Nets Effect: Breaking it Down

So the trade deadline came and went and the Nets took one of two necessary moves. They traded away Jason Kidd the best thing that ever happened to the franchise. However as I wrote before he was traded they needed to do it and after seeing the trade I have to say Jason Kidd is still the best thing that ever happened to the Nets because they made out tremendously in this deal. In short they weren’t any good with him, he’s getting old and he’s very expensive. On top of that he asked for a trade so while he seemed to be playing hard I don’t think his head was truly in it. I wish him the best and I’d hold no grudge if the Mavs win the championship, but this needed to be done.

So now it’s done and as I said I think the Nets made out very well. They’re saving nearly 7 million in cap space for next year and they made off with a point guard who’s ten years younger then Jason Kidd and statistically speaking a better player right now. Granted he’s probably not the team leader and doesn’t set quite the tone as Kidd, but he’s quicker, better defensively, he’s locked in at a very affordable price and oh btw did I mention 10 years younger. Between him and Marcus Williams I’m very confident in the Nets future at the point guard position.

Unfortunately they were not able to move Vince Carter and really get some real cap space for the summer. Instead they’ll still have him around with 4 more years left on his contract. They’re going to have to hope he can be efficient on a nightly basis for the rest of the season. Notice I didn’t say great just efficient. If he takes good shots, gets to the basket, shoots a high percentage, doesn’t turn the ball over with stupid passes then he can be a very efficient and effective player. Whether he scores 17 points or 30 as long as he’s shooting 50% or greater, rebounding and passing well the Nets are a team to be reckoned with.

So the Nets are left with Harris, Carter, Jefferson, Boone, Marcus and Sean Williams, Maurice Ager and Stromile Swift. There’s plenty of talent there and they’ve won 2 of 3 since the break/trade. So the questions remain how efficient will Carter be, how will the William’s and Boone develop and how will Harris fit with the team once he returns from his ankle injury?

I think they’ll find a way to make the playoffs (not saying much in the east) but unless they’re able to catch Washington for the 6 seed it’s most likely a first round exit for them. If they do catch Washington they could probably find a way to beat Orlando a good but not great team, but either way I don’t see a long playoff run in store for the Nets.

The Nets Effect: Time to Break Out The Dynamite

It’s tough as a fan to say goodbye to the best thing that’s ever happened to your franchise and for the Nets Jason Kidd is that thing. In the years since he’s been here the nets have had the most success as a team since Dr J was lacing up his Chuck Taylors and rocking his short shorts over in Long Island. The Nets having won ABA titles had never even been to the NBA finals never mind won one since they entered the NBA. With Jason Kidd the Nets have made the playoffs every year, had their first ever 50 win season and made the NBS finals twice. Certainly having Kenyon Martin, Richard Jefferson, Kerry Kittles and recently Vince Carter has helped, but Jason Kidd was unquestionably the driving force behind this success. For that reason I've held off on writing this article for over a week as I wanted to hold out hope.

Now coming to the close of his career the Nets are struggling and Jason Kidd has realized what any Net fan has to realize: it’s time to move on.

The Nets currently stand at 18-26 having lost 9 in a row including last nights loss to Minnesota where they allowed Al Jefferson to score a career high 40 points. As bad as the Nets have played recently they’re still only ½ a game out the playoffs, so one could argue the Nets should keep the team together and make a push for the playoffs. Heck the Nets have played the Magic tough, and on any given night could compete with the elite teams in the league. They’ve beaten the Magic, Trailblazers and Lakers on the road. However the fact still remains they’re 8 games under 500 and have lost to Minn, NY twice, Sacramento and the Clippers; some of the worst teams in the league.

So your options are keep Kidd and fight or give in to his trade request and start over. I think as a rational fan you have to say thanks for the good times Jason, and good luck in your new destination. If the Nets trade Kidd however Vince Carter needs to go with him. I’m not even interested in talent. If I’m the Nets I look for draft picks and cap space with an emphasis on cap space. In the NBA you rarely if ever get fair value in terms of talent when you trade a star. If the Nets can get Kidd and Carter off the books by the end of the year they will be significantly under the cap. More than 20 million to be precise.

So how do they do it? How bout Kidd for Jason Williams and Ricky Davis. Pat Riley has been looking for point guards, and I can’t imagine he’s willing to wait around on a rebuilding effort. With Shaq on the book for an extra year then Kidd this is low risk for the Heat and the Nets get 19.8 mil off the books at the end of the year. Throw in a draft pick and you have a steal. Will this move make the Heat better? Probably not, but they’re over the cap next year anyway and as I said I can’t imagine Pat Riley is willing to sit ideally as his team stinks it up.

Now for Carter this will be a much bigger challenge as he just signed an obnoxious contract extension. However it is possible. Riley might take a similar deal for Carter instead of Kidd because as I said he’s desperate. If he will then you can deal Kidd to the Mavericks or any of the other interested suitors. If not perhaps your other best option is LA. With Corey Maggette and Elton Brand both having ETO’s at the season end, the Clippers could fear losing either one for nothing at seasons end and could believe bringing in Carter will help them sell some tickets. For the Nets you can either let them both walk or end up with a good player. Now of course the Clippers may not be too upset at letting them walk and thus a deal might not happen there either. Trading Carter will not come easy, but if you’re going to build around your young talented pieces (Marcus Williams, RJ, Sean Williams and Josh Boone) you need to find a way.

The NETS Effect: Kiki is Coming to Town

Having seen Ed Stefanski leave to be General Manager of the 76ers the Nets apparently wanted to bring in more help for Team President Rod Thorn. Today the Nets named Vandeweghe special assistant to the team president in a role that will essentially replace Stefanski. As a Nets fan the question is clear, should you be happy or afraid?

The answer to that question is much less clear and quite frankly I don’t know how to react. Vandeweghe is the same man to draft one of the all time greatest draft busts Nikoloz Tskitishvili. However in the same draft he orchestrated a trade that brought them Nene, and Marcus Camby for a 25^th pick in that draft (which New York took Frank Williams) and Antonio McDyess. Camby being the reigning defensive player of the year you have to say that’s an unquestionably good deal.

He also drafted Carmelo Anothy which I don’t think anyone would question, but considering Anthony was clearly the second best prospect in that draft at the time I don’t know how much credit he gets for it. In 2004 he traded away the rights for Jameer Nelson to Orlando for a 2005 first round pick. The pick turned out to be a number 20 pick which they used on Julius Hodges who’s only claim to fame is having been shot. Not a great move but considering Orlando had won the lottery the previous year I guess the thinking was it would be a higher pick than number twenty.

You could blame him for giving Kenyon Martin a huge contract since Martin has been a bust, however Martin was 26 years old at the time coming off a season averaging 16.7 points and 9.4 boards a game. (nearly a double double) On top of that Martin had improved every season he had been in the league. Can’t really predict a player is going to end up needing micofracture surgery.

So welcome aboard Kiki let’s hope the good you bring to the team outweighs the bad… and stay way from those foreign guys.

The Nets Effect: Finding the Worst Player in the NBA

There’s always debate when it comes to naming the top at something. Is Kobe the best player in the NBA? Is Peyton or Tom the best QB? Who’s the worst NBA GM Isaih, or Billy King? I think you’d be hard pressed to debate however that Jason Collins is not currently the worst player in the NBA.

I had been thinking of writing this column for about a week, but after seeing Collins foul Delonte West to setup a three point play with the Nets up 4 with 55 seconds to go it became apparent it needs to be said: Jason Collins is awful.

Consider this actual conversation with my friend (we'll call him John) after 7 games in the season.

Me: i think collins may only have a total of 1 field goal this season

John:is that an exageration or close to fact

Me: close to fact

John :that's funny

Me: he went about 4 games before he made his first

John :how is that possible though even if you dont' look for your offense being 7 feet, you have to accidently make a shot

Me: nope, not collins

John: he is a very good help defender, and sets good screens

Me:uh... yeah, something like that...

This conversation pretty much sums it up for Collins. You’d think being 7 foot he accidentally help out the offense, but nope he averages exactly 0.5 points a game. You’d think he would grab at least like 7-8 rebounds a game, haha try 2.2. So surely he must block some shots? Nope, 0.08 blocks per game.

So why does he play? Mainly because people, specifically his coach, thinks he sets good screens and plays good defense. Now I’ll give him this, despite not blocking any shots, he does provide pretty decent defense against a big man with size, say an Eddy Curry, Shaq or Dwight Howard. However if you put him against a guy like Bargnani or Stoudemire, in other words a quicker big man he’s got little to no chance. As for setting good screens though… it’s a bloody screen! That’s not a talent! If you combine the fact that he’s not all-league defensive, and his offense is epically bad, he should not play, especially not 18-20 minutes a night.

He makes Ben Wallace look like an offensive dynamo.

Admittedly like any stat John Hollingers PER (player efficiency rating) isn’t perfect, but I think it’s useful. So, consider this for a second, Jason Collins had a league low 3.02 PER last season. The runner up had a PER 2 points higher at 5.33. As bad as last season’s efficiency rating was his PER this season is NEGATIVE. That’s right, -2.66, the worst PER in the League. According to that, the Nets might actually be better on offense with no center on the floor then Collins.

If you can’t find a way to contribute at least a little bit offensively with Jason Kidd as your teammate, you know you’re garbage. With Sean Williams emerging to average 8.7 points, 4.3 boards and 2.1 blocks per game in the same 19 points a game and even Josh Boone providing mostly solid D and a per of 3 in VERY limited time, it’s time for Collins to take a seat.

The Nets Effect: RJ Breaking Out

The Nets finished off their second and third games of the season this weekend. They were crushed by the Raptors on Friday and struggled to a victory against the Sixers on Saturday to move to 2-1.

So what did we learn from the weekend?

1) The Nets are going to struggle against athletic big men. Throw Shaq, Eddy Curry or Big Z against the Nets big men and they’ll defend them as well as any other team does or better. However you throw a big man like Barnani or Bosh their way they’re going to struggle. When you throw two of them their way like the Raptors do and they’re going to struggle a lot. Collins and Magloire are not quick at all, and before Malik Allen hit a few jumpers last night I wasn’t convinced he deserved to even play in the D league. There aren’t a lot of solutions to this issue as Krstic is slowed by his recovering from his knee injuries and the Nets don’t seem to have too much faith in Sean Williams, the one guy who has the quickness to guard guys like Bargnani. Not coincidentally the only time the Nets looked decent in the second half Friday night was when Williams was on the court with the starters.

2) RJ is the VERY good. This is not breaking news here, everyone knew he was good, but this season he is stepping up his game even further. He carried the Nets to their two victories with 29 points on opening night, 22 against Philly and threw in 27 in the lose to the Raptors (he could have scored close to 40 if it wasn’t a blow out by midway in the fourth. More than the scoring is the efficiency he scores with. So far this season he is shooting 51 percent from the floor, 62.5 percent from behind the arc and is a perfect 25 for 25 from the free throw line. Using John Hollingers PER, Jefferson has a PER of 30 so far, more than doubling his predicted PER. Will he shoot this well the rest of the season? Probably not, but if he continues to take quality shots like he has the first three games, he will have a great season.

3) Vince Carter is still vastly overpaid. In stark contrast to how Jefferson has played Carter has been just as bad. He’s shooting 30 percent so far. It’s very simple for him, if he lets the offense come to him he will do well, if he forces it he won’t… he often forces it. Everyone knows he’s going to decline with age, but I can’t imagine it would happen this fast. You have to imagine he’ll pick it up, but there’s very little doubt he will not live up to his contract signed this offseason.

4) Kidd is still Kidd. After putting in another triple double last night, Jason Kidd is still doin his thing.

5) Darrell Armstrong is not an NBA point guard. He’s old, can’t shoot, is nothing special when it comes to passing and isn’t thaaaat quick. He used to be very quick, but as I mentioned he’s now old and considering his speed was his only discernable skill, he is no longer an NBA point guard. Marcus Williams can’t get back soon enough.

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.