New Year's Resolutions

Smart move by Rod Thorn, Netsfans, picking on Kiki Vanderweghe (get used to that name, Netsfans) to replace Ed Stefanski. Kiki knows his way around rebuilding, which of course is inevitable, and he knows talent, which will be two of the key jobs facing the next Net GM (no, Kiki doesn't have that title yet). How old is Rod Thorn, anyway? (we looked it up, he's 66) He won't be around forever.

Other thoughts, ideas, commentary and resolutions before the year 2007 ends:

- It's nice to have some live legs up front for the Nets. They've really seemed to hold their own, that Josh Boone and Sean Williams. For all the good stories about what Jason Collins meant for the Nets, there doesn't seem to be any issue with him collecting some DNP's.

- It's time for Vince Carter to go ballistic in 2008. As it is, he and Richard Jefferson are both averaging 20+ points per game. With less scoring being generated by the bench (aside from Boki), the Nets need those two to carry them for longer stretches. Or at least until Nenad Krstic returns to form (if he returns to form?) and Marcus Williams can get some rhythm back in his game, at least offensively. Marcus should be good for 10 a game if he's in the flow, Krstic could 15 - what a boon (no pun intended) that would be for the Nets.

- Let's hope Lawrence Frank resolves to give Jamaal Magloire more playing time, or the Nets find a way to move him for someone who will be used. OK, the rotation can't extend past 8 or 9 (or 10, really), and if the Nets wind up starting Kidd, Carter, Jefferson, Boone and Krstic (or Sean Williams, with Boone off the bench), and we know that Boki and Marcus Williams will have roles off the bench, that's your top 8 right there. Antoine Wright has to figure in here somewhere (even if just for defense), so that's 9. Situational appearances by Collins, Magloire, and Armstrong are ok with me.

- Let's also hope that one of the Nets' resolutions is to take care of the ball better in 2008. Being near the bottom of the league in turnovers just won't cut it long term.

- And one final resolution - let's hope things improve to the point where the Nets keep Jason Kidd. Everyone would agree that the Nets just wouldn't be the same without him. Having said that, if the Nets regress in 2008, I understand the need to get younger and rebuild.

Watched the Celtics/Lakers game last night - the Celtics are the real deal, for them to play like they did on the road at the end of a long trip over the holiday season says something about their level of play. I can only see the Pistons being able to take them down in the East, and the Spurs and maybe the Suns in the West.

And I watched in High Definition. And I have the Wiz and Bucks games on Hi-Def to be watched tonight (yes, I have no life) on my new DVR. How did I ever live without HD and the DVR? I resolve not to go without it ever again. Having League Pass with the DVR might make me watch even more basketball, if I can squeeze another two hours out of the day.

Thanks for the memories, Billy Thomas. But I'm afraid your days are numbered.

Going to go watch and then handle the game reviews for the Wiz and the Bucks. Happy New Year to all, and here's to a better 2008, now that the Nets have managed to win 4 of their last 5.

-Joe

Better Late Than Never

The Nets win! The Nets win!

Used to be commonplace at home during the Kidd era.

Didn't get to see the game, but took a quick look at the box score (ok, not so quick). Looks like Richard Jefferson didn't show up until the second half, but his 21 points after the break were huge, especially since he scored them all in the third quarter when the Nets finally took back the lead.

Even more impressive - it appears that a bunch of unexpected folks helped secure the win late. Sean Williams had 8 of his 14 points in the fourth, including what appeared to be two clutch free throws late, and he finished with 14 points, 12 boards and 5 blocks, just what the Nets need. Boki Nachbar, Jason Kidd (who nearly had yet another triple double, with 20 points, 12 assists and 8 rebounds), Vince Carter, Williams and Josh Boone were all the scoring in the key fourth quarter, with Kidd (8 points) and Williams (6 points) scoring the last 14 to clinch the win.

Somewhere in here, the Nets must have played some good defense late, as the Wiz seemed to score at will through most of this one, but couldn't execute in the end game.

A big win at home, but another game comes tomorrow night in Milwaukee. Could the Nets end the year with a win to go to 14 - 16? Let's hope so.

Joe

The Fight In The Dog

Well, Netsfans, are you surprised at the Nets' second half swoon against the Pistons on Wednesday night? Should you be?

The Nets continue to confound, except at this point it might be time to accept reality - this is a flawed team that has no real run in them. It's not exactly a chemistry problem per se, but perhaps just the wrong pieces to make a fit. It's a great idea to get younger on the front line, even at the expense of some short term suffering, but since the Big Three haven't been able to dominate games, it's beginning to look like the Nets are playing for the future. You know, the one where Marcus Williams plays the point, the Boone - Williams combo is up front with Jefferson, and maybe no Jason Kidd or Vince Carter (but let's face it - the Nets are likely stuck with Carter, good, bad or indifferent), and a bench that features some new faces.

Yes, they can turn things around, they can easily make a playoff spot, but can they sustain anything? Is this yet another second round and out?

Let's face it - the basketball on the court has been mediocre (especially at home), so the fans aren't exactly flocking to the Izod. This in turn puts the pressure on to play well in front of half empty seats, which in turn leads to some bumming out. Hey, everyone gets paid enough money to block that kind of stuff out, but you can easily understand that the lack of fan support ain't helping.

Just wait until Brooklyn.

Unfortunately, it will be a radically different team, perhaps as early as the February trading deadline. This team can't really afford to wait for Nenad Krstic to return to form, since it seems likely the season will be half over by then and the Nets will be sporting some 18 - 23 record or soemthing like it.

Can this team fight their way out of this malaise? It would start with getting some stops if it did. Carter was horrible against Rip the other night, Kidd wasn't tremendously better against Billups, and if that is the best the stars can offer, then unless the Nets suddenly turn into the Warriors, they're not outscoring anyone any time soon.

These two games against the Wiz and the Bucks would be a good time to make up a little ground, show some fight, and perhaps even play a game that would impress anyone (much like that game against the Heat in which they showed tremendous fight, if nothing else) watching.

I'll be gone for both games, but we'll catch up on Monday. I'll update the blog both Saturday and Sunday, even though the home page of the site won't change, so look for thoughts on both the Wiz and Bucks games in this space.

Enjoy.

-Joe

Ring Of Fire

Wow - another home game, another bunch of sins leading to a loss.

This time, against the Kings missing three important players no less, the Nets couldn't seem to find the shooter on the perimeter, and were burned for 12 threes by a Kings team that cannot be considered more talented than the Nets.

But if you don't play defense, or enough defense, you don't win.

The Nets also committed 22 turnovers, many of the silly variety again.

The good news - they competed well without Jason Collins or Jamaal Magloire in the lineup, the young bigs did ok (though someone needs to school Josh Boone on how to score when you're under the basket, and how to make some free throws) and Sean Williams had 8 blocks, which is exciting news (considering that he played 42 minutes last night).

The Big Three were outplayed by some Kings zone defense and John Salmons, frankly. RJ had 36 points as the zone buster, but he was fumbled fingered again (6 turnovers tonight, 10 in the last 2 games), Kidd just missed a triple dip (11 points, 10 boards, 9 assists) and VC was strangely absent from most of this one after scoing 7 very early points in the first quarter.

What to make of all of this? The Nets have the look of a 35 - 47 team, unfortunately, and I might argue that they look worse than they did last year when they started 12 - 18 before they turned it around. Something has to happen, and soon, because the more the Nets lose games they should win on the home court, the more this season is lost before we get to February.

The Kidd to Dallas rumors are back, apparently. Maybe it's time to start taking them a bit more seriously.

More of the actual game review tonight (Last night was Winter Concert, so you parents know what that means) and more thoughts coming over Christmas Break, when I'll have some time to start breaking this all down.

Tales Of Woe

Oh, Joe's getting irritated.

Bad enough that life is moving so quickly that I hardly have time to operate on time (that is my way of apologizing that life gets in the way of Joe, now more than ever), but now I have to watch tapes of games that are just flat out uninteresting and dare I say uninspired?

Take the Knicks game as the perfect example. A Christmas party commitment kept Joe from watching live, so when I returned home at 12:30 AM and checked the boxscore, imagine how horrified I was to see the Nets lost to the Knicks again. I read the game reports on Sunday morning, getting more of a flavor. I finally sat down last (Sunday) night, ignoring the Giants game (good thing I did) and the Portland-Denver game on NBA TV (a junkie always), to watch the game. And the worst part was, it was hard to sit through, not because it was bad, it was just boring.

Is this what's it's come down to in the Jason Kidd era?

They want to run but really don't have the personnel on the floor.

They want to be a defensive team but can't seem to find any consistency in their play to warrant that.

They wanted more motion to the offense, and all the seem to do is stand around, dribble, pass, and then find the best available shot (we've seen what happens when the open the floor and run - take Friday night's Cavs game as the perfect example).

They're just boring right now. And maybe forever, or until Nenad Krstic returns and they can get some semblance of a low post game going.

Running the deal through Carter seemed to work on Friday night, but not on Saturday night (although, it wasn't quite the same). Starting Jason Collins and Malik Allen isn't working. Too much of the heavy lifting is coming from the Big Three, and they don't seem to be able to dominate the game very often, individually or as a tandem.

We're of course getting tired of saying "make a change" or "play the youngsters" again and again. While things could easily straighten out (face it, they have the history), they could also grind to a complete halt if injuries continue or the locker room is divided. Kidd now has a pending lawsuit on him, plus suspicions of his teammates over whether or not he truly wants to be in NJ, and if the air doesn't clear one way or another, things could get very interesting before anything changes.

Joe

Reconstruction Days

Eddie Gill, we hardly knew ye...

No surprise that Eddie was cut today - with both Darrell Armstrong and Marcus Williams back in the fold (and almost back in the fold), he was a luxury the Nets couldn't afford. Not to mention that he didn't do much to move the needle when Kidd was out of the lineup.

But with everything that's gone on during the 9 - 12, most dreadful start, there's a very real sense that the Nets got it all wrong when they built this roster over the summer, and that feeling's not going away any time soon.

Rod Thorn stocked up on big men, and while a noble effort, it seems that aside from Sean Williams, who has no track record, every other big has had a serious backslide from their season last year (or from what their history would indicate). Jason Collins has gotten progressively worse offensively and on the boards, Josh Boone hasn't begun to touch the effectiveness he had later last season (though much of that chemistry was with Marcus Williams, to be fair), Jamaal Magloire is a shell of his former All Star self (he's got no moves inside, or at least they've disappeared) and while Malik Allen should have been a nice veteran pickup for depth, he's in the starting lineup but aside from making some open shots, he's not delivered much, or has been asked to deliver too much, more likely.

And then there's Nenad. Mr Krstic blew out the knee, tried to come back too soon this season and was dismal, and he's trying to work his way back into form. Combine his absense (and make no mistake, for his flaws he's still an important part of what made the Nets dangerous, and he can do things no one else on this roster can do offensively) with the missing offense of Marcus Williams, who at least could create his own shot, and the Nets have been nothing like what was envisioned last off season.

Rod said he wants to wait for those two to return to the lineup before his passes final judgement on these underachieving Nets.

I say, let the reconstruction begin. Gill was the first step, a nice practice player and 13th man, but the Nets have other needs. This whole Big Three thing isn't working, and who exactly should be blamed is a hard thing to figure, but in any case it's time to move on and rebuild on the fly (or just plain rebuild).

Jason Kidd probably has the most value, but he'll be hard to trade because of the age and the big contract. Only those who feel they are one last piece away from a championship need apply.

I would believe that very few teams have a use for Vince Carter, who shrinks when the going gets tough, and now makes less trips to the rim than ever. A standup jump shooter making $62 million is going to be hard to move.

That leaves Richard Jefferson, the youngest and for now the most successful of the three so far this season. But do you really want to move RJ, and what exactly would you get back?

I'm not terribly talented as a GM, dreaming up deals and working the salary cap, but now is the time to either get draft picks, young talent or expiring contracts (or all three) for one of the Big Three, or else try to add one more piece to them, mortgaging the future, to get Kidd a championship.

Or, start moving the other, minor pieces around. Wouldn't Magloire look good in San Antonio (get Ian Mahinmi or Ime Udoka)? How about Antoine Wright in New Orleans (get me Bobby Jackson)? And on...

You guys actually have better ideas, give me some of them.

All I'm saying is it's time for change, for reconstruction days to begin. Forget Brooklyn, it's time to either win now, or rebuild from scratch.

It won't be easy, but it's got to happen.

More to come on this topic in the days ahead as I vent my spleen on everything from the offense, the defense, Lawrence Frank and the current state of the Izod Center. It's almost time to resurrect the "No Stranger To Frustration" Logo.

Joe

At The Quarter Pole, Stop The Madness

Returned home from the Rangers-Devils game at the Garden in time to watch the last 15 minutes of the Nets - Wiz. Just in time, in fact, for the Nets to choke the rest of their lead back, and give up the ghost to Caron Butler and company in a badly executed fourth quarter.

The reverse of what's usually happened, in other words...

This is a bad team. At the quarter pole, they are 9 - 12 and going nowhere but backwards. The Nets were pathetically unable to get a fourth quarter stop or do anything on offense, against a team that isn't any better than they are but sure as hell played like it.

A bad night for Richard Jefferson didn't matters. He couldn't get to the line, whether he wasn't getting calls or there was something else going on I'll have to check out when I get to watch the game tape.

OH, and what was the Nets record after 21 games last year? Yep, you guessed it - 9 - 12. Ugh.

I have to tell all you Netsfans that I am actually getting tired of watching this team, so let's hope that changes are coming. And soon.

If this team, as presently put together, continues to play out the string I might get physically ill.

I'll have more to come on all of this, but let me finish catching up and get the Rockets game written up.

Stop the madness, already.

Joe

Another Bad Home Loss

When exactly are the Nets going to catch on to the fact that you can sport teams a double digit lead on your home court and expect to get the win. This is the eighth straight game here that the Nets fell behind by double digits, and against a Rockets team with Yao and T-Mac, the Nets are not skilled enough to get a win.

I'm trying to clear through the backlog of games, so I'd prefer to review the Knicks game first and then move on to the Rockets game, but I did watch the game tonight and once again the Nets cannot get a stop when the need it if their life depended on it. They are so bad at allowing open shots while struggling to get theirs that it appears to be time for a change - in philosophy, on the roster, something.

Richard Jefferson had a strong game, as did Vince Carter, who looked more like the VC we remember (but as Ian Eagle pointed out, without that explosion in the lane he once had), but the Nets can't win with only those two playing well. Kidd, recovering from his migraine (I guess), wasn't quite able to get anything going for himself, and he struggled mightily. In fact, the scoring balance for the Nets was painful - Carter and Jefferson combined for 61 of the 89 points, and if it weren't for the late run by the Nets just to make it look respectable (Kidd scored 7 of his 10 points in the last 4 minutes after the outcome was pretty much decided), the Nets would have had only 2 double digit scorers for the night.

Again, a bad first quarter pretty much doomed them, and in this one you NEVER got the sense the Nets were going to get back into it. The Nets cut the lead down to 7 briefly to start the third quarter (they were down by 15 at the half, but an impressive 8 - 0 run got them there), but the Rockets then went on a 13 - 4 run of their own to put the lead right back where it was. Too many stupid mistakes the Rockets were able to capitalize on, too much sloppy play (17 turnovers) and almost no bench help (though Antoine Wright returned from injury) didn't help the Nets.

Kidd did start the game, but I would not be surprised if Rod Thorn read the writing on the wall and has begun working on a deal for Kidd. Hopefully, he comes up with a better performance on Sunday.

Darrell Armstrong supposedly is ready to play again, and may do so on Sunday. Not sure that matters a whit. Marcus Williams is close to being ready to return, but he'll have to establish himself all over again. The Nets could use his creativity and scoring, though, so hopefully he's back by the end of the month.

The feeling here, though, is unlike past years, the Nets are what they are, and won't be making any second half rallies to make the playoffs. Change is near, friends.

I'll get those game reviews banged out this weekend, hopefully. I am aiming to be right as rain on Monday night (I'm going to the Devils Rangers game at the Garden, so I don't expect the Wiz review to get up until Monday.

Joe

As The World Turns

Wow, quite an exciting week in Netsland without ol' Joe around...

Had to travel to Chicago for the week, so now I'll have to scramble to watch 2 games plus the Houston game and get caught up this weekend.

But so many things have happened while I was gone:

- Ed Stefanski leaves for his dream job as President and GM of the Sixers in Philly, his home town. Good for him, he was well-liked and well-respected and he had his hand in everything from the draft night trade for RJ all the way to the drafting of Sean Williams. He'll be missed, but Rod Thorn will just keep rolling on (but for how long?).

- The Nets beat the Cavs, who were without LeBron. I just got finished watching the tape of this one, it was a total non-event, in fact, I can't figure out how the Nets didn't get to the blowout stage against the no-fight Cavs sooner than the third quarter...

- The Nets then tanked at home (again) against the Knicks while missing Jason Kidd, Josh Boone and Antoine Wright. Wright has a shoulder injury, while Boone and Kidd claimed migraines. Was Kidd's legitimate, or did he stage a sick-out to make a point of his unhappiness? He denied it today, but in the world of Kidd, it's more than likely the case, unfortunately. Look for Rod Thorn to start shopping him now, since it's time to put a fork in the Big Three.

We did have Jamaal Magloire sighting, apparently, and he is alive and well. Marcus Williams and Darrell Armstrong could both be back within the next week or two as well. But no Nenad until he plays himself back into game shape, so figure that's at least another month.

And now the Rockets are coming with Yao Ming and T-Mac and the rest. The Nets are nothing without Kidd, so hopefully he plays and plays well, like nothing ever happened.

More to explore on the whole Kidd thing, but it really seems to be time to break up this trio of inconsistency.

-Joe

Big Time?

No, not really, when you beat the Cavs without LeBron.

Forgot to mention (for anyone checking, which I doubt) that I am in Chicago until Thursday, so I'll need to do some serious catchup with the site.

Just reviewed the box score - without LeBron, the Nets may have had their first easy game of the year. RJ was huge, and Kidd didn't have to bother with the fourth quarter. Malik Allen was +25 - all of this is fantastic.

For one game, against a cripped team, anyway.

Lots of thoughts are gathering while I'm on the road (we could be the Bulls, after all) about these Nets, and hopefully I can get them down tomorrow before my flight home.

Ed Stefanski is moving to the Sixers, huh? I know he's from Philly, and it must be closer to home, but...does anyone really want to drop into that franchise? I guess it's ok, for now. With Rod Thorn around, he certainly knows enough about this GM stuff...but the Nets will need a longer term replacement, because how long is Rod going to be interested in doing this if every team he builds starts out the exact same way?

Just a thought.

More tomorrow.

Joe