Nets Are Scorching

LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Paul are kicking off a four-city barnstorming tour in December, hitting Akron on December 1st, New Orleans on December 4th, Chicago on December 7th, and culminating in… East Rutherford’s IZOD Center on December 10th!

According to the report, Chris Bosh will play in all four cities, and each player will recruit for their specific regions: LeBron for Akron, CP3 New Orleans, Wade Chicago, and Melo in Not-New-York. This historic event marks the first time Carmelo Anthony has ever recruited players, including himself, to play in New Jersey.

The irony of this is just beautiful. Carmelo Anthony, who spent the better part of six months forcing Billy King into wrecking his franchise and held about a dozen futures hostage, all to make sure he didn’t have to play in Newark, is now going to be calling superstars to join him in East Rutherford, AKA The Meadowlands, AKA The Swamp.

Tickets go on sale Wednesday.

Obviously, this is a New Jersey Nets blog, however, the NAS crew absolutely love the NBA in general. So, every week, Mark, Devin, Justin, Danny, Vivek, and/or myself will answer questions regarding the L.

1) Has LeBron James turned a corner? He’s had ice water in his veins this postseason, so is this when he becomes legendary? Will he lead the Heat to the promised land?

Mark: How can you turn a corner when you’ve continually been the best for years? What about the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals against the Detroit Pistons? I know LeBron’s teams have flamed out spectacularly the past two years, but if there’s been any corner turned it’s tied-in to what people have been saying since July. LeBron has legitimate teammates now in Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. He can take over a fourth quarter more easily because he’s not the only guy who can kill you. Trust me, I hate this. I hated Superfriends since Day One, though I’m secretly hoping that Nets can replicate it with Dwight Howard and Deron Williams in Brooklyn. But the fact is, anyone who didn’t see a Miami postseason run like this is crazy. LeBron is and will be a beast for years, and now he’s got two other top 10 players (including a top five guy in Wade) standing right next to him.

Devin: I’m with Mark. The guy’s been the best player in the league for years now. Before this year, when everyone decided that hate was worthy and Derrick Rose was God, LeBron James was your two-time reigning MVP and undisputed King. He had hit more than his fair share of clutch shots in the playoffs, though people seem to recall last year’s game 5 over his overall body of work. Those who cry ringless lose track of the team element of this game. I don’t know if Miami will win the championship, but I do know that we’ve been witnessing greatness for a long time.

Justin: I have never been a big believer in the “LeBron’s not clutch” argument. Let’s face it, he’s hit  game-winners in the playoffs against the Washington Wizards and the Orlando Magic. He had his 25 straight points in the win over the Pistons. He’s scored 40 points or more in eight playoff games (Kobe has nine since ’02) including a Game Seven and he’s gone to the NBA Finals once. This is just the best supporting cast he’s had, and yes I do think the Heat will be the champions this year. I predict LeBron wins three of the next five NBA championships.

DV: I never got that feeling about LeBron the way you did about Kobe in the playoffs. That “I’ll do anything and will my team to victory” type of feeling. Kobe over the years has proven that desire and effort, that assassin-type of mentality. You never got that feeling from LeBron… except now. His eyes light up now with excitement and looseness like he knows he’s going to break the other team’s neck, no question. It’s a different feeling nowadays and it will probably land the Heat another NBA title and LeBron’s first.

2) Mike Brown is the Los Angeles Lakers’ choice to replace Phil Jackson as head coach of the team. Is this surprising considering other candidates such as Rick Adelman and Brian Shaw?

Mark: I do not get the fascination with Mike Brown. It’s like “Hey, we’re a storied franchise that just got embarrassed, so let’s bring in the guy who watched his star quit on him last year.” Needless to say, I’m not a fan of Brown’s, nor was I even remotely interested when he was on the Nets’ radar last summer.

Justin:It was somewhat surprising just because I thought they would go with either Rick Adelman or Brian Shaw. Mike Brown, however, is a good choice and maybe his fresh approach will breathe new life into this Lakers squad. I don’t have any doubts about Brown’s ability to construct a game plan, I just wonder what type of relationship he’ll form with Kobe Bryant.

DV: I think Brown will bring in a strong sense of defense from the team because that’s where his strengths as a coach lays. However, offensively, I’m not sure what’s going to happen. The triangle offense has been such a part of the Lakers it will be weird to see them run anything else. I know this much, Brown better win over the veterans and the fans quick because he’ll have a short leash in LA in regards to support. That’s what happens when you replace a legend.

3) How much of an impact will Jerry West make in the front office of the Golden State Warriors?

Mark: Well, the guy is a winner, though how much say will he ultimately have? That’s still not entirely clear. And while I would take either one on my team as a scorer, a backcourt with both Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry is not the cornerstone of a prospective playoff team. One of those guys needs to go for a frontcourt piece.

Devin: You ever play NBA 2K11 and start a franchise with the Timberwolves or the Clippers, just for the hell of it? While the financial incentive is obvious, and his impact is yet unstated, I do think Jerry West loves a challenge. The Warriors have a lot of moves to make, and West is a brilliant basketball mind. Larry Riley would be foolish not to listen to him. I think the direction of the team will be more solidified by draft day: Riley has to make moves to improve that frontcourt and their defense, and the Warriors definitely have the assets. We’ll see if Jerry West helps them turn Golden State into gold.

DV: I think it’s a great PR move and, obviously, West knows how to construct a winning team. However, how deep will his involvement be? Trades will probably go down and perhaps a change in offensively philosophy with more stress on defense. Yes, it actually does exist, Warriors. West has a brilliant basketball mind, but how many brain cells will he actually put into use with the Bay Area squad?

Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov blogs about his first impressions of the NBA, and NetsDaily kindly provides us with a translation provided by Prokhorov’s Onexim. In the post, Prokhorov talks about the Miami Heat situation, and debates what might happen if other “stars” continue to join each other in the NBA:

What’s also interesting is how globalization is affecting the NBA, too.  I mean the way that two great players, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, joined the Miami Heat to form a Big Three with Dwyane Wade.  We clearly see a new model in which the top players agree between themselves where they want to play, and understand full well that their individual statistics will be lower as a result.  Almost no one likes this – not the owners, not the managers, not the agents or the fans, although it’s not a violation of NBA rules.  It will be interesting to see what the upshot of this trend will be.

Keep in mind that it doesn’t sound like Prokhorov is necessarily endorsing the “star” model, but it is an observation. I still personally hesitate to call this a real trend as the events of this past summer were a conversion of some extraordinary events that started with Wade, Bosh and LeBron all coming out of the same draft class, then playing together on Team USA, then simultaneously becoming free agents. The Boston model of star power came together in an entirely different fashion – via trade – and I still have doubts if that Boston team wins a championship without Rajon Rondo or Kendrick Perkins, or without the defensive mastery of assistant coach Tom Thibodeau. With that said, we all now have the Carmelo Anthony/Chris Paul situation to keep an eye on and I’m sure while writing this post, that’s what’s on Mikhail Prokhorov’s mind. The NBA’s CBA situation also will play a role in this “trend,” as while Miami Thrice took pay cuts to join forces, they’re still getting paid handsomely and more than what the new CBA will likely allow future players.

Photo credits: Marc Serota/Getty Images North America
Box Score – Hot Hot Hoops – The Heat Index

Round two looked a lot like round one.

Both the Heat and the Nets are brand-new teams looking to construct their identities. The Nets are future-oriented – young, developing, talented players who the front office is hoping will be able to experience a Celtic-like synergy two or three years down the road. The Heat, though, are about the now: they’ve got three great players who are looking to win five consecutive championships together, starting this year. The Nets were just another victim of this identity beginning to take shape: the Heat essentially showed off for 48 minutes last night, taking just enough time in the second and third quarters to build a lead necessary for victory. While the final score indicates a relatively close game – 101-89 isn’t too bad, all things considered – the score does not indicate the massive gulf between these two teams.

If there was one thing that was evident early, it’s that the Nets did not want to be an afterthought. The intensity was there on both sides of the floor – even if athletically the Nets just can’t compete with Miami, they were working to ensure that they were on every loose ball, boxing out hard, and trying to find the best shot every trip up the floor. Anthony Morrow was gunning (finally, since that’s his job), Lopez dominated Joel Anthony with three shots in the post early in the quarter, and Morrow also got a couple of nice steals (including one where he ripped off a LeBron James pass and drove the length of the floor for a layup and-1). Morrow was the silver lining in last night’s dark cloud; he scored 19 points in the first half on 7-10 shooting and finished the night with 25.

Matt Moore (of Hardwood Paroxysm) put it eloquently on Twitter: the Heat were trying to look pretty, the Nets were trying to win. And it’s true. Dwyane Wade tried to pull off a reverse dunk in traffic, only to be sent back by Kris Humphries. LeBron James missed a wide-open alley-oop. The problem with the Heat, though, is that most of their pretty plays work. LeBron came back with a dunk on the next possession, and Wade had a particularly nice behind-the-back dribble move into a layup soon after. Unfortunately for New Jersey, Miami’s style can still hang with most of the league’s substance, and after one period the Nets were only ahead by 1, 25-24.

In that first period, the Nets had more offensive rebounds, assists, steals, and fewer turnovers than the Heat. They were certainly executing their offense more effectively. That doesn’t matter, though; Miami is just so talented that they’ll find points in places where no other team could. Many of Miami’s shots came at the rim (more on this after the jump), where the Nets have generally been solid defenders this year (as mentioned in the pregame thread, the Nets before this game were 5th in the NBA at opponent FG% at the rim). I assume that’s just the Miami effect – they dictate on both sides of the floor, and frankly the Nets looked scared. Either way, it was strange – despite the Heat’s seemingly insurmountable talent advantage, I felt like the Nets should have been winning by more than just one point after that first period.

The second quarter began the same way – the Nets were just outhustling the Heat. One play, we saw Derrick Favors snare an offensive rebound away from Big Z & miss the putback, only for Brook Lopez to clean up the mess. Another saw the Nets run back on D ahead of every Heat player, changing what would have been a one-man LeBron fast break into a turnover. Then, Anthony Morrow blocked – yes, blocked – a Dwyane Wade shot, leading to a Travis Outlaw dunk in transition.

However, at about the five-minute mark of the second quarter – about the time LeBron James returned to the game – the momentum shifted. The Nets suddenly stopped running for loose balls as quickly, instead playing back on their heels. Wade blocked a Lopez dunk attempt. (That sounds familiar.) LeBron then found Haslem for a layup. He then stole a pass and finished with a two-hand windmill in the open court – possibly his best dunk as a Miami player yet. He then found Chris Bosh & Dwyane Wade for dunks, Wade’s on a behind-the-back pass in transition. It was the LeBron James Show, with a pretty solid cast of characters. The Heat went on an 18-5 run in this span, pushing their lead to nine. However, the Nets still found a way to close the half well: defensively they switched to a 2-3 to stymie the Heat’s slashing style, & offensively they got a huge dunk from Favors and a Morrow three off a nice Terrence Williams dish. After a Globetrotter-esque first half from the Heat, they still only led by 4, 55-51.

Third-quarter adjustments have been an issue for the Nets in the past few years, and while it’ s been an occasional problem so far early on I’m hoping that they’ve been left in the past with the old regime. The first positive adjustment that the Nets made was sticking with that 2-3 zone. The idea is to force the opposition into shooting jumpers instead of driving the lane, and it worked – the Heat’s first six attempts in the quarter were jumpers, and they only made one of them (Chris Bosh drew a foul on another). However, the Nets unfortunately seemed content with shooting midrange jumpers as well (see more on this after the jump) with a couple of exceptions, and as a result failed to make any real dent in the lead.

It doesn’t help that as the quarter progressed that the Heat (or, I should say, the big 3) were able to find multiple shots at the rim of the “Holy Miami” variety: circus layups, alley-oops, and ferocious slams, including a monster dunk by Chris Bosh over Brook Lopez. It was another prime example of the Miami Heat Extravaganza, and the Nets were only as relevant as the defender on a poster. What started as a one-point lead in the first turned into a 19-point deficit after 3. All in all, the Nets were outscored 32-17 in the third quarter, but I don’t think it was an issue of adjustment. I think it was just the Heat synergy finally working. They showed off precisely why they’re possibly the best team in the NBA in that third period, capped with a ridiculous fallaway three from about 28 feet at the buzzer from LeBron James. I mean, you can’t defend that. You just can’t.

All in all, I don’t think much was proven last night. The Nets hung around for a half with what’s possibly the best team in basketball, but couldn’t sustain that momentum over 48 minutes.  That’s not surprising. The Heat had three players with over 20 points – guess who – and no one else in double figures, but against a team like New Jersey that’s all they needed. Nothing earth-shattering. They’re starting to shape their identity more and more as the big 3 begin to synergize. Thankfully, the Nets don’t face off against Miami again until April 3rd – I’m sure they’ll be happy to see LeBron’s old team in a home-and-home Tuesday and Wednesday night.

More thoughts after the jump.

Read more…

For the second time in the first six games, the Nets will take on the the SuperThree of Eddie House, James Jones, and Mario Chalmers. I think they have some other guys, too. The Heat come into this game 4-2, fresh off a loss from the still-unbeaten New Orleans Hornets in an unbelievably fun game to watch last night. It wasn’t fun because the Heat lost – I’m not one of those vindictive anti-Heat folks you’ll find around the country – it was just a great game.

Anyway, the Nets hope to give LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and their team of cronies at least half a fight, and they’ll be doing it in Miami – their second consecutive game in Florida after the loss to the Magic two nights ago. Here are some things to look out for:

• Brook’s bounce-back. After arguably the worst performance of his career – 0 blocks, 5 fouls and 3-17 shooting in which he started 0-13 – Brook will assuredly be happy to see anyone but Dwight Howard manning the post. He scored 20 points in the first Miami game on 8-17 shooting, and while I’d rather he shoot on the other side of 50% from the field let’s hope his numbers look more like that than Thursday’s.
• Miami’s defense. For all the talk of Miami’s offensive firepower, they’re “only” seventh in the league in offensive efficiency. However, they have absolutely dominated the defensive end – leading the NBA by allowing only 94.2 points per 100 possessions. One of the big ways they’ve done this is interior defense: despite having no true interior defender, Miami leads the league in opponent FG% at the rim, as opponents only convert 52.7% of their shots in the area. (For what it’s worth, New Jersey is 5th in the NBA at 58.2%, slightly ahead of Orlando and Boston.) Through five games, it’s hard to find any real weaknesses in this Miami defense – they’re either above average or at the top in every defensive category.
• The power forward rotation. With Troy Murphy back and Joe Smith inactive, the minutes are going to continue to spread thinner for Kris Humphries and Derrick Favors. Humphries was by far the best power forward on the floor for the Nets against Orlando, so I’d expect to see him maintain his minutes, but that could also mean that Murphy & Favors see less time than expected. However, Favors did have arguably his best game so far against Miami – pulling down ten offensive rebounds and earning the first double-double of his young career – so if he shows off the same ability, it’ll be hard to keep him buried on the bench.

For further Heat coverage, I highly suggest you check out ESPN’s The Heat Index. Say whatever you want about it, but they’ve got some of the most talented NBA writers in the country covering the most high-profile team in NBA history. Kevin Arnovitz, Tom Haberstroh, Michael Wallace, and Brian Windhorst are four of the best in the business, and if anyone can cover this team, it’s those guys. Also suggested reading is long-running Heat blog Hot Hot Hoops, run by Surya Fernandez since 2009 and now running independently.

After beginning the season 2-0 against two decent teams, the Nets finally face their first mega-test of the season in taking on the Miami Heat. This is going to be a difficult one to win just due to the sheer talent on Miami’s squad. Still, here are a few things to look out for:

• Dominate the inside. One of the biggest weaknesses in this Miami team is their lack of a true post defender at the 5. Troy Murphy is still out, but Brook Lopez has looked dominant offensively in these first two games and could provide a huge boost if he shows off the arsenal he brought to the table in the first two games. Averaging 27 points after the first two victories, another big showing could be key in keeping this game close.
• Attack the basket. Devin Harris has played more like 2008-2009 Devin Harris than he ever did last year in these first two games. He has a definite quickness advantage over anyone Miami could throw at him at point – Mario Chalmers and Carlos Arroyo won’t be able to keep up with him. I hope to see a bunch of pick & rolls with him and the two big men on the floor, since that would utilize our biggest strengths (interior scoring & PG slashing) against their two biggest weaknesses (interior defense, play from PG’s).
• Push with the second unit. Jordan Farmar, Terrence Williams, and Derrick Favors are three excellent athletes who have been gelling in the first two games. When Miami’s starters sit, the Nets have to take advantage and push the tempo. There are a lot of easy baskets to be found – let’s hope they find them.
• The Big Three. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh. Duh. No explanation needed here.

Also, I’ll be chatting occasionally during the game over at ESPN’s Daily Dime Live. Come check it out, because really, what else do you have to do at 1 PM on a Sunday?

With LeBron James and Miami Thrice coming to the Prudential Center today, it’s not only the fans who are reminded of the team’s failure to attract one of the “Big Three” in free agency this past summer. Fred Kerber talks to members of the front office, and captures what exactly went wrong in the team’s pursuit of LeBron and Chris Bosh, which reportedly went well when the team first made its pitch in July. Key section:

For the first podcast of the season, Mark, Evan, & I espouse our thoughts about free agency, the draft, the future, the rotation, our front office, our favorite acquisitions, & more.

Download Here