Joe Netsfan Backlash #11 - Miracle Worker Needed?

Netsfans will only accept divine intervention

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Backlash #11 - January 5, 2006
Miracle Worker Needed?
Joe:
I knew it would happen. Nets’ Fans go into instant panic mode after the Charlotte loss at home and then do a complete about face after a four game win streak. Well let me tell you, “The Nets can just as easily lose the next four in row.” None of the issues have been resolved. For crying out loud we’re 13-12. Don’t be fooled by a few wins, the Nets need an athletic big man and if changes aren’t made soon it’s going to get worse when Jason Collins opts for more surgery and the overworked Nenad Krstic burns out.

I said it before the season started and I’ll say it again. This is not a bad team, but it’s not a particularly good one either. I laughed to myself when I read email messages from fans and saw power rankings from sports publications prior to the start of this NBA season which claimed the Nets were the second or third best team in the East (get real). In my opinion a better evaluation would have been the seventh or eighth best team in the East and I may be optimistic in that assessment. As they are presently constructed I don’t see them winning their division. The 76ers will probably do that. I guess after years of the Nets being the doormat of the NBA the average fan doesn’t mind having a .500 team to root for.

I’m not one of those fans. After two trips up the mountain I don’t want them to slide all the way back down. I’d like to see some improvement over last year and with the right move / moves I think that’s still possible. A modest goal would be advancing to the second round of the play-offs in 2006 (but first they have to get to the play-offs – which isn’t guaranteed).

NBA teams don’t appear to be anxious to help the Nets by parting with one of their talented “bigs” even if they can dump a long term contract or get something for a restricted free agent in the process (good big men are hard to come by even if you can’t afford to hang on to them for a long time).

Obviously, adding a Wilcox, Ratliff or Ely to the mix won’t necessarily make the Nets as good as the Pistons, Heat, or Pacers.

I just want the Nets to get some of that old Kenyon Martin type swagger back. I still remember the fun of those two glorious runs to the championship finals. I can accept that we’re not a championship contender this year, but I don’t want the Nets front office to settle for mediocrity (I know Carter, Kidd and Jefferson don’t want that either but they need help).

Okay Thorn and Stefanski it’s time for another one of those shocking miraculous trades that no one saw coming (pull another rabbit out of the hat).
-Jim Klika, December 30, 2005

Jim:
Well, now that they're up to eight straight wins, Jim, do you feel ANY better? I don't truly believe that Netsfans are accepting of .500, even as they were screaming for changes when the team was going bad. That's just the nature of being a fan. In fact, it's proven in this email - things are better, and STILL you're calling for massive changes. Or worse, assuming that all is lost...

It's a marathon, not a sprint. The team is flawed, yes - perhaps fatally so once the post-season commences. And like every true long-time, die-hard Netsfan, you're wallowing in despair even though things ain't all that bad. Right now, anyway.

Again, my advice for all the non-believing, Chicken-Littles waiting for the sky to fall - AGAIN: wait it out, see what happens after the long January road excursions, and then take an honest look at where the Nets are. If they drop 10 of 14 this month, by all means take 'em apart. But if they survive, and prosper, into February, well, you might want to adjust the despair-o-meter a tad.

The miracle worker you're looking for -whether it be Thorn's ability to horse-trade, or that post player needed to make the Nets a bonifide contender - probably ain't out there this year. Go with Jason Kidd's new slogan - "Why not us?" and let it ride.
-Joe

Doom And Gloom
Hey Joe:
The way things look right now, we aren't getting past the first round, and we could get swept again. Let me tell you why, the bench stinks. Give me one player from the bench that can drop 18 a night? How about 16 or 11?

Good teams have decent ball handlers in their bench and have good players who can start. Every player from our bench would be a 15th man (not counting Jeff McInnis or Zoran Plannic who don't even play anymore! ) for every other team in the league. And I'm starting to think Lawrence Frank doesnt know what hes doing, why doesn't he play Antoine Wright? He's trying to make him develop but he did develop in college for three years!!!!

When they benched Kobe,T-Mac,Jermaine O'Neal and now Gerald Green, it was because they were from high school, and didn't have that much experience. Antoine Wright should be a 6th man for this team. He could shoot, defend and handle the ball, thats the only player anybody else in the league would want from this team's bench.

If I was the GM, I would trade that whole rotation, Marc Jackson,Lamond Murray, Scott Padgett,and Clifford Robinson !

P.S If you know the Lawrence Frank, show him this letter!!!
- Ephraimd15, December 29, 2005

Ephraim:
Dr. Mr. Mis-informed,

Don't know where you get your information from, but though the Nets think highly of Antoine Wright, they also feel like he's a bit over his head, and the 12th man on the squad would be better able to handle the NBA right now. If the team continued its downhill trek from the beginning of the season, Wright would be playing now. But since they have designs on a high playoff seed, they can't afford to get him PT. Unless someone gets hurt, he's probably going to be stashed away for most of the year.

The rest of the bench? The most capable are McInnis and Jackson, and they don't have permanent spots in the rotation (both are seriously capable of 18 points in a given night). What does that tell us? They haven't had it defensively, or else aren't at ease and in sync with what the Nets are trying to do.

Cliff Robinson is still a helluva player in spots. But he's 39. The rest of the bench are clearly defined role players who need to play their role and do nothing more. The bench could easily be improved, but it's shown that it's not as bad as we first thought. Eight wins, no matter how they come, are nothing to sneeze at.

None of that is Lawrence Frank's fault, by the way. Bum rap for him while they were losing, maybe too much credit when they win. After all, Kidd, Carter and Jefferson know what to do and how to do it.

But I'll make sure L.Frank sees this nonetheless...

Thanks for the thoughts.
- Joe

Swap Meet Across The Hudson?
Joe:
Any chance of a Jeff Macinnis for David Lee swap? It would fill needs for both teams. Davids Lee will not end up a starter for the Knicks and Jeff McInnis is buried on the Nets bench. I know it will never happen, but the Nets are in dire need of a rebounding power forward and the Knicks need a back up point guard who can start as well. The Nets never should have left the draft without a young rebounding power forward. It will prevent them from being a title contender.
- Jeff, January 3, 2005

Jeff:
Agreed they could use Lee and his energy. No way it ever, ever happens.
- Joe

The Master Of Doom And Gloom
Joe:
Please don't get too excited about the Nets current winning streak. The Nets will do well in the regular season because of the weak Atlantic Division. It's kind of ironic that Rod Thorn wants to make a trade for Stromile Swift and Steven Hunter, when he had the opportunity to get the both, even taking a chance on Desagana Diop would have gave them beef up front. Predicition: second round elimination in the playoffs!
- Emozack, December 30, 2005

Emozack:
Wow. Can you please tell me how the stock market is going to finish 2006 as well?

Again, it has to play out. And I'm not convinced that any of the three players you mentioned would help the Nets all that much anyway. Swift continues to show that he just doesn't get it most nights, Hunter wouldn't quite fit the Nets' style like you image (I'm guessing on that, but since you can...), and Diop, though better than he was in Cleveland, is really just Yinka Dare waiting to happen if he was in NJ.

Let it play out. Let it play out. I'm not saying that changes wouldn't help, what I am saying is they are not likely to happen and you must accept that these Nets (that have won 8 straight) are probably what you've got for the year. See what happens come February, then we can start making playoff predictions. What if Shaq, Jermaine O'Neal, and Ben Wallace are lost for the season to injury? Does that help the Nets' cause?

Who knows, really. So unless you can get me that market prediction...
- Joe

A Contrarian Amongst Them
Joe:
Just watched the victory in Miami. I know it's only five games, but I'm starting to feel That Feeling again -- you know, the one we haven't felt since the final year of the Kenyon era. Everyone keeps attributing the turnaround to Vince alone (which has more merit everyday: this is MVP stuff!), but I think the key change was Vaughn taking the back-up PG job away from McInnis. It had an effect like tuning a musical instrument. Now if Frank can keep McInnis aware that he still has a function on the team, a la Lucious Harris, then this is going to be a fun year. And that's something nobody thought two weeks ago! Merry Christmas!
- Jim Roman, December 23, 2005

Jim:
No place for contrarians among Netsfans. You're supposed to be all doom and gloom - how dare you go so far as to say you're getting "The Feeling"?

Hey, who knows, right? That's my whole point. You could be right, and they could be wrong. Maybe this team does have a playoff future.

Thanks, though, for making me feel like I'm not entirely crazy (though I don't think I have "The Feeling", at least not yet...but 8 in a row is pretty impressive).
- Joe