Nets Are Scorching

I’m all for positivity about the Nets, and let me be clear that I believe Anthony Morrow was one of the better free agent bargains in all of basketball this past summer (no, I’m not about to now go into why I think Morrow is expendable). With that said, I might have spit out a little of my Buzz Cola on the computer screen when I saw this recent post from HoopsWorld’s Alex Raskin about Morrow’s improving defense – especially when he’s playing SF.

In the article, Raskin cites Morrow’s opponent Player Efficiency Rating of 13.4 (about 1.6 points below average) whenever he’s matched up at the SF slot in the Nets’ rotation this past season. Combine that with Morrow’s own PER of 23.6 at SF and I bet many of you are wondering why in the world Avery Johnson just doesn’t play Morrow at SF more.

What Raskin fails to mention is that Morrow has only played 3 percent of the team’s total minutes this season at SF – way to small of a sample size to determine any improvement. Unfortunately, to be totally fair-minded, one just needs to look back to previous seasons to see how Morrow fared at SF. In 2009-10, in a larger sample 32 percent of his team’s total minutes, opposing SFs had a PER of 15.4 when Morrow lined up there, which is better than the 17.8 PER opposing SGs had against Morrow, but still above NBA average. Meanwhile, jumping back to this season, the one rotation that has logged significant minutes with Morrow playing the three (a whole 38.3 minutes), the team’s defensive efficiency has been about 1.15 points per possession, which would be worst in the league if those numbers held over an entire season.

That’s not to say Morrow isn’t improving, but I guess I can’t take something that seriously where based on those 3 percent of minutes, Raskin writes this:

Morrow is only 6-5 and doesn’t have the best foot speed, but he does have long limbs, which help him close out quickly on the perimeter. And now that he’s defending taller players, he’s starting to resemble another lanky 6-5 swingman—former Lakers star Michael Cooper.

Cooper is a former Defensive Player of the Year, a five-time NBA All-Defensive First Teamer and a guy Larry Bird dubbed “the best defender I ever faced.” I mean, again, Nets positivity in the media for any player =’s great, but to mention a player like Morrow in the same breath as Michael Cooper is a little silly.

Truth told, I would be absolutely thrilled if the Anthony Morrow becomes the Nets version of Steve Kerr over the length of his contract. Get a guy in here next season who’s a more versatile defender and athlete to play the SG and watch how much we’re all going to sing Morrow’s praises when he comes off the bench for 15-20 minutes a game just to shoot threes at a near 50 percent clip. It’s going to be magical. Meanwhile, if Avery Johnson wants to experiment with some small-ball rotations for the last few weeks of the season just so he could better evaluate his player, I’m all for it, but we shouldn’t be pretending that real progress is being made for players with well-documented weaknesses based on these tiny small samples. If we jumped to do that, Terrence Williams would be making his first all-star team next season.

This semester at the University of Michigan, professor Yago Colas is teaching a class called “Basketball Culture 101.” The class, along with being awesome, is being taken by the TrueHoop Network, with a different writer taking a different book in each week’s syllabus.

This week, it was my turn. I wrote about Darcy Frey’s timeless book The Last Shot. Please check it out by clicking here. Thanks!

Yup. That about sums it up. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

Box Score – Cavs: The Blog – Fear The Sword

Yes, I get that the Nets won.

I get that the Nets knocked down huge free throws down the stretch, and kept the Cavaliers from getting within one possession with the ball late in the game. I get that Kris Humphries had a career-high 23 rebounds (9 offensive), and Brook Lopez had a huge game-high +16. I get that Farmar grabbed four steals and that the Nets got passable games from Sasha Vujacic and even Travis Outlaw.

But two starters down or not, there’s no way in hell you can feel satisfied with a team you watch regularly putting forth an effort like the Nets did last night.

This was one of those classic games that both teams deserved to lose. Unforced loose balls & bad passes everywhere. Not a shred of boxing out. No defensive rotations. Countless missed open shots. Guys settling for long-range twos and bad shots at the rim. Guys tripping over their own feet and falling constantly. Sundiata Gaines injuring himself running back on defense. It was awful. It wasn’t basketball. I felt like I’d been transported back to tenth grade, to watch my high school’s JV team botch offensive play after defensive assignment.

My only mistake watching this game was originally seeing it only through the lens of New Jersey, thinking that only the Nets were royally screwing up. After turning on the game with a few unbiased friends, though, I quickly dismissed that idea – these guys were railing on both teams pretty consistently. It was a room full of Celtics fans, and they just couldn’t fathom the sheer ridiculousness of what they were watching. That’s when it clicked in my head: hey, both of these teams are awful.

I thought it was over. With 2:43 remaining, after Anthony Parker buried a three to tie this ugly game at 78, I thought the Nets were cooked. I couldn’t explain it, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that the Nets were just finished. The Ramon Sessions floater in the lane – uncontested, mind you – to make it 80-78 and the missed wide open 20-footer at the top by Anthony Morrow soon afterwards exacerbated this feeling. Nobody had shot well this entire game, and suddenly the Cavs had turned it on. The Nets, I thought, were just too inconsistent in crunch time to rely on, even with a team that’s 13-56.

Luckily, I was wrong. Anthony Morrow & Jordan Farmar came up huge at the charity stripe down the stretch, and the Cavs clearly wanted the loss more. But would you have been surprised if I was right?

I’m sorry. Brook Lopez, I get that Kris Humphries is big and strong and mean and goes after boards like you do comic books & Sara Bareilles concerts. But the dude got sixteen boards – sixteen! – before you grabbed your first rebound. You had zero rebounds in the first half. You took five more minutes in the third quarter to grab your first. It’s not like your Jason Collins-ing it either, clearing out the lane for Hump to come down with it. You’re just…floating there. Tipping the ball around. Not hustling. Not being aggressive. When the Nets drafted you and you started killing it every game, I was psyched. I thought the Nets had a cornerstone for a decade. With 7-21 shooting nights with only five rebounds in 33 foul-plagued minutes, you’re proving me wrong. Please don’t.

But truthfully, this game was a lesson in “how to win a game as inefficiently as possible.” The Nets shot 34 percent (31.6 from deep, against the worst perimeter defense in NBA history), allowed 18 offensive rebounds (58 total), turned the ball over 13 times, and couldn’t crack 100 in overtime against the worst team in the NBA, and still didn’t lose. Because, truthfully, perhaps unbelievably, the Cavs are a worse team.

I don’t have “more thoughts after the jump” on this one because frankly I just want to get the taste out of my mouth. Yes, it was a win. Yes, I’ll take it. But if this is how the new-look Nets are going to play without their superstar, there aren’t going to be many more wins down the pipe.

Eastern Conference bliss, huh? Tonight, the 22-47 New Jersey Nets take on the 17-56 Cleveland Cavaliers. That’s a combined 103 losses and 27.5% winning percentage. Needless to say, this game will be highly entertaining, provided you’re a masochist that hates everything about basketball.

The Nets are still without two starters – point guard Deron Williams (wrist) and small forward Damion James (foot), while the Cavs are even more snakebitten – Anderson Varejao (ankle surgery) and Antawn Jamison (left pinky surgery) are both out for the season, Semih Erden (multiple injuries) will not play, Baron Davis (back) is listed as doubtful, and on top of all that, LeBron James will not be in a Cleveland uniform tonight either (lack of supporting cast, ingrown South Beach). So, this one will be a tough viewing, but take solace: I’ll be watching too.

Here are a few things to look out for in tonight’s game.

Jump on them early on both sides of the floor. Cleveland is a sad, sad team right now. As mean as this sounds, jump on them early. Ram the ball down their throats. Don’t take possessions off. Don’t give them hang around and give them a chance to win this game. The Nets have a tendency to not close out, and this is one team that the Nets absolutely should not lose to (as they have once this season already). This means attacking defensively, too. If the Nets force turnovers, the Cavs are statistically the worst team in the league at defending in transition (1.26 points per possession against). Create this victory, New Jersey.

Do (almost) anything on offense, just run plays. The Cavs are weak literally against every set – they’re not strong at defending the pick & roll, they don’t get out to spot-up shooters well, and they’re terrible in transition (as mentioned). Strangely, the one thing they’re good at is defending in the post – they’re 9th in the NBA there. But, as we’re all aware by now, Brook handles the post against Cleveland pretty well. So even that’s something the Nets should exploit. Just don’t bog it down with unnecessary turnovers and isolations.

Anthony Morrow, please go nuts. I mentioned in passing a few times that I’d love to see the Nets let Anthony Morrow shoot 20 3′s in a game, just to see what happens. What’s the worst that could happen? 7-20, maybe? That’s 21 points on 20 shots. That’s still pretty good.

On a related note, the Cavs allow 42% shooting from beyond the arc by their opponents. That’s last in the league by a very wide margin. For comparison’s sake, the difference between the Cavs and the 2nd-worst team (Utah, .379) is bigger than the difference between the 2nd and 28th-worst team (Los Angeles, .339). That’s out of 30 teams. They’re not just bad, they’re historically bad. They may be the worst perimeter defense in NBA history. Anthony Morrow has the second-best three point shooting percentage in NBA history. Run screens for Morrow all day, please. This is not rocket science. Tonight’s the night, New Jersey. Let him rain.

For more info & analysis on the Cleveland Cavaliers, check out the incomparable John Krolik & his team on Cavs: The Blog.

I’m fairly positive at least some of you are going to read this next assemblage of nouns, verbs and adjectives (and the occasional adverb) and think I’m being unfair or just plain misguided about Jordan Farmar, and I can’t say you’re 100 percent wrong. Even if I go about brandishing numbers and stats, which I’ll often do around these parts, there’s no getting around the fact that despite the team’s recent Deron William-less tailspin, Jordan Farmar has had himself a solid season in a Nets uniform and has done exactly what he was brought here to do – bring some stability off the bench in the PG role. That doesn’t change the fact that in an ideal world, before the start of next season (whenever that is), I believe the Nets should shed themselves of Farmar’s manageable, but still expendable contract (worth about $8.5 million over the next two years), while keeping Sundiata Gaines and Ben Uzoh as the primary back-ups to Deron Williams in 2011-12.

No, this is not an overreaction to Gaines’ 18 point, 6 rebound, 3 steals, 3 assists, 0 turnovers performance on Monday against Indiana, or a celebration of Uzoh’s triumphant return from the D-League later today. Rather this is just a pure statement of opinion – I think the Nets could allocate the money owed to Farmar in more effective ways besides giving $8 million to a guy to back-up arguably the best PG in the game.

When the Nets acquired Farmar last season, I thought he was a perfect foil for Devin Harris. He’s somebody who’s played in a winning system and would be able to consistently spell Harris (who was having his minutes limited by Avery Johnson because of his long-term injury issues), while providing a different look offensively – less dribble drive and more three-point shooting. Perfect. But the acquisition of DWill has changed things. Williams, outside of his tendon issues this year, and the 2008-09 season, has been a relatively healthy player who logs about 37 minutes per game. If Billy King answers my prayers and uses some of the team’s upcoming cap space towards a quality wing player who can score and play defense, thus relegating Anthony Morrow’s one-dimensional-ness (thought it’s a great dimension) to the bench, then there will truly be no need to utilize Farmar in any two-PG sets like Avery tends to do, nor will the Nets need him as a backcourt longball threat because that will be provided by Morrow. So in reality, the Nets will be paying Farmar close to $4 million next season to play 11 minutes a game, while getting a spot start for Williams maybe 5 or 6 times for the whole season. There has to be a better use of funds than that.

Gaines, meanwhile, seems to have quickly earned the trust of the Nets, getting himself a contract through the rest of this season and next year after two 10-day stints. I’m sure it helps that he has backed-up Deron Williams in the past in Utah and has familiarity with the way DWill runs the offense. If the Nets retain Uzoh next season, who hasn’t demonstrated any reason why he can’t be a decent third-stringer in another year or so, the organization will have four PGs on their roster. That level of depth makes no sense when your starting PG is Deron Williams.

So yes, I understand that Farmar has hit some huge shots for the Nets this year, and has done exactly what he’s been asked to do in a satisfactory way. And yes, I know that the Nets have been both better offensively and defensively with Farmar on the court. But ask yourself this – what kind of roster would you rather see the Nets construct around Deron Williams? One with starting caliber-players at the SG and SF slots and/or another quality big man to rotate in with Brook Lopez and Kris Humphries (Big Baby Glen Davis anyone?), or a team with less talent in the starting line-up, but one of the better back-up PGs in the league? I believe, there are a number of teams that could use Jordan Farmar on their roster next season – I just don’t think the Nets are one of them.

Fred Kerber takes a closer look at what brought Sundiata Gaines to the Nets for the rest of this season, and all of next year too. For one, when the Nets were looking for another PG before the London trip, it helped that Gaines had a passport ready to go (always be prepared). Here’s a little more insight:

Gaines, who did time with the Jazz, Timberwolves and Raptors, has shown a fearless streak. He makes things happen on the court and plays with a confident aggression at both ends. When Gaines arrived, Deron Williams, a guy he backed up for a time last year in Utah, approved because of how difficult he made practices with his relentless defense.

I’ve been a huge fan of Gaines since he came over here, and it’s easy to see why. I’m going to ramble a bit about the back-up point guard situation in a couple of hours, but I see no reason why if Deron Williams has a full recovery from his wrist issues this summer, why Gaines and Uzoh can’t be the back-ups next season, while the Nets shop Jordan Farmar in a deal to shed his salary or upgrade at a position where they need more depth (SG or SF).

AP Photo/Bill Kostroun

Box Score – Eight Points, Nine Seconds – Indy Cornrows

The Nets had a 12-point lead in the first half, held the Pacers to 40 points in the first half but couldn’t hold on and lost by four to Indiana. There were major stretches in this game when the Nets played well and Sundiata Gaines continues to be a positive for this team, but despite an inspired late performance to cut the lead to two, they could not complete the comeback.

The Nets got off to a solid start by getting Brook Lopez some open looks, which he was able to drain. But after hitting his first three shots, he missed his last four and was under 50 percent in the opening quarter. Before the game, I said that keeping the Pacers’ field goal percentage down was a key and at least early on, the Nets did that. Indiana shot a miserable 33.3 percent in the first quarter, but the Nets were only at a 39.1 percent clip and had a 19-15 lead after a sloppy first period.

Let me touch on Brandan Wright for a moment here. He is clearly a guy that came out of UNC too early and has failed to show he can consistently produce in the NBA. But as “The Bird” Ian Eagle said during last night’s broadcast, he will get his opportunity over the Nets final games of the season. As a big man who’s 6’10 and can run the floor, he should be able to find a home in this league. But his problem has been strength and he still has the same wiry frame he had in college. Last night he did show some aggressiveness with some post-up jumpers and an attempt at a thunderous dunk in transition, but he finished with just 2 points and 4 boards in 8 minutes.

The bench got the second quarter off to a great start with a 12-4 run in the first four minutes to push the Nets lead out to 12, and it was all keyed by Gaines. He got a well deserved contract the other day and he continues to make shots and give the Nets second unit a spark. He hit two mid-range jumpers, made three free throws after being fouled while attempting a trey and finished with a career-high 18 points on the night. What was most notable about Gaines performance is that he was playing during crunch time, and not Jordan Farmar. Interesting, but the correct decision by Avery Johnson in this game.

The Nets only had a lead at halftime largely because the Pacers offense was flat-out awful in the first half (until the last 2:44 of the second quarter, when they scored 10 points to cut the Nets lead to four) . They turned it over 9 times, but upped their shooting percentage to 40.5 percent and scored 38 points in the game’s first 24 minutes. While they missed some makable shots (especially Danny Granger who was just 1-9) the Nets defense needs to be given some credit, especially considering the ease with which the Wizards and Bucks executed in the team’s previous two games.

There’s no need to continue repeating what we always say about Kris Humphries, but the rebounding machine had 10 boards in the first half and finished with 14 in the game. While he only scored 9 points, if he can continue to make the mid-range jumper, he will be even more of a force on the offensive end.

It was clear when the second half started that one team was still in the playoffs and fighting to keep their number-8 spot, and the other was 24 games under .500. The Pacers looked inspired as they went on a quick 9-0 run to build a 5-point lead, and got plenty of easy looks during their run. After that the game settled down over the next few minutes and saw one of the wildest sequences you will ever see in an NBA game. Tyler Hansbrough saved the ball towards half court, Stephen Graham took it right at Roy Hibbert’s chest and got denied and the Nets finally picked up the loose ball ending with a Humphries dunk. The entire building seemed to feed off of that and clearly liked the Nets effort. But after the dunk cut the Pacers lead to 55-53, Indiana went on an extended 14-8 run to end the third quarter with an 8-point lead.

One of the main issues the Nets had last night was the lack of a consistent scorer. I was concerned that Brook Lopez’s production would decrease without Deron Williams in the lineup and it did to some extent against the Pacers. The Nets center did have 20 points but on 9-20 shooting and did not seem like he was in the flow of the offense after the first few minutes. Although the Nets had seven guys that scored at least 7 points in a balanced attack, they lacked a go-to-guy and only scored in the mid-90s because of some late three-pointers.

While the Nets defense was strong in the first half, the Pacers scored 60 second-half points and ended up shooting nearly 50 percent in the game. But it was encouraging down the stretch to not see them quit and make a valiant effort at a comeback. After trailing by 11 with 2:24 remaining, the Nets cut the Pacers lead to 3 on a Sundiata Gaines (who was injured and on the floor for some time after the foul) free throw with 40 second remaining. Sasha Vujacic was a key contributor to that run as he made 3 three-pointers (one of which was definitely a two) and really kept the Nets in the game.

But despite the valiant effort from “The Machine” and the Nets, they came up on the short end of a 102-98 loss. That makes seven in a row to the Pacers (correction from the pregame thread) and the team now heads to the road for three straight, starting with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.

No, we’re not talking about how the Nets have blown double-digit first-half leads the past two games only to lose to under .500 opponents. In this case, the great Kevin Pelton over at ESPN (Insider access only) talks about the efficiency of the Nets offense since Deron Williams came over. The number leap off the page:

The explanation, naturally, is the way Williams has helped his teammates shoot the ball by setting them up in better positions. Center Brook Lopez has enjoyed the biggest benefit. Lopez’s field goal percentage was 47.7 percent before the trade. Alongside Williams, he’s shot 53.8 percent. Rookie Damion James, who has established himself as a starter at small forward, is making 58.3 percent of his shots with Williams after playing poorly in the early going. Weighted for each player’s shot attempts with Williams, the net effect on his New Jersey teammates has been an improvement from 44.8 percent to 46.6 percent from the field.

A whole 1.8 percent is nothing to sneeze at. DWill’s injury has been totally disappointing, but I guess the silver lining is there won’t be any issues for next year (for however much basketball is played next year).

In other Nets PG-related news, Ben Uzoh is on his way back from Springfield for tomorrow’s game. He averaged 12.3 points and 6 assists in his three games with the Springfield Armor.