Nets Are Scorching

The Newark Star-Ledger is reporting that the 2011 NBA Draft will be held at the Nets’ new home, The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. According to the article, David Stern will be in attendance at tonight’s home opener, where he will make the formal announcement with Newark mayor Cory Booker and Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek. The NBA Draft has most recently been held at The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

This announcement means another marquee event will be coming to The Rock. In addition to Nets, Devils and Seton Hall home games, the 2011 NCAA Tournament East Regionals will be held in Newark in March. It is clear that the NBA wants to have a closer relationship with the Nets and their new home in Newark, and it’s never a bad thing to take a big-time event away from the Knicks and Madison Square Garden.

What is your reaction this news Nets fans?

It’s a brand new season, folks.

After the most high-profile offseason in NBA history, where we learned that Travis Outlaw decided to take his talents to Cory Booker’s backyard, yup, we’re finally here. The New Jersey Nets – emphasis on “New” – are finally hitting the professional floor for the first time together. While Troy Murphy is still out with injury, the Nets are essentially ready to go. Co-captain Devin Harris will be the starting point guard, flocked by Anthony Morrow & Travis Outlaw. Kris Humphries will likely start in lieu of Murphy*, and, of course, the other co-captain Brook Lopez will be manning the middle. Jordan Farmar & Terrence Williams will probably be the first players off the bench, but no guarantees. That’s up to Avery Johnson, joining the team before new GM Billy King, but after new owner Mikhail Prokhorov.

An early jump would be a huge boost for this team, too. From now until the end of November, I can count 10-11 winnable games. While there are some tough matchups in there – playing Miami twice in the first six games and Orlando twice in the first 9 isn’t a smooth start to any team’s year – there’s no doubt that the Nets should be able to compete early on, and hopefully use a good start to the season as a springboard into the rest of the year.

Don’t get me wrong. When given the choice of O/U 32 wins, I chose the under. I still think this team will hit a lot of frustrating bumps in the road as they gel and develop together. So when watching the games this season, unless the Nets surprise all of us (and they might), I urge you to pay less attention to the end result and more to how it came to be. For a developing team, it’s about the process, not the outcome. Is Harris finding Morrow for open looks? Is Murphy boxing out every play? How is Farmar running the offense in his backup role? Is Williams distributing well & taking good shots in the rhythm of the offense? Is Favors dunking on someone yet? And please, for God’s sake, can Brook Lopez get the most touches?

But it all starts tonight. The Nets are set to take on the Detroit Pistons, a truly beatable team. While we shouldn’t overestimate the first game – remember, it’s a long season – last year’s season opener (a loss to the god-awful Timberwolves on a Damien Wilkins buzzer-beater) was certainly a frightening omen of things to come. If the Nets start off on the right foot this time, it would certainly be a weight off their shoulders. 1-0 is prettier than 0-18. They’ve certainly got a legit chance. I’d be willing to say that this Nets team, even without Murphy, is flat-out a better team than Detroit. Now’s the time to prove that those demons from 2009-2010 are as real as the Red Sox curse was to Curt Schilling.

Welcome to the 2010-2011 NBA season. Even if (when?) it ends up as another lottery-bound season, it’s going to be a hell of a lot of fun to watch.

See you at 7.

*-After the time this article was published, Avery Johnson confirmed that it would be Joe Smith, not Kris Humphries, to start opening night.

Since May, Nets fans and basketball fans in general have been hearing about Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov. He’s created quite the stir since taking over the Nets, appearing in a memorable interview on 60 Minutes, among other things, and now he’ll be appearing at the Prudential Center tonight for the season opener against the Pistons. As the New York Times notes, Prokhorov has become the face of the franchise:

Playing the frontman may not be a bad thing for Prokhorov, who still lacks a Q score, a measurement of a star’s likability. If nothing else, he is unique. Not only is Prokhorov the only foreign owner in the N.B.A., he also is 6 feet 8 inches and looks far more like a basketball player than most owners. Being a billionaire doesn’t hurt, either.

As a Nets fan, I obviously welcome the intrigue and wealth that Prokhorov brings to this organization. Anytime the Nets can get national media headlines is a good thing from my perspective. Still, I’m anxiously awaiting the day where players become the focal point for this organization, not the front office. Maybe the team starts to build towards that this season. I think they have to if they’re ever going to attract new players with a pedigree. The Nets need to have more appeal to them, than just being known as the place where the rapper/mogul is a small minority owner and the majority owner likes to go dancing with beautiful Russian women.

For the first game of the season, we at Nets Are Scorching will be hosting a live chat to discuss the game with you – our awesome, loyal reader. Chat will start at 6:30 and go until after the game ends. Come on by during game time and chat with us!

Last one guys:

Grizzlies:  Straight Outta Vancouver | 3 Shades of Blue | SBN Recap

Hornets: At the Hive | Hornets247 | SBN Recap

Mavericks: MavsMoneyball | The Two Man Game

Rockets: The Dream Shake | SBN Recap

Spurs: Pounding the Rock | Project Spurs | SBN Recap

With the start of the season barely 24 hours away, I thought it would be a good time to reach out to the people who follow the Nets to get their projections for the team. Yes, it’s Nets Are Scorching’s annual over/under social mixer, bringing beat writers, bloggers and everyone in between together.

Rules are simple – I conjured up 10 random questions about this season and participants have responded with either “over” or “under” as their projection.

We have a special list of participants this year, including returning champion Al Iannazzone of The Record, and two new Nets beat writers, Conor Orr of the Star-Ledger and Stefan Bondy of the Daily News. Meanwhile, joining us from the general NBA blogosphere is Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie and Zach Lowe of new Sports Illustrated blog, The Point Forward. Just to show that the NAS team isn’t afraid to give their own opinions, Dennis Velasco, Devin Kharpertian and Justin DeFeo have joined in with the projections.

Read more…

Name: Brook Lopez
Position: C
Height: 7’0’’
Weight: 265 lbs.
Birth Date: April 1, 1988
Birthplace: North Hollywood, CA
Number: 11
Drafted: 10th pick of the 1st Round in 2008 by the New Jersey Nets
Experience: 2 years
Contract: $2,413,320

Read more…

As we get ready to start some real basketball, the focus turns directly to Brook Lopez, who Avery Johnson has praised continually this off-season. Al Iannazzone talks to Avery about the plan for Brook and how the Nets are going to (hopefully) get him the 4th quarter touches he never seemed to get last season:

Johnson couldn’t stand seeing film of Lopez being pushed off the low block last season. He has Lopez in the gym early some days for extra lifting and strength exercises. Johnson wants Lopez to stand his ground, power over people and dunk more and also make his presence felt on defense.

“He can be a special player,” Johnson said. “He can be a special center. Not many centers have the whole package. But he’s going to have set himself apart in the fourth quarter of games. When we can throw him the ball in the fourth quarter and he can keep his position and score against single and double coverage and make the right passes when necessary and block shots at the end of games and rebound, that’s when he’ll really start to elevate himself.”

There was nothing more frustrating last season than watching Brook Lopez have a monster first half and then disappear in the second. While some of that is obviously on Brook, the team, who clearly lacked any kind of cohesive coaching under Kiki Vandeweghe, seemed to move away from what was working without a legitimate reason. If Avery finds a way to correct this, it’s going to give the Nets an additional 5 or 6 wins without even trying in my humble estimation.