Brett LaGree from the Hawks TrueHoop site Hoopinion is back for a quick final round of Bloggers Talk where I ask him about his thoughts on Atlanta's chances in the playoffs.

NAS: Do you get the sense, especially with Joe Johnson's FA status, that this is the last chance for this core group of guys to go on some kind of meaningful run in April/May?

It's weird, in that, because no one (Joe Johnson maybe included) knows what Joe Johnson is even likely to decide to do in free agency either we're seeing this group for the last time (I think it'll take at least two significant trades to reconstitute this team if he leaves.) or we're going to see this group for a long time because there won't be any money left over if he re-signs.

I know the Hawks would have their MLE I just don't think they'd use it.

NAS: After the past two years of playoff basketball for the Hawks, what would you consider an "acceptable" ending to the season?

It's unreasonable to expect the Hawks to beat either Cleveland or Orlando in a seven-game series so getting to the Conference Finals would be a tremendous achievement. Playing a competitive series against either of those two would be acceptable. Especially competing against the Magic, who are both better than the Hawks in absolute terms and a terrible matchup for the Hawks.

Mark Ginocchio

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Before he was drafted last June, the one word that always seemed to be associated with Terrence Williams was “versatile.” He had the size and muscle to be an option at small forward, but his ball handling and passing ability made him an option to run the offense and create match-up problems as a point forward. To demonstrate his versatility, he had a double-double in his first professional game in October, and three more before the end of November. But his up and down shooting marred portions of his rookie season, and some off-the-court attitude issues cut into his playing time. So, while the following might sound like an obvious statement, let me preface it by saying that I’m ecstatic that TWill has gotten his act together to be in a position for me to be so obvious:

Terrence Williams does a lot of things really, really well.

For the month of March, Williams has averaged 14 points, 4.9 assists and 6.7 rebounds in about 30 minutes of playing time. It’s been a stunning turnaround for the rookie who some were saying early-on was bordering on becoming a bust. Instead, TWill has forced his way onto the court during critical end-of-game situations, primarily because he can do so many things to help his team win at three different positions.

Let’s start with some passing numbers. At the beginning of the season, I used to pick apart Williams for getting too “cute” with his passes, and underestimating the speed of the NBA game. In the past six weeks, TWill seems to be grasping this idea, and while he still makes mistakes, he’s also distributed some of the prettiest dimes I’ve ever seen from a player his size. When looking at how he stacks up against other SFs in the league (which is still his most natural position in my opinion), TWill’s 16.3 assist ratio is good for 6^th at the position. Against other rookies, TWill’s ratio places him 10^th, but he’s the only non-PG in the top 10, according to ESPN’s statistics.

As for his rebounding – which I think might be his strongest skill – TWill’s rebound rate of 11 is good for 9^th at the SF position (and tied with LeBron James, who as I’m reminded often, is built like a linebacker). He is comfortably the best non PF/C rebounder on the Nets’ roster.

The one knock against TWill continues to be his shooting percentage, but he even has a strong suit there. While it’s still a relatively small sample, Williams as demonstrated a real penchant for the corner three, shooting 12-22 (55 percent) from that spot on the floor. As I’ve ranted on about in the past, the Nets were one of the most effective teams from the corner last year, and I think they would have gotten off to a better start if they had a healthy Jarvis Hayes to hit from the corner, along with a more confident Courtney Lee. As it stands, Williams may want to hide out in the corner a bit more on offense as well, but he may be too busy helping his team by running the offense and grabbing rebounds to focus on that statistic right now.

Mark Ginocchio

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Terrence Williams (more on him later) has some sage-like advice for himself in the latest from Dave D'Alessandro: “I learned you have to keep your mouth shut,” he said. “Honestly, that’s it. Because you get further with silence than you do speaking out or acting out. The lesson taught to me was to pay attention to other guys, and learn from them. I really wasn’t ready for that.”

Fred Kerber with some more TWill money quotes:  "I want to get every rebound and every assist in the game. But one, I don't play the whole game and two, I don't think Brook [Lopez] would let me get every rebound," Williams said. "Points will come . . . but assists and rebounds, that's what I have to do."

The Nets need three more wins to avoid infamy, but they'll likely enter tonight's game with Atlanta without Devin Harris.

NetsDaily continues its breakdown of all things Mikhail Prokhorov.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a little profile on Jay-Z's business success.

Mark Ginocchio

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After 66 games the Nets only have 7 wins.  They need 3 wins to get to 10, and thus avoiding the infamy of having the worst record in the history of the NBA.  While most experts and fans agree that the Nets aren't the worst team in the NBA (talent-wise at least), unless they win more than 9 games, nobody is going to care about that.  So can the Nets do it?  Al Iannazzone chimes in with his opinion in his latest blog post for the YES Network:

The Nets can, and probably, should avoid that record. Yes, they have had stretches like 18 consecutive losses. But twice they won three in 14 games and once three in 15 games. So it’s possible.

Also, the schedule lightens up a little with seven games currently against teams under .500, including at Philadelphia, Washington and Indiana and home for Sacramento, Detroit and Chicago.

Really, this is all the Nets have to play for at this point: pride and avoiding the record. But it’s going to take a commitment to doing what needs to be done on both ends of the floor.

I agree with Mr. Iannazzone here.  I think the Nets should be able to get three wins, let's break it down.

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Sebastian Pruiti

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Does Brook Lopez foul too much?

The Editorial page of the Star-Ledger bemoans the Nets plans to move to Brooklyn: You’d think it would be easy to say goodbye to a team with fewer victories than Congressional Republicans. But chances are the Nets are going to get good and sexy before they leave — like the spouse who loses the weight, gets the makeover, then runs off with, well, a Russian millionaire.

Bleacher Report looks at the five most disappointing teams of the 2009-10 season.

Some more reasons to get excited about Evan Turner.

Mark Ginocchio

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Advanced Box Score | Red94.net | The Dream Shake

Luis Scola scored 44 points against the Nets last night.  Let me repeat that, Luis Scola scored 44 points against the Nets last night.  Despite Chuck Hayes starting the game at center, he only played 10 minutes, and when Hayes wasn't on the court Scola is the player who slid to the 5 spot.  With Brook Lopez struggling with foul trouble throughout the game (only played 37 minutes and had to sit during a key 2 minute chunk in the fourth quarter when the Rockets went on a 7-0 run), Scola was able to out-work the rest of the Nets undersized frontcourt and get his baskets in the lane.  As he started to hit his shots, and as he started to see the ball go in, he got more comfortable.  He ended up taking 25 shots, and making 20 of them.  I don't think a Net has made 20 shots in a game all year.  Lopez's foul trouble effected Scola on the other side of the court.  When Brook was in, they worked it inside against the undersized Scola and it was effective.  Pounding it inside against Scola probably would have been able to wear him down and possibly got him in foul trouble, limiting his chances.

Even with Scola going off for 44, the Nets were still in this ballgame late.  After Jarvis Hayes hit a three pointer with about nine minutes left, the Rockets lead was cut down to two points, 87-85.  The next three possessions for the Nets were a bad shot, a turnover, and another bad shot, and just like that the Rockets' lead stretched out 9 points, 94-85.  Some of it had to do with Brook being out (he re-entered the game after this run and instantly got an easy bucket in the post), but this is starting to become a trend with the Nets.  They work to get a game close late against a solid team, and then when it comes down to a key possession, they just lose their mind.  Friday night in OKC, the Nets were down for with about a minute thirty left.  Jarvis Hayes rushed a three and didn't even hit the rim.  Last night, the lead was two points and Terrence Williams made a bad pass that I haven't seen him make since his struggles early in the year.  I don't know if it is the pressure of trying to get past this record, but the Nets just lose their mind when the game is close late.

Speaking of Terrence Williams, the start Terrence Williams movement is gaining some steam (it is almost as popular as the trade Terrence Williams movement from the early part of the year), and I have to agree with the guys calling for T-Wiill to start.  However, you can see why Kiki is having him come off the bench.  For one, if T-Will starts and they bring in Trenton Hassell off the bench, the Nets second unit weakens tremendously.  The Nets' second unit gets killed as it is, you take Terrence Williams out of that second unit, and it is even worse.  Also, there are guys in this league who are good in limited amount of minutes.  Maybe Kiki and the coaching staff believe that Terrence Williams at 35-40 minutes isn't as effective as Terrence Williams at 25-30 minutes.  They have evidence of this.  Remember the beginning of the year, where Terrence was playing 40 minutes a game?  He wasn't nearly as effective as he is now.  Some more thoughts after the jump.

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Sebastian Pruiti

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Before we get to the recap, just wanted to apologize for not getting a game preview up.  Anyone in the tri-state area knows how crazy the weather is right now, and I actually just got my power back in the middle of the third quarter.  Kind of wish the power didn't come on when it did, as the Nets lost to the Rockets, 116 to 108.

• It was the Luis Scola show.  With Brook battling foul trouble all night (his 5th foul was very questionable), Scola was able to get a few easy buckets, which lead him to get hot, and then all of a sudden he had 44 points on 20-25 shooting.
• Even with Scola going absolutely nuts, the Nets were in this game late, down 2 in the middle of the fourth.  Devin missed a forced jumper, Terrence Williams turned the ball over, and all of a sudden the lead grew to 9.  That was the game.
• Courtney Lee looked like he finally shook the hand injury, and he shot 10-14 from the field (including 3-4 from three) for 24 points.
• Brook Lopez and Devin Harris also contributed putting in 20+ with good shooting percentage.
• Terrence Williams put up 14 points and Jarvis Hayes scored 16, though 9 of Hayes' points came late in the 4th as the Nets were trying to claw back in it.
• As you can tell from the score the Nets played well offensively, but you can't let a guy like Scola put up 44 and let the Rockets' real scorers (Kevin Martin, Aaron Brooks) still get theirs.  Martin had 20 and Brooks put up 18.

Sebastian Pruiti

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AP Photo/Alonzo Adams

Daily Thunder - Welcome to Loud City - Hoopdata Box Scores -

NBA basketball can be funny sometimes. Immediately after Wednesday's 9-point loss to the Dallas Mavericks, I bemoaned the fact that the Nets had played a relatively good game that they deserved to win. Two days later, the Nets got thoroughly outplayed by the Oklahoma City Thunder for about 45 minutes, but a short burst in the game's final minutes turned this into a two-point, 104-102 loss for the Nets. In this case, the final score was absolutely deceiving. The Nets could have lost this game by 20 and I wouldn't have been the least bit shocked based on the way things were unfolding.

I hope it doesn't make me too much of a grump that I can't get all that excited by the final score of this game and say - "well, they gave the Thunder a scare." Or, "the Nets got mediocre to bad performances from Brook Lopez and Courtney Lee, but they were still in a spot where they could have stolen one."

To start things off on a positive, I was very impressed with the Nets role players tonight. In the first half, Keyon Dooling and Terrence Williams each came off the bench to save the Nets from letting this game get away from them before it started. Dooling had 12 of his 15 points in the first half while Terrence Williams continued his impressive run of all-around games in March with 14 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. His shooting is still atrocious. One three attempt wide open in the corner in the second quarter missed the rim and the backboard entirely.  But you have to be happy with how TWill is finally starting to mature as a player.

In the fourth quarter, the starters got a boost from Jarvis Hayes, who single-handedly pulled the Nets within four after sinking back-to-back treys with about two minutes left in the game. Still, it was a shot-putted jumper by Hayes with about a minute left that has epitomized this Nets season. With an opportunity to cut OKC's lead to two or less, the Nets looked disoriented on offense. A pass from under the basket by Devin Harris was almost picked off but skipped its way over to Williams, who then moved it quickly to a heavily-guarded Hayes at the top of the key. With about three seconds left on the shot clock, Hayes looked like he was trying to force contact and heaved it. If this was baseball, it probably would have been good for a double in the gap, but since this is basketball, the shot missed badly and capped off just a terrible possession for the Nets in crunch time, something the franchise should trademark along with "Brooklyn Nets" before the end of the season.

I saw a lot more bad than good from the Nets in this game and it really would have been a shocking collapse for a very talented Thunder team if they lost this thing in the final two minutes. J.G. Marking at the Daily Thunder blog says it all:

Boy am I glad this one is over and there’s a “W” in the good column instead of a “I want to bash my head in because I can’t believe they lost” in the bad column (what, there was a couple “L’s” in that sentence). This was one of the most anticlimactic games I can remember that I was waiting for the Thunder to blow open and they never did, letting the Nets hang around…and hang around…and then absolutely frighten me in the last few minutes.

The first quarter especially demonstrated the talent discrepancy between these two teams. The Nets continued their dangerous trend of getting run off the floor early because of poor transition defense. And as I mentioned in a post earlier this week, you can't even blame the presence of Yi on this one. Josh Boone was Yi-esque, frequently losing track of Jeff Green early on, who was in double-digits in points by the end of the first quarter. The Nets also didn't help their cause by making a plethora of lazy passes that led to transition baskets. By the end of the first quarter the Nets had 6 turnovers and the Thunder had 13 fast break points. Considering the finally tally for both these statistics by the end of the game was 12 TOs and 20 fast break points, and you can see just how bad the Nets were early.

Meanwhile, the Nets big three were up and down and mostly down. Devin Harris had a solid night statistically with 19 points and 8 assists, but it took him 20 shots to get there. I loved how he picked up the offensive foul on Russell Westbrook with less than a minute to go in the game, but Harris didn't do that much to get himself to the free throw line, only attempting three FTs for the game. Before the start of the fourth quarter, Mike Fratello did a great telestrator breakdown of how Lopez was allowing OKC's defenders to move him out of the post and essentially turn him into a jump shooter. And this wasn't much ado about nothing either as Lopez attempted five of his 14 FGs from outside of 17-feet, only hitting one. A lot of his other shots were short range jumpers and hooks below the foul line. Considering Lopez was up against Nenad Krstic, who I think is fair to say is a tad soft on the interior, Lopez should have fought through some of OKC's defensive formations to stay closer to the hoop. This is his third mediocre game in a row, and I wondering if the strain of the full NBA season is finally starting to affect Lopez who was a bit more coddled playing-time wise by Lawrence Frank last year.

As for Courtney Lee, early on, I was curious to see how his banged up hand was going to affect his jumper. Looking at his final shooting line, 2-9, 6 points, no field goals until there was about 4 minutes left in the game, I guess you could conclude that the injury affected him, but from the naked eye, I just saw Lee force a lot of jumpers that he shouldn't have been taking. He did get one open look from three towards the end of the first quarter that he missed, but otherwise I think I need to see more from Lee before I can determine whether it's the injury or his shot selection.

A few more thoughts after the jump:
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Mark Ginocchio

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The Nets made it interesting in the final minutes, but the Oklahoma City Thunder won a game that they led throughout, beating the Nets 104-102 in OKC tonight.

• The Nets got some solid offensive contributions from their bench tonight, with Jarvis Hayes sinking 16 points on 6-13 shooting, Keyon Dooling  with 15 points on 4-5 shooting and Terrence Williams with 14 points (and 6 rebounds) on 6-13 shooting.
• Devin Harris had a decent game offensively, scoring 19 points and collecting 8 assists, but was 8-20 from the field.
• OKC was led by Kevin Durant, who finished with 32 points and 11 rebounds. He was seconded by Jeff Green who had 27 points (20 in first half), 6 rebounds and 3 steals.
• Courtney Lee, battling a wrist injury, was struggling all night, scoring 6 points on 2-9 shooting.
• The Nets had 6 turnovers in the first quarter, but finished with 12 for the game.

Mark Ginocchio

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Not a lot of time to get this up, so quickly to the lineups...

Devin Harris vs. Russell Westbrook

Watching these two guys go at it is going to be fun.  Westbrook uses his athleticism and Devin his speed, but both guys are fantastic at getting into the paint, and both are a little more scoring oriented than your average point guard.  We could find ourselves in a situation where both guys just start going at each other trying to one-up the other.  That could get very entertaining.

Advantage:  Push

Courtney Lee vs. Thabo Sefolosha

According to Al Iannazzone Courtney Lee has a sprained thumb on his shooting hand, but he won't be missing any time. That is probably what contributed to his first bad game in quite a while (4-12 shooting).  Tonight, he is going against a pretty good defender in Thabo, but he won't produce much in terms of scoring.

Advantage:  Push

Trenton Hassell vs. Kevin Durant

If it was any other team, I'd be pushing to see Terrence Williams starting here, but Hassell is a better defender and that is what you need when going against Kevin Durant.  Durant is going to make shots, and he is going to get points in transition, so if you want to have a chance against the Thunder, you are going to have to keep him off of the foul line.  If the Nets do that, they have a chance.

Advantage:  Kevin Durant

Kris Humphries vs. Jeff Green

Boone is a game time decision with a sprained back, so you will probably see Kris Humphries starting (and if not, he will be getting a bulk of the minutes).  Green is a guy who can score inside and out, but I think Humphries will be able to handle him, as he did a fantastic job of defending Dirk last time.  Humphries needs to contribute on the offensive end though, he is creating too many wasted possessions with his missed mid-range jumpers as of late.

Advantage:  Jeff Green

Brook Lopez vs. Nenad Krstic

Brook Lopez struggled defending Nenad last time out, as he floated on the outside and knocked down a few jumpers.  I think the Nets should counter by going inside and trying to get Krstic in foul trouble early.

Advantage:  Brook Lopez

Sebastian Pruiti

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I don't know how many of you are familiar with Wayne Winston, but the man is one of the best sports analytics people in the business.  In fact until recently he was doing statistical analysis for the Dallas Mavericks.  Since he stopped doing his thing for the Mavericks, Winston published a book called Mathletics (where he breaks down advanced statistics for a few different sports) and he now runs a blog where he does his thing.  Recently, over at WayneWinston.com Winston posted his "Post All-Star Rankings."  It was interesting to see that according to Winston, the Nets haven't been the worst team in the NBA since the break.  Hell, they weren't even second worst.  The Nets ranked 23rd in Winston's rankings, with the Knicks ranking last (awesome).  Let's allow Winston to explain his rankings:

In the three weeks since the all star break here is a summary of how well each NBA team has played.  For example, the Magic have played 10.65 points better than average. The Magic have played 2.38 points better than average on offense and 8.26 points better than average on defense. Note the Nets have really improved and the Knicks are now the league’s worst team. Kudos to the unsung Bucks, who have played great. These numbers are adjusted for strength of schedule. Makes you think that  a Lakers-Cavs final series is not inevitable!

Now, let's look at the Nets specifically.  The Nets have an overall ranking of -4.12119, meaning they play about 4 points worse than their opponents.  Breaking it down to both sides of the ball, the Nets have been playing -4.29861 on the offensive end, but on the flip side, the Nets have been better than their opponents on defense.  Now it hasn't been by much (only 0.17742 better), but with the way the Nets played defense, any kind of better is good news.

If you have been watching Nets games, you know the Nets have been playing better since the break.  With Brook Lopez continuing to dominate (up until the last two games where he faced real tough defenders), Courtney Lee finally breaking out of his funk, Terrence Williams starting to get it, and Devin Harris returning to last year's all-star form.  I have to echo Mark's sentiments from yesterday:

So you tell me: can the worst team in basketball honestly be expected to accomplish all this in a given night? After being legitimately angry with this team and organization for the better part of the last four months, I can honestly say I now sympathize with these guys. Between the young talent of guys like Lopez, Harris, Williams and Lee, and some veteran good-guys like Keyon Dooling, Hayes and Hassell, these Nets need to find a way to get out of this discussion as being among the worst ever, because they just don’t belong there.

This team is just not the worst team in NBA history.  They don't do things that bad teams do (most of the time), and they go out and compete.  Hopefully they can come away with 3 more wins.

Sebastian Pruiti

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Sebastian was talking Brooklyn over at the Daily Dime last night.

Our good friend Henry Abbott at the TrueHoop mothership asks what Brooklyn native and renown Knicks fan Spike Lee is going to do once the Nets officially move in.

Al Iannazzone depicts the daily beat writers struggle when talking about Bruce Ratner's victory lap yesterday: As a colleague said to me last night, it’s wrong that Ratner goes on these shows when these major things happen and doesn’t talk to the regular guys covering the team. We haven’t spoken to Ratner since last April.

Terrence Williams is ready for the grown-up table: Maturity is a word mentioned often. Vandeweghe said Williams’ "maturity level is rising." Even Williams admits he’s grown up some and is concentrating on playing.

Here's some video of CEO Brett Yormark on Fox Business News yesterday:

Mark Ginocchio

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