What Bringing CDR Off The Bench Means
Feb 2, 2010 Analysis, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Jarvis Hayes, Terrence Williams
Alright, so yesterday, Chris Douglas-Roberts has informed the twitter world that he is coming off the bench tonight. Before we get to the nitty-gritty, I think it is fairly obvious that Kiki had to make a switch when it comes to the rotation. I did a post on this a little while back, but it became evident that a change was needed when the Nets beat the Clippers without their 2-starting guards and with CDR and Yi playing limited minutes. As I mentioned, the only two rational candidates for a movement to the bench are CDR and Yi (I don’t count Courtney in this group because I value the defense/aggressiveness that he brings to the starting lineup). The combination of Yi playing better, Kris Humphries returning back to earth, and Jarvis Hayes/Terrence Williams playing really well right now made CDR the obvious choice for the guy to go to the bench.
Switching The Lineup Around
Jan 26, 2010 Advanced Statistics, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Coaching, Jarvis Hayes, Kris Humphries, Roster, Yi
Since the return of Yi, the Nets have had a stable starting lineup (with the exception of the last game – Devin’s wrist injury), but let’s face it. The lineup we have on the court isn’t working right now, and I think that a switch in the starting lineup is well overdue. In my opinion, there are two players you can consider moving to the bench and have them be the new sixth man. Those two players are Yi and Chris Douglas-Roberts. This is because these are the two guys that are “struggling” the most right now. So how are we going to analyze this? Well, in the book Mathletics (a book I highly recommend), Wayne Winston dedicates an entire chapter to analyzing lineups, and we are going to use some of the techniques he uses to see which lineup the Nets should start with.
Nets on the Net: 1/21/10 Edition
Jan 21, 2010 Devin Harris, Jarvis Hayes, John Wall, LeBron James, Nets on the Net
Could the trade talk with Devin Harris finally be dying down?
Jarvis Hayes is still having his ups and downs since returning from a hamstring injury: “I’m still in camp,” the Nets’ valuable wing said. “But unfortunately, time is not on my side.”
Al Iannazzone lashes out regarding the Nets’ pathetic play: You can attribute the Nets’ historically bad start to early season injuries, but now there are no excuses for them dropping 18-of-19 games before Wednesday. All their main guys are back and playing heavy minutes, although not always hard.
At least Amare Stoudamire doesn’t hate the Nets the way Chris Bosh does: “There are some teams you may say no way (to),” Stoudemire said. “But I don’t think the Nets are one of them.”
Could the Nets get LeBron via John Wall?
Nets on the Net: 1/7/10 Edition
Jan 7, 2010 Brook Lopez, Brooklyn, Chris Quinn, Devin Harris, Jarvis Hayes, Keyon Dooling, LeBron James, Nets on the Net, Rafer Alston
Chris Quinn, welcome to the New Jersey Mess: “Hopefully, I can bring a positive attitude and some positive thoughts and maybe help swing it in the right direction to some extent,” said the 6-foot-2, fourth-season guard from Notre Dame who was inactive all season with Miami after spraining an ankle in training camp and never cracking the rotation.
Nets react to the Gilbert Arenas suspension (per Al Iannazzone): “It’s unfortunate,” said Jarvis Hayes, who played with Arenas in Washington. “I’m at a loss for words. It’s a serious matter. Commissioner Stern did what he thought he had to do to gain control of the situation I guess.”
Keyon Dooling defends the perception of the NBA in light of the Arenas situation: “I think our league is a great league,” Dooling said. “However, there are slip-ups. Sometimes one bad apple can have an effect on the whole bunch. Me personally, I would like some of our positive things to get the same attention as our negativity, because people do so many great things.”
In news that has my 1993-self marking out, the arcade classic NBA Jam is making its return with a rumored Wii-exclusive. One blog takes a gander at who the twosomes will be. Can you guess the Nets twosome?
Quick, someone let Brook Lopez tell Brook Lopez about The Onion.
A little late to post, but NBA.com looks at the impending summertime showdown for free agents between the Knicks and Nets.
Speaking of free agents, Hawks free agent to-be Joe Johnson cares about the record of the team he signs with next summer.
In former Nets news, John Hollinger argues against the Heat picking up Rafer Alston.
Video Clip of the new Atlantic Terminal Pavilion opening, which will eventually tie-in to the Nets new arena in Brooklyn (hat tip NetsDaily).
Nets on the Net: 1/5/10 Edition
Jan 5, 2010 Brooklyn, Courtney Lee, Jarvis Hayes, Nets on the Net, Trades
Al Iannazzone talks about the Nets rebounding woes over at Nets Insider. NAS will also be taking a look at this later today so stay tuned: “Personally, I think it’s one, getting a body on everybody, but then it’s pursuing the ball,” Vandeweghe said. “To me, it’s a matter of desire, and you’ve got to want the ball and realize that rebounding is part of defense. The only way you get the ball back is either you get a rebound, you get a steal or the other team scores – and the last one’s not so good. So you’ve got to get rebounds.”
Talking about Courtney Lee and his shooting issues: “He’s got to become a better isolation player,” Nets president Rod Thorn said. “He has to get his shot off quicker, and there’s an adjustment there. And he needs to continue to work on his dribble-drive move. He’s good all the way to the basket, but his intermediate range is what he has to get better at — the one- or two-dribble pull-up.
Expect Jarvis Hayes back for real tonight: “He’s such a big part of our team,” center Brook Lopez said. “He’s definitely one of the leaders on our team. We have been missing that leadership on the floor. Just basketball-wise, he’s a guy who can stretch the floor, really open things for us.”
Marc Spears of Yahoo has some trade talk involving the Nets. First a proposed trade with Dallas offering Eduardo Najera for Kris Humphries and Shawne Williams are on “life support.” It also looks like a trade deal dried up between the Nets and Denver that would have sent Josh Boone for Joey Graham. More on Nets trade talk in a few hours.
The Empire State Development Corporation talks eminent domain in Harlem today. No word on whether there will be any questions about their activity in Brooklyn.
Nets on the Net: 1/2/10 Edition
Jan 2, 2010 Brooklyn, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Jarvis Hayes, LeBron James, Nets on the Net
Back from injury today: Jarvis Hayes.
After yesterday’s news out of Washington, the New York Post reports that, Nets players say they’ve never seen guns in their locker room, but they expect about 75 percent of players carry firearms on them.
Chris Douglas-Roberts on LeBron James (per Ben Couch): “LeBron has been my guy since I was a sophomore in high school,” said Nets swingman Chris Douglas-Robets, who will open the game covering James. “I’ve seen (him), played with, played against – there’s nothing you can do to stop the guy. He’s that special, he’s a special player. You just have to play him as a team. He’s like Kobe – there’s nothing you can do to stop him, you just have to play him as a team. It’s a great challenge, and I haven’t played him since I’ve been a professional, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Julian Garcia of the Daily News has the inevitable, “how the Nets can impress (free agent to-be) LeBron James story: Not only will they be as much as $26 million below the salary cap after the season, but they also should have a new billionaire owner by then – Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov – and a new arena being built in Brooklyn. Though a deal is not yet in place, the Nets are also trying to move their home games for the next two seasons to the Rock in Newark, which would be a major upgrade over their current home, the outdated Meadowlands Arena.
Political columnist George Will lashes out against the Atlantic Yards Development, and becomes the latest critic to needlessly mock the Nets basketball team when trying to put down Bruce Ratner: The Atlantic Yards nonsense was compounded when Ratner, to bolster his balance sheet after the real estate collapse, sold the Nets to a Russian billionaire, who stands to benefit from Ratner’s government-subsidized seizure of other people’s property. Those people can only hope that New York’s highest court will grant their appeal for reconsideration on the grounds that Ratner’s argument is about as good as the Nets are. Through Friday, their record was 3-29.
Words That Don’t Inspire Confidence
Dec 23, 2009 Injuries, Jarvis Hayes, Keyon Dooling
A lot has been made about how the absence of Jarvis Hayes and Keyon Dooling – two likeable veteran leaders who also happen to be pretty decent outside shooters – has played a large part in the Nets misfortunes this season.
Some of the good news that came out of practice earlier this week was with Yi set to return tonight, and Hayes and Dooling soon after, the Nets might finally be whole for the first time this season (Chris Doulgas-Roberts returning from his ankle sprain would help this process along as well). However, in today’s practice report from Fred Kerber, some comments made by and about Hayes and Dooling describe their imminent returns as tenuous at best:
“With a hamstring, at this point, if he hurts it again, he could be done,” (Kiki) Vandeweghe said. “So it’s just not worth it. You’ve just got to be safe with it. As much as we need him, you’ve just got to be safe.”
and
“I had pretty major surgery. It’ll be a process. I’ll be back to normal, probably next year. This year is going to be a struggle for me,” Dooling said. “It was a pretty serious surgery for me.”
I don’t even think this needs much reading between-the-lines. To boil it all down, if Hayes reinjures his hammy, he’s probably done for the year, and Dooling never really going to be healthy this season, so he’s going to be on and off the injured list.
Now, I know these guys are only role players, but I take both of these morsels as pretty dispiriting news items. Please remember that it was Jarvis Hayes who organized the voluntary preseason practice sessions in late August – back in happier days where the Nets weren’t taking veiled shots at each other in the locker room and in the press. And is it any coincidence that Dooling’s short-lived return a few weeks ago occurred just as the Nets won their first two (and only) games of the season?
While the Nets probably have enough talent on their roster to avoid all-time infamy this season, I think it will be a lot easier to move pass 10 wins and end this talk of “worst ever” if these two specific guys can get back on the court and give consistent minutes off the bench. Not only will their three-point shooting provide some more spacing (provided that don’t pull a Bobby Simmons), but these two are the truest definition of “intangible” guys who torture statheads with their lack of numbers, but still make teams better regardless. Here’s to hope that these comments were just of the conservative, expectation-lowering variety.
“Change” The Theme Of Nets’ Practice Today
Dec 21, 2009 Chris Douglas-Roberts, Del Harris, Jarvis Hayes, Kiki, NAS At Practice, Rafer Alston, Yi
I was once again allowed to go to Nets practice today, and the theme of today’s practice was “change.” Before we get to the Kiki interview I got, I wanted to go over some things I noticed. First, it was a long practice, the media assembled around noon in the waiting room, we weren’t allowed in practice until 1. When everyone entered the practice, the team was still running through some things. I have only been to 3 practices this year, but I have to say the energy was different. Everyone on the court were going through in game situations, and they were going hard. The team looked like they were enjoying themselves as well. They were celebrating after every big play, and looking like a real team. Also, from what we saw, the team was doing everything together as one unit. When Lawrence Frank was coaching the team, he had everyone split up, but Kiki had everyone together.
The other thing that the media got to see, was Del Harris coaching the Nets up. The part that we got to see was the Nets working on their pick and roll defense and offense, as well as doubling the big man and how they handle getting double teamed. Coach Harris was stopping play every once in a while to correct something or to give the guys something to look for. It was awesome to watch. As for coach Kiki, he wasn’t just standing around, he was pulling guys aside and coaching them up individually.
After the practice, when the media gathered around Kiki, he went out of his way to tell everyone this is the team’s first real practice. “This is the first chance we’ve had to have a real practice.” Kiki also talked about the length of the practice, “I am not a proponent of long practices, but today we needed it.” So what did they talk about? Well Kiki went on to explain, “We tried to do a couple things a little bit differently,” he went on, “Obviously when you come in and the team is 0-18, you have to change some things, and we have.”
One thing that won’t change is Kiki urging his team to run. “I think we are a very good transition team when we get out and run. Devin is very good in the open court. Our guys are scorers and they can take it to the basket.” Meanwhile stopping the break seems to be a problem, and Kiki is looking to correct it. “Transition defense is something we need to work on. As you guys can see, it is going to take a little while.”
The rest of the interview was talking about the team’s injuries. Kiki opened up these talks by joking, “Everybody is still injured.” But he then got serious and talked about the three guys who are still battling back from injury.
Yi:
Will he play Wednesday? “We don’t know, he practiced today, obviously he hasn’t played in 6-7 weeks. It takes more than 1 or 2 practices to be ready. He wants to play very badly, we just have to make a judgment call to see if it is the right thing to do,” Kiki said. I personally saw Yi running through some conditioning drills, and I was very impressed. He was running full speed with no sign of injury besides the wrap on his knee. He also looked very good when going through the live stuff as well.
Jarvis Hayes:
Kiki talked about him briefly. “Jarvis practiced, got a good run in . We pulled him out a little bit early, as we should. It was great to see him back on the court.” Jarvis was pulled out before the media was allowed in, but Kiki is right, it is good to see him out on the court. Once Jarvis and Yi returns, the Nets have 2 shooters at their disposal.
CDR:
CDR put to rest any chance of him playing. He told reporters that he was doubtful for Wednesday, but he went out of his way to say that he wasn’t worried too much about the injury. He said that it was ok because it was just an ankle and not his knee. I would expect him back by Saturday, but ankle sprains are funny. Kiki said that we will know more when they re-evaluate after the game on Wednesday.
An interesting note here. The Nets were going starters for second unit, and Rafer and Devin were on the court with Courtney playing the three. That could be how this team approaches playing the Timberwolves without CDR. If Rafer and Devin are both playing at the same time, who is the backup point? Terrence Williams was taking PG responsibilities for the second unit.
Nets on the Net: 10/30/09 Edition
Oct 30, 2009 Brook Lopez, Courtney Lee, Develop Don't Destroy, Devin Harris, Jarvis Hayes, Mikhail Prokhorov, Nets on the Net, Rafer Alston, Sean Williams, Tony Battie, Vince Carter, Yi
In Al Iannazzone’s report, Jarvis Hayes is expected to miss the next 2-3 weeks with a hamstring injury. Meanwhile, as expected, the Nets picked up the options for Brook Lopez, Courtney Lee and Yi Jianlian while declining on Sean Williams.
Courtney Lee talks with the Orlando Sentinel about his time with his former team, and why he still has love for Orlando.
But Lee tells Ben Couch that he’s going to approach them like any other team.
Some bullet-points on Lee, Tony Battie and Rafer Alston’s time in Orlando.
Devin Harris jokes about getting a chance to foul Vince Carter “one good time” tonight.
Blogger previews from Howard the Dunk.
Over at NetsDaily, Net Income talks about a cryptic e-mail discussing new potential names for the Nets after they (presumably) move to Brooklyn. These include “New York Nets” or maybe something without “Nets” altogether.
CCTV focuses on Yi’s performance in the season opener Wednesday night.
Atlantic Yards Report talks about the lowball offer Daniel Goldstein (of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn) received for his Prospect Heights condo from the Empire State Development Corporation.
An opinion piece in the Star-Ledger talks about how the Nets in Newark could help “pay the rent” at the Prudential Center.
Jarvis Hayes Wants To Lead
Oct 26, 2009 Interviews, Jarvis Hayes
At Nets practice on Thursday, I was able to pull Jarvis aside and ask him a few questions about the upcoming season and his role with the team. Jarvis practiced in full on Thursday and then played on Friday where he had a solid game (11 points on 4-4 from the field).
Here is the interview in full, transcripts after the jump.
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When Vince left, one of the biggest concerns the fans had was who is going to be this team’s leader. While your best player doesn’t necessarily have to be your leader, everyone, including myself, looked to Devin to fill this void. And while Devin might lead by example, it is becoming obvious that Jarvis is going to be this team’s vocal leader, and he is embracing it. Jarvis has been through a lot on the court this offseason, from injuries to dropping in the depth chart, but it seems that he isn’t sulking about it, which is very big of him and something you would expect from your leader. Hayes is going to be a veteran presence off the bench to start the season, and his offense is going to be needed in that second unit.