Nets Are Scorching

Last night, we asked you guys to tweet us with the hashtag #NetsMemories, sharing your favorite moments from the last 35 years of New Jersey basketball.

Your responses ran the gamut, from phenomenal, franchise-altering moments to enormous highlights to the small, mundane moments that allow us to contextualize Nets history. You shouted out Jason Kidd, but didn’t forget Mikki Moore. Or Lucious Harris. Some of you told us about your first game, some of you told us about your favorite game. Some of you talked Finals, some talked lottery. The moments you sent us last night help paint a picture of the good times in New Jersey, the teams and characters we’ll remember fondly, the things that kept us rooting along with a dysfunctional, troubled franchise in a state that could never sustain them.

As always, thanks for reading and sharing.

With today’s 97-88 loss at the hands of the Miami Heat, the Houston Rockets are now officially eliminated from playoff contention, meaning the draft pick they owe to New Jersey will wait until they get to Brooklyn.

Houston seemed like a lock for the playoffs just two weeks ago, but lost six straight games to drop them out of the race. Despite winning Saturday against the Golden State Warriors, the Rockets’ loss puts them two full games behind the Utah Jazz with just two games remaining. The Jazz took two out of three games from the Rockets, thus holding the playoff tiebreaker.

The Nets traded their own first-round pick (top-3 protected) to the Portland Trail Blazers. Their chances of keeping the pick depend on how they finish in the standings, but will likely be somewhere between 15 and 30 percent.

Basic Advanced

Offensive Rating: Nets 103.6 (20th), Knicks 103.8 (18th)
Defensive Rating: Nets 109.4 (27th), Knicks 100.6 (4th)
Pace: Nets 90.0 (22th), Knicks 92.5 (7th)

Four Factors

eFG%: Nets .475 (24th), Knicks .488 (16th)
TOV%: Nets .143 (21st), Knicks .151 (28th)
ORB%: Nets .283 (10th), Knicks .271 (18th)
FT/FGA: Nets .211 (12th), Knicks .232 (6th)

Defensive Four Factors

Opp. eFG%: Nets .514 (29th), Knicks .481 (11th)
Opp. TOV%: Nets .139 (13th), Knicks .159 (2nd)
DRB%: Nets .705 (27th), Knicks .736 (10th)
Opp. FT/FGA: Nets .208 (16th), Knicks .225 (24th)

Think tank: Point guards Deron Williams, Jeremy Lin, and Baron Davis will all sit tonight, along with mainstays on the disabled list Brook Lopez, Damion James, Jordan Farmar, and Amare Stoudemire. Shelden Williams will also sit.

Melo Crash: Gerald Wallace, however, is in uniform, presumably to spend every second he’s on the floor shutting down Carmelo Anthony, whilst simultaneously acting as the Nets’ best offensive option save Gerald Green and arguably MarShon Brooks at any point when he’s on the floor.

Starters: Sundiata Gaines, MarShon Brooks, Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries, Jordan Williams; Mike Bibby, Iman Shumpert, Landry Fields, Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler.

Earlier today Nets GM appeared on WFAN to talk about yesterday’s debacle, I mean trades.

Here are some of the soundbites from said interview:
On the decision to give up a draft pick in trading for Gerald Wallace: Billy stood by the fact that the draft is not always a guaranteed win, saying: “Just because you’re high in the draft, doesn’t mean your going to get a player who will turn your franchise around.” He mentioned Derrick Favors as a player the Nets drafted high in the draft but that didn’t work out. He also cited MarShon Brooks and Lou Williams (of the Sixers) as players drafted later that are impact players. Billy said “there are lots of ways to go about the draft.”
On Gerald Wallace: The move to bring him in was “for this year and next year” and when asked if he was given any indication if Wallace will opt out of his contract at the end of the season, Billy simply said he’s had “conversations with Wallace’s representation.” He didn’t get into specifics, but did say that the Nets got a starting small-forward and a former All-Star. He also said Deron was consulted before the deal was made.
On Deron Williams re-signing: King refused to give specifics on his conversations with Deron Williams, calling them “private,” but he says he and Deron have deep conversations and that he is confident he will return to the Nets. He also said that Deron knows the Nets’ plan and vision for the future. King said that at no point did he consider trading Williams and that he did not get any significant offer for him, likely because of his no-trade stance. When asked to give a percentage of how confident King was Williams would re-sign King balked, but simply said the percentage is “very high.”
Other tidbits:

• King said he is in conversations with Gerald Green’s agent about signing him through next year.
• On re-signing Brook Lopez King said he’ll have those conversations with Brook’s agent when the time comes but it’s about “doing what’s right for Brook Lopez and what’s right for the organization.”
• When Joe and Evan tried baiting Billy into talking about Carmelo Anthony and if they were lucky he didn’t want to come to the Nets, Billy elected for a humorous “no comment.”

Thursday’s trade deadline saw the Nets make a move to acquire Blazers forward Gerald Wallace. This trade opened up a roster spot and the Nets decided to call up Jerry Smith from the Nets D-League affiliate, the Springfield Armor.

Smith confirmed it earlier via his Twitter account, @JSmith_8

So blessed to have this opportunity!!! Thank you lord I know it’s all your work! #GoNets!

No he’s not Dwight Howard, but Smith is a quality guard who offers a lot.

During year and half service with Springfield, Smith has played both guard positions, showing a nice shooting touch from behind the arc as he did in his days a Louisville.

Smith is also one of the more aggressive on ball defenders the D-League has to offer.

The 6-foot-2 Smith has had an excellent year for the Armor this season. He began the year in the Nets training camp along with teammates JamesOn Curry and former-Net Dennis Horner. He was also selected as a D-League All-Star and was named D-League Player of the Month for February.

Smith was averaging 19.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game in 32 contests for Springfield this season. He is the second player called up during the Nets-Armor hybrid affiliation - Horner was called up after training camp.

It’s been a string of good news recently for the Nets minor league affiliate. Earlier this week it was announced that center Jeff Foote signed with the New Orleans Hornets.

Springfield will return to action Friday night on the road at Tulsa.

TrueHoop creator and principle writer Henry Abbott said this about Dwight Howard’s potential jump to the New Jersey Nets from the Orlando Magic via trade:

If the Nets have to trade for Howard, they’ll have to gut his next team, which will make winning in Brooklyn tough and hurt Howard’s brand.

To keep it as concise as possible: I disagree, for three reasons…

Note: none of these trades are actual rumors, merely speculation and concocted ideas.

Superman 2.0 to New Jersey, via Sacramento

New Jersey gets…
Howard, Francisco Garcia, and J.J. Hickson

Orlando gets…
Mehmet “Memo” Okur, Tyreke Evans, and Jason Thompson (with two unprotected first-round picks, one each from New Jersey and Sacramento)

Sacramento gets…
Hidayet “Hedo” Turkoglu, Kris Humphries^[1], and Brook Lopez

Why It Works

In this set-up, the Nets only lose Okur (who has been a total non-factor for New Jersey), Humphries (having a career year, but easily expendable for Howard), and Lopez (who hasn’t exactly gotten better with each year that he’s been in the league).

Besides that, the Magic get Tyreke Evans (!), a star talent with lots of room to improve and make Orlando his own, while the Magic get lots of cap room and extra picks to start anew and attract free agents to a new arena, a promising team, and a city with lots of attractions and great weather. The Sacramento Kings get two very talented big men who can compliment DeMarcus Cousins and cover for his weakness and they get to bring back fan favorite Turk for giggles. Everyone’s happy!

–

Superman 2.0…via Los Angeles (Lakers)

New Jersey gets…
Howard and Turkoglu

Orlando gets…
Andrew Bynum, Jordan Farmar, Okur, and Lopez (and two unprotected first-round draft picks from New Jersey)

Los Angeles gets…
Jameer Nelson and Humphries

Why It Works

Well, let’s see – New Jersey gets Howard with Turkoglu at the Magic’s “fee” for acquiring Mr. Howard, and the Nets only lose Okur, Lopez, Humphries, and Jordan Farmar, all of whom are very expendable, regardless of Howard’s trade to the Nets anyway. Still a huge get for New Jersey.

The Magic get the non-Humphries Nets and Bynum, who would essentially be the offensive Bizarro to Howard’s defensive Man of Steel, plus cap room and new picks for prospects…success, especially considering that Bynum is the second-best center in the league behind Howard and the gap is significantly close between the two players.

Los Angeles gets the point guard that they’ve long needed in former All-Star Nelson and an elite-lever rebounder in Humphries that can replace Bynum at center and still complement Pau Gasol in the post. Essentially, the Lakers gain another All-Star talent and retain defense and size, even in letting Bynum go.

–

Superman 2.0…via Minnesota

New Jersey gets…
Howard and Turkoglu

Orlando gets…
Michael Beasley, Darko Milicic, Okur, and Lopez (and three first-round draft picks; two unprotected picks from New Jersey and a protected pick from Minnesota)

Minnesota gets…
Anthony Morrow and Humphries

Why It Works

Losing Morrow, Okur, Lopez, and Humphries is nothing for the Nets if they can secure the beloved Howard. It’s literally like a non-issue, and the Nets wouldn’t have to give up MarShon Brooks and certainly not Deron Williams.

Orlando would be able to continue keeping its free agent options open with cap room, build with draft picks, and see what Super Cool Beas can do; in Beasley’s case, he’ll be playing for promise of a contract that will secure his future, which is still somewhat uncertain, considering his talent. Orlando would be Beasley’s proving ground.

The Minnesota Timberwolves would be able to alleviate the pressure at forward and bring home the hometown hero Humphries, who would move to center behind Nikola Pekovic as a sixth man; even better would be Minnesota acquiring a true, sweet shooting wing that in Morrow that would fit perfectly in the Timberwolves’ starting lineup.

In all three scenarios, the Nets would depart with very expendable parts and gain a more perfect roster in the process without robbing the Nets of the requisite talent to compete immediately as a playoff threat in the Eastern Conference.

The Nets announced today that Deron Williams will sit for the second straight game to rest his sore right calf.

Deron sat out the second half of Friday’s game after injuring the leg against Charlotte, and remained out to rest it for Saturday’s game against the Rockets.

He is listed as day-to-day, though given the roster he has to carry most nights, it should come as no surprise that he’s resting up.

I’ll be perfectly honest. I’m a little tired of the Dwight Howard talk. It’s not nearly as bad as the Carmelo Anthony trade rumor debacle last year that amounted to little more than “will-he-won’t-he-this-trade-sucks-that-trade’s-worse” for six months, but there’s still more annoying smoke than actual fire thus far.

So, the five of us here at Nets are Scorching decided to throw down five additional names the Nets should think about, ranging from “could get done today” to “beyond wildly optimistic.” To be clear, these are all our ideas, not anything that’s officially been discussed. But we’d like it if they did. Read more…