Swishes

In the 3 victories the team averaged 102 points while allowing 81.3 points.  The team also took care of the ball at a 24assists to 13turnovers ratio. 

For the sim the team held opponents to .416 from the field including .386 in the 3 victories.

The big 3 of Harper, Mcanally and Rozier combined for 53.8ppg, 22.8rpg, 7.5apg and played solid defense.  Those numbers look better if you take out the clunker against the Magic in which Harper and Rozier barely got over double figures and Mcanally played 15 minutes due to foul trouble.

Bricks

3pt shooting.  Outside of Harper, Rozier, and Walker (combined 127-252 or .504) the team is shooting a horrific .273 (50-183) from downtown. 

The 73-120 loss against the Magic was a pretty major blemish on an otherwise perfect sim.  The team is hoping it is just a case of nothing going right that night and not an indicator of some deeper issues.  The team is planning to up the tempo a bit for the next sim to see if that can further stimulate the offense.

Anyways on too the Swishes and Bricks

Swishes

Rozier continues to shine; The new starting SG averaged 18.7ppg 7rpg 2.7apg and 1.3steals in 26.3mpg due to foul trouble.

Everything but the bucket: Will Child had a good sim outside of scoring raking up 12apg against 2.7turnoverspergame while grabbing 4 boards and garnering 1.7steals per game.  If he can develop any sort of consistent offense he should be one to watch.

A PF is me: Jerry Mcanally had his best sim of the season at PF averaging 22.7ppg 1rpg while getting 1 block and 1 steal per game.

Bricks

Free Throw Woes:  The team shot 40-57 for a less than roboust .702 from the line.  To compound the issue opponents went to the line 3 more times over that time period and made 12 more FTs (69) than the Nets attempted.

Slow Starts: The team was outscored by 31 points in the first half.  Better starts are needed if the team wants to reach the playoffs.

That is all for this edition check back soon for another edition

Swishes and Bricks VIII

Roughly a 3rd of the way through the season the Nets remain competitive sitting at 15-15 (10-5 at home) which is good for 5th in the Atlantic Division and 11th in the East. However, the team is only a half game out of the playoffs in an improving East and has shown lots of promise of late, winning their last 4 games. For the season the Nets have made some nice improvements, especially in the rebounding department, where despite a low average on a per game basis (49.3) they are actually out rebounding the opposition for the season. Offensively they have been very inconsistent as one would expect with a young team relying on so many first and second year players to contribute, but the offense has been better of late although overall for the year it is a dreadful 99.9ppg averaged, the 5th worst number in the league. Despite the low ppg average the team has managed to be the 3rd ranked team in the league in Assists per game at 25.4. On defense the team has shown steady improvement over the season in allowing 102ppg, which is the 7th best number in the league. Overall, the team is a work in progress and it shows, but the talent is starting to come around and the team hopes to be competing for a playoff spot all year. Now lets look at how the players have done so far.

Starters

Emilio Yeager, Center: Yeager has shown flashes of the talent that made him the 7th overall pick last June. For the season he has averaged 10.5ppg, 9.0rpg, 2.1apg, 1.0steals and 1.0blocks. The team is very happy with his contributions and thinks he will have a big off season and make the leap to one of the better bigs in the division next season. Grade B-.

Jerry Mcanally, Forward. Mcanally still hasn’t quite been as consistent as the team would like but he is showing they made a wise choice, picking the scoring forward 3rd overall two drafts ago. On the year the combo forward is averaging 21.9ppg, 7.4rpg and 2.6apg while showing at least a willingness to defend, which was lacking his rookie year. The team sees a bright future for Mcanally and the team with him on it. Grade B.

Morris Harper, Wing. Harper has shown why the team was so excited to see him in action this year after an excellent off season and the silky smooth second year player has rewarded the team by averaging 19.4ppg, 5.7rpg, 2.7apg and 1.1steals. Like all young players consistency can be an issue, but Harper still has oodles of potential and is just scratching the surface on what he can do on the court. However, he is becoming the type of player you can build a team around. Grade A-.

Louis Rozier, SG. Rozier played great off the bench and finally earned starters minutes where he averaged 19.8ppg on .556 shooting. If Rozier can be a steady 15+ ppg option for the team at SG, they will be a much more consistent team on offense. The big question is if the team is going to try to iron out a new contract for Rozier or see what they can get for him at the trade deadline. Grade B.

Will Child, PG. The reigning Rookie of the Month, Child is still a work in progress but has a flair for running the offense, although his decision making at times leaves a lot to be desired. For the season the rookie is averaging7.9ppg, 3.7rpg, 8.4apg, 1.6steals, and 2.9turnovers. Obviously the team hopes the turnovers will go down overtime but thinks they have found a longterm solution at PG for the team. Grade B-.

The Bench

Pete Krug, Post. The wide-bodied Krug has played extremely well this year averaging 10.7ppg, 7.4rpg and 1.5apg mainly off the bench. The question is does the team want to keep the burly forward or will he be sent to a contender in need of rebounding and girth downlow before the deadline? Grade B+.

Franklin Reed, Post. The 4th post, Reed has averaged 3.3ppg and 5.4rpg in spot duty for the team. On a one year exception deal Reed could be one and done in NJ. Grade C.

Bruno Walker, Swingman. Walker may never live up to the huge contract given to him by former management but he is a versatile player who does a bit of everything. For the season he is shooting over 50% from the floor while averaging 5.6ppg, 2.7rpg, 1.3apg in about 15mpg. Grade C.

Trey Giles, Wing. Another veteran expiring deal Giles has started to produce better of late and for the year is averaging 5.4ppg and 3.8rpg off the bench. Could easily be trade forward at the deadline. Grade C+

Darren Peters, Guard. The 2nd year player has really not made the leap the team had hoped, although he oozes potential to the point where the team probably won’t trade him. For the season, Peters is averaging 3.9ppg 2.5rpg, and 1.1apg off the bench. Grade D (But the team still thinks he has a bright future).

Eduardo Hanson, PG. Hanson, acquired from division foe Washington in the off season has been a great addition as a backup PG producing 6.4ppg, 2.6rpg, 3.5apg, and 0.8steals in about 16mpg. The team would be confident in starting Hanson and thinks he gives them excellent depth at the PG spot. Grade B+.

Closing

The team is showing signs of what it can be, I stress can because they are not there yet. The team needs a longterm solution at SG and another good defensive/rebounding post before they will be a true contender. However, they should stay in the race for the playoffs this year and could make the playoffs and prove to be a tough out in the East.

Swishes and Bricks Sim VII

The team had the best sim of the young season going 4 and 0 and improving to 15-15 overall. Here are the swishes and bricks from yesterdays sim.

Swishes

• Defense, Defense, Defense: No longer playing matador defense the team held opponent to 40.5% from the field in allowing 90ppg in an undefeated sim. If the team can maintain some semblance of defense effort the team will be a tough Win for anybody in the East.
• Babysteps on offense: Although by no means a juggernaut on offense, the team was much improved on that end of the court this sim averaging 100.8ppg and committing a paltry by our standards 12.8 turnovers per game. If this keeps up the team will win more than they lose the rest of the season.
• A SG, A SG, What What. A SG: The team has been plagued by the lack of a consistent starter at SG all year but Louis Rozier has stepped up and shown that he maybe that player, averaging 19.8ppg on .556 shooting (35-63). if he can keep it up and Trey Giles continues to fill the 6th man role well (11ppg 5.6rpg 1.2steals 1.0blocks last sim) the team will have productive instead of paper depth.

Bricks

• Shooting Offense: The team still struggle percentage wise, which made TNT analyst Hubie Brown very irritated: “When you are talking about the Nets, you are talking about a team that had a good offensive week and shot 45.2% from the field and only broke the 100 point barrier once in 4 games. This tells us two things. First, that this team just isn’t very adept at scoring the basketball and when you are talking about scoring the basketbal,l you are talking about the ability to put the brown thing in the round thing, ok. Now the potential is there to put the ball in the basket, so maybe over the rest of the season the team will improve as young teams tend to do. Secondly, this means the fans are not getting their free chalupa most games, and you know there is nothign worse than hungry fans leaving an NBAD arena after spending upwards of $100 dollars on tickets for the game and not getting their free dollar menu item from a local fast food establishment. The team needs to address item number 2 as quickly as possible or this will be a long season in New Jersey.”

Swishes

• The team made 29-72 3′s (.403) but is still attempting under 10 a game.
• Trey Giles averaged 7ppg and 4.25rpg off the bench, might he be working his way into more minutes?

Bricks

• The team shot 300-675 (.444) from the field and turned the ball over 118 times in 8 games.  The team needs to be better with the ball and better shooting it, if it really wants to get above .500.

Short edition today…big edition coming after tonights sim

• Defense:  The team held the opposition to under 100 in 3 of the 5 games and gave up an average of 93.6ppg for the sim.  The team also rebounded better averaging 53 rebounds per game for the week, while holding the opposition to 50.8rpg
• Krug plugs a whole down low:  The team went wide more than big in inserting 6’9″ 275lb Pete Krug into the starting lineup and he helped the team averaging 11.4ppg 10.8rpg and 1.4blocks in 29.2mpg.  Hopefully he will continue to help the team in a Jahidi White type of fashion.
• Dynamic Duo to the Wings? 2nd year players Morris Harper and Jerry Mcanally started at SG and SF respectively this week and combined to average 43.8ppg 11.9rpg l4.6apg and 3.0blocks.  If the team can find or develop a 3rd consistent scorer to complement them they will be a force to be dealt with in the East.

Bricks

• Darren Peters didn’t respond well to being benched going 3-14 while averaging 3.0ppg.  The team has high hopes for the youngster who shows flashes of brilliance but has yet to put it all together with any consistency outside of practice.
• Offensive inconsistency:  As expected with a young team, inconsistency is a consistent problem for the team.  Case in point after scoring 46 in the first half against the Spurs to hold a one point halftime lead, the team proceed to score 33 points in the 2nd Half to lose 90-79.
• Chicks Dig the Long Ball:  The team knew this could be an issue but they seem to live and die by the 3.  Case in point in the teams 3 wins this sim they converted  45.9% of their attempts from downtown (17-39).  Conversely, in the team’s two defeats the team shot an abysmal 17.6% from long range (3-17).  While the team doesn’t expect to get much outside offense from starting PG and Rookie of the Month Will Child, it does need to get some consistency from downtown from the starting rotation outside of Morris Harper and his .525 3pt%.

Swishes

• Will Child had a total of 6 to’s in 4 games and lowered his season average in the category to 2.8. The team can only hope he continues to improve.
• Morris Harper continued his great start averaging 24.5ppg, 4.3rpg 2.3apg, and 2.0steals for the week.  His stats for the year now are 22.1ppg 5.8rpg 3.2apg 1.1steals and he is shooting .535 from downtown!
• Jerry Mcanally returned more to form averaging 24ppg, 6.8rpg and 3.8apg for the team.

Bricks

• Darren Peters shot 8-20 in four games as a starter averaging 5.3ppg.  A change is coming to the starting lineup.
• Defense: The team gave up 112ppg this sim….YUCK
• Turnovers as a team were very high as they team averaged 16.3 to’s per game.  The team needs to take care of the ball better, especially with the lack of rebounding it possesses.

Swishes

• Emilio Yeager stepped up averaging 15.6ppg 10rpg 2.4apg and 1.4 blocks.  If the team can get a consistent double double out of the rookie big man the team should be alright this year.
• Morris Harper continued his great start to the season averaging 23ppg 6.8rpg and 4.2 apg for the week.
• Quick Starts:  The team outscored the opposition in the first half 273-239 for the Week or in other words the average first half score was 54.6 Nets to 47.8 Opposition.

Bricks

• Jerry Mcanally didn’t like the changes to the focus or pace of the offense averaging just 15.6ppg on .365 (27-74) shooting.  The team will make some adjustments to the offense for next week.
• 2nd Half Sleep:  The team was outscored 226 to 280 in the 2nd half last week.  This averages out to 45.2 Nets to 56 Opposition.  Obviously the season is young but this is a concerning trend.
• 4th Quarter Anti-heroics: The Nets were outscored by 34 points in the 4th quarter this week (105-139) .  On average the team scored 21 points in the final stanza versus a robust 27.8 for the opposition.

Off-Season Review/Season Preview

The team traded away all it’s cap room for picks and players, effectively addressing concerns over backcourt depth in exchange for getting out of the Free Agent racket this year.  9 of the teams 15 roster spots are filled by newcomers to the team.  This includes rookies Emilo Yeager, Kenneth Canela, and Will Child and other young talents such as  Rubin Knox and Eduardo Hanson.  Yeager the team hopes will become a long time anchor in the post for the Nets and he along with PG Will Child both earned starting spots out of training camp.  Knox and Hanson provide much needed depth at the guard spots (esp. PG) and both had solid TC’s and look ready to contribute.  Canela is a project, but the staff loves his effort, upside and defensive prowess and feels that given time he could end up being a quality player for the team.  The team also added 4 veterans in Frank Reed, Trey Giles, Louis Rozier, and Melvin LaBarge.  The veterans will be asked to provide leadership to a young team, esp. LaBarge is a favorite of management who was brought in too teach the young Nets the system that Mgcoug2 is installing.  In terms of production Reed, Giles, and Rozier all provide depth and LaBarge will do his best M.L. Carr impression: .

The returning players features a couple of key parts to a young and talented Nets core along with some players the team feels can grow into bigger roles long term.  Forwards Jerry Mcanally and Morris Harper give the team as talented a pair of young forwards as exists in the league at the moment.  Both will be counted on heavily if the team is going to show improvement.  Other holdovers include Bruno Walker, Pete Krug, Darren Peters, and Franklin Martin.  Off that group the team holds high hopes for Peters as a longterm starter at SG, but he may not quite be ready this season.  Krug and Walker provide quality depth as does Martin, althouhg he is still a project the team is trying to develop.

All-in-all the team is markedly improved over last years squad.  However, the team has huge issues with rebounding as a team, has yet to identify a consistent 3rd scorer, and is extremely young.  The team could challenge for a playoff spot, but it wouldn’t be a shock to see them improve, but not make the playoffs this season.

Week 1 Swishes and Bricks

Swishes

• Harper and Mcanelly:  The duo combined to average 47.8ppg, 14.6rpg, and 6apg.  The future is bright with these two in Nets uniforms.
• Depth:  The team played 9 players at least 10 minutes per game. After last years total lack of depth this is a nice development for the team.
• Sharing the Rock: The team is currently 3rd in the NBAD with 28.5 apg!

Bricks

• Attention to detail:  As you would expect from a young team the team is prone to turnovers (15.5 per game), although the team seems to be much improved overall offensively.
• Rebounding:  The team was out rebounded by a combined 23 rebounds in two losses in Week One.
• Lack of Post Depth:  Hey at least we have warm bodies to throw out there!

There will be more to come as time permits.

mg