As anyone with NBATV already knows, they have a series going where they take a live look in at every NBA training camp over the course of the training camp/preseason time. It seems to be one team per day...and they look in at an entire practice like 2 1/2 to 3 hours....well today was the live look in at the Nets training camp practice. And it was very entertaining.... Coach Franks put the team thru several drills & scrimmages...and you really got a chance to see what guys could possibly bring to the table and what certain guys are lacking...so anyway here are some things I noticed from todays drills & scrimmages... After stretching the day started with some shooting drills with teams of 4 & 5 players......certain notable guys who were team together was Jefferson with Nenad...Carter with Vaughn & Marc Jackson, etc.........The thing for me that stood out during this drill was Jeffersons shot still looked off, he says he has been working on it..and you could see him shooting off to the side by himself during certain times...but he struggled with the shot during the drill. But he did have a big man on his team Adam Chubb, who is trying to make the 15th spot, shot the ball extremely well during those drills for a bigman. Vince Carter's overall team did a excellent job...Carters' jumper look smoove during the spot up drill as well as the one-dribble and shoot drill. Marc Jackson, who was on Carter's team as shot the ball well on the corner baseline drill....and Vaughn showed his usual solid range in the elbow range of the free throw line extended. They didnt really focus on Kidd's team that much from what I saw, but I beleived it had Antoine Wright, it. And you could hear coach franks trying to say things to help him gain a little more consistency in his shot and release. And then during the interview with Rod Thorn, he also mentioned that Wright needs to find a little consistency in his shot. Nobodies long range was really tested tho, it seems every thing was in that 15 to 18 foot range. But overall guys like Padgett, Murray looked pretty solid in the shooting department as expected. Next drill was a more of a defensive foot work drill.....just testing guys ablity in 4's to drop down in the paint (for help D in game situations) and recover back to the perimeter( to guard their man in game situations).. After that Coach broke the teams into three groups of 5.....for a full court scrimmage drill. Blue team consisted of the starters..Jefferson,Kidd,VC, Nenad and Chubb(JC didnt take part in todays practice)....White team was 2nd unit guys Vaughn, Murray, Planinic, Marc Jackson and Scott Padgett.....Orange team was guys fighting for the final spot like Ricky Shields, Authur Johnson, Ben Hendeglton along with rookie Antoine Wright, journeyman free agent signee Linton Johnson...and another guard Derrick Zimmerman. Overall I think you knew what to expect from the first unit, solidly smooth going through this drill..but I did like the confidence shown by Adam Chubb..the bigman ran the floor well with Kidd...and did a good job defensively. You would think that it was be a little edgy, him getting thrown in with the core starters but he did well. Overall, because of what you expect from the starters, you have to say that the 2nd unit was the most impressive. Zoran Planinic shot the ball during the scrimmmage, was ok defesively...and really looked like he is going for minutes at the 2/3 spot. Vaughn was solidly consistent getting the 2nd unit into their sets...And Marc Jackson brought intensity to the scrimmage and practice as a whole him and Author Johnson of the orange team were being physical throw elbows against one another...Murray also looked good running the floor and looked to be in playing shape pshyically & mentally, something he didnt really look at times in Toronto. The one thing I came way with from this practice overall is that Wright's minutes, which were probably garunteed when we drafted him are no longer. Planinic and Murray really do look like they are gunning for legit minutes in the rotation. That leads to the third team, only thing I can say about this team, was that I was impressed with Authur Johnson's willingness to be pshyical...he was matched up against Jackson...and did a good job banging and boxing out against him despite giving up some hieght. Johnson did a good job of using his wide frame to his strenght. Wright struggled keeping guys in front of him...but he was matched up when Orange against Carter/and Blue..so it is undertanable with Carter's ablity to penetrate...But Zoran also beat him off the dribble a few times down the floor...One thing that did impress me about Wright was a off the dribble move he made against the blue 1st unit team. The other guys didnt do much either Ricky Shields made a jumper during the drill and also got to the hoop a couple of times...be he had a few crazy passes that led to turnovers...Derrick Zimmerman and Ben Hendglton did nothing...LJ didnt do much either but he had to play as a 4 at times rotating in & out. Orange team had alot of turnovers during this drill Overall guys Like was most impress by was Zoran Planinic and two of the bigs fighting for the last roster spot Chubb & Author Johnson. Next was a half-court dribble where the obective was to try to keep the ball out of the paint. the Orange team full of guys trying to make the team really struggled. They were posted up easily down low. The Blue team of starters easily won that drill and didnt have to run the fullcourt laps after the drill, white and orange did. The last major drill was a another fullcourt drill, where guys were more mixed up no reall Orange team, just Blue and White. Zoran Planinic sat out this drill after bumping with Jason Kidd. Nenad Krstic made a few nice plays finishing down low. nothing else really stood out from this except the fact that the intesity level was still high being so late into the practice. The Practice ended with some more shooting and NBATV's coverage went into Interviews with guys like Carter, Jefferson, and Coach Franks. The thing that stood out is that Jefferson said he is looking forward to the changelle of playing some four. And that teams are going to have a hard time finding a big that can chase him around screens..and keep him from penetrating..so that would be a key to the Nets drive and kick game. So to me it seems like Coach Franks has already indicated to Jefferson that he intends on playing a decent amount of small ball this year. Anyway there were a few more drills, One on One(but they didnt show it...from what I saw). Nets first Preseason game is Tuesday, 8:00pm on Yes Network against the Pacers...not forsure if McInnis is playing or not...he sat out the entire practice along with Collins.
Thanks for the excellent and detailed summary of what was shown (I don't have NBATV ). I am surprised that Zoran and Chubb are doing so well. From what I hear, Chubb is going to be the guy who will get the 15th spot on the team.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting thedude9990:</div><div class="quote_post">wat about cliff robinson he wasnt there?</div> Yeah he was there...he was rotating between Blue & White...but he didnt get into much..pretty much paced himself through the drills. But you cant really expect much in training camp from a guy who played in this league for almost 20 years. He is just trying not to get injuried.
