Nets Are Scorching

The Summer League stats for the Nets are now up on our Statistics page, and over the five games a some interesting indicators came up in the numbers. Because of that, I’m going to do a quick statistical breakdown of the Nets players and how they fared last week.

First, the Big 3:

Terrence Williams (18.8 PPG, 3 RPG, 5 APG, 4.2 TPG, 44.3% FG%) was the star of Summer League. While he was off at times – in game 3 he struggled from the floor, shooting 8-26 – he was the most consistent producer for the Nets throughout. Attacking the rim regularly, T-Will took almost 16 attempts from the floor per game and a little over 6 attempts from the free throw line.

One important note is that in the 5th game, he only played for the first five minutes, so only looking at his stats from the first four games produces a line of 23-6.3-3.8-5.3-44.7%, which other than the huge turnover number is very impressive. As I mentioned in the game 3 recap, it did seem that T-Will was experimenting a lot with his game, so the turnover number doesn’t bother me too much. If he tightens his play up for the regular season, he will have a very good year.

Damion James (18.8 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 1 APG, 46.4 FG%) showed a lot of signs that he’s going to be an impact player at the next level. Although he was forced to sit out the final game due to injury, James was aggressive at all times on both sides of the floor and really showed off his impressive stroke. He hit many mid-range jumpers and shot 4-10 from the field over the five-day period, two of those in his 30-point breakout on Wednesday. His only serious issue is free-throw shooting – he shot 19-34 (a paltry 56%) from the charity stripe, which is worse than his college average this past season (67.4%) but not by much. His weaknesses pale in comparison to everything he brought to the team last week, and he’ll have a definite impact on the Nets next year.

Derrick Favors (10.6 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 1.2 APG, 4.8 FPG, 46.7 FG%) Had an up-and-down Summer League performance, but really started to put it together by the end of the week.  While struggling with foul trouble, turnover issues, and an occasional lack of aggressiveness early in the week, Favors dominated in the final game of Summer League, breaking out for 23 points, 11 rebounds, and a variety of post moves and high-flying jams. After watching in-depth for a week, the talent is clearly there – he just needs to work on his aggressiveness in the lane and work on the flaws in his mid-range jumpshot. He’s got all the unteachables – an NBA body, ridiculously smooth athletic ability, and a knack for finishing around the rim – all he needs now is a coach who will get in his head that he actually can score on anyone. Luckily, the Nets have the perfect man for the job in Avery Johnson.

The rest:

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Say what you will about the Nets and their off-season pick-ups thus far (I certainly said a lot last Friday), but one thing is certain – they are assembling a roster that, statistically speaking, is a definitive improvement over last year’s 12-win debacle. With the acquisitions of Travis Outlaw, Jordan Farmar, Anthony Morrow (who was officially acquired in a sign and trade yesterday) and Johan Petro, the Nets are adding to their already young and developing core, and doing this with players who offer an improved skillet over organizational predecessors like Jarvis Hayes, Bobby Simmons, Keyon Dooling and Josh Boone. Meanwhile, for the first time since the dismantling of the “Big Three” era, the Nets appear to be following an actual team-building philosophy – acquiring athletic, multi-purpose players who can run the floor, play defense, and shoot the three. When your team’s primary weapons are an athletic, speedy point guard in Devin Harris and a low post powerhouse in Brook Lopez, the athletic and three-point aspects become especially important.

But let’s go back to where the Nets have statistically improved. Here are some of the key numbers (using advanced metrics) for some of our new acquisitions compared to how some of the Nets playing in similar role/positions last year performed. I’m even going to use Outlaw’s 2009-10 numbers, which were affected by a lingering foot injury all season.

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On a day where the Nets are expected to announce their free agency pick-ups, the beat writers are taking stock in the team’s off-season. Al Iannazzone says the team hopes they can sneak into the playoffs next year if everything breaks right – though so far, in the team’s coaching search, draft lottery pick, GM position and free agency pursuit, nothing has broken right. Meanwhile, Daniel Marks, an admitted Nets fan writing for Dime, believes the Nets didn’t have such a terrible summer.

Dave D’Alessandro believes the vacant GM position is between team VP Bobby Marks and former Sixers President Billy King.

For the vacant PF position, Fred Kerber believes with Udonis Haslem off the board, the team will go the trade route or look to sign Phoenix Suns “energizer” Louis Amundson.