TrueHoop round-table on four-team blockbuster
Aug 12, 2010 2010 Offseason, Courtney Lee, Trades, Troy Murphy
On Wednesday afternoon, the Houston Rockets, New Orleans Hornets, Indiana Pacers, and New Jersey Nets pulled off a four-team blockbuster, swapping several key contributors.Rahat Huq of Red94, Ryan Schwan of Hornets247, Tim Donahue of 8 points, 9 seconds, and Sebastian Pruiti of Nets are Scorching got together to provide assessments of the outgoing players from their respective ballclubs.
Rahat Huq (Red94) on Trevor Ariza: I’ve written a comprehensive series of essays on Trevor Ariza entitled ‘Assessing Ariza,’ evaluating his strengths, weaknesses, and player potential. (Parts 1, 2, and 3)
In short, he’s an ideal role-player who thrives off the ball, spotting up or using his superior athleticism to slash to the basket. Now having the benefit of playing next to Chris Paul, I expect Ariza to return to form from his playoff run with the Lakers – he really took off after the acquisition of Kevin Martin; Ariza is at his best playing next to dominant players.
If you’re hoping Trevor will grow into his physical gifts and emerge as a primary option, you’re going to be disappointed. While a capable ball-handler against light pressure, he doesn’t have the handles to create for himself off the dribble. He also has extremely poor footwork and body control. Even worse, Ariza has an oddly inflated sense of entitlement–possibly due to his Lakers pedigree–leading him to force bad shots and make poor decisions; Ariza struggles when needing to think on the basketball court.
The issue of Ariza’s defense is a contentious one. His reputation precedes him, but his is a reckless, instinctual approach, garnering him gaudy steals totals but often leaving his teammates scrambling to rotate after blown coverage. Still, this manner can be conducive to forcing tempo if that’s your cup of tea.
All in all, assuming expectations remain reasonable, I think the Hornets will be very pleased next year with Trevor Ariza. While his struggles with the Rockets are well documented, playing next to Chris Paul is a situation tailor-made for a player of Trevor’s skillset and abilities – in returning to his former role with the Lakers (next to a superstar guard), I think Trevor will really thrive.
Ryan Schwan (Hornets247) on Darren Collison: After watching him for a season, I’m comfortable claiming that Darren Collison is the proud owner of the “fastest man in the NBA” title. When he played, the Hornets pace increased by five posessions, as he exploded up court every chance he could. Considering the heavy-footed players he was dragging with him up the court, it is a pretty amazing feat.
Collison started off his rookie season pretty rough, shooting poorly from deep, and struggling valiantly to figure out how to score over the faster, taller atheletes he met in the paint. In fact, for the first month, a pick and roll run by Collison typically had very little going for it. That all changed, however, when Chris Paul went down. Given long minutes, constant coaching by Paul, and confidence that never seemed to waver, Collison started deploying a stutter step and mid-range pull up jumper that made him deadly on the pick and roll by the end of February. His long-range shot, which was amazing in college, began to settle in, and soon he was deadly from three, both as a spot-up shooter, and as a guy who could pull up off the dribble and knock it down.
As a passer, Collison is excellent in the open court, solid at the pick and roll, but tends to struggle in the pick and pop. He’s great at driving into the paint and laying the ball off to a big man for a dunk or finding the roller, but when he has to find the open men on the perimeter, he still struggles. As a result, though he gets a lot of assists, he also gets a lot of turnovers. He also has the tendency to be called for a carry once or twice a game, though that was fading by the end of last season.
Defensively is where Collison has his biggest problems. He makes Allen Iverson look fat – and unlike mighty mouse Chris Paul, he’s also not physically strong at all. That leaves him to be exploited terribly in post ups last year, and because of his lightness, a good screen or series of screens can take him out the picture on defense despite his recovery speed.
As a team leader, Collison was remarkable. He was barking commands to veterans like Okafor and David West from the start of the season. On more than one occassion I saw him get on teammates for not being where they were supposed to be. He’s intelligent, knows how to get a team into its offense, and it shows. He’s also cold-blooded. He had two game-winning shots last season, and another three that put a nail in a run the other team was making to come back. He doesn’t shy from that big shot – and he has a decent track record of making it.
In the end, I feel Collison will be an exciting-as-hell, explosive scorer in the mold of Tony Parker, and most nights will outscore his opponent. At the same time, I’d also expect his opponent to regularly score more than is usual.
Tim Donahue (8 points, 9 seconds) on Troy Murphy:
Offensively – The short answer is that Murph is a 6?11? Steve Kerr. He is an extremely efficient scorer, and serves as a safety valve for the offense. I can see him being a very nice player with your personnel, offensively, as he is a low-usage guy. The Pacers use him to float at the top of the key, and he took all but like 10 of his three’s from the arc (very few corner threes). He has no post game to speak of, and he’s a solid passer, but not a great high post guy. He does a good job of reading his defender, and is very good at reading the closeout, putting the ball on the floor and finishing at the rim. He doesn’t get many offensive rebounds because of (a) where he plays and (b) his lack of footspeed, but could get more if he played closer to the basket. However, I think you’d be an absolute fool to play him – offensively – in any other way than the way O’Brien used him. Look at his eFG and TS numbers the last three years under Obie vs. his time in GS. He plays completely within his skill set (almost to a fault), and I have never – never – seen a guy with better shot selection than Troy. Very, very nice complementary shooter to have on your team.
Defensively – He is definitely a liability, and that is because he’s slow and physically weak. He gets lots of defensive rebounds, but he doesn’t really control the glass the way most guys who pull down the volume of boards he gets. He is not a block out guy, but has a good nose for the ball. One-on-one he will never be better than, well, bad, but he can learn and will follow team defensive concepts. In other words, if the opponent decides to target him, then he’ll get beaten, but he won’t blow defensive team schemes. Overall, your team’s defensive performance will drag when he’s on the floor.
Lockerroom & Fit – He appears likable enough, but not really a presence. Seems to get along with everybody well enough. There were rumors last year that he wasn’t happy about Hansbrough eating into his playing time, but they were way external to the organization and I never believed them. As far as fitting with your big guys, he should be a great fit with both Lopez and Favors offensively, and probaly a poor fit defensively with Lopez, but pretty good with Favors – assuming I’ve got a reasonable handle on their respective games.
Here’s the most important part – you can’t look at the 14 & 11 and think he’s that traditional double-double guy. He is very much someone who accentuates his positives, but doesn’t improve on his negatives. He is not a physical player, at all. He is who he is, but that can be a good thing. Assuming Avery doesn’t choke on his defense, I suspect he’ll love the guy because he is perhaps the most reliably consistent player I’ve seen in three+ decades of watching the NBA. He will hit shots, he will get some boards, and he will suck on defense. He will score, but he is a safety valve – not a primary or secondary option. It sounds strange, but I think coaches like that because it’s something they don’t have to worry about. They put him out there, and work on everything else. This is why he can have some big games and not really make a difference. He’s kind of a like an offensive lineman. He can have a great individual game, but if the rest of the line sucks, it won’t matter. At the same time, if he’s great and the rest of the line is great, nobody will notice him.
Sebastian Pruiti (Nets are Scorching) on Courtney Lee:Courtney Lee is a guy I like and with Avery Johnson coming to New Jersey, I thought he was the perfect Avery Johnson guy. He shoots the three ok (last years numbers are too low for his shooting ability in my honest opinion), he can penetrate and get out and run, but where he is most valuable is on the defensive end. Courtney is both a very good one on one and team defender, and he works very hard on that end. Lee doesn’t have a high ceiling (and that is why I suspect that the Nets held onto Terrence Williams), and the player he is now is the player he will be years from now. That’s not a bad thing, but there is very little room for him to grow.
Troy Murphy Coming To New Jersey? Courtney Lee On The Way Out?
Aug 11, 2010 Courtney Lee, Rumors
Update #2: Ben Couch reports it is official, and offers his analysis.
Update: According To Marc J. Spears, it is a done deal:
Hou,NJ, NO, Indy trade done and trade call taking place now, source tells Y!. Hou gets C Lee, NO gets Ariza, Indy Collison-Posey, NJ Murphy
As soon as it seems the Nets are standing pat and going to let Derrick Favors be the starter to start the season, they go ahead and make a move…or least they are trying to. Chad Ford of ESPN just tweeted:
Breaking: Hornets, Rockets, Pacers & Nets working on 4 team deal. Ariza to NO. C. Lee to HOU. Collison & Posey to IND. Murphy to NJ.
More if the deal goes through, but it seems like everyone was right in assuming that a wing was on the move. I thought that it would take Terrence Williams to get a starting quality PF, but apparently, Courtney Lee is the guy on the way out. I’ll take a real deep look at the deal if it ends up being official, but as it stands right now the Nets have $14 to $13 million in cap space (off the top of my head) and Courtney Lee’s deal was at $1.3. Troy Murphy is in the final year of a $12 million dollar contract, so while the Nets eat up most of their cap space this year, they will have right around $15 million to spend next year (again these are not exact, off the top of my head calculations). Also, looks like Sean May is out of a roster spot.
Daily Link: Courtney Lee’s Job in Danger?
Aug 3, 2010 Courtney Lee, Daily Link
In a little top 10 list action, Dime looks at starters from last season who may not keep their starting jobs in 2010-11. One of those players is Courtney Lee:
Lee improved his numbers from his rookie year in Orlando (12.5 ppg, 1.3 spg), but didn’t quite have the breakout year some expected in his first year with the Nets. Free-agent pickup Anthony Morrow will bye for Lee’s starting job, plus coach Avery Johnson might want to move Terrence Williams to the two.
Can’t argue with the logic here. I don’t think Morrow is versatile enough to get starters minutes and is best used as a zone buster/offensive boost off the bench. But TWill is a different animal who brings more to the table, especially if you have a shooter in Travis Outlaw playing the three, giving Terrence less responsibilities from the outside.
Trading For A Power Forward
Jul 19, 2010 2010 Offseason, Courtney Lee, Rumors, Terrence Williams
With all of the starting caliber power forwards free agents pretty much locked up, the only way the Nets can get a guy to play in front of Derrick Favors for a few years so he can develop is through a trade. As Mark told us over the weekend, Terrence Williams might be the guy who gets sacrificed to make this happen.
People who read this site on a daily basis know how much I like Terrence Williams, but I do think if a deal gets made he is the one most likely to be dealt. In my opinion, Terrence Williams is valued higher by other teams than by the Nets. This is because Avery Johnson loves guys who can play both ends of the court, and right now Terrence Williams is weak on the defensive end. So who can the Nets bring in by dealing Terrence Williams? Well, I decided to use Trade Machine to take a look:
Terrence Williams for Carl Landry
Carl Landry is the exact type of Power Forward the Nets are looking for. He is only under contract for another two years, and he is a guy who wants to bang on the inside…the Nets need that. As for the Kings, they don’t have a standout Shooting Guard on their roster, and T-Will can be that.
Year-In-Review: Courtney Lee
May 14, 2010 2009-2010 Season Review, Courtney Lee
This offseason is going to be an exciting one for the New Jersey Nets, but before we can move forward we must look back. Over the next couple of days, I am going to be looking at the Nets who will (most likely) be back, and review their year, from what they did well to what they didn’t. Today we are going to look at the Nets’ most improved player, Courtney Lee.
Courtney Lee had a ton of stuff to deal with this year. He got traded from a team he helped take to the finals to a team that didn’t make the playoffs, and this lead to some struggles during the first part of the season. Throughout the season, Lee basically had two groups of fans rooting against him. You had the CDR faction upset Lee was getting consistent playing time and sets run for him. You also had the “Keep VC” contingent basically hating Lee because they were expecting him to produce at the level of Vince. Through it all, Lee was able to continually improve throughout the season.
The Positives
Improving Shot
Courtney Lee’s True Shooting Percentage dropped a bit from 2009 to 2010, going from 55.6% to 52.5%. This was expected, as everyone knew that Lee wasn’t going to be able to keep up the same percentages he was able to have in Orlando with an increased Usage Rate (from 15.49 to 17.75). What was strange was how he got there. Lee’s shot was absolutely miserable in the first part of the season, but then it came on during the second half of the year. Through December, Courtney Lee’s TS% was at 47.72% (League average is 54.5%). From December on, Lee’s TS% was 55.2%. He was able to improve his shot by improving his fundamentals:
Why Evan Turner Is The Number One Pick For The Nets
May 13, 2010 2010 Draft, 2010 Free Agents, 2010 Offseason, Brook Lopez, Carlos Boozer, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Courtney Lee, Devin Harris, Draft, Draft Lottery, Evan Turner, Free Agents, HOPE!, John Wall, Mikhail Prokhorov, Opinion, Rod Thorn, Terrence Williams
There is no questioning that John Wall is an excellent talent and NBA prospect. Ask anyone that watches basketball and they will tell you in no uncertain terms that he’s phenomenal, an athletic freak, and quite the dancer. My NAS colleague, Devin, praises Wall and makes excellent points about Wall’s game. However, if I were the New Jersey Nets, I’d select Evan Turner if the Nets’ luck is as good as a picture of a bikini-clad Jessica Alba and the team wins next week’s NBA Draft Lottery. Turner is as versatile as they come and many consider Wall and Turner, Pick 1A and 1B, but we’ll get down to Turner and his skill set a bit later. First, let’s peep the point guard that most people think is no longer in the Nets’ plans and seemingly expendable.
Oh, and for the record, the Nets have a 25% chance of winning the NBA Draft Lottery and receiving the first overall pick of the 2010 NBA Draft and I have a -25% chance of gaining any attention from the aforementioned Alba. Snowball meet hell.
NAS Awards: Most Improved – Courtney Lee
May 11, 2010 Courtney Lee, NAS Off-Season Awards
I apologize in advance to all of you readers out there who couldn’t get enough of our NAS off-season awards. With that said, after taking a bit of a hiatus, I realized there’s one more core member of the team who didn’t get any kind of acknowledgement.
Courtney Lee is an interesting case in that his season was so inconsistent, he could have been a candidate for many of the other awards given out so far: Most enigmatic? Sure, the guy would look like an all-around game changer one night, and then disappear the next. Disappointing? It depends a lot on your standards, but if you bought into the hype that the Nets traded their last star in Vince Carter for a guy who would be a suitable replacement offensively, then you would have been very disappointed. Most frustrating? Still think that Yi wins that award hands down, but similar to Yi, Lee’s stroke would be working on night, and then his shot would mysteriously go south.
But the award I’ve decided upon here is “Most Improved.” With all due respect to Terrence Williams and his outstanding final six weeks of the season, Lee statistically became a much more dynamic player as the season went along. Unlike TWill, outside of January, Lee got a little bit better every month of the season, and by the time mid-April rolled around, he looked like he was going to fit into next year’s core somehow (as a starter or bench player depends on who the Nets draft and sign in free agency).
An injury-plagued November limited Lee to only 7 games and 3 starts, as he seemingly found himself in Lawrence Frank’s doghouse early. The numbers weren’t pretty as he averaged 7.6 points on 35 percent shooting, including 22 percent from long-range, one of his supposed offensive strengths. When Kiki Vandeweghe took over for Frank, his first move was to insert Lee back in the starting rotation. From there, Lee rewarded Kiki by scoring 13 points on 43 percent shooting, though he was still woeful from long range, shooting 26 percent from three.
By the time February rolled around, Lee’s game started to improve, and it’s no coincidence that the Nets started playing better as a team as a result. February was probably his best month as he averaged 15.5 points on 49 percent shooting, including 41 percent from three. Lee was finally resembling the player Nets fans were hoping for after the Carter trade. No he wasn’t going to match VC’s offensive production, but he was resembling a good outside shooter with some nice defensive chops. He matched his shooting numbers from February in March, though he was done in by the small sample size of 7 games in March, averaging 14 points on 43 percent shooting, including 32 percent from three.
While Lee never resembled an “all-star” for sustained stretches, by the end of the season, he did come across as a steady presence on the roster. He got praise from coaches and sportswriters for his great attitude and his perseverance on the defensive end. Courtney Lee is certain to play some role for this organization next year.
Nets on the Net: 4/12/10 Edition
Apr 12, 2010 Coaching Search, Courtney Lee, Devin Harris, Free Agents, Izod Center, Mikhail Prokhorov, Nets on the Net
The NBA thus far has not commented on the newest accusation that an investment bank owned by Mikhail Prokhorov’s firm Onexim, did business with the U.S.-sanctioned Zimbabwe.
Devin Harris thanks the Meadowlands and the fans for all of the memories.
Larry Brown, who was there when the Meadowlands opened in 1980, will be coaching the Bobcats tonight in the last game there: One of the coaches who opened the Meadowlands in 1981, (first regular-season game Oct. 30, 1981), Larry Brown, will be on the sidelines for the last NBA game. He doesn’t really remember opening the joint and doesn’t recall it as a big deal. “Bruce Springsteen opened it [with six concerts], so you know that’s big,” Brown said.
Julian Garcia on the last game at the Meadowlands tonight: It is hard to imagine anyone shedding a tear over the Nets leaving an arena long considered one of the dreariest and most uncomfortable in sports. But not everyone is glad to see the Nets go, even if their fans will soon be treated to many of the same comforts that supporters of teams like the Mavericks have enjoyed for years.
Courtney Lee talking with his hometown Indy Star about his trade and season with the Nets: “It was a dagger at the beginning,” Lee said about the trade. “. . . I was in the Finals a year ago, it was an unbelievable run, and once you experience that, you want to get back to it. I can’t even describe how long ago that feels like.”
The New Britain Herald states the case for Tom Thibodeau, an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics, to be the next head coach for the Nets.
With its sincerest apologies to the Nets and Knicks, the Columbus Dispatch opines that LeBron James will be back in Cleveland next year.
Meanwhile, David Lee is playing what might be his last game with the Knicks tonight, especially if the Nets come a-calling this summer, Frank Isola reports.
Nets on the Net: 4/10/10 Edition
Apr 10, 2010 Brook Lopez, Courtney Lee, Nets on the Net, Newark, Terrence Williams, Yi
Terrence Williams REALLY wanted that triple-double last night: “I told my teammates: ‘I need one assist. I don’t care if you shoot it from halfcourt, just shoot it and make it,’” Williams said. “I threw Brook the lob and he put it in the rim and it came out. I was like. ‘It’s not meant to be. Then on the last play, I said, ‘Brook you should take off.’ He challenged and took off and I got the rebound.
Fred Kerber puts TWill’s season in perspective: There was a time this season — actually, several times — when the Nets thought about sending Terrence Williams to the D-League. There also was a time when folks thought the Earth was flat and those new fangled computer gizmos were a fad.
Kiki Vandeweghe still has Yi’s back, even if it looks like Kiki won’t be back after this season: “He’s still a young player,” Vandeweghe said of Yi. “What he doesn’t have is the background of the pickup games that all these other guys have. So he has to spend a lot of time working over the summer.”
Courtney Lee has the right attitude about his unknown role with the team next season: “To me it’s about winning more than anything. If we can get two stars in here to go along with Brook (Lopez) — or if Devin (Harris) is back to go along with the three of us — I’d be very happy with that. I’m on board with anything, as long as we win.”
Is it possible for a team to permanently play in New Jersey after the Nets leave for Brooklyn? Commish David Stern doesn’t heartily endorse it while talking to Dave D’Alessandro: The Commish, as usual, saw that one was coming, and he didn’t skip a beat: “All I can say is, given the difficulties in TV arrangements, sponsorships, and the number of teams in the market, it’s something that has to be analyzed.”
Bleacher Report looks at “four cornerstone” the Nets can draft this summer.
10 things you need to know about Brook Lopez.
The Nets Like Courtney Lee (and so do I)
Mar 25, 2010 Courtney Lee
In a round-up of who this year’s rookie class should be emulating over at ESPN Insider, David Thorpe has an interesting morsel about Courtney Lee that I thought was worth breaking out here.
In the article, Thorpe said Terrence Williams should look to Courtney Lee as a player to model himself after, because “He started the season poorly, but has recovered to play excellent basketball, displaying great intensity on defense even after a game has been decided. And through it all, he has never said a negative word to anyone.”
As a kicker, Thorpe quotes a Nets insider as saying, “how nice it was to see a young player ooze that much class and professionalism.”
Why is this important? Well, in the constant back-and-forth among fans this season, there’s been a considerable amount of teeth gnashing regarding why Courtney Lee has been given such a long leash compared to other players on the roster – like Williams, and another player who is sometimes referred to by his three initials. And I think Thorpe and the Nets insider explain why – because through it all, Lee has maintained professionalism and intensity on the court. Though his production has slipped a bit lately, Lee has been considerably better in the second half this season, and in my opinion, has proven that the trust was warranted. But even if his performance wasn’t improving, Lee is one of a small handful of players on the roster that hasn’t made a name for himself for all the wrong reasons off-the-court this season. I’ll be interested to see what Lee’s role on the team will be next season after the draft and free agency – he’s probably best suited for the role he played in Orlando last year. But I will never gripe about the number of chances he’s received this season, for the reasons Thorpe outlined.