It’s been a great year with you, our readers. Thanks as always for your support and your insights. I know the Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly version of this video has been making the round this series, but in tribute to LeBron James, let’s have a little peace on earth:
Hey, it’s Christmas Eve so as a present to you all, NAS is taking a shortcut and linking to other people’s hard work!!
Anyway, this is a good bit of analysis regarding Brook Lopez from Anthony Macri at HoopsWorld that’s been circulating the Interwebs the past day or so. Simply put, Brook Lopez is just not taking enough shots from the post. But Macri shows how just a few feet makes a huge difference with Lopez’s efficiency:
Lopez has always gone to right hand hooks when they are available. Now, however, he is taking the shot from seven or eight feet instead of five or six feet. That may not seem like a big difference to the naked eye, but in a game where slim margins make a big difference, it might as well be an ocean. In addition, he is less likely to get to the front of the rim because of how far he must travel to get there. That means less dunks and lay-ups and more short jumpers and runners – generally lower percentage plays. This may also explain his lower rebounding numbers; being further from the basket lessens opportunities for putbacks, which can be a huge part of his game if he made them a point of focus.
Totally recommended reading. One point I haven’t heard many people talking about is how Lopez’s game may be affected by the loss of assistant coach Roy Rogers, who had a great rapport with the young Center in his first two seasons. Popeye Jones is seemingly filling the Rogers role on Avery Johnson’s staff this season, and has a track record of success, so this is no indictment of Jones. But Lopez and Jones could still be experiencing a feeling out process.
LeBron James inadvertantly kicked Nets fans in the juevos again last night when he offered his opinions on league contraction and brought up a few players who would be better off elsewhere:
“Imagine if you could take Kevin Love off Minnesota and add him to another team and you shrink the [league]. Looking at some of the teams that aren’t that great, you take Brook Lopez or you take Devin Harris off these teams that aren’t that good right now and you add him to a team that could be really good. Not saying let’s take New Jersey and let’s take Minnesota out of the league. But hey, you guys are not stupid, I’m not stupid, it would be great for the league.”
The idea of league contraction is a legitimate one that I’m sure is going to be hardily debated going forward. With that said, LeBron James, the alleged face of the NBA, should not be one of the people advocating for it, especially after the stunt(s) he pulled over the summer. This is the time of year where you’re supposed to be grateful and think happier thoughts, so let me just leave my opinion at this: if the title of this post were to come true, I would not shed a single tear for this egomaniacal jerk, who must truly, actually believe he’s the center of the universe, because there’s no other explanation for his behavior.
Nets Post-Up is a stream of consciousness post without editing. Luckily, the author can filter profanity, possesses excellent grammar, and isn’t lazy about spelling. Basically, he’s amazing.
For a lot of us Nets fans, tomorrow will be a pretty big day in our year – Christmas! It means the anticipation of gifts, the disappointment of gifts we either didn’t want or like, and of course, eating. Personally, the latter is what I like the best about the holiday, but I’m fat, so it makes sense. However, to get more in the spirit of things, I’ll put forth a few Christmas gifts I’d like to see the Nets and their fans receive, be it immediately or eventually. Read more…
Well as the holidays are approaching, the Nets will be getting a few days off to rest and prepare for the Orlando Magic. Some would say the Nets took the night off last night against the Hornets, but that’s a different story for a different day.
I’d like to take a look at the Nets’ newest acquisition, Sasha Vujacic, as he adds an element to the Nets offense that wasn’t previously there. We do not know if Sasha is in the long-term plans for these Nets, but for a time being he’s here and a welcome addition for a team who on some nights can struggle to score the ball.
With no further ado, let’s look at some video:
Sasha brings a texture to the Nets offense that we lacked prior to his arrival, and that is an ability to move without the ball off screens for catch and shoot situations. Much like Reggie Miller made his living and lately Rip Hamilton, Sasha can be a threat to opposing defenses with his movement alone. Let’s take a look at an identical staggered screen set that worked two ways for Vujacic based on his ability to read the defense in the Nets last win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
These first two videos will look quite similar, accept that there is one difference and that is the way that O.J. Mayo chooses to guard both staggered sets. On this next video, you will see Vujacic coming off a staggered screen, his man O.J. Mayo chooses to trail Sasha. Reading the defense perfectly, Vujacic curls off the screen and is able to catch and score. Take a look:
In this second video, the Nets will run a set identical to the last one. The difference here is the way he was defended. This time the defender is Rudy Gay of the Memphis Grizzlies and this time, he chooses to try and cheat the screens by going over the top of them. Vujacic reads this beautifully and instead of curling into his defender, he opts to flare out to the corner, giving himself just enough room for him to catch, shoot and score. Take a look:
Now once again, Vujacic certainly isn’t the answer to our problems offensively and he may not be someone factoring into the long range plans for this team, but while he is here, he can effect a lot of possessions with his skill and ability to read and react to staggered screens and the like.
The Nets will be off until Monday, December 27th when they return to action to face the new look Orlando Magic.
Be safe everyone and Happy Holidays!
Nets Players Admire Chris Paul’s Open Path to the Rim (Photo by Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images)
Boxscore – Hornets 24/7 – At the Hive
Perhaps it was a pipe dream to expect the Nets to come out and win back-to-back road games on back-to-back nights, but instead, Net fans were treated to a nightmarish performance defensively, not to mention the usual assortment of struggles offensively, in last night’s 105-91 loss to the New Orleans Hornets in NOLA.
Miraculously, the Nets were close in this game for about 24 minutes before NOLA seemed to catch on that they were in fact playing a lineup that featured the likes of Stephen Graham, Travis Outlaw and Jordan Farmar for significant stretches, rather than the rag tag all-stars who found ways to hang with and beat the Atlanta Hawks and Memphis Grizzlies Sunday and Tuesday. Stupidly, after NOLA shot 13-17 (76.5%) in the first quarter and was only up 32-29, I thought maybe this game would follow a similar path as Sunday’s against the Hawks when Atlanta blitzed the Nets early and the fell off the face of the Earth offensively, allowing NJ to take control of the game late.
But that was not the case. The Nets had an opportunity to head into the half only down 4 when they decided to leave a red hot David West wide open for three, stretching NOLA’s lead to 57-50. And that was the problem all game for the Nets. Per NBA rules, it was a 5-on-5 game, but Hornets’ players found ways to get open so often, it looked like it was 6-on-5 for stretches. NOLA had five guys in double figures, led by 21 points (and 10 rebounds) from Emeka Okafor who shot 8-13 from the field. And that was one of the poorer individual shooting performances for a NOLA player last night. Chris Paul (6-8, 12 points, 14 assists), Marco Belinelli (6-8, 14 points) and Marcus Thornton (7-10, 4-5 three, 18 points) all did one better in the endless punishment of shooting percentages. NOLA moved the ball around well, racking up 27 assists on 41 field goals and outrebounded the Nets 48-30. Oddly enough, the Nets had more points in the paint (46-44) and less turnovers (7 vs 13), but from the second half on, it was just a thoroughly dominant performance by NOLA, who were up by as many as 22 and shooting nearly 60% at the end of three quarters, before finishing closer to 54% for the game.
Meanwhile, on the offensive end, it was the usual suspects whenever the Nets end up playing a game like this. Brook Lopez, who finished with 16 points, was never able to get into the flow of the game, shooting 6-16 from the field after starting 3-12. I honestly didn’t think Okafor was going to be able to bully Lopez away from the rim like some of the league’s more physical centers tend to do, but perhaps because of fatigue from the back-to-back, Brook was a non-factor most of the night. And only four rebounds? You can blame Lopez’s rebounding woes this season on Kris Humphries grabbing all those loose balls, but four rebounds from Brook in a game where he’s doing squat offensively is just unacceptable.
Travis Outlaw, who looked to be rejoining the ranks of the respectable after the past two weeks had an awful night of shooting, finishing 3-11 with 9 points. Outlaw hit his very first FG attempt last night before going cold, something he’s done a handful of other times this season. Apparently hitting the first shot of the game takes Outlaw out of his rhythm. Jordan Farmar was equally terrible from the field, finishing 2-8 with 4 points, including 0-4 from beyond the arc.
With their current rotation and depth issues, the Nets are not going to be able to survive a night where Lopez is off and the role players don’t step up. Yes, Sasha Vujacic, for the third night in a row, looked like one of the best players on the floor for fleeting moments, finishing with 12 points, including back-to-back catch and shoot threes in the third quarter when the Nets were still clinging to the hope of staying in this game. Sasha also nabbed two steals and looked really active defensively, especially in the first half. The Derrick Favors fan club will also cite his 10 points, including two off an impressive alley-oop from Jordan Farmar in the first half, but Favors also piled up 5 fouls in his usual limited minutes, demonstrated great form before missing a hook shot from the post, and then badly missed a face-up jumper from about 14-feet out. Obviously, the kid’s game still needs a lot of work.
We’re 30 games in, but Avery Johnson has seemingly found a nine-man rotation he’s happy with – though with assorted injuries and trades expected on the horizon, who knows how long this is expected to last:
Against Memphis on Tuesday night, rookie point guard Ben Uzoh and center Johan Petro did not play. The other nine were the starting five of Devin Harris, Stephen Graham, Travis Outlaw, Kris Humphries and Brook Lopez, with Sasha Vujacic, Jordan Farmar, Derrick Favors and Troy Murphy coming off the bench.
What about the injured Anthony Morrow?
“We’ll deal with that when Anthony comes back,” Johnson said.
Um, damn straight you better deal with Morrow when he gets back, considering he’s one of the few guys who was able to consistently hit jump shots prior to his hamstring injury. Meanwhile, in better times, Uzoh would be down in the D-League getting minutes because I think he could develop into a solid backup point guard in this league. Petro … well, I don’t think anyone is shocked that he’s played himself out of the rotation already.
The Nets continue their pre-Holiday road trip by hitting one of my favorite American cities in New Orleans to take on the Hornets (16-12) at 8 p.m. tonight. The Nets are looking for their third win in the row, after taking their first road victory since early November. Here are some things to watch for tonight:
Watch NOLA’s Frontcourt. David West and Emeka Okafor may not sound like world beaters on paper, but both are coming of very strong games earlier in the week, including a 32-point barrage from West on Sunday and a 19 point, 15 board game from Okafor on Monday. Despite their injuries, the Nets have retained most of their depth at the PF and C positions, so that should help.
Devin against elite PGs. We’ve seen two sides of Devin Harris this season, playing strong defense in some games and getting torched by Jrue Holiday and Deron Williams. Tonight, we need the good DH as he’s taking on perhaps the best PG in the NBA in Chris Paul. Paul has had two games in the past month where he’s had 4 or less assists, including a game on Monday. The Nets have to find a way to keep Paul out on the perimeter so he can’t create too much for his teammates.
Three makes this a winning streak. The Nets are starting to resemble the competitive NBA team they were at the beginning of this season, rather than the underachieving sloppy mess they became from around late November until about a week ago. Sasha Vujacic has been an absolute godsend off the bench, and Travis Outlaw is starting to find more efficiency as a scorer. This is important because the Nets need every one of these guys to play big to win games, which may be ultimately unsustainable, but could help them sneak up on a few teams in the interim.