Nets Are Scorching

Sebastian was talking Brooklyn over at the Daily Dime last night.

Our good friend Henry Abbott at the TrueHoop mothership asks what Brooklyn native and renown Knicks fan Spike Lee is going to do once the Nets officially move in.

Al Iannazzone depicts the daily beat writers struggle when talking about Bruce Ratner’s victory lap yesterday: As a colleague said to me last night, it’s wrong that Ratner goes on these shows when these major things happen and doesn’t talk to the regular guys covering the team. We haven’t spoken to Ratner since last April.

Terrence Williams is ready for the grown-up table: Maturity is a word mentioned often. Vandeweghe said Williams’ “maturity level is rising.” Even Williams admits he’s grown up some and is concentrating on playing.

Here’s some video of CEO Brett Yormark on Fox Business News yesterday:

So after all of the court dates, changed dates, boycotts, and assumptions the Brooklyn Nets will finally become official after today’s groundbreaking ceremony.  Join me @ 1:30 for a live-blog here.  You can either read along or add to the discussion in the comments.  See you at 1:30.

1:28 - Alright guys, I got the ceremony tuned on and ready to go.  It is on YES for those in the tri-state area.  I caught the tail end of an episode of Nets’ magazine, and they were talking T-Will.  A quote from him, “My goal for this team is everyone goes out and plays as hard as they can.”

1:30 – …and here we go…

1:31 – We got Chris Shearn and Jessica Taff here.  Such a big day you’d think YES would break the bank to get Marv and the Czar here today.

1:34 – They just showed all of the shovels.  There were a lot of them, how many people are here?  A quote from Chris Shearn, “When the shovels go into the ground, there will be a lot of happy people.”

1:36 - They are listing celebrities from Brooklyn, and Debra Messing got mentioned.  I hope this isn’t what is going to be going on the entire hour.  Seems they are just killing time until the speakers get going.

1:39 – Jessica Taft just mentioned that this project will create jobs…for the third time.  They are looking for things to kill time with.  Apparently everyone has been asked to take their seats.

1:40 – Now we are getting to the awesome stuff.  They are making the practice facility so that people walking along the streets can see inside.  They have this for the Pacers in Conseco Fieldhouse, and I saw it when I was in Indiana.  I gotta say, even when it is empty it is pretty surreal to walk by and be able to see where NBA players practice.

1:42 – Because I write for NetsAreScorching, I am on the Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn e-mail list.  They are calling this the “Ratner’s Arena Boondoggle Ceremony.”  Now, I don’t agree with the DDDB, but I gotta say, that is pretty funny.  I wonder if we are going to be able to catch any protesters on TV.

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Two Man Game – Mavs Moneyball - Hoopdata Box Scores

After last night, I refuse to believe the 2009-10 New Jersey Nets are the worst team in NBA history. Their final record may very well suggest otherwise and the schedule-makers certainly haven’t done them any favors as 12 of their final 17 games are against teams in the thick of their respective playoff races. But the Nets should be better than a 7-win team right now. Forget should. The Nets are better than a 7-win team right now.

If you want physical proof of why I believe this, look no further than the first quarter between the Nets and Dallas Mavericks last night. Yeah, you could say that the Mavs were caught napping and were taking the Nets lightly, and went on to eventually take care of business in their 96-87 victory, but the worst team in basketball history doesn’t come out on the road against a team that has just won 12 straight games, and knock them silly en route to a 33-19 first quarter. The Mavs missed some open shots in the period, but the Nets also took it to them, by being aggressive in the pain. During a two minute stretch where the Nets grew their lead from 9-1 to 17-3, Jersey made five consecutive field goals off layups and dunks.

Granted, NBA games are 48 minutes long, and no championship has ever been crowned after just one quarter of play. In the second and third quarters, the Mavericks demonstrated why their currently the second-best team in the Western Conference (pushing the draft pick of theirs we own, further back in the first round). Dallas tightened their interior D, took Brook Lopez completely out of the game (all 10 of his points were in the first quarter), and they methodically picked the Nets apart over the game’s next 24 minutes, culminating with an atrocious third quarter where the Nets shot 19 percent and were outscored 31-15. Brook Lopez epitomized the Nets frustration, when on the final play of the quarter, who caught a pass on a pick-and-roll and proceeded to get stuffed by the rim and turning the ball over. He then, stupidly, grabbed Erick Dampier to pick up his fifth foul, taking Lopez out of the game until there was about two minutes left in the fourth quarter. Lopez was so bad after the first quarter, it was the first time I believe this season where I wasn’t screaming at the television for the Nets to feed him the ball more down the stretch.

But even with the second and third quarter performance, the Nets showed me something tonight. Earlier in this season, when I honestly though the Nets were the worst team in NBA history (think back to those back-to-back road thrashings by Golden State and Utah and tell me you’d disagree), the Nets would have turned off the switch for good after that third quarter, maybe make a small run with about 5-6 minutes left to cut the Dallas lead to single-digits, before totally disappearing into the night and losing by 15 or 20 points. But the Nets hung in there, starting with Jarvis Hayes, who drilled a long two and two threes to open up the scoring for the Nets. Terrence Williams (18 points, 13 rebounds) came up huge, early and late in the fourth, as the Nets closed with two points. t the 6:20 mark in the fourth, TWill outleaped Shawn Marion to grab an offensive rebound. A few minutes later, a layup where Williams dribbled behind his back to get into the paint, cut the Dallas lead to 90-87.

The Nets were even playing better defense. Kris Humphries and Josh Boone both played a solid game defensive on Dirk Nowitzki, who had so many of his shots challenged early, that even when he started getting open looks down the stretch, he missed, en route to a 3-16 night. But two plays stand out to me for the Nets defensively. At the 5:16 mark and Caron Butler looking to take over for Dallas, Butler was trying to back down TWill in the post. After making a spin move to get around him, he was met by Kris Humprhies who disrupted the shot, causing Butler to miss the layup. About two minutes later, Jarvis Hayes was actually playing suffocating man defense on Dirk, who was trying to get space for his historically automatic elbow jumper. As Jarvis kept his body on Dirk, not allowing him his customary push off for the jumper, Courtney Lee blindsided Nowitzki and stole the ball, leading to a fast break. But a three pointer by old friend Jason Kidd, his fifth of the game, put Dallas up by 5, where they never looked back.

So you tell me: can the worst team in basketball honestly be expected to accomplish all this in a given night? After being legitimately angry with this team and organization for the better part of the last four months, I can honestly say I now sympathize with these guys. Between the young talent of guys like Lopez, Harris, Williams and Lee, and some veteran good-guys like Keyon Dooling, Hayes and Hassell, these Nets need to find a way to get out of this discussion as being among the worst ever, because they just don’t belong there.

A few more thoughts after the jump:

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To commemorate today’s groundbreaking in Brooklyn, Sebastian will be liveblogging the ceremony/press conference, so at around 1:30, be sure to check back here frequently for discussion.

Keyon Dooling on Jason Kidd’s performance last night: “He’s got the Fountain of Youth,” Nets guard Keyon Dooling said. “I’m probably going to follow him around this summer, put a private investigating team on him so I can find the fountain of youth as well.”

Before the game, Jason Kidd said he believes the Nets will turn things around because of Mikhail Prokhorov.

Kidd is also happy for the Nets Brooklyn move, according to Al Iannazzone: “They were going to be persistent and they were going to work to get it to Brooklyn,” Kidd said. “I’m happy they finally got into Brooklyn. Maybe they’re unhappy they’re a little bit behind schedule. But they finally got that, which is a huge move and a huge piece. I don’t know how long it’s going to take to build, but it’s good.”

Brett Yormark on WFAN this morning.

Rob Peterson at NBA Fanhouse talks to Mark Cuban about the Nets fortunes: “I said this to Kiki and Rod both,” Cuban said about Nets coach and GM Kiki Vandeweghe and team president Rod Thorn, “there’s about a month, five weeks left in the regular season. In five weeks, them and the Knicks become the darlings of the NBA. They’re all anybody’s going to be talking about in regard to free agency.

Look who’s one of the richest men in the world.

Kobe Bryant has more game winning shots this seaso than the Nets have wins.

The Nets were literally scorching to start the game, leading 33-19 after the first quarter, but the Mavericks methodically picked them apart over the second and third quarters, and were able to withstand a late Nets surge, to beat New Jersey 96-87 in Dallas tonight.

• The Nets were shooting close to 53 percent at halftime and held on to an 8-point lead against a Dallas team that had won 12 in a row entering tonight. But 19 percent shooting in the third, where they were outscored by the Mavericks 31-15, put New Jersey in a deep hole entering the fourth that they could never climb out of, despite getting as close as two points down the home stretch.
• Terrence Williams keeps topping himself in the month of March, putting together another career game with 18 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and a blocked shot.
• Devin Harris had a solid night offensively against his old team with 21 points and 7 assists on 7-14 shooting, but turned the ball over 6 times.
• Kris Humphries had 13 points and 8 rebounds off the bench, while playing some solid defense against former teammate Dirk Nowitzki. Dirk had a particularly awful night, finishing with 12 points on 3-16 shooting.
• Jason Kidd finished with 20 points and 9 assists, and was 5-8 from three-point land.
• Brook Lopez and Courtney Lee each had a quiet night, finishing with 10 points each. Lopez picked up his 5th foul at the end of the third, and wasn’t seen again until about 2 minutes left in the game.

The last time the Nets played the Mavericks, it wasn’t pretty.  At all.  The Mavs might be missing a fair amount (Jason Terry and Erik Dampier are definitely out) of their pieces tonight, but Jason Kidd is still there.  Before we talk to the game, I figured this was sort of Mavericks related and interesting.  According to Wayne Winston (former stats guy for the Mavericks – see?  Related) the Nets are on pace for 11 wins according to his rankings (more on that Friday).  Wayne Winston is a pretty smart guy and these projections are pretty well respected, so take it for what it’s worth.

Now moving forward to tonight, the Nets are going to have to play a perfect to get a win tonight.  They can’t do the little things wrong like take the foul-to-give early or going for steals that trigger fast breaks for the opponents.  Onto the lineups…

Devin Harris vs. Jason Kidd

Last year Devin Harris got the best of Jason Kidd (and the Mavs), so it looked like the Nets won the trade.  This year the Nets are awful and the Mavs are good (and there was that blowout game in New Jersey) and now the Mavs are thought to have won the deal.  My opinion?  We still don’t know who we are getting with the Mavs pick, so the deal is incomplete and since it was a longterm deal for the Nets, it is way too early to judge.

Advantage:  Jason Kidd

Courtney Lee vs. Caron Butler

Courtney Lee has been playing out of this world as of late, and while I don’t think he will average 30 points a game for the rest of his career, he is starting to show what Rod Thorn saw in him that he was willing to give up Ryan Anderson  for him.  Combine his scoring now with the ability to play lock down defense, and you have a solid starter and a solid piece moving forward.

Advantage:  Caron Butler

Trenton Hassell vs. Shawn Marion

Trenton Hassell is probably going to start again, but we probably will be seeing a ton of Terrence Williams tonight, because I don’t think Hassell will be able to hang with Marion’s athleticism (even though that has declined through the years).

Advantage:  Shawn Marion

Josh Boone vs. Dirk

Josh Boone might start (he did have a solid game against the Grizzlies), but I don’t think he is going to successfully be able to hang with Dirk, which means you might see a lot of Kris Humphries.  While Humphries has struggled on the offensive end as of late, he still continues to work on the offensive end.  It is going to be fun to watch Dirk and Humphries go at it, and Humphries might be able to use his experience in Dallas to his advantage.

Advantage:  Dirk

Brook Lopez vs. Brendan Haywood

When I saw Brendan Haywood got traded to the Western Conference, I was happy because this means Brook Lopez gets to face him less than when he was in the East.  Brendan Haywood had the two best defensive performances against Brook (in my opinion), and he might have another tough night if his teammates don’t make shots.

Advantage:  Push

I certainly understand why a lot of Nets fans are down on Yi Jianlian, and I’ve certainly taken my fair share of shots at him this season, but I also think people need to be fair and realistic about how much Yi’s individual performances actually affect the team overall. When Yi left Sunday’s game against the Knicks with an ankle injury, there were a few comments about how much better the Nets played once Yi left – never mind the fact that in the first quarter, EVERYONE on the Nets was stinking up the joint, regardless of who was on the floor.

Here are the facts: looking at the simple rating for each player on the Nets roster – which is a statistic found at 82games.com that takes into account the team’s offensive and defensive performance when a specific players is on and off the court – you can determine that Yi does have a negative impact on the team when he plays. However, there are many other players on the roster, who currently get significant minutes, that have a more detrimental effect on the team than Yi.

According to 82games, Yi has played 40 percent of the team’s minutes this season. Yi is putting up a Player Efficiency Rating of 13.8 in those minutes, while opposing players matched up against Yi have a PER of 22.5, good for a differential of -8.7. Meanwhile, when Yi plays, the team’s +/- is -7, and when he’s off the floor, their +/- is -13.4, good for a differential of +6.4. When you add these two differentials together, you get Yi’s simple rating of -2.7.

Yi’s simple rating is sixth best on the Nets roster, which is more of a statement of how bad the Nets are (shocking).  Only two players have a positive simple rating, Brook Lopez and Keyon Dooling.  The other players ahead of Yi include Courtney Lee, and two players who have a relatively small sample size, Bobby Simmons and Sean Williams.

So that puts Devin Harris (-2.8), Kris Humphries (-3.5), Terrence Williams (-3.7) and Chris Douglas-Roberts (-3.8) all behind Yi in terms of simple rating, meaning the team is overall playing worse when those players are on the court when compared to the team’s performance when Yi is on the floor. Of those four players, I think the one that is most worth picking out for the sake of this post is Humphries. While I’ve been relatively impressed with Hump’s aggressiveness and attitude since he came over from Dallas (and thankful to have him over Najera), these numbers demonstrate that he’s not necessarily a better full-time option at the four than Yi.  Just based on some observations, I think Humphries has many of the same issues as Yi – occasionally soft on defense, a penchant for bad shots and inappropriate times – so the section of the fan-base that believes Hump MUST start instead of Yi may want to look at the numbers to determine if it really makes a difference for the Nets.

Nets fans need to go a little easier on Yi. Don’t get me wrong, I still believe the Nets absolutely must upgrade at PF next season and that the Yi as a starter experiment should come to the end.  But the Nets aren’t bad solely because of Yi, or even primarily because of Yi. The Nets are bad because they are a bad team, and the 7-wins they’ve accumulate is proof enough that their issues run beyond one player.

Sebastian provides some of his expert insight of some mistakes the Nets made against the Grizzlies on Monday, over at his NBA Playbook site.

In a roundtable at SI.com, NBA writers discuss which downtrodden Eastern Conference team that would buy stock in if they had the opportunity, and naturally, the Nets are brought up.

Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com talks Brooklyn.

David Biderman of the Wall Street Journal kicks the Nets when they’re down, but then offers some support: By now you’ve realized that the New Jersey Nets aren’t just a sad-sack basketball team, they’re profoundly horrible. But even with a 7-56 record, there are several recent sports teams that were even worse.

Just how talented is Dallas? As Al Iannazzone notes, even without Jason Terry, Erick Dampier, Brendan Haywood and Tim Thomas expected to play tonight, they still have Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Caron Butler and Shawn Marion to lean on.

And that Jason Kidd fella is still a very productive PG, as Julian Garcia writes.

Brooklyn Paper with more on the designers of the Barclays Arena.

People are apparently buying Knicks season tickets at the fastest pace ever because they believe they’re going to sign LeBron James.