Apologies for what was I’m sure a choppy episode of Nets Are Scorching TV, we were experiencing some technical issues that were beyond our control.
Nonetheless, Devin and I were still able to discuss our feelings on the Brook Lopez injury and how it changes things in relation to Dwight Howard, the acquisition of Mehmet Okur, our ideas for small-ball lineups and just why in the world everyone hates Kris Humphries so much.
Today myself, Devin and Danny Savitzky were joined by Mike Mazzeo of ESPN New York and Zach Harper of Daily Dime Live fame as we all weighed in on five different questions heading into the Nets season as a part of ESPN.com’s 5-on-5 series.
We all collectively did our best to not mention Dwight Howard’s name once. We all failed.
Saturday’s game against the Knicks was, to put it lightly, a bit of a mess. The teams combined for 39 turnovers, 18 missed free throws, and 23% shooting from beyond the arc. It wasn’t pretty, but it was the first taste of basketball the Nets have had since last season. From the player’s perspective, I saw a refreshing aggressiveness from Brook Lopez and Anthony Morrow, but not much else. From a coaching perspective, there’s frankly not much to take away from that game, but one unsuccessful play early in the game caught my eye:
Note: apologies for the abruptness of the beginning and microphone quality. Had technical issues with all programs. Like with 18th century agrarian business, it’s all the same principles.
So let’s pick up the play from the start. We’ve got Deron Williams handling the ball at the top of the key, Shelden Williams in almost directly in front of him, Damion James in the left corner, Brook Lopez on the opposite block, and Deron Williams has the ball and receives a screen from Shelden Williams, which opens up the left side. With the screen, Deron’s normally got the option to attack the basket or pull up with a short jumper, but Amare Stoudemire hedged far left and cut off the lane. As Amare hedges and then recovers, Shelden cuts across up top to set a screen on Landry Fields.
As this happens, Damion James cuts across the lane from the left corner to set a cross-screen on Brook Lopez’s man, Tyson Chandler. Damion doesn’t look to score here, but if his defender helped out too far on Deron or overplayed him, the entire left side is open for him to get a quick cut to the basket.
Since that’s not there, Damion continues across the lane to set the cross-screen on Chandler. The intention of this play is to curl Brook Lopez to the ball-side block, where he can work his offensive magic, but this doesn’t work for two reasons. Firstly, Carmelo Anthony slides down to where Brook tries to curl and sticks his butt out, sending him off course. That little difference means that the arc of Brook’s curl comes out further than originally intended. Secondly, this is where Tyson Chandler’s defensive presence comes into play: Chandler fights through the screen with ease and blocks off Brook’s attempt to set up before he has a chance to get there. This means that Brook instead curls all the way out to the three-point line, where he merely exchanges handoffs with Deron.
At this point, the play becomes a standard pick-and-roll, but Deron instead swings out to Anthony Morrow. Morrow forces a contested off-balance jumper, which ends up well short.
This is one of those plays that, when well executed, could end with a number of scoring opportunities. However, since it came in the first 90 seconds of preseason, it’s no surprise that it didn’t work out.
There are two main issues here. Firstly, Shelden Williams (or whoever starts at power forward for the Nets come season time) needs to make himself available when he’s got a good look at the basket. When Deron came off the screen, Amare hedged hard on the left side, leaving Shelden essentially open. But Shelden’s already setting a cross-screen for Anthony Morrow and has his back to Deron, cutting himself off from the play. Shelden shot 45% from 16-23 feet last year according to HoopData, which is a pretty good percentage, so I hope in the future he reads the defense and adjusts to look for the open shot.
Secondly, Deron’s decision-making surprised me here. After receiving the screen, he passed the ball immediately to Anthony Morrow, who was 35 feet from the basket and in no position to score. Morrow doesn’t possess the skillset to beat his defender off the dribble, and with under ten seconds on the shot clock, the result is a poor shot. I’d normally expect Deron to either slash, drawing in the defense so that Morrow can spot up more effectively, or look to Brook Lopez rolling to the basket.
There are a few other things — Brook should’ve fought harder to get to the block, and Shelden could’ve set stronger screens, but those are mostly nitpicking. Players are still getting in the flow of the offense, figuring out what works and what doesn’t. That takes time. What’s key here is the strategy, giving Deron the left side to operate in, while curling Lopez and Morrow off cross-screens for smart looks.
Given the roster now, this lineup is presumably the smartest one for opening night, though Shawne Williams may overtake James for the starting small forward spot. Of course, Andrei Kirilenko could overtake them both, depending how things shake out in the next few days, though James isn’t willing to give up his starting spot without a fight:
That’s cool, we need help. That’ll be great. If Kirilenko come in or whatever, I look forward to playing against him every day or whatever. I don’t want to just hand him that spot. I think coach is gonna make him earn it and I’m gonna make him earn it. If he comes in and plays better than me that’s cool, but at this point, I’m just coming in and focusing on whatever I have to do to help this team.
The Nets play the Knicks tomorrow at 2 P.M. Basketball, guys. Real basketball!
The Brook Shake: Brook talked a little about his experience with Hakeem Olajuwon this offseason, saying that they started with his favorite move and worked into adding counters and improving his footwork. When asked his favorite move, Brook replied: “I’m not telling you.” He said he’s working on the Dream Shake, but it’s not ready to use yet — though he might try it out in preseason.
Stop moving, Morrow: Lopez also mentioned one point in practice when Morrow believed he went out of Deron’s field of vision, slid down on his spot-up to accomodate, and Deron fired a pass to where Morrow was, then telling Morrow “wherever you are on the court, I can see you. Don’t move once you’re ready, I’ll get you the ball.”
Avery on the offensive: Coach Avery Johnson made a point to say that the offense would see a transformation this year, with many more pick-and-rolls with Deron Williams and the bigs. Johnson also hopes to use Deron off cuts and flare screens off the ball more as well.
Williams, Williams, Williams, Williams: Deron Williams spoke highly of Shawne Williams and Andrei Kirilenko, noting that Extra E is a good shooter and he “likes working around shooters,” and that few people “fill a stat sheet better” than Kirilenko. Jordan Williams is still out of drills for four to five days with dehydration. Shelden Williams is picking up the offense quickly, according to Brook Lopez.
King me: According to BK, the Nets are “working on” taking care of the power forward position, whether it be a free agent signing or trade. “It takes time, we’re not going to rush it,” King said, also noting that he was “very surprised” at the money some free agents commanded. As for Kirilenko, BK likes him, but nothing is official yet.
Core three: When talking about the core, King repeatedly referred to Deron (“arguably the best point guard in the league”), Brook (“a top-5 center in the league”), and Morrow (“one of the best shooters in the league”).
I’m a lucky fella. Not only do I get to write for Nets Are Scorching, but I also contribute to The Basketball Jones. Last week I was reading and hearing a lot of hate about the New Jersey Nets’ trade proposal to the Orlando Magic for Dwight Howard; a proposal with Brook Lopez at the heart of what the Magic would get back. Soon after the news broke out, the Los Angeles Lakers stepped into the fray with Andrew Bynum being the main piece going back to the Magic… and like that, it became a battle between Brook and Bynum.
Many, or rather most, took the side of Bynum and disregarded Bropez’s 20 point 2010-11 campaign. Some even put his durability to the side because Bynum’s upside was incredibly high! Oh. Kay. So, after a few more days and exponentially more Brook-bashing, I couldn’t take it anymore. I wrote up a Brook versus Bynum article to show a few things:
1) Brook isn’t as bad as people are saying
2) Bynum is kind of overrated, especially after being in the league for six seasons
3) In head-to-head play, Brook kills
Now, I could have published the article here, but I would simply be preaching to the choir. So, I published it on The Basketball Jones to show the general NBA-loving masses how good Brook is. Check it out, read it, comment, yadda, yadda, yadda. I’ll say this – once people make up their minds about a player, there’s no convincing a person to think differently.
The Nets have had a crazy off-season thus far. Despite being rumored in signing (or trading) for a number of players, it wasn’t until the Nets signed former Hawk, King, Timberwolf, Celtic, Nugget and Knick, Shelden Williams, that the Nets were officially “in the game”.
Although the signing of Williams isn’t the splashiest off-season move — and hopefully more are coming — with an already thin front-court, the Nets were in desperate need of an abled-bodied big, and Shelden is certainly that.
Without further ado, let’s take a closer a look at some of the things we could expect from Williams this season. Read more…
The Los Angeles Lakers have pulled out of the three-team deal with New Orleans and Houston that would have landed Chris Paul in L.A., according to sources close to the talks.
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The Lakers are now expected to turn their full focus to obtaining Dwight Howard, who has asked the Orlando Magic to trade him.
One source close to the process said that the Lakers will instead trade Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks.
The one constant: each source confirms Howard requested a trade to the Nets.
As far as potential deals, the Lakers would be able to send Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum to the Magic straight up for Howard and Hedo Turkoglu, without needing to add any pieces on either side. That’s a far more appealing trade in terms of pure value for Orlando than Brook Lopez plus two draft picks.
While I’m more than willing to admit some bias here — and I’m really trying to avoid it — I think that deal also leaves Orlando in the same type of limbo that the original Chris Paul deal left New Orleans in (though with better players); a lineup of Nelson/Richardson/blank/Gasol/Bynum isn’t good enough to compete in the East and isn’t bad enough to rebuild with for at least three to four years.
But of course, this all amounts to little more than wild speculation.
As I’ve said before, more bulletins as events warrant.
