Yahoo’s Marc Spears has a profile on Avery Johnson about the challenges of taking on coaching the worst team in basketball a year ago:
“This is a totally different situation,” Johnson said. “We’re trying to develop them into starters. Starters – not stars. That’s the next round. We got role players. We got journeymen. You have starters, you have stars and then you have superstars. We’re trying to develop NBA starters first.”
It’s been an interesting first month and change for Avery and the Nets. They’re clearly a better team than last year, and yesterday’s debacle against Boston aside, they’ve been mostly competitive in every game. However, some of Avery’s rotations are questionable, especially since he’s been on the record in saying he’s trying to develop the team’s younger talent. And the team still hasn’t been able to develop any kind of consistent identity on offense besides Devin Harris trying to penetrate and Brook Lopez trying to get in the post and instead settling for jumpers. There are nights where the Nets look like five guys looking for their own shots, and Avery needs to do a better job of managing that.
