Reaction To Terrence Williams Pick
Jun 28, 2009 Reactions, Rookies, Terrence Williams
The guys over at Rookies Chronicles (A great site that follows the adventures of Terrence Williams, DeMar DeRozen, and Patty Mills – check it out, all of Terrence’s stuff can be found here) asked me to talk about my reaction to the Terrence Williams pick. So here goes nothing:
When David Stern came up and announced that Terrence Williams was the Nets’ selection at 11, it brought a smile to my (and I am assuming all Nets’ fans) face(s) the first time all day. I am going to admit that I didn’t hop onto the “draft Terrence Williams” train until late in the game (a couple days before his workout here in NJ), but once I did a little bit of research (and an interview), and saw what he was all about, I was pulling for him to get drafted.
So why was I so pumped? Well, Terrence is a seasoned guy (stayed in school all 4 years) who played under a great coach in a fast-paced system (this is going to be key. I mean look at our roster this year, we are going to be running and gunning for the most part – or at least I hope we do), and he is crazy athletic. He combines that athletic ability with a body that allows him to effectivly play 3 positions in the pros. This, along with the trade of Vince Carter, means that Williams should get a good amount of playing time for a rookie, which will lead to Williams hopefully developing faster than the normal rookie. We can look at newest Net Courtney Lee for an example of this. Last year with Orlando, Lee got a lot of time during the season, and just look how he played in the playoffs.
What impresses me most about Williams is his mentality both on and off the court. On the court, Terrence Williams is willing to do whatever it takes to help the team win. Back when I interviewed him (I am going to milk the hell out of this) when I asked who he molds his game after, his answer shows what he is all about:
Draft Day Quick Thoughts
Jun 26, 2009 2009 Draft, 2009 Offseason, Analysis, Rookies, Sad
I was a part of the TrueHoop Network’s Live Draft that lasted for 8 hours and 23 minutes so I am just getting my thoughts down. We will have more to come about everything, but right now, here are my quick thoughts in run-on sentence form. I am just letting everything go here…
Well it was an interesting draft day for the Nets. The most interesting thing happened hours before the draft. So here is who we had leave the team:
- Vince Carter
- Ryan Anderson
Here is who we added to the roster:
- Rafer Alston
- Courtney Lee
- Tony Battie
- Terrence Williams
It was real sad to see Vince leave (check back tomorrow morning for something special), but it is the right move for the future of the team. I would have liked to see us make one more run at the playoffs, but doing that could have meant us not getting as much value for Vince, and it would have completely ruined our small (very small) chances at LeBron.
It is also a little disappointing seeing Ryan Anderson go. He really won me over during the year (I remember thinking he was going to be a huge bust after seeing him in his first preseason appearance), and he was a valuable part of the team (he also made for great comedy with Brook). With this trade, the Magic got two guys who can contribute immediately.
As for the guys we got, we made out pretty well in this deal (Especially considering the rumors for other trades that we shot down). In Rafer Alston, we got a PG who was a starter for long stretches, including the playoffs & finals. He is going to be a solid backup that will allow Keyon Dooling to move to the backup SG spot. Tony Battie adds toughness to a frontcourt that lacks it. I don’t know if he will be the starter for this team, but this trade shows the confidence that the front office has in Yi and his health, since they traded away his only competition.
The real crown jewel of this trade is Courtney Lee (which is why he gets his own paragraph). He is going to be a special player in this league. I have seen few rookies play with the swagger that Courtney Lee played with this year. He does a lot of things well, and few poorly.
In the draft with the 11th pick, we took Terrence Williams. This is a guy who can play 3 different positions and he is crazy athletic. Williams is also a playmaker who said he wants to mold himself after LeBron, but not the scoring LeBron, the LeBron who does everything. Getting assists, rebounding, and defending.
So what does our roster look like now? Well here is what I think it might look like on opening night:
- PG – Devin Harris/Rafer Alston/Keyon Dooling
- SG – Courtney Lee/Keyon Dooling/Jarvis Hayes/Terrence Williams
- SF – CDR/Bobby Simmons/Terrence Williams
- PF – Tony Battie/Yi
- C – Brook/Boone
There are other guys on this team, but these are the guys who will probably get the minutes. The thing is though, we are probably not done with the moves. We are over on our roster spots and will probably have to lose 1 or 2 guys. Who? Well, I know we already said we were picking up Hayes’ option, but did that happen already? If not, he could be the guy. I also see the Nets trying to trade Bobby Simmons to clear roster space and leave the SF spot open for CDR and Terrence Williams.
Our finances? Well, they no longer look too bleak…quoting Dave D’Alessandro:
Cap space for 2010-11 before the Vince trade — $9,724,569 (10 players). That was with a $46,775,431 payroll.
Cap space for 2010-11 after the Vince trade — $27,303,344 (9 players). And that’s with a 29,196,656 payroll.
The thing is, I don’t really think this is for LeBron. I mean if he wants to come to NJ (Brooklyn), I won’t turn him away, but with us drafting T-Will, I can see us going for Chris Bosh with all our extra cash.
More on all of this stuff over the next couple of days, but I am exhausted right now, and I want to let this sink in…
Nets’ Draft Picks Since 1989
May 12, 2009 Draft, Front Office, Rookies
While reading through 82games.com’s draft stuff, I came across their article about the best and the worst drafting teams. I was actually surprised to see how low the Nets were in their list, as they were ranked 24th. After looking over all of our draft picks since 1989, you see why we were so low.
Obviously last year’s draft wasn’t really counted in the rankings (I say we had the best draft last year) and when we were making the Finals in the early 2000s, you can’t really expect much from the draft (plus they were working towards improving in the present, rather than looking towards the future). Even in the 90s though when we were getting top 10 picks constantly, we weren’t getting much from our players. Sure some guys went on to have solid careers, but they never really contributed with the Nets. Here is the list along with their numbers as a member of the New Jersey Nets.
- 1989 -
-1st round/12th pick – Mookie Blaylock – 194 GP/154 GS/32.9 MPG/12.9 PPG/3.3 RPG/5.9 APG
-2nd round/32nd pick - Stanley Brundy – 16 GP/0 GS/8 MPG/2.3 PPG/1.6 RPG/0.2 APG
- 1990-
-1st round/1st pick – Derrick Coleman – 348 GP/330 GS/35.8 MPG/19.9 PPG/10.6 RPG/3.1 APG
-1st round/22nd pick – Tate George – 174 GP/14 GS/11.6 MPG/4.2 PPG/1 RPG/1.9 APG
- 1991-
-1st round/2nd pick – Kenny Anderson – 303 GP/248 GS/32.9 MPG/15.4 PPG/3.4 RPG/7.8 APG
-2nd round/53rd pick – Von McDade – Never Played In The NBA
- 1992-
-2nd round/29rd pick – P.J. Brown – 240 GP/198 GS/30.7 MPG/8.4 PPG/6.4 RPG/1.6 APG
-2nd round/40th pick – Steve Rogers – Never Played In The NBA
- 1993-
-1st round/16th pick – Rex Walters – 139 GP/30 GS/13.7 MPG/5.2 PPG/1.0 RPG/1.5 APG
-2nd round/36th pick – John Best – Never Played In The NBA
- 1994-
-1st round/14th pick – Yinka Dare – 110 GP/25 GS/9.1 MPG/2.1 PPG/1.6 RPG/0.04 APG
- 1995-
-1st round/9th pick – Ed O’Bannon – 109 GP/34 GS/17.3 MPG/5.4 PPG/2.6 RPG/0.8 APG
- 1996-
-1st round/8th pick – Kerry Kittles – 496 GP/455 GS/33.6 MPG/14.3 PPG/3.9 RPG/2.6 APG
- 1997-
-1st round/2nd pick (via trade) – Keith Van Horn – 314 GP/312 GS/34.7 MPG/18.2 PPG/7.6 RPG/1.8 APG
- 1998 (no picks)-
- 1999-
-2nd round/34th pick – Evan Eschmeyer – 105 GP/56 GS/16.2 MPG/3.2 PPG/4.5 RPG/0.6 APG
- 2000-
-1st round/1st pick – Kenyon Martin – 283 GP/283 GS/33.1 MPG/15.1 PPG/7.6 RPG/2.4 APG
-2nd round/36th pick – Soumaila Samake – 34 GP/0 GS/6.6 MPG/1.4 PPG/1.6 RPG/0.0 APG
- 2001-
-1st round/13th pick (via trade) Richard Jefferson- 489 GP/417 GS/35.8 MPG/17.4 PPG/5.4 RPG/3.0 APG
-1st round/18th pick (via trade) Jason Collins – 511 GP/404 GS/24.4 MPG/10.3 PPG/4.6 RPG/1.1 APG
-1st round/23rd pick (via trade) Brandon Armstrong – 108 GP/0 GS/6.5 MPG/2.2 PPG/0.6 RPG/0.2 APG
-2nd round/34th pick – Brian Scalabrine – 210 GP/23 GS/14.8 MPG/3.9 PPG/2.9 RPG/1.0 APG
- 2002-
-1st round/24th pick – Nenad Kristic – 226 GP/201 GS/27.0 MPG/11.3 PPG/5.7 RPG/1.1 APG
-2nd round/53rd pick – Tamar Slay – 58 GP/0 GS/7.6 MPG/2.5 PPG/0.97 RPG/0.48 APG
- 2003-
-1st round/22nd pick – Zoran Planinic – 148 GP/10 GS/10.7 MPG/3.8 PPG/1.3 RPG/1.1 APG
- 2004-
-2nd round/51st pick – Christian Drejer – Never Played In The NBA
- 2005-
-1st round/15th pick – Antoine Wright – 143 GP/43 GS/17.9 MPG/4.6 PPG/2.3 RPG/0.9 APG
-2nd round/43rd pick – Mile Ilic – 5 GP/0 GS/1.2 MPG/0.0 PPG/0.2 RPG/0.0 APG
- 2006-
-1st round/22nd pick – Marcus Williams -132 GP/9 GS/16.4 MPG/6.4 PPG/2 RPG/3.0 APG
-1st round/23rd pick – Josh Boone – 193 GP/60 GS/17.8 MPG/5.6 PPG/4.9 RPG/0.5 APG
-2nd round/54th pick – Hassan Adams – 61 GP/8 GS/8.1 MPG/2.9 PPG/1.3 RPG/0.2 APG
- 2007-
-1st round/17th pick – Sean Williams – 106 GP/29 GS/15.5 MPG/4.6 PPG/3.8 RPG/0.4 APG
- 2008-
-1st round/11th pick – Brook Lopez – 82 GP/75 GS/30.5 MPG/13.0 PPG/8.1 RPG/1.0 APG
-1st round/21st pick – Ryan Anderson – 66 GP/30 GS/19.9 MPG/7.4 PPG/4.7 RPG/0.8 APG
-2nd round/40th pick – Chris Douglas-Roberts – 44 GP/3 GS/13.3 MPG/4.9 PPG/1.1 RPG/1.2 APG
—
Looking back on the picks, you can see why we ended up being ranked 24th. From 1993 to 1996 our first round picks included Rex Walters, Yinka Dare, and Ed O’ Bannon. That is just horrendous. On a positive note though, we robbed Houston blind in 2001. That year we traded the draft rights of Eddie Griffin (originally our pick at #7) for Richard Jefferson, Jason Collins, and Brandon Armstrong. That is 1 borderline superstar and 2 serviceable players for one bust.
Looking at 2000 on, there aren’t a lot of great picks there either. In fact, only 5 out of 19 players drafted after 2000 are still with the team. There is a reason for this though, and that is up until last year we were picking for the future. We had plenty of talent (and were not in rebuilding mode yet), and we didn’t need guys to get in there and help right away. That changed last year, and now we are drafting with the present in mind, looking for guys that can contribute right away. We need to continue this train of thought during this year’s draft.
Brook Lopez: Rookie Retrospective
May 2, 2009 Analysis, Brook Lopez, Links, Rookies
I already took a look at Brook’s rookie season, but the guys over at DraftExpress seriously one-upped me. They take an in-depth look into Brook’s rookie season. You can read the whole thing here, but here is a brief excerpt:
According to Synergy Sports Technology, Lopez gets 34% of his offense with his back to the basket in the post, but only converts on 42% of those attempts. On all other shots, he’s converting 57%. As many often point out, the biggest change in the level of competition when comparing the NCAA and NBA often has to do with the big men, who are far bigger, stronger and more athletic. As we often saw already last season, Lopez struggles to score at times because of a lack of variety and fluidity in his post repertoire. He loves to go to his right handed hook, but struggles with his consistency and is rather predictable due to the lack of polish on his left hand. The slow and mechanical coordination he shows in the post hurt his effectiveness as well, and he has a tendency to predetermine what move he’s going to use before he even touches the ball.
Never considered much of a passer in college, Lopez has continued along that same path in theNBA
thus far, even regressing statistically in that aspect. He’s been fairly turnover prone, struggling to deal with double teams and not always quite knowing his limitations, which is not exactly a shock considering his rookie status. Right now he ranks in the top 10 amongst the worst passers per-possession in the NBA.
Many of the problems Lopez has on the offensive end stem from a lack of explosiveness caused by his high center of gravity. Despite the fact that he gets low to maintain position on the block, when he goes into his move he stands too upright, which makes him easy to defend. This is perhaps most evident when looking at how few free throws he attempts a game. Lopez’s paltry 2.2 free throws a game ranks him towards the bottom amongst starting centers in the league. For a big man who shoots over 80% from the stripe, he would benefit greatly from getting to the line more often. If he can learn to stay low throughout his pivots and establish a wider base, he’ll have an easier time powering towards the basket, which ultimately will lead to more trips to the line.
Lopez also shows some glimpses of potential facing up from the mid-post and beating his man off the dribble—something he surely has the skill-level to do. If he can improve his ball-handling skills enough to utilize this part of his game more, maybe after using a shot-fake, he will surely find himself at the free throw line more as well.
The biggest thing that I took from this excerpt is the fact that he needs to work on his back to the basket offense. These kind of moves come with time and experience, so we shouldn’t be too worried about it right now.
2008-2009 Season Review: The Rookies – Chris Douglas-Roberts
Apr 24, 2009 2008-2009 Season Review, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Rookies
Welcome to the season review series. Here we will be taking a look back at a few themes of the season and evaluate them. In our final edition of the rookie reviews, we are going to be taking a look at Chris Douglas Roberts.
The Nets drafted CDR with the 40th pick of the night (10 pick in the second round), while many had him as a first rounder, he dropped all the way into the second round and the Nets snatched him up.
Despite not playing too much (he only appeared in 44 games averaging 13.3 MPG), I think CDR showed great promise during his rookie season. We aren’t going to look at his stats, because he didn’t really play enough for them to show us anything.
The two things that I noticed is he is very unorthodox and he can play some serious D. When I say unothodox, I mean that when he is out there playing he is all herky-jerky and just doesn’t really look smooth (For example, how he prefers jumpers off the dribble leaning in rather than catch and shot opportunities). Many people will watch him play and think that he doesn’t know what he is doing out there, but everyone around the Nets praise CDR for this basketball IQ (You can also tell that it is high just by watching him play). All of this factors into why I compared him to Shawn Marion before the season started, and I still think that comparison fits him.
As for his defense, the last couple games showed that CDR can match up with other teams best players and stop them. The best example of this was the Nets’ game against the Pistons (Who were still trying to clinch a playoff birth, so they had their starters in the whole night) late in the year. CDR got the start and he was matched up against Rip Hamilton. Rip Hamilton is one of the toughest covers in the NBA because he runs off of so many screens it’s silly, but CDR stuck with him and forced Rip into an off night. Hamilton only scored 10 points (3 from the line and 1 three on a brilliantly executed play) on 3-9 shooting.
As for what CDR needs to work on, it is tough to say because he saw so little action no team really went out there to exploit his weaknesses. I would say he needs to bulk up a tad this offseason. People don’t really seem to notice that he is a big kid (6-6) and putting some muscle on that frame would make him a scary player. He could also work on his shooting, as he plays more and more in the league, he is going to need to find other ways to score rather than lay-ups and lean in jumpers.
Depending on how the offseason pans out, I can see CDR competing with Ryan Anderson for the starting 3-spot (This is if Vince Carter moves to the 2). At the start of the season, I see CDR being our 2nd man off the bench right behind Keyon Dooling.
Derrick Rose Wins ROY. Brook Lopez Comes In…Third?
Apr 23, 2009 Brook Lopez, Nets In The Media, Rookies
I grabbed the image above from over at ClipperBlog.com who grabbed it from the Official NBA release.
Now the first place winner was an obvious choice (even though I was pushing for Brook). I know it isn’t really a big deal and maybe I am just looking for a reason to complain, but seriously? O.J. Mayo in second and Brook in third? Really? It wasn’t even close either, I mean seriously what were these voters thinking?
Now I already broke down the reasons why Brook Lopez was better than Derrick Rose, so I am not going to do it again here (Although if you use the transitive property, if Brook’s numbers were better than Rose’s they HAVE to be better than O.J. Mayo’s). I guess I was just a little surprise that’s all.
Tags: Brook Lopez, NBA, NJ Nets, Rookies
2008-2009 Season Review: The Rookies – Ryan Anderson
Apr 22, 2009 2008-2009 Season Review, Rookies, Ryan Anderson
All this Lawrence Frank talk has got me off track, well now we are back on track…Welcome to the season review series. Here we will be taking a look back at a few themes of the season and evaluate them. In our second edition of the rookie reviews, we are going to be taking a look at Ryan Anderson.
If you would have told me that Ryan Anderson was going to start 30 games for the Nets this year, I would have been surprised. Not because I didn’t like him as a player, but when he was drafted last year with the 21st selection, I pictured Ryan Anderson as more of a Steve Novak/Jason Kapono type of player. Someone who would come in, shoot some threes, and come out.
However that wasn’t the case, Ryan showed a more complete game than anyone thought he had this year, and for the final 30 games he was starting as our 4 (some of it was due to the poor play of Yi, but Ryan played well enough to earn the starts).
In his 19.9 minutes per game, Anderson averaged 7.4 PPG and 4.7 RPG, but what impressed me most was his ability to improve his ball handling throughout the year. Now he is far from being a great ball handler, but if you look at his early games where he would catch, face, and either shoot or pass you can tell that he has come a long way in that department.
Ryan is a tweener and can play either the 3/4 but he has weaknesses in both spots. If he were to play the 3, he is a little too slow to cover the quicker wing type players and when he plays the 4, most nights his lack of size leads to mismatches. In my opinion, he needs to either work on his speed or his strength this offseason so he can break out of that tweener mold and have a set position. I personally would love to see him playing the three next year that way we could have Vince Carter move back to the 2 (But this all depends on who we draft, if we draft a 3, Ryan will see most of his time at the 4 again this year).
Tags: NBA, NJ Nets, Rookies, Ryan Anderson
2008-2009 Season Review: The Rookies – Brook Lopez
Apr 21, 2009 2008-2009 Season Review, Brook Lopez, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Rookies, Ryan Anderson
Welcome to the season review series. Here we will be taking a look back at a few themes of the season and evaluate them. In this first edition we will be talking about the Nets rookies.
Yes I am going to be using this picture every time I mention these three rookies. The Nets’ rookies were a real bright spot this season. All three made significant contributions during the year (Brook Lopez throughout the season/Ryan Anderson towards the second half of the season/CDR towards the tail-end of the season), which is something that usually doesn’t happen (especially when you got a second rounder thrown in there). I am going to be looking at them one by one. In this post, I am going to be looking at Brook Lopez.
Brook Lopez
Brook Lopez is every one’s number two Rookie of the Year this year. I knew he was going to be a great player, but I thought it was going to take a year or two. False. Brook has been a dominant force on both ends of the court. In my mind he is a franchise type center.
Lets look at his numbers.
- Brook played in every Nets’ game and averaged 30.5 Minutes Per Game. Brook scored 13.0 PPG (11th among NBA centers/6th among rookies) and averaged 8.1 RPG (14th among NBA centers/2nd among rookies). Add in his 1.8 BPG (9th among all NBA players) and you have the complete package.
What he did well?
- He didn’t foul. Brook only averaged 3.1 fouls per game. With a guy who gets as many blocks as Brook did (especially as a rookie) this is a great thing. Compare this to Greg Oden, the guy who was supposed to be the defensive stopper among rookies. Greg had 3.9 fouls per game in about 10 minutes less time. In terms of blocks per foul, Brook averaged 1.02 blocks per foul. Greg Oden had 0.45 blocks per foul. This can be attributed to his knowledge of the game, solid footwork, and fantastic timing.
- He was fantastic from the line. Yes, I said fantastic. Brook shot 79.3% from the line (10th among NBA centers).
What he needs to improve on:
- Crashing the offensive boards. Of his 8.1 rebounds per game, only 2.7 are on the offensive side. If he gets that number up to around 3.5 or 4, it would be fantastic. Now I think this comes with experience. The more shots you see go up, the better you will be at reading the bounces off the rim. He can also spend some time this offseason watching some tape and seeing how defenders boxed him out this year, then he can work on some techniques that will help him grab more boards.
- He needs to expand his range. Let’s take a look at his shot chart.
- Brook was 333-549 from right under the basket. Which is real good, but look at the number of shot attempts he got away from the basket. He only took 303 (35% of his shots) attempts away from the basket, and only hit 106 of them (34.9%). If I can pick up on this, teams are going to be able to as well. Teams are not going to let him catch it as deep as he has been, and they will try to force him to make his catches farther away from the basket. This offseason I really want to see Brook expand his range. I am not even talking foul line extended, I am talking like 8-10 foot range (Think Yao), and if he does that, he will be pretty hard to cover.
The outlook for next year
Brook has the ability to become a 20-10 guy next year, and that is no exaggeration. I really think that this will happen. Over the year Brook has displayed a work ethic that shows me he will work hard this upcoming season to improve the flaws in his game.
Tags: Brook Lopez, Chris Douglas-Roberts, NBA, NJ Nets, Rookies, Ryan Anderson