Nets Are Scorching

See that up there? That’s Gerald Green’s shot performance chart since joining the Nets. Most players have a sprinkling of yellows and reds everywhere. But Green is almost all himself.

Before his latest stint in the league, the rap on Green was that he was an energetic high-flyer with little understanding of the game and little more skill than blowing out birthday candles at the rim. Now, he’s an excellent shooter and scorer from all areas of the floor, while still maintaining the ability to shame kangaroos at their own game.

On the season, Green’s shooting 50.4% from the field and 39% from deep, averaging 19 points and 5 rebounds per 36 minutes of play. He’s cut down on his fouls and turnovers since joining the Nets, and his 17.5 PER also ranks as a career high.

This isn’t your older brother’s Gerald Green. In a season marked by complete disarray, he’s been a bouncing beacon of hope.

Statistical support for this story provided by NBA.com.

Interesting footnote that emerged from the Lamar Odom saga earlier this week in Dallas: Sources close to the situation say that Odom would likely have landed with the New Jersey Nets had the Los Angeles Lakers’ trade for Chris Paul gone through in December.

(cont.)Sources say that the Hornets, had they been able to trade Paul to the Lakers instead of the Clippers, were well aware that Odom would not be taking his exile from Lakerland well and thus had a trade lined up with New Jersey that would have sent Odom to Deron Williams’ Nets in exchange for a future first-round pick.

More: Marc Stein, ESPN.com — Weekend Dime, 3. Eastern Conference

Now, part of this depends on what first-round pick we’re talking — the Nets at that point owned the entirety of their own first-round pick, and still own Houston’s lottery-protected first-round pick from this year. But for a moment, imagine that the Nets trotted out (post-deadline) a lineup of D-Will, Brooks, Crash, Odom, and Lopez, with Humphries coming off the bench. Kardashian issues aside — and goodness, they’d be there — That’s a pretty formidable front five. (Of course, there’s another “five” the Nets could have had instead of Lopez, but I digress.)

Despite this pipe dream, it’s important to note that Odom left Dallas in disarray this year after a career-worst season mired in deep personal issues. Given the pointedness of media coverage in the New York area, coupled with the utter awkwardness of teaming up Lamar Odom and Kris Humphries, it’s difficult to imagine a scenario in which Odom fared any better in New Jersey.

In what was merely considered a formality, the NBA Board of Governor’s has approved the name “Brooklyn Nets” for next year’s Nets team, as well as the move to Brooklyn. The team will officially adopt the name on April 30th.

“It’s an impressive building, it’s on time, maybe a skosh early, as early as August,” Stern said. “It opens September 28th, and sales of tickets and suites are reportedly doing well.”

This is hardly the biggest news to come out of the meeting, as New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson has officially bought the New Orleans Hornets for $338 million, and it was hardly unexpected. But now we can say it with absolute certainty: next year, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, we’ll be rooting for the Brooklyn Nets.

Whoever those Nets are.

Each has an ideal team in mind, when considering the draft.

Taylor simply said, “The Lakers, let’s go Lakers.”

(Thomas) Robinson, when asked the same question, laughed and smiled, and then said “New Jersey. I want to go to Jersey.”

More: Nathan Fordyce, The Daily Kansan — Robinson, Taylor prepare for NBA draft

Joke’s on you, Thomas: by the time you make it to the NBA, there won’t be a team in New Jersey!

It’s not often you hear a player exclaim that he wants to join forces with the Nets, so I’m currently some weird mix between pleased and perplexed. Unfortunately for TR, his chances are minimal; Robinson is third on the Nets’ wish list, behind Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, and would only keep their pick if it lands in the top three. The Nets currently own the seventh-worst record in the league, meaning that if the season ended today the Nets have just a 5.8% chance at the third overall pick.

Still, weirder things have happened.

Shortly after 9 a.m. today, a New York Correction Department bus stopped in a parking lot off Hazen St. in Queens, just beyond the bridge that leads to Rikers Island. Former Nets star Jayson Williams had been incarcerated on the island since last August, serving eight months of a one-year sentence for driving while intoxicated and 18 months prior to that in a New Jersey prison for his role in the shooting death of driver Costas “Gus” Christofi a decade ago.

The bus followed a white Chevrolet Yukon with New Jersey license plates out of the parking lot, onto 19th Ave., then left on to 49th St. It is believed that Williams, 44, then exited the bus and got into the SUV, which sped off.

The New York Department of Correction website lists Williams as having been released today.

More: Conor Orr, The Star-Ledger — Jayson Williams released from prison on Rikers Island

Williams played for the Nets from 1992 to 1999, averaging 8.3 points and 8.9 rebounds per game with a 16.1 player efficiency rating in 373 games. He signed a 6-year contract worth $86 million in January of 1999, before breaking his leg three weeks later, setting off a chain of injuries that ultimately led to his retirement. Jay-Will is also #12 on our Greatest Nets of All Time list.

DeShawn Stevenson is a unique soul. Not only did he choose to leave the world champion Dallas Mavericks for the then-24-58 Nets, Stevenson is the only person in NBA history (if not world history) to get a tattoo of Abraham Lincoln on his Adam’s apple. He’s had his share of issues production-wise on the court this season, for a variety of reasons (most of them himself), but Avery Johnson relies on him best as a spot defender to shut down shooters in key moments.

But DeShawn admitted that that hasn’t always been the case in this up-and-down season, citing a specific moment after a game in March:

“He asked me to [talk to the team],” Stevenson said of Johnson. “Because at the end, I was out there on the court and I let somebody back-cut me. And I did it on purpose because I didn’t get the ball when I was wide open for a three.”

“[Johnson] felt my pain,” Stevenson continued, “but he just thought that, with me being who I am and how far I came through that, I should have handled it a different way than I did.”

Andy Vasquez, The Record — DeShawn Stevenson makes waves

It’s not often that you hear a player willingly admit to quitting on the defensive end because of a missed opportunity on the offensive end, so for that alone, credit to DeShawn. For what it’s worth, since that instance — a 105-84 loss to Utah — the Nets have won five of seven, and Stevenson credits the attitude change after that night:

“I told them that, you know, we have to go out there and play how we need to play and not worry about stats and stuff like that,” Stevenson said. “Ever since then you can see that the mood changed and we’re not worried about shots, we’re worried about winning.”

While I’m not sure that Stevenson’s pep talk has as much to do with the recent 5-2 spurt as increased production from Morrow and Gerald Squared (and maybe a sprinkle of small sample size and opponent tank juice), it’s worth noting that the Nets have looked different in these past seven games — there’s a startling amount of energy on the floor, shooters are making shots, and the team seems confident in its ability to pick up victories in this stretch. Of course, in the long-term, Deron Williams has also stated that nothing that could happen at the end of the season would affect his decision to stay or go.

To be sure, Carlisle was pleasantly surprised when Cuban and team president Donnie Nelson told him before the season they had a chance to get Odom. All three had reason for optimism, as one hallmark of Carlisle’s coaching career has been his uncanny ability to raise a player’s production in his first year coaching him. Clearly, Odom was an outlier this season.

But the long-term part of the plan remains intact for the Mavs, who will hold out hope they can trade Odom in conjunction with the draft. Such a move would maximize their cap space for this summer, when they are widely expected to make a run at the Nets’ Williams as a free agent. The interest is believed to be mutual.

Ken Berger, CBS Sports — Odom gamble didn’t work, but Mavs’ long-term plan still intact

Free agency begins July 1st, and players cannot sign new deals until July 11th. Meanwhile, the Nets play the Sixers tonight.