Nets Are Scorching

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

1) Who wins the respective Conference Finals?

Mark: In the East, my heart says the Chicago Bulls, but my brain says the Miami Heat. The Heat seemed to have figured out that whole “how will they close out a game” situation in the postseason, and I’m starting to think a team just can’t win a close game against these guys. And given that one of Chicago’s better scorers in Carlos Boozer is also perhaps their biggest liability defensively, I just don’t see how they’re going to score enough in the fouth quarter of a close game to keep pace with Miami.

In the West, I think the Oklahoma City Thunder are going to find a way to take down the Dirk-momentum train and the Dallas Mavericks. It’ll go all seven games, but I have to think a team with younger, fresher legs is going to prevail there.

Devin: Firstly, I think the Mavs win, no question. The way Dirk Nowitzki’s been playing, I can’t imagine Dallas not making it to the NBA Finals. I know Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant have been great, but Dallas’ attack was bordering on unstoppable before Dirk Nowitzki scored 48 points on 24 free-throws and 12-15 shooting. As for the East, I picked the Bulls before the playoffs started, but now I couldn’t tell you. The only thing I’m sure about after these two games is that this series is going to seven. Miami has two unstoppable scorers finally working in tandem, and Chicago has had an excellent defensive formula and ballerina/wizard Derrick Rose running the point all season. They’re as evenly matched as it gets. For what it’s worth, I do think the winner of the ECF will be your eventual NBA champion.

Justin: Miami and Dallas. Miami showed in Game 2 they can tighten the screws on defense, and Chicago doesn’t have a lot of answers for that. The Heat have enough length and athleticism to make finishing around the rim tough for Derrick Rose and Lebron and Wade can make enough plays on offense for Miami to win.

I saw enough from Dallas against the Lakers to pick them before this series started and game one only cemented those thoughts. While I think this series will stretch to at least six games, OKC has no answer for Dirk, and he’s crafty enough to continue getting himself to the foul line where he’s made 50 of his last 51 attempts.

Danny: Now that the Heat have stolen home-court advantage, Udonis Haslem is officially back, and they seem to have found a way to contain Derrick Rose, I’ll stick with my original prediction of Heat in seven. As for Thunder-Mavericks, I obviously loved Dirk’s Game 1 performance, but the fact that the Thunder hung so close in the game regardless was alarming. Still, I’ve got the Mavericks in six.

Vivek: The way things are looking right now, I would go with the Chicago Bulls and the Dallas Mavericks. Originally, I felt that the Heat could take down the Bulls in six, but I clearly underestimated Tom Thibodeau. The guy has stopped LeBron and Wade before and I believe that he can do it again. As for Dallas, Dirk is just unstoppable right now. He won’t get 40-50 a night (or at least, he shouldn’t), but the guy is a near lock to score 30 points against any team in the playoffs. The Mavs have the perfect combination of star power and depth, so this is their year in the West. However, KD will be back soon.

DV: I believe in the Chicago Bulls, especially since it seems like they haven’t peaked yet during the postseason. I know it’s in them and Derrick Rose isn’t the MVP for nothing. They have enough length in the frontcourt, especially from Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson, in order to make an impact. Interior play will be the key, both with how players get to the rim and how players defend it.

Thunder up! I’m a big Durantula fan (who isn’t?) and if Westbrook can play under control, the Thunder will go far. What’s really good about the Thunder is that Eric Maynor is capable of running the team and James Harden off the bench can be devastating. Nothing against the Mavs, but OKC all the way.

I believe both series will go the full seven games.

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Not a lot of news out of Nets camp these past couple of days. Some ex-Nets are making waves in the playoffs: Jason Kidd is playing well for Dallas, and Brian Scalabrine has been showing off his suit collection in Chicago.

However, today’s link focuses on former Nets coach Lawrence Frank. After spending a year as an assistant coach in Boston, it appears that Frank has a solid chance to snare one of the open coaching gigs in the NBA: he was invited back for a second interview with the Houston Rockets, and is on the short list of candidates for the Golden State Warriors.

While he certainly has his weaknesses as a coach, I do think he was unfairly scapegoated for last year’s terrible start and he deserves another coaching opportunity. Best of luck to him.

Earlier in the offseason, Larry Krystkowiak announced that he was leaving the Nets’ bench to coach at Utah State, and it now appears that Popeye Jones is too. The Murray Ledger and Times claims that Jones is seriously considering returning to his alma matter as a head coach.

Personally, I feel that the impact of a coach in the game of basketball is overstated (Take Doc Rivers, for instance. Until he received Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, he was vilified in Boston). However, coaching stability is still somewhat important and Popeye Jones was considered to be the mentor to the big men on the team. Also, if Jones does end up leaving, I’d expect Ettore Messina’s name to be thrown in the hat as a potential replacement.

Two draft experts predict this guy to be the newest Net.

Even though the pick they traded in the Deron Williams deal struck lottery gold and moved up to third, the Nets are still involved in this draft, owning the 27th pick (via the Los Angeles Lakers). As per usual with late first-round selections, draft experts are everywhere on who the Nets might select.

ESPN Insider Chad Ford and NBADraft.net both have the Nets selecting Justin Harper, a 6’10″ senior power forward from the University of Richmond. Harper is a stretch 4 who can shoot well for his size and is an excellent leaper, but tends to fall in love with his jumper and avoid banging down low.
Note: Ford’s draft is Insider-only and can be found here. You can find NBADraft.net’s mockhere.

Sports Illustrated’s Draft Expert Sam Amick agrees that the Nets will take a 6’10″ forward, but a different one – Unviersity of Georgia forward Trey Tompkins. Tompkins is 20 pounds bigger than Harper, but other than that I don’t know much about him. Amick seems very reserved about his potential, noting that he lacks drive and could be good “if he starts meeting his potential,” which is always a red flag.

Draft Expert Jonathon Givony of DraftExpress thinks the Nets will go small, selecting Josh Selby. A freshman guard from Kansas, Selby is undersized at 6’1″ but a solid shooter-scorer who can play defense. His translation to the NBA is difficult to define – Chad Ford sees him as the 5th-best point guard in the draft, while Joe Treutlein of DraftExpress and HoopData says he’s not even close: “Quite clearly a shooting guard and not even a combo guard at 6’2, Selby shows very little in terms of point guard abilities, almost always looking for his own shot except for rare spurts where he’ll try and set up others off pick-and-rolls.

Despite not having a ping-pong ball to their name, Gregory Hrinya calls the Nets a big winner of the lottery. Hrinya cites the fact that Deron Williams is probably better than the draft’s biggest prospect, Kyrie Irving, and is also better than whomever the Jazz can take with the 3rd selection.

I agree with Hrinya. The Nets made the right choice in getting their superstar and will not regret it.

Nice little nugget from an ex-player last night. Most of you have heard of legendary point guard Oscar Robertson, the first and only player in NBA history to average a triple-double over the course of an entire season, a feat he accomplished five times during his historic career.

Robertson was interviewed by KFAN last night and claimed that Deron Williams is probably the best point guard in the league. While Oscar’s opinion is only that of one man, I trust his ability to evaluate ballplayers – and being called the best in the league by him is high praise.

This past week, we’ve taken a look at some players the Nets might be looking at this coming offseason. For convenience, here’s a full list of the players we’ve looked at.

Jason Richardson
Arron Afflalo
Peja Stojakovic
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute
Marcus Thornton
Wilson Chandler
Nene
J.R. Smith
Glen Davis
Thaddeus Young
Kenyon Martin
Greg Oden
Andrei Kirilenko
Shane Battier
Josh McRoberts
Shawne Williams

Some fun news about Brooklyn today: arena officials have told Net Income of NetsDaily that the first college game at the Barclays Center should happen soon after the Nets’ first game in October 2012. The exact date is unknown but will soon be announced. NI speculates that the contest will likely include the John Calipari-coached Kentucky Wildcats.

Obviously, this doesn’t really hold bearing on the Nets in a direct way. However, hosting college games in the Barclays’ Center should serve as a way to publicize the arena and thus publicize the Nets. Some legendary college games have been played at Madison Square Garden, and at best, the Barclays Center will become another arena with this sort of history. At worst, it will serve as a local outlet for great college basketball. No complaints here.