Howlin Twolf, View from the Couch, Yi Interview, Kiki Vandeweghe Interview

For Nets fans, there was a lot to be frustrated about in last night's 103-99 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves: getting bullied in the paint and the glass by Al Jefferson (28 points, 7 rebounds) and Kevin Love (13 points, 16 rebounds), Johnny Flynn (22 points, 5 assists) running amok for three quarters, an unfortunate (but correct) call reversal by the refs that ended up giving the T'Wolves the ball back, up 2, with about 25 seconds left in the game, and a bizarre final possession that saw the Nets down 4, yet playing for one shot (and not even getting one off).

But rather than focus on the negative - and let's face it, at 2-27, there's just a lot of negative about the New Jersey Nets this season - let's try to accentuate the positive. And to do that, I have to start with Yi Jianlian.

After missing the past 7 weeks with a knee sprain, I wasn't expecting much from Yi in his return. Despite some ruminations in practice earlier this week, he wasn't going to start, and Kiki Vandeweghe stressed he was going to get limited minutes. Add in the fact that Yi has a track record of not being very sharp coming off an injury, there was little reason to believe he was going to be a factor last night.

Instead, Yi forced Kiki's hand and ended up playing a spectacular 30 minutes where he scored 22 points on 7-12 shooting, including 4-6 from three. After looking a bit tentative when he first checked in the game, picking up a couple of fouls and committing a turnover, Yi got a fast break dunk off an outlet pass from Keyon Dooling, and never looked back. He hit his first three at the top of the key at the 1:24 mark, and when the Wolves kept leaving him open in the second quarter, he responded by making three more long jumpers, including another three from the left corner at the 9:37 mark.

What was even more impressive was that Yi was calling for the ball all night. He wanted to shoot. When he drilled a three from the top of the key with about 3:20 left in the game to cut Minnesota's lead to 92-90, Yi emphatically thumped his chest. It was just a surreal sight - the otherwise mild mannered Yi finally looking like a go-to guy in an NBA game.

And it wasn't just scoring. Yi was active on the glass, grabbing 8 boards, and fighting against some pretty tenacious rebounders in Love and Jefferson.

Unfortunately, the Nets couldn't fully reap the benefits of having a big man who could shoot out on the floor because Brook Lopez was just so bad all night. It's forgivable given just how good Brook has been this season, but Lopez looked off from the get-go, botching a couple of lob passes from Devin Harris in the post. He did have a nice passing game going early (7 assists total), especially with Courtney Lee (20 points, 8-16 shooting, 3-4 from three), who got two baseline dunks in the first quarter off dishes from Lopez. But he finished the game with 9 points, and was 5-10 from the free throw line - a routinely solid part of his game. One of those free throws would have cut the Minnesota lead to one with less than 30 seconds left in the game, making the foul a more logical call for the Nets (keeping it to one possession max). Just imagine what kind of two-man game could have been established if Brook was banging around in the post and if Yi was drilling his jumpers with the same efficiency? That dream scenario will have to wait at least another game. Then again, the Nets have rarely been able to put together a complete game this season, with all of their key guys contributing at the same time, for all four quarters.

Read a few more thoughts after the jump.
... MORE →

Mark Ginocchio

Tweet

Despite some reports earlier this month that a deal was practically dead, hope is still alive that the Nets can negotiate a way to play at the Prudential Center in Newark next season.

In leaguewide news that's relevant to the Nets, Yahoo reports that a drastic drop in the NBA salary cap is not expected at the end of the season.

Deadspin chimes in on last night's game.

Mark Ginocchio

Tweet

The battle of the league's two-worst teams went to the Minnesota Timberwolves, as they edged the Nets 103-99 at the Izod Center tonight.

• The Nets looked like they would have the ball, down two, with about 25 seconds left when refs initially called a turnover for the T'Wolves, but they took an official timeout and reversed it, giving the ball back to Minnesota, who hit their free throws down the stretch to win their 6th game of the year. The Nets meanwhile have to wonder where they're going to get their wins from.
• On a major positive note, Yi Jianlian returned from his 7-week hiatus and was outstanding, scoring 22 points off the bench on 7-12 shooting, including 4-6 from three-point land.
• The Nets backcourt was strong as well. Devin Harris went for 23 points on 9-17 shooting (and 8 assists), Courtney Lee had 20 points on 8-16 shooting (3-4 from three) and Keyon Dooling chipped in with 12 points off the bench.
• Brook Lopez, on the other hand, probably had his worst game of the season. He had 10 rebounds and 7 assists, but only scored 9 points and was 5-10 on his free throws, including a critical miss with about 28 seconds left that would have cut the Minnesota lead to one.
• Minnesota outscored the Nets 56-30 in the paint and outrebounded them 46-37. The inside scoring was helped by Al Jefferson (28 points, 7 rebounds), while Kevin Love was a monster on the glass (13 points, 16 rebounds).
• Johnny Flynn continues to torture the Nets, going for 22 points and 5 assists.
• For the game, the Nets were 9-17 from three-point land, one of their best games from long-distance of the season.

Mark Ginocchio

Tweet

28 games ago, the Nets had a chance to beat the Timberwolves and avoid any of this record nonsense, but it didn't work out like that.  While the Timberwolves has been just as bad as the Nets (and some claim they have been worse than the Nets), the Timberwolves now have Kevin Love playing for them, and he doesn't seem to be showing any effect of the injury. Here are the line-ups.

Mark is going to be around here handling the comments, you can find me over at ESPN's Daily Dime Chat.

UPDATE: Rafer Alston is out tonight.  Yi and Dooling are back.

Devin Harris vs. Jonny Flynn

Something that I have started to notice when rewatching the games is that Devin looks to create too much contact when he drives the lane.  Devin is great at getting to the line, but sometimes he tries to create the contact, doesn't get the call, and he ends up flinging up a shot that has no chance of going in.  I think he needs to worry about making the lay-up more than he needs to worry about creating the contact.  That being said, I still think he will get the best of Jonny Flynn tonight.

Advantage:  Devin Harris

Courtney Lee vs. Corey Brewer

Corey Brewer has always showed flashes of being a solid player (see his dunk on Derek Fisher), but now he seems to be putting it all together.  He has averaged over 14 PPG in his last 6 games.  Courtney Lee was at practice and his shot looked smooth when I was watching.  He looked under control and he wasn't fading.  Let's hope that he can carry it over into the game.

Advantage:  Push

Trenton Hassell vs. Damien Wilkens

OK.  Trenton Hassell and Damien Wilkens could very well be the same person.  They both have the same skill-set, and they both are getting way too much playing time on their respective teams.  An interesting stat though, Timberwolves are 5-8 in Wilkens' 13 starts.

Advantage:  Push

Josh Boone vs. Kevin Love

I was expecting a slow start for Kevin Love coming back from injury.  To me, rebounding is all about timing, and when you miss something like 20 games, one would think it would take him a little while to get in the swing of things.  Nope.  Kevin Love does all of the little things right, and that makes him a monster on the boards.  Josh Boone is not.

Advantage:  Kevin Love

Brook Lopez vs. Al Jefferson

Al Jefferson just looked off the last time these two teams played.  That was to be expected since he was coming back from major knee surgery.  I haven't had the chance to watch many Timberwolves games since, but you could expect Brook Lopez to have another big game against the Timberwolves.

Advantage:  Brook Lopez

Sebastian Pruiti

Tweet

A lot has been made about how the absence of Jarvis Hayes and Keyon Dooling - two likeable veteran leaders who also happen to be pretty decent outside shooters - has played a large part in the Nets misfortunes this season.

Some of the good news that came out of practice earlier this week was with Yi set to return tonight, and Hayes and Dooling soon after, the Nets might finally be whole for the first time this season (Chris Doulgas-Roberts returning from his ankle sprain would help this process along as well). However, in today's practice report from Fred Kerber, some comments made by and about Hayes and Dooling describe their imminent returns as tenuous at best:

"With a hamstring, at this point, if he hurts it again, he could be done," (Kiki) Vandeweghe said. "So it's just not worth it. You've just got to be safe with it. As much as we need him, you've just got to be safe."

and

"I had pretty major surgery. It'll be a process. I'll be back to normal, probably next year. This year is going to be a struggle for me," Dooling said. "It was a pretty serious surgery for me."

I don't even think this needs much reading between-the-lines. To boil it all down, if Hayes reinjures his hammy, he's probably done for the year, and Dooling never really  going to be healthy this season, so he's going to be on and off the injured list.

Now, I know these guys are only role players, but I take both of these morsels as pretty dispiriting news items. Please remember that it was Jarvis Hayes who organized the voluntary preseason practice sessions in late August - back in happier days where the Nets weren't taking veiled shots at each other in the locker room and in the press. And is it any coincidence that Dooling's short-lived return a few weeks ago occurred just as the Nets won their first two (and only) games of the season?

While the Nets probably have enough talent on their roster to avoid all-time infamy this season, I think it will be a lot easier to move pass 10 wins and end this talk of "worst ever" if these two specific guys can get back on the court and give consistent minutes off the bench. Not only will their three-point shooting provide some more spacing (provided that don't pull a Bobby Simmons), but these two are the truest definition of "intangible" guys who torture statheads with their lack of numbers, but still make teams better regardless. Here's to hope that these comments were just of the conservative, expectation-lowering variety.

Mark Ginocchio

Tweet

Ah, the Minnesota Timberwolves ... While the Nets had a lot go wrong for them to start the season 0-18, probably nothing was more critical than their season opening loss to the Wolves after leading by 17 points in the second half. Still, we shouldn't let our bitter hatred for the team prevent us from catching up with Patrick Hodgdon from Howlin Wolf about the T'Wolves.

NAS: Despite the fact that the Wolves had a few more wins than the Nets, there are a few NBA pundits who think the Nets are the better team. Make your case as to why the Wolves, are, at the very least, better than the Nets.

Well the answer to this question ties in to your third as well. Basically Kevin Love is the difference for the Wolves right now who are playing much better with him than they were before him. Without him I think you could make a case for the Nets but with him I think the Wolves hold the edge.

NAS: Nets fans have already started the John Wall watch. Any buzz in Minnesota about the prospective #1 draft pick in 2010?

Definitely a lot of buzz here. It would be pretty high comedy if the Wolves were to finally land the #1 pick with Wall on the board especially after everyone tore them apart for all their point guard love this past summer. That being said they would then have the market cornered to an extent with 4 very good young point guards and the ability to trade away two of them for some help on the wing. I am pretty confident that Kahn could look like a genius here but others (cough, Matt Moore @ HP, cough) think I'm off the deep-end drinking the kool-aid.

NAS: How has Kevin Love looked since his return from injury?

Really, really good. I should have a post up shortly on just how good he has been. Short version: Love is arguably our best player at 4 different things: rebounding (best in the league arguably), passing, shooting, and defending. He's been the same beast on the boards as he was as a rookie if not better and has even added 3-point range to his game which this team desperately needs. It's amazing to have a power forward who can not only stretch the D with his range but grab 4+ offensive rebounds as well.

NAS: And speaking of injuries, is Al Jefferson getting some of his explosiveness back? Watching him on opening night, there just seemed to be something off about him.

It's been pretty up and down for Al this season but lately he's been looking more like himself. He's at about 80-90% back I'd say. Putting up 20/10 but not the 25/12 he was before he went down last season.

Mark Ginocchio

Tweet

While it's no great surprise, Forest City Ratner Co. and the Empire State Development Corporation announced today that they have closed on the 22-acre Atlantic Yards complex in Brooklyn, which, when developed, will include a brand new arena for the Nets.  This announcement, coupled with last month's court ruling in favor of developers to acquire land for the project through eminent domain, and the recent  news that Bruce Ratner was able to sell more than $500 million in bonds to finance arena, appear to pave the way for the Nets to finally get their long-planned home in Brooklyn.

As for what is entailed by a "closing" (per Dow Jones Newswire):

Forest City Ratner Co. said Wednesday it--along with the Empire State Development Corporation, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the city of New York and other parties--have executed all necessary documents and officially closed on the project. That includes the issuance of bonds and the execution of various real estate documents, including the arena lease, financing, development, and purchase and sale agreements.have executed all necessary documents and officially closed on the project. That includes the issuance of bonds and the execution of various real estate documents, including the arena lease, financing, development, and purchase and sale agreements.

Mark Ginocchio

Tweet

Let me start by saying you can't have high expectations about a guy who shot 38 percent from the field last year  dramatically turning around the fortune of the Nets. With that said, there’s reason to believe that Yi Jianlian, who’s expected to suit up for tonight’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, could play some role in improving the team’s offense.

A lot of it has to do with who’s been playing the bulk of power forward for the Nets this season since Yi went down with a knee sprain in early November. Josh Boone, who’s started 21 games at PF this season, may be a decent rebounder, and at times, an okay post defender, but looking at his shooting tendencies, he’s hardly an offensive option that opposing defenses need to keep an eye on.  Of his 4.7 field goal attempts per game this season, 3.2 of them come at the rim. He averages another 1 attempt per game from between 10-feet and 23-feet and hasn’t attempted a single three-pointer this season (nor should he). So basically, opposing teams know if Boone gets the ball from outside 10-feet, he’s not going to do much, if anything with it because he can't shoot, and he lacks the ability to put it on the floor and drive to the rim. So why bother getting a man on him? And that doesn’t even consider his horrid free throw shooting, which makes Boone a liability any time he gets hacked while shooting.

Yi, meanwhile, helps spread the floor for the Nets, and adds another desperately-needed outside shooter. Because Brook Lopez is attracting so many double teams in the post, the Nets need someone who can sneak into the corner and knock down a jumper. Devin Harris and Chris Douglas-Roberts are more slashers than jump shooters, and Courtney Lee’s jump shot is still lost somewhere at the airport in Orlando. While Yi struggled mightily on his long two’s last year, as you can see from his hotspots graph below, he was a decent corner three shooter. His 34 percent from threes overall last season aren't half bad either. In addition, because Yi is known as a jump shooter, he’s going to command more attention on the perimeter than Josh Boone. If Yi maintains his aggressive streak that saw him take some more shots near the rim earlier this season, he really changes things up for how the Nets currently run their offense with Boone and Bobby Simmons off the bench.

Small sample size alert, but while Yi was on the floor earlier this season, the Nets had an offensive efficiency of 101.5 points per 100 possessions. That would currently rank the Nets 23^rd in the league, compared with the 93.5 efficiency rating they are currently averaging, which is dead last in the league. So while Yi may not be a savior, he might bring just enough to the table to make a difference, and maybe give opposing defenses some different things to consider while playing the Nets.

Mark Ginocchio

Tweet

TrueHoop Lakers Blogger Kurt Helin writing for NBC about the concept of LeBron James and Dwayne Wade playing together: The interesting part would be finding a team with the cap space to sign both of them, even at a reduced price, and that has a core of quality role players to put around them. Oddly, the two-win New Jersey Nets, with emerging center Brook Lopez and some other quality young players and plenty of cap space, might not be a bad place.

The Record's Ian O'Connor writes about team President Rod Thorn and how he was influenced by his father Joe, a World War II veteran: So if people think Rod Thorn is unraveling over this legacy-buster of a season, one that could be his last if the Russian billionaire buying the Nets says so, they never met the fighter who shaped him, the Marine once left for dead on the shores of Iwo Jima.

Fred Kerber of the New York Post looks at some of the worst NBA teams of all-time and where the Nets might fall in line: The Nets want to avoid being the worst ever and to do so they need 10 wins. After that, they would like to avoid being the worst Nets team ever and if you've paid any attention over the past quarter century plus you know there have been some bad, bad teams.

Kiki Vandeweghe and Del Harris got to run their second full-practice together yesterday: “We tried to clean up and re-emphasize the things that are important, like getting out and running, attacking early, making sure that we clean up a little bit on the pick-and-roll,” Vandeweghe said.

Expect the Atlantic Yards project to go through its final approvals today, even if some state politicians are still talking about fighting it.

Ben Couch writes, the return of Yi Jianlian is perfectly timed as the Nets are going up against one of the better rebounding teams in the NBA tonight: "Well, look – they’re going to get rebounds," Vandeweghe said. "They’re big, good rebounders. They rebound against everybody in the league, and they’re obviously a lot better with Kevin Love. To me, what we have to do is make sure we still focus on what we want to do. We’re building now. We’ll play the games, we’ll do our best, but we’re going to focus on ourselves and getting to the things we do well. The opponent is the opponent."

The stupid debate about how the Nets are too awful for Brook Lopez to make an all-star team continues over at Dime: But with the Nets having just 2 victories under their belt after 28 games, it would be almost impossible to justify voting in Lopez. Regardless, Lopez should be a lock for the Rookie/Sophomore game and will one day soon play in the real All-Star game.

Celtic Hub's Zach Lowe takes a tour of the NBA Store in New York City, and calls one Nets-related jersey, "the single most depressing jersey in the store."

Prospective Nets owner and Russian Billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov is still making deals to get richer.

Mark Ginocchio

Tweet

Brook Lopez has been a monster this year, that is for sure, but if you wanted to nit-pick, you could say that he has struggled in the second half.  There has been a noticeable drop-off in Brook's second half scoring when compared to his first half scoring.  A lot of it has to do with lack of execution, but some of it is just circumstance.

To figure out some stuff what's different from the first half to the second, we are going to look at some screen shots (these clips are all from the Nets-Cavs game where Brook put up 20 in the first half and 2 in the second.  I noticed a lot of the same things in other games though).  The first thing that I noticed is team's usually don't put their big man on Brook unless he is a solid defender, early in games.  Teams usually want to prevent their starting centers from getting in early foul trouble (like what happened early in the Laker game.  They put Bynum on him early, and he spent much of the game in foul trouble).  The Nets and Brook take advantage of this a lot.

The next thing is the lack of execution.  The key to preventing double teams from arriving early is movement.  When players move without the ball, defenders have to stay focused on them, and it is hard to double down on the big man when you don't know where your man is.    This being a relatively young team, they tend to lose focus every once in a while.  This loss of focus usually happens in the second half.  When you start the game, you usually execute to perfection because the coach's speech is still fresh in their mind.

The final reason for Brook's drop-off in the second half is that the Nets' have been behind by double-digits in most of these games.  When teams come from behind like that, they usually don't throw the ball into the post.  They try to run and gun and tend to jack up threes which is what the Nets tend to do.  Also, a few times, Kiki has pulled Brook in the middle of the fourth quarter because the game was out of reach.  Not being on the court hurts his production.

Let's look at the Cavs game:

... MORE →

Sebastian Pruiti

Tweet

Who says that a good benching doesn’t send a message?

While the Nets as a team have continued to struggle with their field goal percentage, Terrence Williams has seen a dramatic turnaround in his offensive efficiency since his two game benching earlier this month after being late to a practice, and “tweeting” about his lack of playing time and his desires to be playing elsewhere in the NBA. While I would have doled out a little more punishment to TWill, especially after he mouthed off to a few reporters when they asked him about his benching, the rookie out of Louisville seems to have received the message and is listening to his coaches more – especially regarding the idea of him taking less outside shots and taking it more aggressively to the hoop.

"Everybody has strengths and weaknesses," said Kiki Vandeweghe at practice yesterday. "What you do during games is you try to go to your strengths. Terrence is very athletic, and he attacks the basket well. That's his strength. Practice time is for working on your weaknesses, but in games, you go to your strengths. That's a strength. So we would like him to keep attacking."

For the season, TWill’s is still taking about 59 percent of his field goal attempts from 10-feet out and further, but that’s after a very definitive shift in Williams’ approach that started on December 11, after he was put back into the rotation by Kiki against the Indiana Pacers. In that game, Williams was 2-4 from the field, including a 70-foot three-point attempt at the end of a quarter, and only took 1 other shot from beyond 15-feet. In the following games against the Hawks, Williams was 8-14 for 18 points, and was 2-5 from beyond 15-feet. Last week against Utah, Williams was 6-10, only taking two shots from beyond 15-feet (missing them both).

The end results have been positive for Williams. While his playing time has see-sawed a bit from game to game (he barely played Saturday against the Lakers), Williams is shooting a robust 56 percent in his last six games and approximately 68 percent of his field goal attempts have come near the rim. This is the same player who shot 36 percent in November, and started off the Kiki Vandeweghe era by going 2-12 against the Bobcats (including 0-6 outside of 10-feet) and 0-5 two days later against the Knicks (0-3 outside of 10-feet). It was during the Knicks game that Kiki initially benched Williams, who then went on to tweet about his playing time, while telling reporters that he wasn’t about to change what has worked for him as a player.

It’s a good thing Williams got over his pig-headishness, because he’s starting to reflect a competent NBA rotation player, and the less he worries about his outside shot, the more he can focus on doing some of the things that made him a lottery pick – namely being able to score, rebound, and pass in ways that help his team out, not his final stat sheet.

Mark Ginocchio

Tweet

A translation of a recent Mikhail Prokhorov interview regarding his ownership plans for the Nets.  Good work by Nets Daily.

A court ruling of yet another rejected lawsuit by Brooklyn opponents: “If every change were to be viewed as a new plan so as to trigger anew each mandated review process, no development plan could ever reach final approval — let alone ultimate completion,” the ruling read. “The MTA had a rational basis for continuing to use the 2005 appraisal rather than ordering a new one in 2009.”

The great Ben Couch is at practice yesterday and talks about the return of Yi Jianlian: Vandeweghe has been among Yi's biggest supporters since trading for him two summers ago, valuing the 22-year-old's mid-range shooting and rebounding. In three full games before being injured, Yi had averaged 11.6 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks. All signs point toward an on-court appearance Wednesday, none moreso than Yi banging throughout practice and then running fluidly and fast during full-court conditioning drills.

An article that talks about betting on the Nets/Wolves game Wednesday has this to say about Brook Lopez: Brook Lopez (19.5 PPG, 9.6 RPG, 20.94 PER) is a nice young piece on the inside, but he’s really just a more-skilled version of Joakim Noah or a rich man’s Robin Lopez. Double team Lopez, and you pretty much have the Nets’ offense figured out.

Video from Borough Hall in Brooklyn, where the Nets gave out toys to children:

Mark Ginocchio

Tweet