Nets Are Scorching

Even with the Nets getting handed their 66th loss yesterday, their is excitement among the fanbase.  The reason?  Al Iannazzone’s report that the Nets are ready to make Mike Krzyzewski a big offer to becme their next head coach.  From the article:

Krzyzewski has been reluctant to leave Duke. But if the Blue Devils beat Butler and Krzyzewski wins his fourth national championship, it could help the Nets’ chances. He would be able to leave on top and tackle new challenges.

Krzyzewski turned down a five-year, $40 million offer to coach Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in 2004. The Nets’ offer likely will be between $12 million and $15 million per season for Krzyzewski to be their coach and perhaps general manager, a source said.

If Prokhorov gets his way this off-season, Krzyzewski could be coaching his final game for Duke tonight when the Blue Devils face Butler for the NCAA championship.

Before we talk about the impact Coach K will have, let’s talk about whether or not he would accept the proposed offer, and what an offer it is.  The Lakers’ offer that Coach K turned down a few years ago was $8 million per, the rumored offer from Prokhorov is $4 to $7 million more than that.

Looking back at when the Lakers offered Coach K their coaching spot, he almost accepted it.  Eventually he turned it down, but since them some things have changed when it comes to Coach K and the college basketball landscape.  First, he has been coaching the Olympic team for some time now, and because of that he was able to be around NBA players (even crediting them with helping him become a better coach).  Also, since the Lakers made their offer, the NCAA has instituted their one and done rule.  Since Luol Deng, I don’t remember a one a done player that has played for Duke and this is because Coach K simply refuses to recruit them.  Before the one-and-done rule, these guys were going to the NBA straight out of college, now they are forced to play a year in college.  While Coach K doesn’t recruit them, other coaches don’t seem to have the same problem, and this has lead to a lack of success for the Duke program in terms championships (this year seems to be the exception).  You also have the NCAA expanding their tournament to 96 teams, and while most coaches are in love with it (more teams in the tournament means more coaches getting their and improving their resumes), it could make reaching the Final Four more difficult.  All of these factors, in addition to the crazy sum of money being offered, could sway Coach K to take the leap to the NBA.

Now if Coach K does take the job, will it work?  As a Nets fan, I am not really a fan of college coaches in the NBA (remember coach Cal?), but Coach K would be different.  As I mentioned earlier, Coach K has experience working with NBA players.  Because of this, he is not only familiar with how NBA players operate, but he has the respect of NBA players (this is something that most college coaches don’t have).  While I have never really been a fan of Coach K or Duke, I think this is the kind of move that will make the Nets much better.

Truth About It | BulletsForever

For some reason I was expecting the Nets to come out energized last night.  The Nets were coming off of a blowout against the New Orleans Hornets where no starter played more than 27 minutes (Brook), and the bench minutes were split evenly as well.  Obviously, that didn’t happen.  As lackluster as the Hornets looked two nights ago, the Nets were just as bad, maybe even worse.  They just looked slow the entire game as the offensive wasn’t crisp and the defensive rotations were slow (if they even happened at all).

There are teams that other teams just seem to struggle against.  We have witnessed it in our favor as the Nets just seem to have to Bobcats’ number.  On the flip side, the Washington Wizards just seem to have the Nets’ number.  Most of it is simply match-ups.  Overall, the Wizards’ talent level is equal with the Nets, but where the Wizards excel, the Nets struggle.  Andray Blatche is a great offensive talent, while Yi is one of the worst defensive PFs in the NBA.  Blatche has killed the Nets in the past three games, and tonight was no different.  Blatche was 1 rebound away from a triple-double, putting up 20 points, 13 assists, and 9 rebounds.  The Nets seemed determine to force someone else to beat them, and they doubled Blatche every chance they got in the first quarter.  However, unlike when they doubled Tim Duncan, the strategy wasn’t successful last night.  Part of it was the poor rotations due to the back to back, but another aspect is that Blatche can handle the ball farther out (than a guy like Duncan), and that forces the double to come from longer distances.  Because of that, Blatche is able to survey the court and make the correct pass.  He had 8 assists in the first quarter, but this was maybe the most frustrating:

Here, Blatche makes the catch so far out, that Brook Lopez is hesitant on whether to double or not.  That slight hesitation is what allows Blatche to find Shaun Livingston who was allowed to cut backdoor due to a defensive breakdown by Devin Harris.  Poor defensive rotations is what basically put the Nets out of their misery late in the fourth quarter:

Down 6, the Nets offense started to click, and they badly needed a stop.  Instead, the above happened.  It is funny how the Wizards broadcast cut to that angle right when the play started, as if they were expecting it.  Either way, you can just see the gap that Javale McGee has to drive through to finish with the dunk.

On the offensive end, Brook Lopez seemed to be the only Net who was really into any type of groove.  However, the Nets seemed to fall into that old pattern where they forget to get him the basketball.  The Wizards didn’t have anyone who was big enough to stop him, and when Brook was making the catch down low, he was either finishing or drawing the foul (22 points on 6-12 shooting with 10-11 from the line).  The Nets looked to be out of it early in the 2nd quarter, but after using Brook exclusively they were able to go on a 9-2 run and cut the Wizards lead to 7.  After those possessions late in the second, I thought the Nets finally “got it” and realized that they need to get the ball to Brook in close.  However, this was the first possession for the Nets:

Your eyes aren’t fooling you, Brook Lopez makes his post up at the three point line and ends up making a catch 35 feet away from the basket.  Part of it is on Brook for floating out that far out, but some of it is on the coaching staff for not running a play that puts Brook right on the block.

Some more thoughts after the jump:

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More to come later on this, but it looks like Mikhail Prokhorov is looking to make Coach K. a hell of an offer.

What a difference a year makes. Dave D’Alessandro on Terrence Williams: You can tell him something, and he’ll learn it in five minutes because he trusts coaches – especially Nets assistant Doug Overton – and he’s not a yes-sir type of rookie who then tries to do it his own way.

Meanwhile, TWill, thinks John Wall should make the leap to the NBA: “With him able to be the No.1 or No.2 pick, it’s hard to go away from that,” Williams said of Wall. “Let’s say he’s playing summer ball and he gets hurt and misses the entire year, then he’s got to come back the following year to prove himself and then he may be the 28th pick. The difference would be millions of dollars.”

Al Iannazzone says Kiki Vandeweghe blamed himself last night for the loss.

Matt Moore at Pro Basketball Talk gushes about a Nets starting five that features Amare Stoudemire.

Nets Daily looks at how to get Rudy Gay.