Before the last season started a lot of people of people thought that the New Jersey Nets had no chance to make the playoffs and would be a lottery team. Motivated to prove people wrong, Vince Carter carried the team and almost made the playoffs. After that it was very quiet during the begin of the summer in New Jersey but a major trade that sent Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson to the Orlando Magic for Rafer Alston, Courtney Lee and Tony Battie shocked the whole NBA. The trade was very surprising because Carter probably had his best season since he has arrived in New Jersey and always said that he was happy in New Jersey and doesn’t want to leave the team…
The new core of the team is very young and still has to prove that they can be a good NBA team. Here a look at their rotation :
PG : Devin Harris / Rafer Alston / Keyon Dooling
SG : Courtney Lee / Terrence Williams / Chris Douglas-Roberts
SF : Jarvis Hayes / Bobby Simmons / Trenton Hassel
PF : Yi Jianlian / Sean Williams / Eduardo Najera
C : Brook Lopez / Josh Boone / Tony Battie
Is Devin Harris the new leader in New Jersey ?
The first thing everybody will probably notice is their inexperience. The whole starting line-up only has 15 years of NBA experience which is not really a lot when you consider that almost half of that experience comes from Jarvis Hayes ( 6 years ), a guy who has been sitting on the bench for the most time of his career. This will probably cause some serious problems in the last quarters where experience is the key word and somebody will have to take important decisions during crucial moments of the game. Vince Carter used to be that guy who steps up during crunchtime because he was a true leader and had the experience and bball IQ to take good decisions at the end of important games. Now we will probably see Devin Harris being that guy who has to lead this team in the last twenty minutes of the game but is he really ready for it ? He better is because it seems like the Nets has no-one else who can step up and take the lead.
Sean Williams has to improve his offense if he wants to see more playing time
While Devin Harris and Brook Lopez already proved that they will probably have a bright future and can play on an all-star level, the rest of the team still has to prove that they can be quality starters who can contribute on a regulary basis.
Courtney Lee showed some nice defense during his first season in Orlando but in New Jersey he won’t have the luxury to have the defensive player of the year behind him who can help him when somebody wants to drive to the rim. On offense he looked ok, he knocked down some 3 pointers and had some nice drives but that’s it. At the moment he’s a guy who doesn’t have a lot of tools on offense and needs the point guard to create offense for him.
Jarvis Hayes and Bobby Simmons who will fight for the starting small forward position have been role players since they’ve been in the league and have to improve their game to become starting calibre players.
Yi Jianlian showed some good games but he seems too soft to play against the big guys in the NBA. At this point of his career he’s more a role player than anything else. He can give a team some quality minutes coming off the bench but on this team he’s a starter, so he has to keep it up and develop his game on both ends of the floor.
Sean Williams has the talent to become a great shotblocker and good defensive presence but he still has to improve his offensive game because at the moment he can only score of alley-oop passes or cuts to the basket. He would see a lot more minutes if he adds some post moves or even some fake moves to create offense for himself.
Will this team make Jay-Z laugh or cry this year ?
With all this being said there are a lot of question marks in New Jersey. What can this team do on the floor and who will lead the team ? Can the players improve their game and show that they are starting calibre ? A lot of questions and we’ll have to wait till the start of the season to see what type of team we’ll see next year.
The new core of the team is very young and still has to prove that they can be a good NBA team. Here a look at their rotation :
PG : Devin Harris / Rafer Alston / Keyon Dooling
SG : Courtney Lee / Terrence Williams / Chris Douglas-Roberts
SF : Jarvis Hayes / Bobby Simmons / Trenton Hassel
PF : Yi Jianlian / Sean Williams / Eduardo Najera
C : Brook Lopez / Josh Boone / Tony Battie
Is Devin Harris the new leader in New Jersey ?
The first thing everybody will probably notice is their inexperience. The whole starting line-up only has 15 years of NBA experience which is not really a lot when you consider that almost half of that experience comes from Jarvis Hayes ( 6 years ), a guy who has been sitting on the bench for the most time of his career. This will probably cause some serious problems in the last quarters where experience is the key word and somebody will have to take important decisions during crucial moments of the game. Vince Carter used to be that guy who steps up during crunchtime because he was a true leader and had the experience and bball IQ to take good decisions at the end of important games. Now we will probably see Devin Harris being that guy who has to lead this team in the last twenty minutes of the game but is he really ready for it ? He better is because it seems like the Nets has no-one else who can step up and take the lead.
Sean Williams has to improve his offense if he wants to see more playing time
While Devin Harris and Brook Lopez already proved that they will probably have a bright future and can play on an all-star level, the rest of the team still has to prove that they can be quality starters who can contribute on a regulary basis.
Courtney Lee showed some nice defense during his first season in Orlando but in New Jersey he won’t have the luxury to have the defensive player of the year behind him who can help him when somebody wants to drive to the rim. On offense he looked ok, he knocked down some 3 pointers and had some nice drives but that’s it. At the moment he’s a guy who doesn’t have a lot of tools on offense and needs the point guard to create offense for him.
Jarvis Hayes and Bobby Simmons who will fight for the starting small forward position have been role players since they’ve been in the league and have to improve their game to become starting calibre players.
Yi Jianlian showed some good games but he seems too soft to play against the big guys in the NBA. At this point of his career he’s more a role player than anything else. He can give a team some quality minutes coming off the bench but on this team he’s a starter, so he has to keep it up and develop his game on both ends of the floor.
Sean Williams has the talent to become a great shotblocker and good defensive presence but he still has to improve his offensive game because at the moment he can only score of alley-oop passes or cuts to the basket. He would see a lot more minutes if he adds some post moves or even some fake moves to create offense for himself.
Will this team make Jay-Z laugh or cry this year ?
With all this being said there are a lot of question marks in New Jersey. What can this team do on the floor and who will lead the team ? Can the players improve their game and show that they are starting calibre ? A lot of questions and we’ll have to wait till the start of the season to see what type of team we’ll see next year.
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