This offseason is going to be an exciting one for the New Jersey Nets, but before we can move forward we must look back. Over the next couple of days, I am going to be looking at the Nets who will (most likely) be back, and review their year, from what they did well to what they didn’t. Today we are going to look at Kris Humphries.
When the Nets acquired Kris Humphries, everyone kind of shrugged their shoulders. “One old PF for an ok one,” but then he came out like gangbusters. He put up over 20 points a few times, and lead the Nets to a few big wins. However, he wasn’t able to maintain his high shooting percentage and he sort of fell off towards the end of the year.
The Positives
Aggressiveness
One of the things that Kris Humphries brought to this team was an attitude. “A swagger” if you will. He was always the guy giving up a hard foul on a team running up the score, fighting for lose balls, and just being scrappy. I think his interview after the Nets win against the Clippers sums it up nicely.
Also, on the offensive end, when Kris Humphries looks to attack the rim, he is very effective:
On the defensive end, Humphries shows the same aggressiveness. He is always trying to challenge and block shots and he doesn’t worried about getting dunked on. With Humphries and Lopez patrolling the back, it can be hard for teams to get buckets in the paint.
The Negatives
Black Hole
The real knock on Kris Humphries is that he is a ball hog. I saw evidence when watching him in Dallas, but I just assumed that this was a result of garbage-time. However, when Humphries came over to the Nets and started playing meaningful minutes, he was taking the same shots, they were just going in. However, as the year went on the shots stopped falling, but that didn’t keep Humphries from shooting them. I don’t have any video of Humphries’ shots, but you all know what they look like. Humphries makes the catch on the high post, takes a couple dribbles to try and get to the rim, and if he can great but if not, he ends up taking a tough jumper.
Mark mentioned in his post about Humphries that he has more upside than Yi despite being older and playing longer in the NBA. While a few commenters don’t agree, I do. Humphries has less things to fix to become a productive player, and what he needs to fix is easier than what Yi needs to change (Stop shooting vs. Learning defense, knowing when to be aggressive, playing consistently, etc.). I also think that his playing time next year depends on what type of PF the Nets sign. If the Nets sign a banger inside, his services will be needed less.