Nets Are Scorching

Games like the Rookie/Sophmore game that took place on Friday are more for the guards than for the big men.  The up and down pace with no defense translates into a ton of outside shots and drive opportunities where the guards finish at the rim themselves instead of dumping it off to the big men. This was part of the reason for Brook’s quiet 6 points on 5 shot attempts.  In fact, the only memorable impression Brook had on the night was during the award presentation when he was obviously upset DeJaun Blair didn’t win the MVP:

However, what Net fans should take away from the game is what two current All-Star big men had to say about Brook Lopez.  Throughout the game, TNT had players come in and help commentate.  Both Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol participated, and both had nothing but good things to say about Brook.  First Dwight:

And here is Pau:

I know that if you watch the Nets on a nightly basis, you already know about Brook’s talent, but it is nice to see two premier guys talk about it on national TV. We have a special player in Brook Lopez

While denying interest in the Nets head coaching job, give Mike Krzyzewski some credit for humor: “I’ve not been contacted by anybody,” Krzyzewski said. “The guy’s Russian, right? You think he’d hire a Polish guy?

CBS Sports continued to push a scenario straight out of my worst nightmares by speculating that John Calipari could take the head coaching job if offered by the Nets.

Awww… LeBron James is complimenting the Nets again: “The Nets have a lot of talent,” said James, a six-time All-Star in seven pro seasons. “I think Brook Lopez one day will be an All-Star. I don’t see why they are where they are at this point in the season.”

Al Iannazzone on the current state of the Nets: The Nets are in the midst of the best week of their season: they can’t lose a game, and some actual excitement is being generated by the team.

The futility of the Nets is part of the Washington Post’s All-Star break report.

Al Iannazzone writes that Rod Thorn’s future hinges on his meeting with the new incoming owner, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov. During the meeting, the two could discuss the firing of Kiki Vandeweghe after the trade deadline in February.

Newsday reports that Jerry Colangelo is apparently very interested in Thorn’s job.

Meanwhile, Fred Kerber reports that Thorn is likely to keep his job:  “(Prokhorov) knows what he has in Rod,” said one rival team executive.

John Calipari addresses the coaching rumors: “For all of our fans: My name will be bandied about for every job that opens, including AAU jobs,” Calipari said. “High school jobs, supposedly I’ll be taking my son with me. Different college jobs, pro — it’s happened. I just say, ‘Whatever.’”

How about Patrick Ewing for head coach?

As Mark said, we are going to be looking towards the draft as the Nets head into the All-Star break. With the Nets guaranteed to have the 4th overall pick (at worst). Over the next three days, we are going to have scouting reports on a player who I think the Nets should take given their draft position.

With the fourth pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, the New Jersey Nets select Wesley Johnson, Forward out of Syracuse.

Overview

The Reasoning

Now, this might look like a reach right now (DraftExpress has him 8th in their current mock draft), but I think as the college basketball season continues, this kid’s stock will just continue to rise (In fact, the more I watch him, the more I like him.  I really really like him). He also has the body that makes him very versatile in the pros. His athleticism makes him a tough cover at the small forward position, but he has the size to play the PF spot for teams trying to play small.

Player Comparison

Draft Express has his Best Case/Worst Case as Shawn Marion (for the best) and Travis Outlaw (for the worst), but right now, I think his best comparison in the NBA right now is Jeff Green. A guy with both inside/outside skills (though I do think Johnson has a better handle and a better shot than Green).

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We’re at the All-Star Break and the Nets have four wins, so you’ll have to forgive Sebastian and I for using the time off to write about something that could potentially bring Nets fans a little bit of joy in a few months: the NBA Draft. Over the next few days, look for some great analysis and breakdown from our resident floor general, Sebastian. Meanwhile, I want to kick off the festivities by addressing something that’s been bugging me for a few months now.

There’s an old expression that I think should probably be the slogan for Nets Are Scorching, and countless others NBA blogs in the TrueHoop Network (and other blog networks where the case may be): “There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Regardless of history, the perception of “luck” for a franchise, or anything else, the numbers don’t discriminate.

So take me seriously when I tell you Nets fans out there that you can’t negatively obsess about whether or not the team will be able to get the No. 1 pick in the draft this year (and assumingly take John Wall). Yes, here are the FACTS: The team with the worst record in the league gets the most chances to win the draft lottery, resulting in a 1 in 4 chance of that happening. In the past 10 years, only two teams with the worst record in the NBA at the end of the season got the top pick. In 2008, the Chicago Bulls, with the 9^th worst record and a 1.7 percent probability, got the first pick and were able to take Derek Rose.

Now here’s the last fact: if you go strictly by numbers, the last 10 year’s of draft lottery history are irrelevant. The fact that the Chicago Bulls won the lottery with long-shot odds in 2008 does not matter in 2010. All that matters it the Nets have a 25 percent chance of getting the top pick – the best chance out of any other team in the NBA. The are guaranteed at worst, the No. 4 pick. In all likelihood, they’re going to get something in-between. There are impact players, capable of playing a role in the turnaround of this team, available with those picks. Now, I’ll let Sebastian do the rest.

Last summer, Sebastian did a terrific breakdown of how the lottery works. Rather than retype it all out, I suggest you just click here and refresh your memory.

The dissection of Chris Douglas-Roberts continues. In a team-by-team outlook report by Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix, he says the Nets could potentially buyout CDR’s next-to-nothing contract because his attitude is “horrible.” CDR obviously reacted strongly to the report via Twitter: All this because I take losing badly. I’m starting to think other things now…fa real. It’s deeper than how it looks. Fa real.

Add “Coach K” to the growing list of potential coaching candidates for the Nets next season. A report in the Daily News also throws our old friend John Calipari into the mix – which might actually make my head explode, though wouldn’t an awesome reality show be a setup where Coach Cal was back with the Nets, but he HAD to take Jayson Williams as his assistant coach?

Of all the hang-wringing and debate regarding the Nets awful season, leave it to Anthony Marcri of Basketball Prospectus to hit the nail on the head with his assessment: The central issue with this Nets team is, quite simply, they are less than the sum of their parts. They have a few pieces who could be starters on championship-caliber teams (Brook Lopez and Courtney Lee). They have guys who could be solid contributors for a playoff team (Devin Harris and Yi Jianlian come to mind). Finally, they have some role players who on the right team could be integral to a team’s success (Chris Douglas-Roberts, Kris Humphries, Terrence Williams, and Keyon Dooling, to name a few). However, this group does not fit together on the court.

Bleacher Report tries to fix the Nets, suggesting to trade for Caron Butler, draft Evan Turner, and hire Mike Fratello as coach, among other things.

A few days before the draft, TNT’s David Aldridge was kind enough to answer some questions from some bloggers. Well, as the trade deadline approaches, Aldridge did it again, with a question from NetsAreScorching was feature during the chat:

16. If the Nets break the record for most losses, will that keep free agents from signing with New Jersey? (Sebastian Pruiti — Nets Are Scorching)

DA: I think it’s going to be difficult for them to attract the difference-making type of free agent. Certainly players like Dwyane and LeBron I don’t think are going to go to New Jersey. But somebody always takes the money. There is always a free agent that wants to get paid, so they will have the ability to sign one or two maybe second or third tier free agents, depending on who they consider to be second or third tier free agents. They should really get somebody and I just don’t know that they’ll be able to get those really special players that can really take you somewhere. And that to me is the dilemma New Jersey has is how much money do you put into good but not great players and I think that’s what they’ll be able to get this summer.

You should seriously go check out the whole thing, since there is ton of great info and questions from fellow bloggers.  A big thanks goes out to NBA.com for setting this up and to David Aldridge for taking the time out to answer these questions.

Starting with the Nets win in New Jersey against the Los Angeles Clippers the Nets have played a string of 9 competitive games (yes I am last night’s game against Milwaukee).  However, the Nets have only been able to win 1 of these games.  Now there are a number of reasons why, and they have been talked about just about everywhere (including here) , but something that isn’t really getting talked about is that role players have been absolutely killing the Nets.  Don’t believe me?  Let’s take a look:

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