Remember when the Nets' frontcourt was weak and soft and the backcourt let guys like Tyronn Lue and Anthony Johnson run wild? Not any more. Devin Harris, Trent Hassell and Darrell Armstrong are all terrific perimeter defenders and can all pressure a ballhandler into making mistakes on any part of the court. These guys also close out on shooters. No more free rides, TJ Ford and Brevin Knight! Life got more difficult for you Michael Redd. The Nets can match you up now, Jose Calderon. As for the frontcourt, they still lack great on ball defenders, but I think Boone and Diop are both improving their post defense and now have the luxury of bodying up their man without worrying about foul trouble due to the Nets' depth up front. As for help defense, YOW! Sean Williams, Diop, Swift and Boone are all shot blockers. There will be no more red carpet rides to the rim for opposing guards. Perimeter players can get in a guy's shirt without worry. Add Krstic and that is the Nets' best collection of rebounders in a long, long time. I don't know how long it will take all these guys to gel or if they can get Richard Jefferson to care about defense again, but the pieces are there to go from a bad defensive team to a very good one in a short amount of time. Get to work, Frank! Your order has arrived.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ghoti @ Feb 19 2008, 12:52 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Remember when the Nets' frontcourt was weak and soft and the backcourt let guys like Tyronn Lue and Anthony Johnson run wild? Not any more. Devin Harris, Trent Hassell and Darrell Armstrong are all terrific perimeter defenders and can all pressure a ballhandler into making mistakes on any part of the court. These guys also close out on shooters. No more free rides, TJ Ford and Brevin Knight! Life got more difficult for you Michael Redd. The Nets can match you up now, Jose Calderon. As for the frontcourt, they still lack great on ball defenders, but I think Boone and Diop are both improving their post defense and now have the luxury of bodying up their man without worrying about foul trouble due to the Nets' depth up front. As for help defense, YOW! Sean Williams, Diop, Swift and Boone are all shot blockers. There will be no more red carpet rides to the rim for opposing guards. Perimeter players can get in a guy's shirt without worry. Add Krstic and that is the Nets' best collection of rebounders in a long, long time. I don't know how long it will take all these guys to gel or if they can get Richard Jefferson to care about defense again, but the pieces are there to go from a bad defensive team to a very good one in a short amount of time. Get to work, Frank! Your order has arrived.</div> I think it's time for this team to play the slow small ball the Knicks of the Pat Riley era had his team played. Easy buckets will be hard to come by for the Nets and the only big with a consistent offensive game is Krstic.
yes, ghoti, you can add Jamal Crawford to your list....the Nets lost 3 to the Knicks this year due to bad matchups as the Nets lost athleticism...that problem has been solved...Knicks fans hope you enjoyed it....get ready to resume another losing streak to the Nets
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (razel231 @ Feb 19 2008, 01:01 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I think it's time for this team to play the slow small ball the Knicks of the Pat Riley era had his team played. Easy buckets will be hard to come by for the Nets and the only big with a consistent offensive game is Krstic.</div> They couldn't play that way before because it didn't make any sense with Kidd around. That's why it's hard to coach a team with a bunch of parts that don't fit together.
Wow. Good point. We'll see how Kiki has done with his acquisitions, and how Frank uses them. This will be a true measuring stick for Lawrence Frank. Or am I speaking too soon...should we wait until both or one of RJ and Vince gets traded?
What are the chances Carter gets traded before the deadline? Anybody else going to laugh if he ends up in Indiana or Memphis? I say we keep RJ for now.
