Is This The Real Kris Humphries?
Mar 18, 2010 Analysis, Kris Humphries, Opinion
When the Nets traded for Kris Humphries in exchange for Eduardo Najera, I was pretty excited. Not only were the Nets able to get rid of Najera (who looked like he was running with a torn hamstring), but they brought in a young guy who showed flashes. Early on, it looked like the Nets got away with highway robbery as Humphries brought his defensive energy and that was a new attitude for this team. He was also scoring, in his first 9 games as a Net, Humphries reached double-digits 4 times (including two 20 point games), and got 9 two other times. Sure he was taking some tough jumpers, but he made them so it was ok. He’d settle down when he wasn’t as hot (shot 45.1% in January).
I was really high on Humphries, I was starting to think that the only reason he didn’t produce in his previous spots was just because he played behind really good players (Bosh in Toronto, Boozer in Utah, and Dirk in Dallas). However, Humphries has hit a rough patch over the past two months. He is still bringing the defensive intensity, there is no question about that. The offensive end has been a completely different story though. Remember those tough shots Humphries was making early on? Well, he’s still taking them, but not making them at the rate he was (45.1% in January – 39.4% since – keep in mind his minutes has bascially been the same during his stay here), and when he makes the catch on the high post, you can pretty much assume he is going up with it. No matter how well defended he is.
The question Nets fans and the Nets front office has to ask now is whether or not this is the real Kris Humphries or not, or was the real Kris Humphries the one we saw in January. Personally, I think the Humphries we have seen the past two months is the “true Kris Humphries.” The reason is Idon’t think he can maintain the shooting percentage to be an effective scorer in this league. He takes too many bad shots, and takes the offense out of his flow too much. He hasn’t only done this in New Jersey, this has been his knock every stop he has been at.
That’s not saying he isn’t a serviceable player, because I think he is one, but what I am concerned about is whether there is a spot for him on this team. Better yet, what is his role? One of the Nets’ biggest needs is power forward. I think Yi has proven he can’t handle the starting responsibilities, so the Nets will be bringing a starting power forward (that is pretty much assumed), but who is going to be the backup? In my opinion, Kris Humphries is the more valuable backup if you bring in an offensive minded PF to start, but are the Nets really going to stick Yi on the bench for good (Orlando showed that having 3 PFs on your roster doesn’t work – Brandon Bass hasn’t played much all year)? I guess what I am getting to is don’t expect to see much of Kris Humphries next year unless Yi goes down with an injury. Now, some of you guys may have already assumed that, but I have to admit, I got a little excited seeing a guy play with that type of intensity on the defensive end and being productive on the offensive end.
The Nets Haven’t Been The Worst Since The All-Star Break
Mar 12, 2010 Advanced Statistics, Opinion
I don’t know how many of you are familiar with Wayne Winston, but the man is one of the best sports analytics people in the business. In fact until recently he was doing statistical analysis for the Dallas Mavericks. Since he stopped doing his thing for the Mavericks, Winston published a book called Mathletics (where he breaks down advanced statistics for a few different sports) and he now runs a blog where he does his thing. Recently, over at WayneWinston.com Winston posted his “Post All-Star Rankings.” It was interesting to see that according to Winston, the Nets haven’t been the worst team in the NBA since the break. Hell, they weren’t even second worst. The Nets ranked 23rd in Winston’s rankings, with the Knicks ranking last (awesome). Let’s allow Winston to explain his rankings:
In the three weeks since the all star break here is a summary of how well each NBA team has played. For example, the Magic have played 10.65 points better than average. The Magic have played 2.38 points better than average on offense and 8.26 points better than average on defense. Note the Nets have really improved and the Knicks are now the league’s worst team. Kudos to the unsung Bucks, who have played great. These numbers are adjusted for strength of schedule. Makes you think that a Lakers-Cavs final series is not inevitable!
Now, let’s look at the Nets specifically. The Nets have an overall ranking of -4.12119, meaning they play about 4 points worse than their opponents. Breaking it down to both sides of the ball, the Nets have been playing -4.29861 on the offensive end, but on the flip side, the Nets have been better than their opponents on defense. Now it hasn’t been by much (only 0.17742 better), but with the way the Nets played defense, any kind of better is good news.
If you have been watching Nets games, you know the Nets have been playing better since the break. With Brook Lopez continuing to dominate (up until the last two games where he faced real tough defenders), Courtney Lee finally breaking out of his funk, Terrence Williams starting to get it, and Devin Harris returning to last year’s all-star form. I have to echo Mark’s sentiments from yesterday:
So you tell me: can the worst team in basketball honestly be expected to accomplish all this in a given night? After being legitimately angry with this team and organization for the better part of the last four months, I can honestly say I now sympathize with these guys. Between the young talent of guys like Lopez, Harris, Williams and Lee, and some veteran good-guys like Keyon Dooling, Hayes and Hassell, these Nets need to find a way to get out of this discussion as being among the worst ever, because they just don’t belong there.
This team is just not the worst team in NBA history. They don’t do things that bad teams do (most of the time), and they go out and compete. Hopefully they can come away with 3 more wins.
Why Are We Drawn to CDR?
Feb 23, 2010 Chris Douglas-Roberts, Opinion
For a second round draft pick who’s not known as a shooter or for his defense, there’s just something oddly fascinating about the downward spiral of Chris Douglas-Robert’s 2009-10 NBA season.
He certainly showed flashes of being a rotation player late last season and earlier this season. While the roster was decimated by injury in November, CDR appeared to be riding shotgun with Brook Lopez as the only consistent offensive performers on the team, averaging 17.3 points points per game. But in the following months, CDR’s role on offense diminished greatly. Last month, he was replaced in the starting lineup by Jarvis Hayes, and rumors of him “falling out of favor” with coach Kiki Vandeweghe seemed to have put a further crimp on his playing time. On Sunday, he earned the dreaded, DNP-CD against the Memphis Grizzlies, and an unnamed team executive said Douglas-Roberts was late for a practice, as the reasoning. CDR disputed that claim on his Twitter page, a tool he often uses, rumor has it, much to the chagrin of Kiki and other members on the Nets front office.
Both Sebastian and I have spent a lot of time breaking down and analyzing CDR’s season from both a basketball-sense – which is obviously more objective – and from a more philosophical, subjective perspective. And it seems like many of the team’s beat writers take this approach with CDR as well. Because what’s not to like about a guy who always seems willing to talk candidly when a microphone or a notebook is shoved in front of his face. CDR has told the world in one way or another, that his team is soft, has no heart and has developed a new “system” of which he plays less of a role. He’s Tweeted about loving his “Memphis People” after trade rumors regarding sending him to the Grizzlies surfaced, and then emphatically denied he was pining for a trade after the fact.
And all of these factors have created a gravitational pull around CDR whether you love him or hate him. Has anyone questioned why Trenton Hassell hasn’t received playing time from Kiki Vandeweghe recently, despite playing above expectations earlier this season? How about Bobby Simmons who was one of the better shooting SFs in all of the NBA last season? Simmons hasn’t played in months.
CDR hasn’t been a factor in a Nets game in more than a month. He plays a position where the Nets actually have some decent depth on the roster, and stand to acquire more depth giving the high profile names on this summer’s free agent list. Maybe it’s time for us all to collectively stop wringing our hands and obsessing over what CDR is doing, the good and the bad. If he’s truly falling out of favor with the organization, that will be demonstrated in due time when he is either traded this summer or released. It just seems like a lot of ink has been spent rehashing something that seems to only be affecting one player who may or may not even be in the league a year from now.
Trade-Deadline Aftermath In Regards To The Nets
Feb 19, 2010 Analysis, Opinion, Trades
The Nets decided to stand pat at the trading deadline this year, but it seems like they were the only ones. There were a lot of teams clearing space at the deadline, and now the Nets aren’t the only ones with a lot of cap space available going into this offseason. Now that the dust has settled, I think it is important to look at the teams with newly discovered capspace and compare their situations to the Nets.All numbers moving forward are based on an estimated salary cap of $53 million next year.
Sacramento Kings
Breakdown
By shipping Kevin Martin out, the Kings have freed up slightly less than $19 million (before taking into consideration the contract of a lottery pick). This can make them a player for a a real good second tier guy. It has long been a plan that if the Nets can’t get a max contract guy (Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Chris Bosh), the Nets would end up “settling” for a second tier guy like Joe Jonson, Rudy Gay, or Carlos Boozer (this is if any of them are willing to take less than the max). The Kings can now sneak in and take away one of these guys.
Advantage
So why would a player go to Sacramento over New Jersey? There is a pretty special player named Tyreke Evans over there. There has to be a shooting guard out there just salivating about the chance to play with him, plus they have another lottery pick coming this year. A nice little core building in Sacramento.
So Apparently I Can Tell The Future
Feb 17, 2010 Analysis, Coaching, Kiki, Opinion, Terrence Williams
I am being dead serious. Need proof? Well, there is a post that I did 16 days ago entitled “The Nets Are Learning How To Win.” I was pretty confident that the Nets were ready to turn the corner after coming off a close loss against the 76ers. Turns out the post was a little premature because after the Sixers’ game the Nets went on to lose 6 more games. 5 of these losses were close losses where the team just didn’t play well late.
But that doesn’t mean my post was wrong. The Nets were learning out how to win, but in true Nets fashion, it took a little longer than it should have. The result? A win 15 days later. I thought it would be fun to look at my old post and match it up to the game today to prove that the Nets are learning how to win (everything in block quotes was created 15 days ago):
Who Can Coach the Nets?
Feb 15, 2010 Coaching, Opinion
While Sebastian breaks down some potential members of the Nets core after this summer’s draft, the next thing that must be considered when discussing the rebuilding of this organization is who’s going to be the person to coach this team back to respectability. With some of the rumors that have been flying around the past week, it’s clear that Mikhail Prokhorov is going to look to make a big splash with his head coach. But while some of the names that are being tossed around are splashy, are they really the answer? I’m going to go through some of the early, big name candidates, and give you my initial impressions:
Mike Krzyzewski – Coach “K” is a college coaching legend with 28 seasons at Duke University, which include three National Championships, 10 Final Fours and scores of ACC conference championships and NCAA tournament victories. Adding to his cachet was his role as head coach go the 2008 U.S. National team, aka the “Redeem Team” which won gold in Beijing Olympics. Given that some of the top players on the Olympic Team (cough, LeBron, cough) will be free agents this summer, Coach K could help lure these guys to the swamp. The problem is, Krzyzewski has played this game with NBA teams before. He’s been previously offered coaching jobs in Boston and Los Angeles, and rejected both. You also have to remember his leave of absence in the 1990s due to health reasons. Would Coach K put his health at risk with the high-stress schedule of the NBA, and if so, why would he make the leap to the Nets after turning down offers from much more ballyhooed organizations?
Rick Pitino – Great college coach, sure, but his stint in the late 90s with the Boston Celtics makes me question his abilities to coach again in the NBA. His now famous “Larry Bird is not walking through that door” speech has come to symbolize his inability to handle the Boston media during his stint there. How would he handle the New York City media, as the Nets make their transition to Brooklyn, attempt to lure top free agents, and bring along one of the top picks in the draft?
John Calipari – On a personal level, I probably wouldn’t be able to handle Coach Cal again, but there are legit reasons to look elsewhere beyond my own personal feelings for the guy. Calipari was unmitigated disaster in New Jersey in the 1990s. As demonstrated by his college coaching career, he’s constantly seeking greener pastures, jumping to better college programs when he has the chance, which would bring instability to the position if the Nets brought him back to the NBA. While some guys have loved playing for Calipari, they’ve been notably labeled as “his” guys, while players like Jayson Williams and Kendall Gill, talented players in their own regard, have been thrown under the bus by Calipari because he didn’t like how they didn’t buy into his schtick. Some analysts are throwing the John Wall card out there because Calipari currently coaches the assumed No. 1 pick at Kentucky. But if the Nets don’t win the lottery, that point is moot, and besides, if Wall is such a special talent, I’m sure he can play for a coach other than Calipari if he does end up with the Nets. Please, please, please don’t consider this guy.
Jeff Van Gundy – Unlike some of the other big names being tossed around, JVG is the only one whose positive coaching achievements have been built up over the long-term in the NBA. It’s true that with the Knicks and the Houston Rockets, he never won the big one, and you can even argue that his Rockets teams underachieved, but his team’s have always been known for their toughness and defense, two things this current Nets bunch sorely lacks. His resignation from the Knicks in 2001 was sudden, and that always creates doubts about the franchise’s stability with a guy like that at the top, but if JVG is indeed interested in getting back to coaching in the NBA, I really hope the Nets consider this guy.
Teams’ “Other Guys” Beating The Nets
Feb 11, 2010 Analysis, Opinion
Starting with the Nets win in New Jersey against the Los Angeles Clippers the Nets have played a string of 9 competitive games (yes I am last night’s game against Milwaukee). However, the Nets have only been able to win 1 of these games. Now there are a number of reasons why, and they have been talked about just about everywhere (including here) , but something that isn’t really getting talked about is that role players have been absolutely killing the Nets. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look:
The Circus in the Swamp
Feb 10, 2010 Del Harris, Kiki Vandeweghe, Opinion, Rod Thorn
As if watching the Nets chase all-time infamy wasn’t bad enough for fans, those working in the front office appear to be emulating the comically inept and embarrassing play on the hardwood – to the point that the resignation of an interim assistant coach has seemingly exposed the complete and utter chaos that has swallowed this organization.
The recent and unexpected resignation of Del Harris as assistant coach has produced somewhat conflicting stories regarding the circumstances behind his departure. The Star-Ledger’s Dave D’Alessandro reported earlier this week that Harris’s agent asked team President Rod Thorn about Del becoming the next head coach, returning Kiki Vandeweghe to the GM spot, an idea which Thorn rejected. A Peter Vescey report from Tuesday, says that Kiki, Harris and Harris’ agent allegedly concocted a plan behind unbeknownst to Thorn where Harris was promised the head coaching spot later this season, moving Kiki back to GM, where he could hypothetically prove his worth before the house cleaning that is certain to commence when Mikhail Prokhorov takes over as owner.
This morning, Al Iannazzone reported that Thorn is now investigating the details from the Vescey report. If a side deal was made behind Thorn’s back, Kki could get the axe.
All of these stories contain elements that are both plausible and outrageous. Regardless of who’s got the story right here, what ties all of these accounts together is the reported lack of cohesion in the front office.
The Nets Are Learning How To Win
Feb 1, 2010 Analysis, Kiki, Opinion, Terrence Williams, Yi
I know that “learning to win” is funny to say now that the season is halfway done (especially when we are talking about a 4 win team), but after the Nets past road trip, the Nets were at an all-time low. I mean, look what Mark had to say after the loss at Utah:
As it stands, and I hesitate to say it, but THIS might finally be rock bottom for the 2009-10 Nets. Because if it gets any worse that it’s been the past two games against Utah and the Golden State Warriors, the league should really consider contracting the organization, throwing Bruce Ratner in jail for fraud and blacklisting Rod Thorn and Kiki Vandeweghe from ever having a role with an NBA roster again.
And you know what? I agreed with him, as did just about every single Nets fan. In the past three games though, the INets have been able to keep games close winning 1 and losing 2 by a combined 6 points. With all of the Nets losses this season, none of them have really been close. So what has changed for the Nets? I think that the Nets are now finally playing the type of basketball that will get them wins moving forward (or at least keep the games close).
Chris Douglas-Roberts Tweets Back
Jan 14, 2010 Chris Douglas-Roberts, Opinion, Twitter
The Nets have another player who’s taking his frustrations out in 140 characters or less.
After receiving some unflattering press from some of the beat guys at practice today, Chris Douglas-Roberts has been reacting on Twitter for the past two hours, taking on the media and the “fake” fans who have been spreading “hate” about CDR.
The reports CDR appears to be responding to came from the Star-Ledger’s Dave D’Alessandro and the Daily News’ Julian Garcia earlier today. In both reports, Garcia and Dave D. asked why CDR’s shot attempts are down.
“It’s a different offense. It’s a different scheme. It’s a different system. So things are a lot different. It’s as simple as that. Things are a lot different now.”
That sounds innocent enough, but both reporters appeared to be reading into CDR’s quotes today.