The NETS Effect: Nets v Bulls Running Diary

Note: this is my first and probably last running diary of the nets game. I figured if Bill Simmons could do it why not me? i prefer not to sit at a computer during games, and no ones paying me to do so, so unless i get a positive response it'll be back to normal analysis and opinions after tonight.

Tonight marks the opening of the NBA season for the Nets with their matchup against the Bulls in the newly named Izod Center. Marv Albert and Jim Spanarkle will be broadcasting tonights game, if ever there was a mismatch in talent in the broadcast booth greater then this, I think you’d be hard pressed to find it. You have one of the all-time great NBA play-by-play guys sitting next to a little known former player.

7:39 Nets are introduced as Stronger by Kanye West plays… I feel like I’ve heard this song once or twice in the last couple months… not sure though. The players come in from different sections in the crowd. I’ve never seen this before, it’s ok though cause there aren’t too many fans in the stands so they’ll be ok

7:42 Richard Jefferson addresses the crowd. Thanks the crowd for coming out then pulls his best Ron Burgandy and finishes by telling them “stay classy NJ”

7:46 Kidd gets his first steal of the season and fast breaks down the court. Bet Kobe wishes he was running along side of him.

7:51 Carter with his first turnover of the season on a patented drive then throw a bullet a pass to someone who never had a chance to catch the ball

7:53 man can still make some damn fine layups though

7:57 Ben Wallace drive to the hoop and scores… what did I just type?

8:00 Ben Wallace hits a turn around jumper to give the bulls a 15-14 advantage… so this is why the bulls didn’t get a big time post threat. Who needs one when you have Wallace!

8:01 Ben Gordon gets blocked for his about 50^th missed shot tonight… why do people think he’s so good?

(friend calls asking for fantasy basketball advice. The concept of a games limit is hard to understand for the novice fantasy player.)

8:25 Antoine Wright hits a 3 to take the Nets up 10. I told you he wasn’t a bust!

8:32 Malik Allen airballs a hook shot, forcing one to ask why is he taking that shot in the first place… followed by a lengthy sigh

8:38 Richard Jefferson strides beautifully into the paint and gets fouled. Josh Boone checks in with 4 minutes remaining in the second quarter marking the 11^th of the Nets 12 available players to check in

8:40 Nocioni whines as he gets called for his third foul. It’s shocking really that he would whine, I’ve never seen him do that before.

8:43 Josh Boone airballs a free throw, those are always fun to see… he then of course swishes the next one. Defining why he is a 50% free throw shooter.

8:47 Nets pick off a pass, Kidd gets it and passes it to a trailing Jefferson who slams it down. Simply put a thing of beauty

8:50 Nets have the final shot of the half, give the ball to carter, iso, set a screen carter steps back and shots a three… no where close to making it. This is one guy who’s not shocked.

Nets end a very good half up 56-41 largely on the strength of Richard Jeffersons 17 points. He shot 4-6 from the field and 8-8 from the field. The nets as a whole dominated from the free throw line shooting 21-24 from the stripe compared to 10-12 for the Bulls. Loul Deng had a quite 13 points for the Bulls while Ben Gordon had 7 on 2-8 shooting. Bet Kobe is looking real good right now if you’re a Bulls fan.

9:07 Kidd finds Jefferson cutting to the hoop who gets fouled and hits to more three throws. I’m just gonna put this out there, but as a passer I don’t think there’s ever been a better one than Kidd. That’s not to say he’s the best, but he’s equal to the best that have ever played this game when it comes to that facet of the game.

9:13 Kirk Hinrich has to sit down with 9:30 remaining in the 3^rd quaster with his 4^th foul. He’s basically been the bulls best player tonight so clearly that will not help.

9:16 Gordon hits his third shot in a row including 2 threes. To quote Marv, “he’s heating up”

9:20 Gordon apparently heard me talking shit about him cause he’s made 5-6 in the third quarter including 3-3 from behind the arc. Pulling the bulls within 3 after having been down as many as 17.

9:31 The Bulls pull even on a high arcing pullup shot by Gordon. Nets answer with a nice midrange jumper by Antoine Wright. We got ourselves a game here folks.

9:35 the quarter ends with a 1 point lead for the Nets. Not a great quarter for them, Gordon dominated while the Nets looked out of sync on offense. VC is 2 for 12 and 8-8 from the free throw line for a grand total of 12 points. Have I mentioned I don’t like him?

9:49 Nets fight and scrap for offensive rebounds, ending in an Antoine Wright falling layup as he gets fouled. Chris Duhon is down in a heap cameras didn’t seem to catch why.

9:51 Chris Rock, Jay-z and Donald Trump are in the house. When the Nets can get these guys out there you know the Knicks are in trouble. (jay-z excluded since he does partially own the team.)

9:54 Kidd tweeks his ankle… Nets season hangs in the balance.

9:56 Kidd returns after the timeout and RJ hits a three… season goes on

9:59 Deng takes it away from Carter and for an easy fastbreak slam. (writer bangs head against wall)

10:02 After Wright misses a three Kidd gets the rebound feeds Wright for another try and he nails it. Then Kidd leads a fastbreak where he feeds Carter for the layup. The Nets take a 89-87 lead and Chicago as the saying goes… wants to talk it over.

10:06 Antoine Wright puts the nets up 7 with 2 minutes to go with a big 3.

10:07 Carter airballs a three…

10:10 Kidd airball a three and nocioni ties it. Carter airballs ANOTHER jumper and the bulls call a time out with 19.4 seconds to go. Carter has again proven he is not a money player. He’ll help your team out, and he’ll put up points, but he doesn’t have that killer instinct. Unfortunately the Nets didn’t get the memo before they threw a boatload of money at him.

10:13 Ben Gordon gets his shot blocked on his last second attempt. Not something uncommon for the 6’1 shooting guard. We’re going to bonus basketball!

10:17 Ben Wallace shoots his first free throw of the night and it lands about 3 feet short of the rim.

10:18 Wright hits his fourth three of the game! Nets up 3

10:19 Wright reaches his career high with a layup for his 21^st point.

10:23 Carter with a steal! He posts up backs down passes to Jefferson for a wide open 3! Carter is great when he’s not shooting the ball! Nets up 6 with 37 seconds to go.

10:31 Nets up 5 32 seconds to go, the free throw procession starts

10:33 Nets win!

Nets get the 112-103 victory playing a very good game overall. If they play this way they will be very successful this season. Richard Jefferson with a double double 29 points and 10 boards was big for the Nets as was Antoine Wright with 21 points in 27 minutes of play. It’s just one game, so you don’t want to go overboard, but he looked like a player who could take the leap… into becoming a legitimate NBA player.

Some things I think you should know:

I think Ben Gordon is a good player, but that he’s overvalued by the Bulls and overrated by fans. He’s a 6’1 shooting guard who is more likely to get his shot blocked in a key spot then to actually make it.

I think Vince Carter is also a good player, but vastly overrated. I would write more on that but I already have.

The Nets Effect: Interminable Preseason Continues

The Nets Effect will be the name i will be using for a series of Nets articles I will be writing. The first article was my season preview written before i decided to title the series. Now, on with the article...

The Nets got an 82-71 against the Celtics u-21 team on Tuesday. Ok fine it was the Celtics senior squad, but without any of the “big three” of Allen, Garnett and Pierce it might as well have been their D-league team. The Nets were playing without Jason Kidd who is out with a back. That’s right he has a back… oh I forgot to mention, it’s also injured. (but that’s an issue for an entirely different article)

Tonight game for me was just another example to me of why the preseason is interminable. Some fans might love training camp and the preseason; it gives you a chance to see the young guys, it means the regular season is right around the corner etc. I’m not one of those fans. Whether it’s baseball, football, or basketball the only important things are getting the starters enough AB’s, reps or minutes to get ready for the regular season and make sure they don’t get hurt. Otherwise as a fan it’s almost unwatchable. It’s sloppy, it’s people who won’t make the team because quite frankly they’re just not good enough and the players don’t really care who wins or loses. It’s practice…not a game, not a game… practice.

So what do you need to know from the game?

Richard Jefferson showed extended range. Everyone knows he’s an explosive slasher and an improving shooter. If he can make his jumper more consistent from long range he will be very hard to stop.

Nenad Krstic coming off a torn ACL went out and played, and finished the game without incident. That’s the important thing, but he also showed mobility which was nice to see. Not great mobility, but enough…he was never going to be David Robinson. He did hit a couple decent outside jumpers which would be a valuable skill as they’ll likely run plenty of pick and roles and will need someone who can make a pick and pop.

Antoine Wright played very welling shooting 6 for 8 from the field, including 2-2 from the three point stripe. Labeled as a bust by some I’m not ready to call him that. Granted he hasn’t been very good, but this is his third year in the league and he hasn’t been asked to do all that much in the first two. Much like the rest of the team his game will depend heavily on his ability to knock down a consistent jumper. He’s good enough defensively and off the dribble, that a jumper will open up his game and make him a useful player off the bench.

Being a hot blond female must be nice. The Nets have a sideline reporter who, while she’s not bad, I do have no wonder if she would have a job if she was not a hot blond female. To be honest though, I’m not going to complain. In fact I look forward to turning in to see err… hear her more this season.

Nets Season Preview

The Nets come off a 41-41 season with optimism that this year’s team will be healthier and more successful. Last year the Nets team was to be kind inconsistent, to be more realistic not very good. The season was beset by injuries to key players, like Nenad Krstic who missed most of the season and Richard Jefferson who played a good portion of the season hurt before finally having to sit out about a month with that injury. When your third best player for a large stretch of the season is Miki Moore inconsistency is not to be unexpected. This is not to say Moore didn’t do a great job, but let’s be honest who’d ever really heard of Miki Moore before last season? Luckily the Nets were playing in a very weak eastern conference and were able to relatively comfortably make the playoffs. The east figures to be much more competitive this year so the question is can the Nets be good enough to make the playoff or even compete for a championship?

Well the answer to the second question is clearly no, but the first question should be a yes.

Why won’t the Nets compete for a title? Well there are several reasons, but the elephant in the room is that Vince carter is just not a championship player. He’s never really won anything in his career and in crunch time he’s more likely to turn the ball over then actually score. I would have loved for the Nets to get rid of him and if you want to know why, read this article I wrote in June.

So why will the Nets make the playoffs? Despite what John Hollinger thinks and despite the team aging at key positions (Carter and Kidd) they still have Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson. Jason Kidd is, at least on the basketball court, quite simply the anti-Stephon Marbury. He is a true point guard and a winner, when he’s on your team you simply have a better chance to win. He has made the playoffs each of the last 12 years. The Nets instantly turned into winners when he came to the team and haven’t looked back since.

Richard Jefferson, IMHO is one of the best players in the league. He hasn’t really had the chance to show whether he could be a true number one option, but it seems he’s more suited for a Scotty Pippen type role. Unfortunately there’s no Michael Jordan on this team. The nets should get a good year out of him and I see no reason he won’t average at least 18 points and 5.5 boards up from the 16 and 4.4 he hobbled to last season.

The X factors?

I’ll give you three.

1) Will the Nets actually run an offense? When Vince Carter is off the floor they tend to run a fluid offense with movement and running and passing. However when Carter is on the court they often set high picks for him with the three other guys standing around doing nothing. This will not work this year as Miki Moore, a very good pick-and-roll guy is gone and it didn’t even work all that well last year. If the Nets run a true offense and move the ball they will be much more successful.

2) How good is Nenad? Nenad Krstic statistically is the Nets best big man and was last year as well. However even before he got hurt the Nets were struggling. Can he get back to top form and/or improve? Can the Nets integrate him into their fluid offense of which I was speaking of in x factor one? Solid contributions from Nenad will be crucial to a successful season.

3) Can the Nets get anything from their bench? Assuming a starting lineup of Collins, Kristic, Jefferson, Carter and Kidd, what will they get from the bench? One assumes Marcus Williams and Josh Boone will continue to progress and hopefully the Nets can count on them for some solid minutes. Boggie Nochbar was a solid contributor off the bench but came out of nowhere to do it. Was he a one year wonder? I say no. Those three will have to carry the bench as jamal magloire, malik allen and Antoine Wright can’t be counted on for much. Shawn Williams could be an x factor of his own, but if he can stay drug free, (a huge IF) he should eventually be able to steal a good amount of minutes from Collins based on his defensive ability and athleticism.

Prediction? The Nets are a slightly better than .500 team winning around 43 games and getting whatever playoff spot that garners which is probably somewhere around the 6th-7^th seed. From there I give them a 40% chance to make the second round obviously varying based on the opponent.