This is your open thread everyone. An interesting thing to look at is to see how the Nets defend Lance Stephenson. Stephenson was a 2nd round pick for the Pacers, and they seem content trotting him out there at point guard even though he is a true shooting guard. He looked comfortable against a 5’10″ Randle, but today he will be going up against a 6’3″ Uzoh or even Terrence Williams.
If Uzoh is able to defend Stephenson, he might earn himself a spot on this team…
ESPN’s Chris Broussard obtained some notes from Mikhail Prokhorov’s conversations with his top executives from this past weekend. Some things Prokhorov notably said is he believes Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will join forces in Miami and if LeBron James were to join them, he would win a few championships but diminish his own brand. He believes Cleveland’s hometown edge is going to be tough to overcome but if the Nets do land James, they would sign Carlos Boozer or David Lee to be his PF caddy. If the Nets don’t land James, they’re going to play it smart, make some “meaningful trades” and keep cap space for next summer.
The Nets ended up losing to the Sixers in their first summer league game yesterday. It was a pretty intense and competitive game, and despite the loss I think the Nets players fared very well individually (and in my opinion, that is the most important aspect of summer league games). Let’s breakdown some of the key individual performances:
Terrence Williams:
I don’t usually like to quote myself (that’s a lie), but here is what I wrote before the game yesterday:
Honestly though, I am excited to see Terrence Williams play. Most guys who have NBA experience tend to do much better in Summer League games because they are used to NBA-speed. If Williams has a good game, we don’t want to make too much of it, but if he struggles, it might be a little bit worrying.
Well, Terrence Williams had a fantastic game. You might remember the way CDR and Marreese Speights just jacked up a ton of shots last year, well T-Will was determined to dominate the game a different way, with his passing. T-Will had plenty of opportunities to attack the rim and get a shot, but he was under control trying to find teammates. Williams had 7 assists yesterday, and it could have been in the 15-20 range if the guys he was passing to were knocking down shots. He also showed some pretty good body control on his drives:
Last year, that is a charge. Here is another one of Williams’ passes:
