Nets Are Scorching

We all know earlier this summer any trade for Carmelo Anthony between the Nets and Denver centered around rookie Derrick Favors. With the rookie struggling in the preseason, there was talk that Denver was becoming skittish, but with Favors off to a very strong start, people are starting to ask more if the Nets should be trading him.

Al Iannazzone reports this morning that the Nets would STILL trade Favors for ‘Melo, but Avery Johnson is ecstatic with the rook:

“We look at him and [Brook] Lopez being a stud [power forward] and [center] as we move along,” Johnson said. “If we look into our crystal ball, we like what we see.”

Over at Whoop De Damned Do, Victor Nash explores the question from the fan’s perspective. Citing some stats, Nash points out something very interesting about Carmelo the “superstar”:

However, one of the real kickers to this deal is Carmelo’s offensive efficiency rating. Melo has always been lauded as a great offensive talent that is a below average defender to say the least. However, his efficiency rating of 107 is almost identical to the league average. That doesn’t exactly scream out great offensive talent to me.

I’m with Nash here, and I get the sense from reading more of the message boards and blogs around the Internet, that we’re not alone. Anthony is just not good enough to sacrifice the potential talent of Favors. And I think most fans are happy to watch this team grow together, speed bumps like the last three games and all. At this point, I see Billy King’s (and Mikhail Prokhorov and Bret Yormark’s?) insistence on keeping Favors on the table for ‘Melo being all about marketing and spiting the Knicks, who will likely end up with ‘Melo if he doesn’t go to the Nets. Marketing and spite are not worthwhile reasons for roster moves. Sorry guys.

Let me make this clear and on the record: do not trade for Favors for ‘Melo. Just don’t. It will be a mistake. Even if Favors never reaches his upside, Anthony is not enough of a difference maker. It makes me think less and less of this new front office and this ownership which I think Nets fans have been a little too quick to praise, myself included, that this deal is even still on the table.

Boxscore – Magic Basketball – Orlando Pinstriped Post

Although the final score may have been what some expected, the way this game played out probably wasn’t. The Nets played toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference in the first half and even had a 10-point lead late in the 2nd quarter. But their poor defensive effort and lack of scoring in the 2nd half completely hamstrung them, and the Magic were able to escape with a comfortable 105-90 victory.

Coming into this game I said the one thing that I wanted to see was how Brook Lopez matched up with Dwight Howard. Well unfortunately for the Nets, it wasn’t even close. Honestly the Nets center looked like a different person in Orlando. After missing his first few shots, he got very gun-shy, didn’t look confident and really played very poorly. I mean he didn’t make his first field goal until the 4th quarter, and finished with 10 meaningless points on 3 of 17 shooting. Dwight Howard is a tremendous player and he showed it tonight with a dominating 30 points and 16 rebounds, but I was really disappointed in Brook’s game. Look I didn’t expect him to play Howard evenly, but he needed to be respectable for the Nets to win this game. Oh, and to add injury to insult, he took an inadvertent elbow from Howard in the 4th quarter and ended up sprawled out on the floor.

After the first quarter last night the Nets were very lucky to be down only 2 points. Scoring droughts continue to be an issue for this team and tonight was no exception. They opened up a 10-6 lead on Orlando after a Devin Harris And-1 at the 7:48 mark of the 1st, and then didn’t score again until Travis Outlaw buried a trey with under 3 minutes remaining. It didn’t kill the team tonight but there will be games where it becomes a major issue. Even if you’re in a shooting slump the team needs to find a way to get to the free throw line and at least get something on the scoreboard.

The second quarter was a different story that saw the Nets put in 33 points as a team, largely led by T-Will, Travis Outlaw and Harris. Williams was especially good and I really liked the range he showed on his jumper. Coming out of college he was not a guy who could hit the 3 with any consistency, but he buried two in the 2nd quarter and finished with 10 points in the frame. Another thing I really liked in the 2nd was the Nets defense. Although Orlando got a little sloppy and missed some easy shots, whenever you can hold a team with the Magic’s talent to just 4 points in a 4 and a half minute span, you are doing some good things.

But the end of the second quarter was unfortunately something you often see from subpar teams. When you have a 10-point lead with a minute remaining, you need to make that lead stick going into the half. While they still had the lead, it was only 3 points and Orlando had all of the momentum going into the 2nd half, which they certainly carried over into the 3rd quarter. The Magic were able to get to the free throw line, got a big 3 from Vince Carter, and the Nets had some very poor possessions on the offensive end. Terrence Williams again showed some of his immaturity as a player with a bad turnover, added a missed shot and the Nets only had a slight lead going into halftime.

The one thing that will stand out to someone who didn’t watch this game was the disparity at the free throw line. While there were a few calls that could have gone either way, for the most part the Magic deserved most of the foul shots they took And the Nets just need to get to the charity stripe more often. Taking nine free throws in a 48-minute game is a joke. I realize that Dwight Howard is just so big that he attracts a ton of contact and gets to the line a lot, but the Nets need to be more aggressive. The Nets defense was also was very poor, especially in the 3rd quarter. I realize the second unit comes off the bench for a reason but their defensive effort towards the end of the third quarter was just pathetic. Actually, you can include the starters in there as well. One play that comes to mind is after Harris made a nice mid-range jumper, he was lazy getting back on defense and Jameer Nelson got to the rim without being contested. Despite all the fouls from the Nets, I still felt that they didn’t challenge Orlando enough around the rim. This is the NBA, where you aren’t just supposed to get uncontested layups and dunks. The Nets didn’t exactly follow that mantra tonight.

One of the definite bright spots of this game was the play of Travis Outlaw. He had been very sporadic during the first four games but shot the ball incredibly well tonight and showed a lot of confidence in his jumper, finishing with 17 points. The problem is that I still feel like this is going to be a “once-in-a-while” type game from Outlaw. If the Nets are going to realize their full potential, as the starting small forward, this is going to need to be the norm for him. “The Rook” (Derrick Favors for those not paying any attention) was very quiet tonight and honestly didn’t play much. However I think we can chalk up at least 1 or 2 monster dunks from him per game. That’s a given.

I really think Avery Johnson has done a good job with this team and I see many good things from him on the bench, but he misused his timeouts tonight. He did correctly sense that the game was getting away from the Nets in the 3rd quarter and that’s certainly why he called so many timeouts. But if this game had been close at the end, the Nets would have only been left with 1 timeout because of the required media timeout they were assessed in the 4th. One thing I did like from Avery was the shortening of the rotation. Damion James will have his time on this team but right now there just isn’t a ton of playing time at the forward spot. As for Johan Petro? He can just stay on the bench as far as I’m concerned.

More thoughts after the jump:

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The Nets 4-game homestand to start the season began about as well as fans could hope for. They were 2-0 and awaiting a game against the Miami Heat. But after two straight losses (one blowout and one gut-wrenching game they gave away) they begin a back-to-back tonight in Orlando. Here are some things to keep an eye on.

Field Goal/Three Point Shooting Percentage: The Nets have struggled big-time shooting the ball over the last two games. Against Miami on Sunday they shot just 35% from the field and a dreadful 21% from the three-point line. It wasn’t much better the other night against Charlotte and they will need to be more efficient if they’re going to pull the upset in Orlando.

Injury Issues: It was something to look out for before the game against the Bobcats and injuries are still a bit of a nagging problem for this team. Troy Murphy struggled in his season debut and Devin Harris did not practice yesterday while nursing a shoulder injury, which he suffered in Wednesday’s game. Harris insisted he will play tonight but the Nets will need to be at full strength the next two nights against two of the best in the East.

Brook vs. Superman: One matchup I am very excited to watch tonight is Brook Lopez versus Dwight Howard. There is no doubt that Brook is one of the best young centers in the NBA, but as Avery Johnson said when talking to reporters, he still has a ways to go to be on Howard’s level. The Nets center has put up some very impressive numbers in the first four games, averaging 22.8 points and 2.25 blocks per game. He’ll need a similar effort tonight if he’s going to best Howard.

Obviously, this is a New Jersey Nets blog, however, the NAS crew absolutely love the NBA in general. So, every week, Mark, Devin, Evan, Justin, Danny, and myself will answer questions regarding the L.

1) Kevin Garnett allegedly called Charlie Villanueva a “cancer patient” and Villanueva took to Twitter and essentially ratted Garnett out.  Was this a personal issue that Villanueva could have kept between himself and Garnett?

Justin: This to me seemed like a personal issue and something that should have been kept between them. While I don’t doubt Garnett said something in bad taste, I don’t feel it was necessary for Villanueva to make it a public ordeal, though its easy for me to say.

Danny: If there’s one thing in sports I hate more than cultural insensitivity, it’s libel. Villanueva had no business exposing this supposed conflict to the public. Even if Garnett did, in fact, say what Villanueva reported he said, sparking public discourse about it certainly isn’t going to solve anything. Go to Garnett directly and work it out with him. Instead, now we have to face thinly veiled cover-ups like the claim that Garnett said Villanueva is a cancer to his team and the league. I don’t buy that for a second. Honestly, while Garnett has been one of the forerunners of trash talk over the years, I think he has been inclined to ratchet it up lately now that his game can no longer speak for itself. Bad move both ways.

DV: I wouldn’t be surprised if Garnett actually said what Villanueva said he said.  However, since I’m neither one of them and I wasn’t anywhere near the vicinity when this went down, I can’t say for certain.  Despite that, whatever was said happened during the heat of battle and I’m pretty sure that those of us who trash talk say the wildest things to get into an opponent’s head.  Do I really think Garnett doesn’t have an honest grasp of how serious cancer is?  Of course I don’t.  But what I do think is that Villanueva was being a baby here.  It’s the equivalent of telling your second grade teacher that so-and-so threw a ball at your head during a game of dodgeball.

2) There are three undefeated teams in the NBA early on – Lakers (5-0), Hawks (5-0), and Hornets (4-0).  What is working early on for the Hornets and what needs to happen for it to sustain the whole season?

Justin: I think what you’re witnessing with the early success of the Hornets is the impact Chris Paul has on a basketball game. I think people are quick to forget just how good this guy is, and how his teams perform when he’s healthy. While they won’t sustain quite the success they are having now, I do believe they can remain in the Western Conference playoff hunt all season as long as Paul is in the lineup.

Danny: While I expect that the Hornets’ unbeaten start will end tonight at the hands of the Miami Heat, New Orleans is succeeding for two primary reasons: (1) they’re playing stifling defense and (2) they aren’t turning the ball over. I’m surprised at the cohesiveness of the team considering all the rumors that Chris Paul would be gone by the season’s outset, but new coach Monty Williams has this team believing in the fundamentals. Any team that controls the ball and plays defense like the Hornets are now could be very successful in this league. It remains to be seen, though, if they can keep it up throughout the season. Trevor Ariza will be a key cog to sustaining the solid play.

DV: The Hornets are ranked fifth in points allowed (93.8), sixth in opponent’s field-goal percentage (42.8%), and ninth in opponent’s 3-point percentage (31.8%).  If the Hornets can keep up the D and have Chris Paul inspired, the Hornets will contend for a playoff spot.  The additions of Trevor Ariza and Marco Belinelli should pay off in a significant way.

3) After a handful of games, which team has surprised you, good or bad, the most?

Justin: My surprise team in the early season: LA Clippers. While I know it’s not much of a surprise that the Clippers are bad, I think that this season, in particular, is surprising. Many believed including myself that the Clips would be near the middle of the pack in the Western Conference. They certainly have the talent to do so. Eric Gordon had a great summer playing with the US team, and I thought he would carry over that momentum with him to the NBA. He, along with rookie Blake Griffin, the Clippers were certainly a team everyone was excited to see this season, but they have been anything but exciting. Eric Bledsoe did look impressive against the Thunder though which is a sign of encouragement.

Danny: You’ve got to be shocked at the Houston Rockets right now. At 0-4, they are the only winless team in the league other than the Detroit Pistons, and it doesn’t really make sense. Yes, two of their games were against the Lakers and Nuggets, but there are some very bad signs about this team. The Golden State starting backcourt torched them for 71 points and they’ve allowed 107 points or more in all four games. If they hope to make the playoffs, the defensive effort needs to show up to supplement the potent offensive combination of Aaron Brooks, Kevin Martin, and a limited Yao Ming. It’s a real shame that they’re spoiling Luis Scola’s smoldering start.

DV: The Miami Heat are a disgraceful 4-1.  How could they have lost their first game of the season to the Boston Celtics?  The Boston Celtics!  What have they done recently?  The Heat are allowing 84.0 points per game to their opponents and that makes zero sense.  It should be 46 points per game, 50 at the most!  Unbelievable.  You’d think with all the hype surround them, they’d at least try.

In tonight’s game against the Orlando Magic, Brook Lopez is getting his first taste of Dwight Howard for the season. Lopez had a hard time both containing and scoring on Howard last year. In The Record this morning, Al Iannazzone talks to Lopez and Avery Johnson about comparing the two centers:

“Dwight Howard right now is in a stratosphere of his own, especially on the defensive end and the way he plays pick-and-rolls and his physicality,” Johnson said. “Brook is still maturing. He still has a ways to go, but we like the level where he is right now.”

Lopez can go a long way in showing the rest of the league how good Nets fans think he is by putting in some good performances against the Magic. We’ll see how things go tonight.

AP Photo/Bill Kostroun

Boxscore – Queen City Hoops – Rufus on Fire

I don’t think anyone out there expected the Nets to be able to consistently close out games as effectively and clutch as they did in their first two games this season against Detroit and Sacramento. But there’s something about last night’s 85-83 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats in Newark that felt a little more deflating than usual.

Maybe it was the role reversal aspect. Remember, it was the Bobcats who came to and fell in New Jersey last season with the Nets at 0-18, giving the team their first win. While Charlotte’s 0-3 record entering last night’s game is a far cry from last year’s record-breaking start by the Nets, the Bobcats were a playoff team last year, and with players like Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson, and a coach like Larry Brown, they’ll likely be in the hunt for a spot in the postseason again this year.

Then consider that it was a 12-4 Bobcats run down the stretch that doomed the Nets, as opposed to the practically miraculous crunch-time-runs the Nets went on in their first two victories this season. There was a lot to like about the Nets before the final four minutes of the game. Another eye-opening performance from Derrick Favors (11 points, 8 rebounds), who threw down a thunderous dunk – “a man’s jam” quoth Ian Eagle – at around the 5:30 mark in the fourth. A solid all-around effort from Devin Harris (19 points, 8 assists on 7-17 shooting), who took a shot in the shoulder in the third quarter, causing him to retreat to the locker room, before making his way back on the court in the fourth.

But there was also a lot to not to like. A lot of mistakes that were made by the Nets both on offense and defense that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. I’m still having a hard time reading what kind of team the Nets are at this early juncture. They’re a few bounces of the ball away from being 0-4, though you could also make the case that they should be 3-1. Which means, at the end of the day, the 2-2 start makes sense. But the next few weeks are going to be a lot tougher – and Avery Johnson needs to dig deep and figure out a way through smart coaching, to get guys on the floor making right decisions at the right time, or else the losses are going to start to pile up very quickly on this team, and they will be mired in another miserable November/December.

For starters – as much as I love Brook Lopez, there are still a number of visible flaws to his game that keep him from evolving beyond a “very good” player to a “great” one. The good – 17 points, 5 blocks. The bad – 6-17 shooting, 5 turnovers, questionable shot selection. Per the last point, this was one of those times I hated being right. At around the 3:40 mark in the 4th, the Bobcats were starting to make their run. Jackson had just drilled back-to-back threes and Wallace had made a layup, so a 10 point Nets lead had been shaved to 5. The Nets absolutely needed a good offensive possession there and instead go one-and-done after Lopez hoisted an 18-footer. There should be some kind of federal law against Lopez shooting from anywhere but the post and the paint in the late stages of a Nets game. The second Lopez shot that ball, I thought it was very possible that he and the Nets would regret that poorly-chosen missed shot. Yes, you give what the defense gives you, but in that case, you have to look for a better shot, or let one of the team’s actual jump shooters take an 18-footer. Like I said, didn’t want to be right there, but …

Let’s talk about Travis Outlaw here for a minute. It must be written in my imaginary contract for me to preface every early season critique of his by saying, “I wasn’t against his contract but …” Lots of ellipses for Outlaw last night. For one, the guy is just a liability defensively right now. His lateral movement on that end of the floor appears nonexistent, or at best, sluggish. At the 3:46 point in the game, he gave Wallace his left and was just outright burned to the rim. Could there have been some help defense? Sure. Missing a rotation is nothing new to the Nets. But Outlaw was so badly beaten to the rim, I don’t think the help defender could have done much. It was a definite “ole” on his part.

Then, on that final possession … with the Nets down two, Outlaw had an open look at the three in the corner, but there was a little too much time on the clock. Still, I would have rather seen him either shoot it and if he missed, give the Nets a chance to play the foul and free throw game (it does work, if we remember the preseason game against Philly), or passed it back to the top and reset the offense. Instead, Outlaw chose to drive baseline and take an off-balance runner. If that wasn’t bad enough, after being fortunate enough to recover the ball with six seconds left, he immediately shot a faraway from about the foul line and missed again.

Clock awareness, shot selection, defensive breakdowns – I feel like I’m writing about the Jets from last Sunday, but alas, there are all signs of a young team that’s going to struggle sometimes. This is where the signing of Avery Johnson was so integral. While talent ultimately wins games, a good coach can put his players in a position to make good decisions. I actually like the talent on this Nets roster. The shocking efficiency of Favors more than offsets the head-shaking inefficiency of Outlaw. Harris has his swagger back. Lopez is still capable of a big night every time he takes the floor (hopefully he takes the floor on Friday after hitting his shoulder pretty hard on the last play of the game).  But Avery needs to do a better job of massaging this group together. Give it time, but I’m getting the sense that we may have peaked a bit early, and this team is about to start hitting its lumps.

A few more thoughts after the jump:

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The Nets (2-1) finish up their early four-game home-stand with a game tonight against the Charlotte Bobcats (0-3) at the Prudential Center in Newark. The Nets were able to notch two of their 12 wins against a fairly decent Bobcats team last year, so here are some things to watch for to keep the success rolling.

Don’t Sleep on a Winless Team: The Bobcats are going to be hungry to get their first win tonight after starting their season 0-3. Remember how hungry the Nets were after 18 straight losses last season? Yeah, well this Bobcats team is a lot better than last year’s Nets team. The Nets can’t afford to come out of the gate flat, because Charlotte has the defensive chops to put them away early.

Get Healthy: Jordan Farmar and Terrence Williams are both nursing injuries, and who knows what Troy Murphy will be able to provide, if anything tonight. Meanwhile, we learned earlier today that Anthony Morrow is dealing with an ankle issue. I love the depth of the Nets bench this year, especially with Farmar and TWill, but the second unit will struggle immensely if all of those players are hobbled in some way.

Get a Body on Gerald Wallace: Wallace had a couple of monster rebounding games against the Nets last season, including a 20-20 game. Considering some of the SF options the Nets were rolling out last season (TWill and Chris Douglas-Roberts, both a bit undersized for the three), the team should hopefully be able to control Wallace on the glass a bit more tonight with Outlaw, Favors and hopefully Murphy getting some time on the floor.

Against the Miami Heat, the Nets were physically outmatched by the superfriends, as they’ve been come to known: Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. Defending these guys with just one player is virtually impossible, therefore, in order to defend them, your defensive rotations better be there, and on  Sunday the Nets’ certainly were not. Let’s take a closer look:

In play one, the Nets got caught in a bad rotation and too many players guarding the ball.

Travis Outlaw (arrowed in yellow) started the possession guarding Carlos Arroyo. As the ball is entered into Chris Bosh, Outlaw is no longer guarding Arroyo, but instead providing help for Brook, if in case Bosh drives. Arroyo, spaces the floor and drifts to the helpside, you can see him right in front of the referee. Already you can see the Nets are poor defensive position. By nature of using a double team, you put yourself at a disadvantage numerically off the ball. Therefore its up to the other three Nets players not involved in the double team, to zone the rest of the floor. Devin Harris in this instance should probably drop below the ball line.

Later in this same possession, Lebron gets the ball and is now in a pick and roll situation. Again the Nets have poor balance, as you can see four Nets players are guarding the ball. Outlaw, who still is technically guarding Arroyo, never made his way back from the double on Bosh and ends up as the prime help man on Lebron’s drive. Arroyo (arrowed in corner) has drifted even further and is spotted up. Lebron just uses his excellent court vision to find the open and delivers the pass to Arroyo who connects on a three.

In play number two, the Nets again were caught not rotating to a shooter.

Terrence Williams began this possession guarding Lebron James. After James passed to the wing, Lebron spaced the floor by going to the help side wing.  The ball got rotated to the top and Terrence Williams now got stuck in a switch and picked up the ball, James Jones. In the picture you can see Williams communicating this to Jordan Farmar, that Farmar now needs to pick up Lebron.

The ball then goes back to James on the wing and he starts probing the baseline using a dribble. When James has the ball on the wing, the Nets were sending immediate help. Here the help is coming from Brook Lopez (you can see him and Jordan Farmar guarding James in the circle.) You also can see Brook Lopez’s man, Big Z, pop out and spot up. This is where it is Terrence Williams’ job to rotate over, as he, Derrick Favors and Devin Harris need to zone up the help side.

Lebron does he right thing and passes to the open man, in this case it’s Big Z. Terrence Williams decides to stay and not go to the ball, leaving Brook Lopez with a long close out on Big Z in which he does not nearly get to in time. Another two points for the Heat.

Here are both of those plays in real time. This is going to be something the Nets have to work on moving forward in their season if they ever expect to compete with elite teams.