Wallace’s skill, but some of it had to do with CDR being undersized against a guy like Gerald Wallace at the 3.  Now I am not saying Hayes will be able to keep him off the glass, he just has a better chance to do so.

Advantage:  Gerald Wallace

Yi vs. Boris Diaw

Yi and Boris Diaw are the same exact player to me.  They both are soft PF guys who are used to try and stretch the floor by their respective teams.  Both aren’t really that good on the defensive end either.  The only difference is Diaw tends to be a better passer and Yi is the better shooter.  Other than that I think they are the same player.

Advantage:  Push

Brook Lopez vs. Nazr Mohammed

Nazr Mohammed could give Brook some trouble.  Nazr is the type of defender Brook struggles against.  The bigger guy that can push him out of his spot.  Hopefully this doesn’t result in him settling for outside jumpers.

Advantage:  Brook Lopez

Overview

The Reasoning

Well, because it is John Wall, of course!  In all seriousness though, when we did this series of posts, I was surprised to see all this Evan Turner love while everyone seems to be dismissing John Wall.  I mean, it is close, but John Wall is the better player than Evan Turner, and if the Nets get the first pick, they need to draft John Wall, no questions asked.  A lot of you seemed to be worried because he is a one and done player, and some of you are worried because he is coming out of a coach Calipari system.  I am going to list two guys who were both, Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans and they both are turning out pretty well (Evans was the Rookie-Sophmore MVP while Rose just made his first All-Star game), and just about everyone who has seen John Wall live says that he is better than both of those guys were in school.  Plus drafting John Wall makes Devin Harris available to trade (not saying I want this), and that is another asset to work with.  Not to mention that he is good friends with LeBron and that everyone in the NBA seems to identify Wall as the best college player.  You can scoff at this, but I think drafting John Wall gives the Nets a better chance at a big name free agent than what we could get from drafting Evan Turner.

Player Comparisons

We already know the best case scenario, a better version of Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans.  Say what you will about coach Calipari (and it probably is true), but he can churn out point guards.  There is a reason he is recruiting these guys, they are very good, and their games work in his up and down system.  Draft Express lists Wall’s worst case scenario as a 6’4″ Kyle Lowry.  That is a pretty good player, but not 1 you want to take with the #1 pick.

Read more…

A Dave D’Alessandro report makes it sound pretty convincing that Rod Thorn will keep his job in the Mikhail Prokhorov regime.

Al Iannazzone examines how the Nets can get six more wins to avoid all-time infamy: The breakdown is: they have 30 games and 17 are at home; nine are against West teams, four of which are at home; 13 are against teams below .500 at the break and six are at home.

Kkii Vandeweghe throws cold water on the idea that the Nets will make a trade before this week’s trade deadline.

Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News advises John Calipari to steer clear of the Nets.

Fox Sports includes the Nets as part of their all-star break round-up, “six teams with questions” down the stretch.