Coach Avery Johnson noticed there was just something “off” about the looks on the faces of Travis Outlaw and Anthony Morrow after their first few games at the Prudential Center this preseason. The solution is a practice session this week at the Nets new arena, in hopes of getting the Nets imported shooters used to their new surroundings. Think this is a case of some scapegoating? Maybe not according to one expert interviewed by the Star-Ledger’s Conor Orr:
“Visual ability, especially as far as eyes working together and localization and depth perception, are learned, developed abilities,” Gary Etting, a developmental optometrist who deals in sport-related issues, said. “They have their home court, they’re comfortable, they know where the scorers table is, they know where the bench is, they have a real sense of where that basket is. They go into a new place and for a lot of these people it’s a distraction, and it makes it a lot more difficult to orient themselves and localize where things are.”
I think this is a great idea by Avery. Of course, the Prudential Center is going to present something “new” to every team that passes through, but the Nets need to be able to establish a home court advantage early on this season, and it’s good to see the team is trying everything to get themselves going in the right direction.
