Nets Are Scorching

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. Fool me 50 other times with the same trade rumor, you’re the New Jersey Nets.

Frank Isola, who still thinks LeBron James will be a Knick, believes this weekend in Los Angeles will be an actual battle of the billionaires, the “Decision” redux where both Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov and Knicks fat toad owner James Dolan will get a chance to meet and woo Carmelo Anthony during the All-Star Break. Getting Dolan involved only hurts the Knicks, unless they’re trying to sell the Denver star on Io Digital Cable and some old inventory from The Wiz superstores, but I just don’t see how this ends happily for the Nets.

Thankfully, Al Iannazzone reports of a plan B, a more reasonable trade exchange with Portland involving Devin Harris, Travis Outlaw and Anthony Morrow for Andre Miller, Rudy Fernandez and Joel Przybilla. Not a splash by any stretch, but a good way to get rid of a player in Devin Harris who just doesn’t look like he wants to be here anymore.

The logic for ‘Melo is obviously with the trade deadline less than a week away, he’ll crack and sign the extension in NJ so he gets his money. Denver clearly wants the Nets assets more than New York’s. But if Billy King and Proky essentially have to hold a player financially and emotionally hostage to get him to commit, is this going to be the player you want to build your franchie around? This whole ordeal for the Nets is seemingly still too much about marketing dollars and screwing the Knicks and not enough about good sound organizational team building logic. But since the Nets have already played the role of Wiley E. Coyote to ‘Melo’s Roadrunner other times this season, they might as well get nailed by another anvil and a stick of dynamite before this is done. I would be shocked if ‘Melo is  Net, and if Proky’s big grandstand last month was just a way for the Nets find a way to deal for ‘Melo without giving up Anthony Morrow and Johan Petro while sacrificing two additional picks, then I once again have lost faith in the billionaire.

So apparently the Nets want Carmelo Anthony and for the fourth time since September, a “framework” for a deal is in place according to Adrian Wojnarowski’s twitter feed:

Denver-NJ in advanced talks on Anthony, Billups, Balkman, Ely, Williams for Favors, Harris, Murphy, Uzoh and 4 1st rounders, source tells Y!

Four 1st rounders???!!?? Well, at least the team would keep Anthony Morrow.

Here you go again readers. Treat this as your open thread for ‘Melo.

Stats: 34 G, 4 GS, 1.6 PPG, 0.9 RPG, 0.3 APG, 0.1 SPG, 0.2 BPG, .439 FG%, .357 FT%, 3.87 PER

Preseason expectations: “We don’t know how much Ross will play (heck, he may even be the team’s final cut if the Nets like the two undrafted guys — Zoubek and Uzoh— more), but one this is for sure, when he plays he will play very good defense.  It also doesn’t hurt to have a guy who is a 6 year vet and by all accounts is a good guy around all of the youngsters.  He could be the Joe Smith of the guards.”

The Good: The only good thing about Quinton Ross aside from the fact that he has an expiring contract and won’t be on the team next year is the comedic fodder that he provides for writers and bloggers league-wide. He’s also more intelligent about his shot-taking than someone like, say, Johan Petro. At least he knows he can’t contribute on offense. He’s supposed to be a good defender, too, but I’ve never really seen that.

The Bad: Look at those statistics above. Is there a single one that isn’t hilarious? I didn’t think so. Quinton Ross is inept on both sides of the ball and really doesn’t deserve to be in the NBA. He doesn’t hit open shots, he doesn’t pass, he doesn’t rebound. He’s basically a placeholder on the floor. And when you play for the Nets, that’s saying something.

The Extra: The guy is the reincarnation of Trenton Hassell — he likes to shoot from the short corner, he has an inexplicable reputation of being good on defense, and he’s bald. The similarities are uncanny.

Final Grade: Quinton Ross is in no position to help the Nets out in the future, and the chances he gets re-signed to the team are lower than the chances Kiki Vandeweghe comes back to coach. The only reason he doesn’t get an F here is because he doesn’t really try to do more than he’s capable of, like some other players on the roster. Grade: D-

Now that we’re in the All-Star break, it only makes sense to look back at how Nets players have performed so far this season. Stay tuned over the break as Nets are Scorching evaluates the entire roster.

Ben Uzoh

Stats: 27 G, 3.2 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 1.4 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.1 BPG, .390 FG%, .400 3P%, .618 FT%, 15.0 PER

Preseason expectations: “Ben Uzoh was undrafted, so the Nets’ chance on him doesn’t really come with any risks. Should Uzoh claw his way into the rotation (which is unlikely considering the wealth of talent at the two guard spots for the Nets), he can serve as a effort player on defense and contribute with powerful finishes at the basket and the occasional jumper on offense.”

The Good: The third-string Uzoh has played more minutes than expected this season, as injuries to Devin Harris & Jordan Farmar forced him into the backup role. As an undrafted rookie, Uzoh has looked surprisingly not lost on the court – he’s far from a contributing NBA player, but he’s filled his small role as a hustle third-string without much issue and for a rookie is a surprisingly adept defensive player. It’s a small sample size, but per 36 minutes Uzoh is averaging 12.6-5.8-5.5. Not bad for a guy that was passed on for 60 straight picks.

The Bad: Because of low expectations, it’s hard to criticize a guy who’s played under 250 minutes as a third-string point guard. However, there are a couple of issues with Uzoh. He hasn’t proven to be particularly adept at the pick and roll – like most Nets guards, he seems content barreling to the basket with tunnel vision and throwing up a brick. He’s not a great jump shooter or a great passer. In the eight games he’s been given over a quarter’s worth of time, he’s shot 10-33 from the field. He’s usually playing with the other bench players, so some of the issues are understandable. But for a team that lacks a pass-first point guard, you’d think at least the last backup would be trying to give the team something new.

The Extra: Uzoh’s partially guaranteed deal with the Nets became fully guaranteed on January 5th. According to Colin Stephenson of the Star-Ledger, Uzoh couldn’t believe it.

“He called me in his office, I thought it was – I didn’t know what I did,” Uzoh said. “I thought I did something wrong. He called me into his office before shootaround and he told me. I was like, ‘Thank you!’ I just started smiling. I appreciated it.”

Final Grade: Truthfully, Uzoh wasn’t expected to perform at a great level, so given how he has played it’d be hard to give him too harsh a grade. He’s definitely got a lot of things to work on to be a consistent NBA player, but he’s filled his role well enough to earn a full guarantee. Grade: C+

AP Photo/Elise Amendola

Box Score – Celtics Hub – Celtics Blog – Reds Army

Avery Johnson was unfortunately one temper-tantrum short of changing the outcome of this game.

I’ll admit, with the way last night’s game against the Boston Celtics started, especially Johnson’s bizarre behavior, I didn’t think I’d be watching the Nets cling to a one-point lead with about 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter. But basketball is funny that way.

When Avery called a timeout after Boston’s first offensive possession – a cheap Paul Pierce layup delivered from an inbounds pass from under the basket – to chew out Brook Lopez for being out of position on the play, I thought Johnson was just parroting his mentor Greg Popovich, who did a similar thing with his franchise player, Tim Duncan on Monday night. Oh Avery, we get it. Pop is your idol. He’s everybody’s idol, not named Phil Jackson. He’s a great coach. But save the imitations for the next 1999 Spurs reunion.

Avery pushed my buttons as a fan a little further, when the team failed to score a field goal in the first 3:30 and the Nets coach emptied the bench. Devin Harris, out. Lopez out. Morrow, out. Outlaw, you still suck, and you’re out. Favors, you look lazy out there. Let’s get that young up-and-comer Kris Humphries in there. The problem is the reserves didn’t fair much better. Jordan Farmar picked up two quick fouls trying to contain Rajon Rondo with about as much success as Harris did. Pierce was able to blow by defensive specialist Quinton Ross despite the fact that Ross isn’t Outlaw. And Johan Petro may have had the brain fart of the season when at the 3:40 mark of the first, he actually stole the ball off a nice denial on Kendrick Perkins in the post, and then proceeded to attempt to run a fast break by himself before immediately turning the ball back over to Pierce. At this point, I had the write-up in my head: last night’s game was another example of how Avery is an egomaniacal clown who thinks mimicking every coaching cliche from the Basketball on the Big Screen handbook is going to turn him into the Lombardi of the NBA.

But then the game turned around for two and a half quarters and my mouth was shut – sort of. On a night when the Los Angeles Lakers fell to the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers, the Nets recovered from around the 2:00 mark of the first and clawed their way back to a five-point deficit by the end of the quarter. Then the game was tied at halftime. Then the Nets were actually leading by as many as 9 in the third quarter, riding Brook Lopez who had another uneven game, finishing with 18 points on 8-16 shooting, with 4 blocks and 6 turnovers. It was like the game was developing the way I optimistically predicted in the pregame thread. The Celtics were asleep at the switch, throwing elbows and making stupid offensive fouls and allowing the Nets a window to steal a game on the road they had no business winning.

If only Avery blew his lid again in the fourth quarter. With Boston’s starting rotation back in and playing defensively as if they had six guys on the court at points, the Nets were struggling, but clinging to a 78-77 lead with a shade over 6 minutes to go. They didn’t make another field goal for the rest of the game, and only converted three for the entire quarter, en route to 10 points against a the best team in the East, who finished the game on a 17-2 run.

And there were warning signs. After starting the third quarter 6 for 6, the Nets opened the fourth missing their first four shots and nine of their first ten. The shot selection was putrid and the team was only hanging around because of some timely offensive rebounds. Anthony Morrow missed a contested layup at the 9:10 mark and Hump grabbed the board and kicked it back out to Morrow, who then missed a contested three. 16 seconds later, Brook Lopez forced a running 21-footers I guess because he misread the shot clock and thought it was expiring. Farmar grabbed the offensive rebound and Morrow missed another contested jumper. If the Nets took a shot in the fourth quarter, just assumed it was contested by a Boston defender, because it was. In the meantime, Boston was running a master class on confusing Lopez, constantly throwing Rajon Rondo in his direction in a double team, disrupting the center’s bread and butter moves in the post. Having Kendrick Perkins defending you is bad enough. At one point in the fourth, Perkins forced Lopez to receive the ball out at the right corner three point line. Lopez promptly turned the ball over on a terrible pass towards the paint.

Maybe Avery needed to bench his starters then and there, or maybe the magic had just run out at that point. Maybe there was never any magic to begin with and the 24 minutes of solid ball played by this team was a sheer coincidence. Basketball is a game of runs anyway, and perhaps the Nets were destined to bookend this game with some of their worst offensive play of the season.

A few more thoughts after the jump:

Read more…

So much for this idea that the Nets were ONLY looking to move Troy Murphy at the deadline. In fact, it seems that Billy King is going to be quite a busy guy the next week, as Al Iannazzone is reporting in addition to the team getting back into the Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes, they have engaged the Portland Trailblazers about a possible Devin Harris for Andre Miller swap:

There is a growing belief within the Nets that Harris’ inclusion in the Anthony discussions has taken its toll on him and he’s not as committed to the organization or coach Avery Johnson, who was in Dallas when Harris was traded to New Jersey for Jason Kidd.

and

The Nets have started games and third quarters sluggishly and as the point guard and captain Harris has to take some responsibility for that. He also hasn’t been as sharp defensively lately.

“You have to be careful when things come out publicly like that,” said a person close to Harris. “You can’t expect guys to play hurt or with an ankle injury and give it their all if you keep trying to trade him.”

If you go back to our last podcast (and who of you didn’t list to the full hour?) we discussed our feelings regarding Harris’ future of the team, and a Devin for Andre Miller deal straight up was even discussed. Iannazzone thinks there will be more players involved, maybe a Travis Outlaw (yay), or Anthony Morrow (nay), but I personally wouldn’t be against a Harris-Miller deal straight-up. Miller is a steady, consistent point guard who has almost always been healthy. I think he would be a better candidate to help get the ball to some of our younger frontcourt players – though if the Nets end up wheeling and dealing some of those guys for ‘Melo, it all goes out the window again.

Lots of inevitable stuff going on right now. There’s the Nets 94-80 loss to the Celtics (more on that tomorrow morning) and as sure as the sun rose today, the Nets and Nuggets are engaging each other again about Carmelo Anthony, with the trade deadline just a short time away.

Adrian Wojnarowski has his version, which indicates the Nuggets have reached out to the Nets:

One source described talks as “progressing” and said they have been ongoing between Denver and New Jersey officials for more than a week. While the precise package being discussed was unclear, sources said talks have centered on a scaled-down package that still includes rookie forward Derrick Favors(notes) and draft picks.

What also is unknown is whether Anthony has agreed to accept a three-year, $65 million extension with New Jersey if the Nuggets and Nets work out an agreement.

Never one to miss out on a story, Chris Sheridan reverses the who-called-who angle, and says the Nets reached out to the Nuggets, as if this actually matters except to the contingent of media who will now surely say Mikhail Prokhorov has no principles – since that’a a prerequisite to be a billionaire sports team owner.

Of course Woj’s question is the most important – will ‘Melo sign (we still don’t know). And while we’re at it, the timing of this whole report just seems a bit too convenient for me. Yes the trade deadline is a week from tomorrow, but there is also an increasing feeling of restlessness coming from the Knicks camp over the package they are currently dangling in front of Denver. After watching the Nets meltdown in the fourth quarter against Boston tonight, apart of me is tempted to see how having a player like Carmelo Anthony could change their fate in these games, but I’m sensing these reports are being planted by those who are trying to force the Knicks hand – and knowing the Dolans, it’ll probably work.

Sorry this is going up late, but during tonight’s Celtics-Nets game I’ll be talking to George & Chris Papoulias of New Hampshire’s ESPN Radio affiliate WGAM “The Game” about all things Nets. I know most of you don’t live in New Hampshire, but have no fear: you can stream it online here.

I am scheduled to go on around 8:20, which I assume will be around halftime. Would love if you guys gave it a listen.