This weekend provided an interesting back and forth between former Nets' president Rod Thorn and current Nets' CEO Brett Yormark.  It all started when Peter Vecsey talked to the Thorn over the weekend, and Thorn (now with no reason to hold back) let everyone know how he really felt about Yormark:

From what I had told, Yormark had gotten down on Thorn down the stretch, feeling he'd gotten lazy and done a poor job. Though unable to talk Bruce Ratner into firing him (the master plan was to rehire friend John Calipari and re-position him on the sidelines with complete power regarding personnel), Brett had no problem undermining Rod.

There was persistent friction between the two executives.

"Yormark was Ratner's go-to guy for everything," said someone in the know. "They'd speak 30 times a day. Whenever Thorn wanted to do something of substance he'd reach out to Ratner who'd immediately run it by Yormark."

According to past and present team employees, regardless whether or not Yormark endorsed Thorn's idea, a proposed trade, signing, whatever, was soon in the newspapers and/or on the air.

"Brett is the Nets' chief leak," maintains one and all.

"I don't deny my dislike for the guy," Thorn admitted last Friday when asked by phone about their contentious relationship. "But he's not the reason I left."

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Sebastian Pruiti

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I'm going to attempt to answer some of your questions based on what's been floating around in the news, and just my pure gut instinct. So I guess take this with a grain of salt!

Anyway, there wasn't a ton of questions to sift through, but what did come through had a lot to do with the Carmelo Anthony trade and its fallout (shocker there).

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Mark Ginocchio

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For those wondering if Derrick Favors is going to start right away, Avery Johnson offered some definitive statements on the topic:  “Right now, I just don’t want to start Favors,” Johnson said after the team’s shootaround Sunday. “He could be Bill Walton or Shaq, it doesn’t matter, I just don’t want to start him right now.”

Stefan Bondy gets the hype machine going:

Avery on the team's overall effort yesterday (a 108-70 win over Maccabi Haifa): "We have a long ways to go," Johnson said. "Fortunately for us the season doesn't start now. Defensively, too many breakdowns, especially in the first half."

Brook Lopez especially drew some criticism after last night: “Not good,” was Avery Johnson’s assessment of the player he just called a cornerstone a few days ago. “Not good. Not good, especially against a 6-6 center. Got overpowered, not good. But he brought more energy in the third quarter. We talked about it halftime and he responded.”

The ever-quirky Terrence Williams: "I call everyone rook now," Williams said. "I even call Joe Smith a 'rook.' He's a reborn 'rook.'

Mark Ginocchio

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Unless you were one of 5,174 in attendance, you were unable to catch the Nets' first preseason game of the season, since it wasn't televised anywhere.  That doesn't mean that you were left in the dark during the game.  Both NetsDaily and Al Iannazzone where live tweeting the event, and Stefan Bondy gave us some live commentary.  Here are some quick opinions based on the boxscore and the reports:

• The one number that really jumps out at you is 28 assists as a team (on 39 makes).  That is a fantastic number, and especially important for the Nets because they were so bad distributing the ball last year (28th in the NBA when it came to Assist Ratio).    This indicates that the team is knocking down shots, running an effective offense, and working together.
• Derrick Favors had 14 points and 9 rebounds.  If he can give this to the Nets every night, they should be pleased.
• T-Will had 6 assists, but 4 turnovers.  Only hit 1 of 5 shots, but got to the line six times.  A mixed bag for him.
• Anthony Morrow went 4-6 from three.  It sure didn't take him a lot of time to get adjusted to the rims.
• I think Al Iannazzone sums it up best. "Still, it’s just one game, against non-NBA talent. No need to get too high or to low."

Sebastian Pruiti

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Here we have yet another set of these great blogger previews.  This time we take a look at the Central Division, where the Bulls may have lost their status as favorites (in my opinion) to win the division with the news that Boozer will be out eight weeks with a fractured hand.

Bucks: Brew Hoop | NBAMate | SBNation Recap

Bulls: Blog-A-Bull | SBNation Recap

Cavs: Fear The Sword | WaitingForNextYear

Pacers: Indy Cornrows

Pistons: DetroitBadBoys | Detroit Basketball | Need4Sheed.com | SB Nation Detroit

Recaps: All Previews

Sebastian Pruiti

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Anyone have any questions for our mailbag for tomorrow? Send them in: mailbag@netsarescorching.com

Mark Ginocchio

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The Nets officially kick off their season tonight at 7 PM at the Prudential Center, as they take on the Israeli professional basketball team Maccabi Haifa in Newark. This will be the first opportunity to see the completely revamped New Jersey take on a professional basketball team, albeit not an NBA team. Maccabi Haifa is led by American Sylven Landesberg, a former Mr. Basketball (NY) who played two years at Virginia and spent Summer League this offseason with Sacramento.

Three things to watch out for:

• Anthony Morrow & Terrence Williams. Morrow struggled with his shot at the Prudential Center and chalked it up to adjusting to the rims. While Avery has made a few comments indicating that Morrow is likely the starter come opening day (and according to Nets beat writer Stefan Bondy, he will start tonight), he'll have to show that he can make some shots in Newark at some point if he wants Avery to keep saying that.

• Jordan Farmar. Unlike Morrow, Farmar seemed to have no issue knocking down three-pointers at the open practice, and showed a considerable swagger on the court. Against a second-tier professional team, he should continue to shine. Devin Harris shouldn't have any issues keeping his starting job, but if Farmer continues to impress, he could be facing a competition he didn't expect.

• Lastly, of course, the rookies. Joe Smith, Troy Murphy, and Brian Zoubek are all out tonight, which means that there will be a lot of time backing up Kris Humphries at the 4 (and perhaps some at the 5) for Derrick Favors. Damion James is a 3-4 hybrid w ho should see some time at both positions as well. James is more polished but Favors of course has that unbelievable upside, and against a small front line (Other than 7'1" Robert Rothbart, Maccabi Haifa has no player taller than 6'8") Favors should be able to utilize his strength & quickness down low and overpower the opposing defense.

Devin Kharpertian

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Well, despite seemingly looking to move him in almost every Carmelo Anthony-trade scenario, Avery Johnson and the Nets seem to continually express wonderment to the kid's raw tools. Today Fred Kerber captures a highlight from the week:

Rookie Derrick Favors sought to establish position on the right block. Kris Humphries, from behind, tried to force Favors away from the basket.

Favors put his right arm into Humphries' chest, shoved and sent the six-year veteran stumbling. Offensive foul? Probably. Impressive move? Definitely.

Meanwhile, Johnson, while gushing, throws cold water and references Benoit Benjamin again:

" 'Potential.' He can potentially get there," Johnson said, reminding that for every great player who once flashed potential, there was an equal bust who fell short (he referenced Benoit Benjamin).

I really want to see what Favors can do in a Nets uniform. One would think, with the way talks collapsed with Denver, that they would no longer hold the leverage in talks with the Nets as they seemingly did last week, especially if Favors comes out of the gate and can find ways to contribute.

Mark Ginocchio

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Obviously, this is a New Jersey Nets blog, however, the NAS crew absolutely love the NBA in general. So, every week, Sebastian, Mark, Devin, Evan, and myself will answer questions regarding the L.

1) Washington Wizards owner, Ted Leonsis mentioned that the NBA would have a hard salary cap like the NHL and was fined $100,000 by David Stern for saying so.  How do you think the hard salary cap will affect the league and should the NBA have one?

Mark: It's clear that the NBA needs to change its salary structure because a number of teams are losing money hand over fist.  For a sport as financially challenged as the NBA, I think a hard cap like the NHL is worth exploring. If there was a way to eliminate guaranteed contracts, like what you have in the NFL, that would lead to even more parity and financial success in my honest opinion. I guess this is why I'll never be a lawyer for the player's union.

Devin: It would be extremely difficult to implement now, especially since you've got all these giant contracts recently signed. Pat Riley is not going to sign off on a hard cap with three near-max players on their roster. If it was grandfathered in somehow - I.E. contracts signed prior to hard cap agreement only count as a certain percentage of the cap - it could work, but I'm not a fan of a completely hard cap. I think the salary system as it stands is more effective.

Evan: There is no question that if the league implements a hard cap, player salaries will go down, especially for the non-superstars. The top guys will still get maximum money, but players who have gotten mid-level and veteran exceptions in the past will not be as well paid. There are two clear sides of the argument as to whether the NBA should impose a hard salary cap. Naturally the owners will want to implement one to curb players’ salaries and the Player's Association would be strongly against one. My opinion? Impose a hard cap like the NFL and NHL. One of the great things about the NFL is that each season a new team seems to come out of the woodwork and make a strong run in the playoffs. A major reason for this is because of the competitive balance created by a hard salary cap. A hard cap in the NBA will equal more competitiveness around the league and will not result in the same teams making the NBA Finals each season (Lakers, Celtics, Spurs…).

DV: I'm all for a hard salary cap.  It just makes sense competitively and proof of it working is in the NFL where every season teams come out of nowhere or fall hard from expectation.  Sure there are a lot of factors that go into those things happening, but the managing of salaries is a big part of that.  Not only will this even the field a bit more, but it will make scouting and analysis that more important and in any game, those are important elements to winning, as opposed to just throwing money around and not being afraid to make mistakes because a team doesn't mind eating up a bad contract.... MORE →

Dennis Velasco

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Acknowledging that he could still be traded for Carmelo Anthony at any time, NBA.com's John Schumann has focused on Devin Harris and his capabilities for a bounceback season this year. It's something NAS has discussed a lot, and Schumann seems to share the same mindset as some of our writers over here. Bottom line, with a new cast of characters on this team who are nearly all good shooters, it's possible for a Devo bounceback:

Enter Jordan Farmar, Anthony Morrow, Troy Murphy and Travis Outlaw. They may not be big names, but they can all shoot. The four summer additions, all of whom will be major parts of the Nets' rotation, have combined to shoot 41 percent from 3-point range over the last two seasons.

Harris again has the shooters around him to make defenses pay for sagging into the lane.

"Every point guard needs space," (Avery) Johnson said. "We feel that's going to be important for him to not have any excuses of why not to be aggressive."

If this team remains intact going into the season opener, the status of Devin Harris may be the most interesting thing to watch for. He was such a dramatic game changer in 2008-09. If he resembled that player last season, there is no question in mind that the Nets wouldn't have been battling to avoid the worst record of all time.

Mark Ginocchio

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By:  Evan Kaplan

Welcome to part IV in our “Breaking Down the Schedule” series. For those of you who may not have followed the first three parts of our breakdown, here’s where we have the Nets after 60 games. Sebastian predicted a 9-11 start, Mark followed with an 8-12 prediction over the next 20 and Devin had the team going .500 with a 10-10 record in Games 41-60. So we at NAS have the Nets at 27-33 after the first 60 games.

Here’s a look at the final 22 games of the 2010-11 season and how the Nets will finish based upon their current roster.

March 04 vs. Toronto (The O2 Arena in London)

The Nets travel across the Atlantic to London, England to face off against the Raptors in the first of two games to begin the month of March. Toronto will have a down year with the tremendous turnover of their roster and the loss of Bosh, and with all of the travel and unusual playing circumstances for both teams, I think it’s safe to say they will split these two games. Nets win the first one. 28-33

March 05 vs. Toronto (The O2 Arena in London)

The second of two London games against the Raptors is a 3:00 Eastern Time Saturday matinee. The Nets have more talent than Toronto but you would think jet lag and the time difference could be a factor in the second game of a back-to-back. The more I think about these two games, the more I envision a split. Toronto takes the finale overseas. 28-34

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Sebastian Pruiti

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The Nets appeared to have a practice yesterday where it took a whole six questions before Carmelo Anthony's name was mentioned. That's an improvement folks.

But the theme that seemed to emerge in practice yesterday is who's going t be the starting SG. NAS worked on that theme a little while ago, but here are how the beat writers are reporting it:

"Yeah, [Morrow] does [make a better fit], especially when the ball goes in the basket," (Avery) Johnson said (per the New York Post). "He gives Devin and Brook more room to operate because his 3's. We count them as layups and when he passes up those shots we're disappointed."

Here's the Star-Ledger's Conor Orr's take:

But much of it will depend on Williams’ continued maturation.

Reining in the player that can hang on to a 16 ppg. average, who can drop 14 assists in a night — like he did against Chicago last March — who can make a coach like Charlotte’s Larry Brown say that when he plays the way he’s capable of, the 12-70 Nets “could beat anybody.”

Brushing back the player that slept through team bus rides. Who struggled through role expansions and reversals. Who pondered aloud one night after a game about how different his future would be if he didn’t get drafted by the Nets at all.

As a little bonus here, our boy Dennis Velasco, moonlighting at his Fanway blog talks Carmelo on his podcast. Give it a listen, will ya?

Mark Ginocchio

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