Wright is looking good in this Real Training Camp practise. He's making his shot so that's good to see.</p>
Magloire hasn't looked that good finishing around the basket. Boone playing well in the scrimmage portion. And I think Mile just got hit in the back of the head with the ball while running up the floor.</p>
when i saw Mile in the clips from youtube from the open practice it was sad to watch him "play". it just seems he doesnt want to be here and still has no idea what he is doing and is just trying to run through the motions. i hope to dear god we can get rid of him so we can get a body who can actually prdouce for us this year. now whether frank plays him or not is a different story, but at least frank would have an option to bring people off the bench who can actually contribute.</p>
Standouts from today's televised practice, in no particular order:</p> (1) Boki Nackbar: Great stroke, great running the floor, great drives in the half court, decent defense, looks VERY confident. Seeing as this echoes much of what those who saw the open practice observed and what's been written in the blogs, I predict a huge year for him.</p> (2) Malik Allen: Not only is he a lock to make the team, I think he's a lock to start, at least until and unless Nenad is back to 100% (which appears to be quite a ways off from what I observed today). He already appears very adept in the team defensive schemes. He runs the floor and is more mobile in the half court than I realized previously. He has an excellent touch as a big from 15 feet. And he has legit PF size. Surprisingly, Allen is the off season acquisition that I think will help the team the most over the long haul. In a courtside interview, Thorn said Allen is a player the Nets have been trying to acquire for several seasons precisely because the braintrust felt his game was so complimentary to the pieces they already have. If this practice was any indication, I whole-heartedly agree.</p> (3) Rober Hite: GREAT stroke. He's small, probably too small to guard anyone but points. But playing alongside Kidd while one of VC or RJ is on the bench, this would work out fine as they could reverse roles defensively. I definitely feel this guy should get a contract and either Ilic or Robinson should be bought out.</p> (4) Darrel Armstrong was exactly what he's known to be: an energetic, committed defender; a veteran leader in the half court; a decent opportunity shooter; and a tremendously ebullient personality. I feel great about our PG core. While I still expect Marcus will be tremendous this year and to command the role as primary backup when he returns to health, if he struggles, the Nets have an answer.</p> Biggest disappointment was easily Jamaal Magloire. It's hard to make Jason Collins look athletic, but Magloire managed it. He couldn't finish on a number of good inside passes. Left things short on the rim. No lift or explosion whatsoever. He is supposed to be working diligently on these aspects of his strength and conditioning. Hopefully it improves by the start of the season. There's no way he's unseating Collins, and I can't see how he is anything better than the 4th big into the game (behind Collins, Allen, and Nenad). He should be more worried about getting minutes ahead of Boone, who looked decent today. In fairness to him, I don't recall seeing any postups for him, and that used to be and ostensibly still is the better part of his game. All his opportunities (and there weren't many) came from passes in motion. Given his physical limitations, I'm assuming his best use will be as a situational postup player with a second unit against soft or undersized 2nd unit opposing bigs.</p> Unfortunately there were no jaw-dropping plays from Sean Williams today of the variety we've heard about. He did have one tremendous defensive recovery to block a shot in the 'no paint' drill. But Frank stopped play to talk about what Sean had done wrong before that point. Sean was easily the player that Frank most often was addressing in this manner, reminding him of a missed assignment or defensive read/reaction. Some of this I'm sure was just because he was the rookie. But unfortunately it probably confirms that we won't see a lot of Williams early in the regular season.</p> I know a number of people have talked about Jumaine Jones. But based on this practice, he's way behind Hite in my hierarchy.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (FOMW)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Standouts from today's televised practice, in no particular order:</p> (1) Boki Nackbar: Great stroke, great running the floor, great drives in the half court, decent defense, looks VERY confident. Seeing as this echoes much of what those who saw the open practice observed and what's been written in the blogs, I predict a huge year for him.</p> (2) Malik Allen: Not only is he a lock to make the team, I think he's a lock to start, at least until and unless Nenad is back to 100% (which appears to be quite a ways off from what I observed today). He already appears very adept in the team defensive schemes. He runs the floor and is more mobile in the half court than I realized previously. He has an excellent touch as a big from 15 feet. And he has legit PF size. Surprisingly, Allen is the off season acquisition that I think will help the team the most over the long haul. In a courtside interview, Thorn said Allen is a player the Nets have been trying to acquire for several seasons precisely because the braintrust felt his game was so complimentary to the pieces they already have. If this practice was any indication, I whole-heartedly agree.</p> (3) Rober Hite: GREAT stroke. He's small, probably too small to guard anyone but points. But playing alongside Kidd while one of VC or RJ is on the bench, this would work out fine as they could reverse roles defensively. I definitely feel this guy should get a contract and either Ilic or Robinson should be bought out.</p> (4) Darrel Armstrong was exactly what he's known to be: an energetic, committed defender; a veteran leader in the half court; a decent opportunity shooter; and a tremendously ebullient personality. I feel great about our PG core. While I still expect Marcus will be tremendous this year and to command the role as primary backup when he returns to health, if he struggles, the Nets have an answer.</p> Biggest disappointment was easily Jamaal Magloire. It's hard to make Jason Collins look athletic, but Magloire managed it. He couldn't finish on a number of good inside passes. Left things short on the rim. No lift or explosion whatsoever. He is supposed to be working diligently on these aspects of his strength and conditioning. Hopefully it improves by the start of the season. There's no way he's unseating Collins, and I can't see how he is anything better than the 4th big into the game (behind Collins, Allen, and Nenad). He should be more worried about getting minutes ahead of Boone, who looked decent today. In fairness to him, I don't recall seeing any postups for him, and that used to be and ostensibly still is the better part of his game. All his opportunities (and there weren't many) came from passes in motion. Given his physical limitations, I'm assuming his best use will be as a situational postup player with a second unit against soft or undersized 2nd unit opposing bigs.</p> Unfortunately there were no jaw-dropping plays from Sean Williams today of the variety we've heard about. He did have one tremendous defensive recovery to block a shot in the 'no paint' drill. But Frank stopped play to talk about what Sean had done wrong before that point. Sean was easily the player that Frank most often was addressing in this manner, reminding him of a missed assignment or defensive read/reaction. Some of this I'm sure was just because he was the rookie. But unfortunately it probably confirms that we won't see a lot of Williams early in the regular season.</p> I know a number of people have talked about Jumaine Jones. But based on this practice, he's way behind Hite in my hierarchy.</p> </div></p> Thanks for the summary, excited about Allen, scared about Magloire turning into McInnis. Excited that Frank stops play to teach Williams, if this guy didn't have much chance of contributing this year, Frank will not spend too much time on him. Maybe not from the start but later, hopefully we'll see Williams.</p> </p>
I'm not sure which practice I'm watching, but there's a Nets real training camp on NBA tv now. I just turned it on so my analysis can't be that intensive, but I have noticed the following:</p> -Either the equipment manager shafted Illic, or the guy naturally sweats pink</p> -Rod Benson....isn't.....that good.....</p> Edit:</p> -Malik Allen looks solid. As said above, he knows where to find himself in this offense whether on the break or in our half court offense.</p> -They're trying to get the ball to Jamaal in the post. None-doing.</p> -DA looks solid, and he'll give Marcus a run for the 2nd string once he comes back. He's got a nice ability to run the offense and hit the shot when necessary.</p>
I don't know if today's broadcast was the same as yesterday's either. But from what I saw (about half of it), Boone looked pretty solid. In the first two scrimages, he scored a number of times from up close, and handled the ball on many other posessions.</p> Why wouldn't the Nets start Boone or Boki at the 4 next to Collins to start the season?</p>
Boki is not a starting 4, period. He doesn't have the size or defensive skill set to battle talented 6'10", 240-250 pound guys on the post, especially early in the game when teams (coaches) are generally trying to establish a defensive tone and opponents are trying to establish an inside game. Boone looked pretty good but not as good -- and certainly not as versatile -- as Allen looked IMO.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dumpy)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> I don't know if today's broadcast was the same as yesterday's either. But from what I saw (about half of it), Boone looked pretty solid. In the first two scrimages, he scored a number of times from up close, and handled the ball on many other posessions.</p> Why wouldn't the Nets start Boone or Boki at the 4 next to Collins to start the season?</p> </div></p> </p> I'm surprised by you Dumpy. Suggesting Boki at the 4. Bad idea. Really bad.</p> </p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mynetsforlife)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dumpy)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> I don't know if today's broadcast was the same as yesterday's either. But from what I saw (about half of it), Boone looked pretty solid. In the first two scrimages, he scored a number of times from up close, and handled the ball on many other posessions.</p> Why wouldn't the Nets start Boone or Boki at the 4 next to Collins to start the season?</p> </div></p> </p> I'm surprised by you Dumpy. Suggesting Boki at the 4. Bad idea. Really bad.</p> </p> </div></p> Boki will play the 4 this year in certain "small ball" situations, against teams that dont have athletic four's. It might not work against Atlanta, but it could work against LA. And why are you comparing him to huge power forwards. How many teams have huge, athletic bigs coming off the BENCH? That's what we're talking about here...Boki off the bench at the four, not starting.</p> </p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (dumpy)</div><div class='quotemain'>Why wouldn't the Nets start Boone or Boki at the 4 next to Collins to start the season?</div></p> I meant starting.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dumpy)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Why wouldn't the Nets start Boone or Boki at the 4 next to Collins to start the season?</p> </div></p> This is the quote from Dumpy to which I was responding and which the other poster was contesting. Starting was indeed the issue. I agree with you that there are many situations where Boki could play the 4, including when the opponent goes small (which happens with increasing frequency). But, by and large, he will be overmatched inside against starting 4s.</p> Besides which, the better he is, the more Frank will love bringing him off the bench as the team's designated offensive spark plug.</p> </p> </p>
Malik Allen could contribute defense, offense, and rebounding? maybe.</p> If Magloire can not beat out Collins then Malik would, then we will see Malik Allen and Krstic start together, lol.</p>
I haven't seen Malik as being a defensive powerhouse either, though. Still, I'd like to see more practices before I put Malik Allen on a pedestal (of all people), or villifty Jamaal Magloire. The practice that was televised was a bit one sided, as there was more fast break, motion offense, and less opportunities to give Magloire a traditional post-up shot.</p>
I agree that it would depend on the matchup. Against certain teams, Nachbar would be a fine starting PF. For instance, for a stretch last season Gerald Wallace (listed at 6'7", 220) was Charlotte's starting PF. In fact, that was his most productive stretch of the season, proving not only that a smaller guy can be productive there, but also that there could, in fact, be good matchups for Boki as a starting PF. There's that guy for Phoenix, also. The plusses would be the improved ball movement, the uptempo pace. Also, as I've said before, I'm not entirely sure that it would be the best use of Boki to put him on the court with Nenad. You'd just have too many jump shooters, especially if Vince was on the court as well. If Nenad is coming off the bench, you've got to think of different ways to use Boki.</p> [incidentally, according to 82games.com, Nachbar was on the court with Krstic for 119 minutes last year, and the Nets were -10 during that time. In comparison, Nachbar was on the court with Collins for 328 minutes, and was a plus-39. Included in that was a plus-13 in 53 minutes when Nachbar was the PF alongside Collins and the big-three. Coincidence?]</p>
besides, why is everyone so fixated on matching up with the opposition? We should make THEM try to match up with US. If we play Boki at the 4, it will FORCE them to go small as well, or we'd run them off the court. If the opposition has some big bruising powerhouse PF that is the centerpiece of their offense, let Collins guard him, and start Boone or Allen alongside.</p>
is there any chance that someone recorded this and can upload it to youtube or something? i dont have nbatv, plus i was at class and its killing me just reading reviews of the telecast. if someone finds the recording of this please post it or pm me the link please!!!!</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dumpy)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> besides, why is everyone so fixated on matching up with the opposition? We should make THEM try to match up with US. If we play Boki at the 4, it will FORCE them to go small as well, or we'd run them off the court. If the opposition has some big bruising powerhouse PF that is the centerpiece of their offense, let Collins guard him, and start Boone or Allen alongside.</p> </div></p> I agree with this to a point. I think breaking conventions can produce great results, but it can also produce disasters, since conventions are usually conventions for a reason. Boki certainly runs the court and finishes well on the break, either at the rim or as a trailer at the 3 point line. But the kind of running you're talking about is mostly keyed by getting stops and rebounds off misses. And against the vast majority of starting 4s, I think Boki would be a matchup that the other team would exploit inside, getting fouls or high percentage shots, neither of which bode well for getting the stops antecedent to prolific fast break basketball.</p> </p>
