Rod Thorn Season Wrap Up Interview & Roster Breakdown
Apr 23, 2009 2008-2009 Season Review, 2009 Offseason, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Front Office, Josh Boone, Nets In The Media, Rod Thorn, Videos, Vince Carter, Yi
So I got an interesting e-mail in my inbox last night, it was a couple links to a video interview and Rod Thorn’s breakdown of the roster. Here is the video, you can also find it on the Nets’ official website:
I know that it is a long one, but I urge you guys to watch the whole thing. It was interesting to hear Thorn discuss all these topics. The most interesting thing I picked up from this video was around the 7 minute mark. Here, Thorn was asked about the potential free agency pool, and while he can’t mention anyone by name (NBA rule) it seemed like Thorn went out of his way to call the pool “average”. Now this is true, there aren’t any big names coming out, but after hearing this video, I don’t expect to see anyone new joining the roster besides the rookies (A complete change from last year). This is a real smart move on Thorn’s part though, because the Nets are in a position where they want to save money (whether they admit it or not) and now Thorn is making an excuse not to spend this offseason (even though it is somewhat valid) that isn’t the money. That way Thorn doesn’t come off as cheap to the fans.
Now this isn’t all we got from Thorn. He also wen’t down the roster one-by-one and made a little statement about each one of them. You can find the whole thing here, but I am just going to post and comment on a few of these.
Rod Thorn On Vince:
“I think Vince had a tremendous year, both on the court and in the locker room. I think he was a very positive influence on our younger players with his support. And there are very few guys in this league who can average 20 points, five rebounds and five assists, so you have to give him credit. I think he had a great year.”
Every statement that Rod Thorn has made about Vince as of late has been very lovey-dovey. It is starting to become obvious that VC will be a Net next year unless some team makes us an offer we can’t refuse on draft day.
Rod Thorn On CDR:
“Give Chris a lot of credit; he hardly played at all at the beginning of the year, but continued to work hard, got better and when his time came, he took advantage of it. he’s as confident as anybody on our team, he’s got deceiving size: he doesn’t look as big as he is. When he goes to the bucket, he’s got great finish on his drive game. An improving shooter, and I think he’s got a good future.”
High praise for CDR here. I like how Thorn talks about his height, what I read from this statement is that Thorn would like to see CDR get time at the 3 next year. If this is true you can see the Nets drafting a 4 this year. Sorry DeMar DeRozan fans (I am not one of these by the way).
Rod Thorn On Yi:
“Yi had his ups and downs early. Right before he got hurt, he was playing his best ball of the year. He can shoot the ball, he’s athletic and can run the court. He needs to work, needs to just play more, and add strength.”
Rod keeps this one short and sweet. Now I know he can’t just flat out say that he made a mistake with this trade, but you have to believe that is what he is thinking now-a-days.
Rod Thorn On Josh Boone:
“Josh was kind of up and down, had some real good moments, some not-so-good. Athletic, good hands, nice feel for the game, understands how to play. Needs to work on his shot obviously, his free throws and really get himself in top condition.”
This is the most negative Thorn was in these comments. Again maybe I am looking too much into it (or maybe I want it to happen so bad I am taking everything to mean it), but I think what Thorn says here is just screaming “Boone isn’t getting the job done and we need to draft a 4 this year!” But hey, maybe that is the conspiracy theorist in me.
Tags: 2008-2009 Season Review, 2009 Offseason, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Front Office, Josh Boone, NBA, Nets In The Media, NJ Nets, Rod Thorn, Videos, Vince Carter, Yi
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