Nets Are Scorching

The Nets are no strangers to large multi-team trades. While the much-discussed Nets-Detroit-Denver rumor stands to be the largest in NBA history (with as many as 17 players changing hands, not including draft picks), two other mega-deals the Nets were involved with show just how far-reaching the ramifications of these transactions can be. In one instance, a mega-deal changed the Nets for the better, and in the other, for the worse.

The first trade took place in February 1997 near the beginning of the John Calipari-era when nine players exchanged hands between New Jersey and the Dallas Mavericks. The Nets received Sam Cassell, Jim Jackson, George McCloud, Chris Gatling and Eric Montross in exchange for Shawn Bradley, Robert Pack, Khalid Reeves and Ed O’Bannon. We learned after the fact that most important player obtained in the deal from Calipari’s perspective was Cassell, who became the Nets’ starting PG and a team leader who bought into the coach’s system. It was a trade that set the foundation for a rather successful 1997-98 season, who finished 43-39 (an 8th seed in the East) and were dubbed by Slam Magazine as a team on the rise in the NBA. In addition to Cassell, Gatling ended up being a fantastic offensive player off the bench for the Nets, while Jackson, who was probably the biggest name to change hands, was later traded (with Montross and other players) for Keith Van Horn and Lucious Harris (among other players) that following summer. Van Horn was an instant phenom for the Nets his rookie season, while Harris was a serviceable bench part who lasted with the organization through their back-to-back finals’ years.

Meanwhile, when you consider who the Nets gave up – there was Bradley, a young player who was all height and no athleticism, Robert Pack, a young PG in his mid-20s who showed promise with increase playing time, and spare parts (and draft busts) with Reeves and O’Bannon, it’s easy to conclude that this was overall a very positive trade for the Nets. It made them a better team until they inevitably turned on Calipari during the lockout shortened 98-99 season. Meanwhile, Pack never was as good as he was during his short tenure in Jersey and Bradley never came close to reaching the expectations placed on him when he was the second overall draft pick in 1993 (ahead of the much better/more polished Anfernee Hardaway).

The second megadeal had a different impact. In March, 1999, as Calipari was being shown the door, the Nets were involved with a three-team trade with the Milwaukee Bucks and Minnesota Timberwolves. This was the trade that brought Stephon Marbury to the Nets (and Elliot Perry), while the Nets shipped out Cassell, Chris Gatling, Brian Evans and draft considerations. At the time of the trade, Marbury was considered one of the best young PGs in the NBA, a guy who could average 20 points a game and 9 assists. But despite have a cornerstone big in Kevin Garnett on his team, the T’Wolves never won with him running the point, a trend that followed Starbury through his NJ tenure and throughout his career. The Nets had back-to-back losing seasons with Marbury leading the way, where he made an all-star team, but clashed with the team’s established “star” Van Horn. Marbury was eventually shipped out for Jason Kidd, and the rest is history.

What’s the lesson to be learned in all this as the Nets prepare themselves for what may be the biggest blockbuster in NBA history? Hard to say. Though it’s worth pointing out that the player in both these deals that had the most positive impact on the organization was Cassell, not an all-star by any definition, but a solid player who was able to mesh with the head coach and his surrounding players. The biggest star acquired, Marbury, was only great statistically, as the Nets never even made the playoffs while he was in town. It wasn’t until after he was shipped out and the Nets went back to building through the draft and smart trades that the team turned their fortunes around, and quickly.

AP Photo/Bill Kostroun

At least the Nets didn’t lose to a bad team by 20, as cautioned in the pregame open thread. They avoided that debacle. Instead, they lost by 23 to a bad team. A bad team without its two best players. This was, unequivocally, the Nets’ worst game of the season, closing a two-game stretch of some of the worst basketball in recent memory. Last night’s game was an absolute disgrace to the NBA.

Admittedly, the Nets were without Devin Harris, sitting out the contest with a bad quadriceps. It would have made sense for the offense to struggle. But that wasn’t really the case. The Nets essentially matched their per-game scoring output with 92. The real shocker was that the Nets managed to surrender a walloping 115 points to the only team in the NBA averaging fewer points per contest than they do — with Andrew Bogut and Brandon Jennings resting up on the sidelines.

It’s a surprise, really, looking the box score over. The Bucks did shoot 58 percent from the field, but the turnover, assist, and rebounding differentials were all low, and the Nets actually had more points in the paint. But the Nets made only 45 percent of their field goals, and with the way they are playing defense recently, that won’t get the job done.

It was a bit perplexing to see which players for the Bucks were leading the offensive charge. You might expect Corey Maggette to put in his 20 points (even though it’s not 2004 anymore), but all the other names are baffling characters. Ersan Ilyasova had 22, former Net Chris Douglas-Roberts, obviously playing with a chip on his shoulder, had 24, and Earl “Motherf***ing” Boykins (if you don’t know what this means: http://bit.ly/eLrpeY) had 17. Benefit from having a team’s stars out can only come if you restrict the role players to what they’re supposed to do.

Meanwhile, pretty much every Net was bad except for Kris Humphries, Derrick Favors, and Jordan Farmar. That trio combined for 54 points on 58 percent shooting. Brook Lopez had 5 points in 19 minutes, Stephen “I think I can make a 20-footer” Graham was 0-of-5, and Travis Outlaw was 1-of-7.

Devin posted on Twitter that Outlaw has shot 12-of-65 from three-point range in his last 18 games. Based on his $7-million-per-year salary, he has been making $128,000 per three-pointer made over that 18-game stretch. Quite a value pickup the Nets grabbed there.

It’s becoming more and more obvious that the Nets don’t care anymore about this season. Their effort is zilch, and that’s why their defense is zilch.

Commenter hbj725 is right on the money:

Its getting harder and harder to watch our team. Right now i dont care who we trade. Im just tired of this team sucking…

Everyone knows my opinion on where the Nets should go from this point forward. “NetsAren’tScorching” echoed my sentiments precisely:

I agree… Best argument in favor of getting carmelo is the fact that watching this team now is soul-crushing. If we get carmelo yes we give up our future, no we won’t win a title, but at least the games will be watchable, if not downright entertaining. At this point it’s very tough to put up with…

At some point, it just gets tediously frustrating to watch the games. I know most won’t agree with me, I was much more satisfied watching the Nets when a bow-out in the first or second round the playoffs was basically a guarantee. It’s time to make the short-term move to make the team watchable again and to spare this roster absolute mediocrity.

On the second half of a back to back, the Nets take on the Milwaukee Bucks tonight at home in the Prudential Center. Here are a few keys to the contest:

• Not losing to bad teams by 20: The Nets lost to the Washington Wizards by 20 points last night. And John Wall only scored 5 of the Wizards’ 99 points. The Bucks, meanwhile, are coming off an overtime loss to the Heat last night in which Earl Boykins did his best Michael Jordan impression. No, the Bucks aren’t nearly as bad as their record indicates — John Hollinger and others have been quick to point out that, to date, they have the easiest remaining schedule in the NBA. But the Nets’ effort on Friday night was pathetic, and they need to step it up drastically.
• Find an option other than Brook Lopez: Lopez will be going head-to-head against Andrew Bogut, one of the league’s biggest and best-defending centers. That recipe usually spells doom for Brook’s offensive game. Accordingly, the Nets are going to need another offensive option to step up to put in some points when Lopez inevitably struggles. Figure Devin Harris is the most likely candidate for that, as the backcourt of the Bucks isn’t nearly as fierce as its frontcourt.
• Containing wing scoring: The Bucks possess a pair of wings who can hurt oppoenents with quick scoring at any time. John Salmons and Corey Maggette, off the bench, are scorers who don’t need a lot of time to heat up and light up the arena. Stephen Graham needs to live up to his defensive reputation in order to keep them from creating two much score separation early on.

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.

As I’m sure you’ve all seen, Billy King and the Nets are once again coming to the table to try to deal for the elusive and desired Carmelo Anthony. Oh, and by Billy King and the Nets, I really mean Leon Rose, Anthony’s agent. You can check the details here from Mark, but the trade for Melo basically entails the Nets giving up Derrick Favors, Devin Harris, Troy Murphy, a couple of first-rounders, possibly Johan Petro and Anthony Morrow. In turn, we get the efficient scoring of Anthony, Chauncey Billups, and Richard “Rip” Hamilton. Umm, okay. I personally don’t like this trade although it’s probably the best one compared to previous alleged offers. However, why would the Nets want to get old like this? Read more…

Avery Johnson waits on Sasha Vujacic to get it going. Either that or Troy Murphy farted on the bench again. •AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Box Score – Truthaboutit – Bullets Forever

I was worried this might happen. I think all Nets fans and writers need to put a moratorium on the expression “worst loss of the season” until we’re in the middle of April and have completed the season. Because after experiencing what many derided as their worst loss of the season on Saturday night against the woeful Timberwolves, the Nets outdid themselves in last night’s 97-77 loss to the Washington Wizards, two days after grabbing what may have been their best win of the season. The inconsistency is dizzying.

Fortunately, if you were only able to catch the beginning of the game, you pretty much saw everything you needed to see. After the first quarer, the Nets were never truly in it, cutting it as close as 13 a few times in the third, but trailing by more than 20 for the majority of the night. For those of you who made the early exit, I hope you had a nice evening. Maybe a few drinks, or a fun movie (have you seen The Fighter yet? Christian Bale is absolutely amazing). If you actually stuck it out and watched all four quarters… what’s wrong with you?

The Nets were embarrassingly awful on the offensive end in the first quarter – probably as bad as an offensive quarter as I’ve seen them play the past two seasons. They started the game 1-11 and it wasn’t until the 3:55 mark when they even made their second field goal, a three-pointer from Jordan Farmar. Setting the tone for the offensive futility, the game started with JaVale McGee blocking Devin Harris (who would leave the game in the third quarter with a quad injury) twice near the rim. To get a sense for exactly how bad the Nets were in the first, here’s a visual:

All those X’s are very bad things.

The team was actually more efficient from 15-feet and out (3-12) than at closer to the rim (2-10).  Meanwhile, here’s the first quarter roll call for shooting: Devin Harris, 0-5; Travis Outlaw, 0-3; Sasha Vujacic, 1-4; Derrick Favors, 0-2; Brook Lopez, 1-2.

Now wait a second – are you telling me the Nets were 5-22 for the first quarter and their “star” center only attempted two field goals? I don’t understand why Lopez’s inconsistencies and disappearing acts this season still find ways to shock me, but they do. Fortunately for him, if the trade rumors come to fruition, Lopez may be able to lurk in the background for the rest of his Nets career as shots are being taken in large volume by Carmelo Anthony and Rip Hamilton.

In addition to poor shot selection, the Nets also managed to get themselves blocked by Wizards players 6 times n the first quarter (and 10 for the game). While you could credit Washington’s defense for the performance, their defensive efficiency entering the game of 105.4 (tied for 19th in the league) is nothing to indicate that Nets were playing the 93 Knicks or 08 Celtics here.

The Nets were so repulsive on offense, I honestly didn’t even focus on how they played defense. I don’t remember seeing anything to egregious, though the Wizards did score 30 points in the first quarter and were shooting close to 59 percent at halftime (finishing at 44 percent). Check out the visual over at Truthaboutit where the Nets cheat too much on John Wall on one play leaving Rashard Lewis wide open from three in the first quarter.

The problem was, even if the Nets played a little tighter in the first half, their offense was still so bad, it wouldn’t have mattered.

A few more thoughts after the jump:

Read more…

Lots of chatter overnight about a new mix in teams involved in talks that could potentially land Carmelo Anthony, Chauncy Billups and Richard Hamilton with the Nets at the end of the day. There are LOTS of people reporting this right now, so let me try and take some inventory and hopefully nobody gets lost in the process.

Nets beat writer Al Iannazzone was the first one on top of this story late last night after the Nets were embarrassed by the Washington Wizards. In a nutshell, here’s what Al believes could be going down:

In the complicated scenario that’s being discussed, the Nets would send Derrick Favors, Devin Harris and at least two first-round picks to Denver and Troy Murphy’s expiring contract to the Pistons. In return, the Nets would get Anthony and Chauncey Billups from the Nuggets and likely Richard Hamilton from the Pistons, who are looking to shed salary. Hamilton has two years and $25 million remaining on his contract.

There are many more players involved, including Anthony Morrow going to Denver and Johan Petro to Detroit — to make the salaries match. But this is one of multiple things the Nets are discussing in an effort to land Anthony.

Fred Kerber believes Detroit Pistons rookie Terrico White could also end up with the Nets, while the Daily News Frank Isola, who I believe just yesterday conceded that LeBron James was not coming to the Knicks (just kidding, Frank), thinks there could be potentially 12 players involved in this deal before it’s all said and done. Dan Feldman of True Hoop blog Piston Powered also offers some terrific potential breakdowns to demonstrate exactly how many players need to move where.

Adding more girth to this story, Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski is not reporting on the impetus behind this proposed mega-deal:

Anthony’s agent, Leon Rose, also represents Hamilton, and sources said he pushed Nets general manager Billy King to bring the Pistons into trade talks with New Jersey and the Denver Nuggets. Anthony has wanted the Nets to upgrade their roster upon his arrival for him to sign a three-year, $64 million contract extension.

“Leon is driving this one,” one front-office executive told Yahoo! Sports on Friday night.

And the end game in all this? Woj reports whoever ends up acquiring ‘Melo is a front-runner to get Chris Paul in due time (probably before the start of the 2012 season when the Nets start in Brooklyn).

Nothing is imminent here, so don’t get your hopes up about seeing something go down this weekend, but the fact that so many people are on this story is a very big indicator of its legitimacy. I also give credence to it because Iannazzone was the first guy out of the gate with it, not Chris Broussard, Chris Sheridan or anyone else who’s not around the Nets the way Al is. Plus, once Woj gets involved, you know something is up.

As for the deal itself, while I’ve been very critical of some of the other proposed trades out there, this is one iteration I could support. If the Nets are going to give up so much to get Anthony, it has to come at the cost of dramatically changing the face of their roster. Draining all of your first round picks and assets like Derrick Favors and Devin Harris just to drop Anthony alongside Brook Lopez and a bunch of bench players would be a disaster and I couldn’t imagine a scenario where Anthony would even agree to come here to play for that team. But if you bring Billups and Hamilton into the mix, with a wink-wink, nudge-nudge promise of Paul in another year or so, then that idea is a winner.

The drawback? Man, that team is going to be old. Hamilton and Billups have definitely lost a step since their 2004 championship season and the Nets will be left with Miami Heat-esque depth if one of those guys goes down for the long haul. However, I’m on the record in saying if they have to do a trade for Anthony, this is the trade they HAVE to do, not that putrid three-way involving Cleveland that was being brandied about last week.

The Nets (10-25) and the Wizards (8-25) meet in DC tonight for a rematch from a game late in December where the Nets took care of the Wiz, 97-89. The Wizards were without John Wall that night, and he should be playing tonight, though that was also before the Gilbert Arenas trade. Here are a couple of things to look for:

Don’t be Momentum Killers: The Nets are coming off what may be their finest win of the season on Wednesday against the Chicago Bulls. They were up, nearly lost it, fought off a better team and came away with the win on a putback with about 5 seconds left from Sasha Vujacic. If the Nets have taught me anything this year, it’s that they’re only as good as their latest game.  This is a team they should beat on paper. But will they?

Beware of Role Players: John Wall is the household name on Washington, but the two guys I think will have the biggest impact offensively are Nick Young and Andray Blatche. Young had 22 points the first time these teams met, while Blatche was inactive, but has a history of torching the Nets.

Stop With the Fouls: Derrick Favors can score and rebound in the NBA. I think that much is clear. The problem is he can’t stay on the floor long enough. His first NBA start was marred with four fouls in under 10 minutes. It’s all part of the learning curve, yes, but he’s got to demonstrate more discipline than this. I think he should play with the starting lineup for the rest of the season (or until he’s traded) but this is an area where he needs to start demonstrating improvement soon, regardless.

Picture thanks to Akis Yerocostas of The Pick & Scroll.
Note: Akis wants me to make it clear: He still hates Sasha Vujacic. I do not.

When the Nets announced that they’d made their first deal of the season, essentially trading away doghoused guard Terrence Williams for doghoused Lakers guard Sasha Vujacic, I was, in a word, upset. I thought the Nets had gotten hosed. Here was Terrence Williams, a guy bursting with potential, fresh off averaging a triple-double in an impressive stint in Springfield, a guy who could dunk the lights out of an arena, being shipped away for a guy without much upside and enough hair gel to drown the Staples Center. My irritation reeked of bias, but it was definitely irritation.

At first glance, I hated the trade. At second glance, I softened a bit, but not because of Sasha – I realized that the additional picks the Nets received gave them greater flexibility in future deals.

Now, at third glance, I couldn’t be happier with the deal – and it’s because I can safely say, weeks later, that I have a strange love for Sasha Vujacic.

While his advanced statistics don’t pop out at you – he’s got a below average offensive rating of 101 and a below average PER of 13.4, thanks to a high 14.6% turnover rate – Sasha’s impact has been much bigger than those numbers would indicate. According to 82games.com (which is, admittedly, five games behind), the Nets are actually almost five points better on offense and almost seven points better on defense when Sasha is in the game. The Nets have benefited from Sasha’s peskiness on defense, allowing an eFG% of 44.8% when Sasha is in the game, as opposed to 49.2% when he’s not. For what it’s worth, an eFG% allowed of 44.8% would be the best mark in the NBA.

As Justin has shown us on two occasions, Sasha’s use of staggered screens and ability to find himself in the right place at the right time has proven to be surprisingly valuable. He’s shooting 41.5% from beyond the arc thus far. He’s made at least two threes in seven of his nine games, had at least four rebounds in six games, and at least two steals in four games. During the embarrassing loss to the Wolves, Sasha was perhaps the only bright spot – setting the tempo offensively in the first half and finishing with a team-high 22 points. That 22 figure also tied his career high.

Time and time again during his short tenure with New Jersey, Sasha has simply been maximizing his effectiveness by playing levelheaded, fundamentally sound basketball. Hustling after every loose ball in his vicinity. Curling off screens with Ray Allen-like purpose. Bothering opposing players into forcing bad shots or turnovers. And, of course, grabbing the offensive rebound and laying in the game-winner against the third-best team in the East Wednesday night. A lot of statistical measures can in the long run be chalked up to small sample sizes, but the effort Sasha’s put in is noteworthy in and of itself. He’s proving he deserves his playing time, every minute that he’s on the floor.

It’s not just what he’s doing on the floor, either. When on the bench, Sasha is the first guy jumping up to high-five or cheer on his teammates. He seems honestly elated to have the opportunity to play the amount of minutes he does. In his two post-game interviews I’ve seen, the first thing he’s done is thanked the fans for their support. He might be laying it on thick – the Nets are last in attendance, after all – but he sounds genuinely happy, and his play on the floor confirms it.

I didn’t expect much from Sasha. I don’t think any of us did. I certainly didn’t expect him to outperform Terrence Williams, who has played 14 unimpressive minutes in just two games with the Rockets. But his stretch in New Jersey has made me a believer in robotics. In the new bomb. In Team Machine.