Like Death And Taxes...
Things break.
Readers don't like posts, comments, ideas or critiques.
And time moves forward regardless.
We suffered a major computer failure here at JNF (the mother of all motherboard failures, apparently) that we're in the process of sorting out. Weeks behind, and with a ton of stuff to catch up on (and apparently bore you with, thanks Peter), we'll try to get back on the horse and figure out which way is up in Netsfanland.
While we were gone:
- The Nets held "voluntary" practices for a week, with everyone but Yi attending. While this is heartening, Waltons'-esque kind of family togetherness, will it make a difference since there are only 3 players left from last season's start? Sorry, I don't think it's going to help much. But it makes for good, no make it great, press.
- The Nets are going to run a new offense this season - the dribble drive offense that Memphis ran last season with Chris Douglas Roberts having a great offensive season. Probably more like drivel drive with the Nets' running it...
- VC's getting trashed (no surprise there, but has anyone who writes about the NBA actually watched Carter over the past few years? He's not the guy who wanted out of Toronto, and while he's not exactly comfortable as the go-to guy, he's going to have to be this year for certain. And that's not a bad thing for Netsfans, since Carter, at his motivational best, is a scorer to be reckoned with. IF and only if he stops settling for the jumper each time down the court.
- The Nets will start their training camp a weekend earlier than the rest of the league since they're headed to London and Paris for exhibitions. So that means we only have another three weeks of desperate, boring speculation to go before we start to see/hear about/understand what the 2008 - 2009 season will bring. Hey, at least Jason Kidd isn't around to age before our eyes...
- Yes, we're still annoyed that RJ was traded for Yi. Yes, RJ was overpaid and probably had peaked as a player (and who wants to see a formerly unselfish player turn selfish, practically overnight and when everything else was falling apart at the same time?), but aside from younger and cheaper, I don't see that this was the deal the Nets should have made. I also understand that there wasn't exactly a ton of demand for RJ's services, but unless the Nets retool with the likes of LeBron in 2010 and beyond, they might have been better off sticking it out with RJ. But as my new good friend Peter would say, there's nothing new there.
- I still have hope that this team will be better than the sum of its parts. I don't know that they'll look pretty doing it, but remember how much praise used to be heaped on Princeton and that damned ugliness they put on the court each game to get wins? With Boston, Philly and Toronto all better in the Atlantic, it's a rebuilding year and that's pretty much all it is.
Much more to come, including our usual preseason stuff and a whole lot more. I appreciate you hanging in there if you are even reading these words, and hopefully we have the web site worked out and back cranking out material daily in the next week or so. Luckily, as far as I know everything is backed up somewhere in cyberspace.
Looking forward to this season, as strange as that sounds. Perhaps like watched a car wreck in slow motion or something like that, but looking forward to it nonetheless.
-Joe
Readers don't like posts, comments, ideas or critiques.
And time moves forward regardless.
We suffered a major computer failure here at JNF (the mother of all motherboard failures, apparently) that we're in the process of sorting out. Weeks behind, and with a ton of stuff to catch up on (and apparently bore you with, thanks Peter), we'll try to get back on the horse and figure out which way is up in Netsfanland.
While we were gone:
- The Nets held "voluntary" practices for a week, with everyone but Yi attending. While this is heartening, Waltons'-esque kind of family togetherness, will it make a difference since there are only 3 players left from last season's start? Sorry, I don't think it's going to help much. But it makes for good, no make it great, press.
- The Nets are going to run a new offense this season - the dribble drive offense that Memphis ran last season with Chris Douglas Roberts having a great offensive season. Probably more like drivel drive with the Nets' running it...
- VC's getting trashed (no surprise there, but has anyone who writes about the NBA actually watched Carter over the past few years? He's not the guy who wanted out of Toronto, and while he's not exactly comfortable as the go-to guy, he's going to have to be this year for certain. And that's not a bad thing for Netsfans, since Carter, at his motivational best, is a scorer to be reckoned with. IF and only if he stops settling for the jumper each time down the court.
- The Nets will start their training camp a weekend earlier than the rest of the league since they're headed to London and Paris for exhibitions. So that means we only have another three weeks of desperate, boring speculation to go before we start to see/hear about/understand what the 2008 - 2009 season will bring. Hey, at least Jason Kidd isn't around to age before our eyes...
- Yes, we're still annoyed that RJ was traded for Yi. Yes, RJ was overpaid and probably had peaked as a player (and who wants to see a formerly unselfish player turn selfish, practically overnight and when everything else was falling apart at the same time?), but aside from younger and cheaper, I don't see that this was the deal the Nets should have made. I also understand that there wasn't exactly a ton of demand for RJ's services, but unless the Nets retool with the likes of LeBron in 2010 and beyond, they might have been better off sticking it out with RJ. But as my new good friend Peter would say, there's nothing new there.
- I still have hope that this team will be better than the sum of its parts. I don't know that they'll look pretty doing it, but remember how much praise used to be heaped on Princeton and that damned ugliness they put on the court each game to get wins? With Boston, Philly and Toronto all better in the Atlantic, it's a rebuilding year and that's pretty much all it is.
Much more to come, including our usual preseason stuff and a whole lot more. I appreciate you hanging in there if you are even reading these words, and hopefully we have the web site worked out and back cranking out material daily in the next week or so. Luckily, as far as I know everything is backed up somewhere in cyberspace.
Looking forward to this season, as strange as that sounds. Perhaps like watched a car wreck in slow motion or something like that, but looking forward to it nonetheless.
-Joe
posted by Joe Netsfan at 9:21 PM
2 Comments:
"Yes, RJ was overpaid and probably had peaked as a player (and who wants to see a formerly unselfish player turn selfish, practically overnight and when everything else was falling apart at the same time?), but aside from younger and cheaper, I don't see that this was the deal the Nets should have made. I also understand that there wasn't exactly a ton of demand for RJ's services."
Huh? There is no logic here. If YOU, JoeNetsFan, believes that RJ was overpaid, had peaked as a player and had become selfish, don't you think every GM was smart enough to figure that out?
Kiki loved Yi last year. He thinks he was misused in Milwaukee. He sure as hell was misused in Beijing.
There is talent there. People forget before he hit the wall, he was Rookie of the Month in December and had topped the ESPN and NBA.com rookie rankings. He was also fourth in the Olympics in rebounding.
It's a risk, but when you've only won 34 games and someone offers you a 20-year-old who's a legitimate 7-footer (measured the same as Lopez) who can run the floor like a deer, who has a 38" vertical leap and who has three point range, what are you supposed to do? Say "No", I want AK-47, whose been less productive and has a worse contract" or "No I want two perimeter players in Diaw and Barbosa who are owed more than RJ"?
If you look at what the prospects were for an RJ deal out there, I remember only one other that looked promising: Andrea Bargnani and Jason Kapono for RJ. Same deal...big 20-year-old with range and an overpaid SF...except Kapono is a better shooter and worse defender than Bobby Simmons. The Raptors apparently rejected that.
What the Nets did with the Kidd and the RJ deals was classic NBA Rebuilding 101: get a combination of good young players, expiring contracts, draft picks, cash and trade exceptions.
Right now, the rebuilding looks like this (what the Nets got for Kidd, RJ, Collins and Marcus Williams):
Devin Harris, Yi Jianlian, Stromile Swift, Ryan Anderson (Mavs pick), Maurice Ager, Keyon Dooling (the Kidd trade TE and the cash), the Mavs' unprotected pick in 2010 and the Warriors' protected pick in 2011 plus KVH's contract and about $9 million in cap space this year.
The Nets lost Diop to free agency. Too bad...but that was the worst signing of the summer. And I'm not even counting Brook Lopez or Chris Douglas Roberts, just assets acquired in those trades.
All of it is a risk worth taking. They lost 34 games last year and looked awful...in case people forget.
good luck with the data recovery... computer meltdowns really suck. it's good to see you back-- I always enjoy reading your blog.
bobbo: great post! I prefer the optimistic outlook as well, even though I really don't expect to see a winning season. if these guys at least put forth the effort and show some kind of promise then I won't mind watching a losing season.
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