Back from summer league

The greatest impression that I got from watching the game didn't have anything to do with how anyone played--it was that this team desperately wanted to win. As the game got more physical, the bench became more and more enthusiastic, yelling encouragement and cheering on every play down the stretch (best part: Brook was hit on the hand while shooting, and, after no foul was called, Barrise yelled, "You didn't see it, but you heard it!"). There's comraderie and pride here, and that's the first steps to becoming a winner. Just ask the Devil Rays--they'll tell you that Cliff Floyd brought a new attitude, and that all the way back in spring training the Rays began to expect to win.

The Nets played hard and physically, and are starting to bond. You can see that even though the only "play" that is run in summer league is the pick-and-roll (and Brook doesn't perform the pick part very well). I have no idea if they will be any good, but obviously the rookies all showed some strengths--not the least important of which was taht they all played hard, and competed.

more later tonight

Did the intensity/enthusiasm of the Nets bench stand out in comparison to the Pacer bench? And, most importantly, did anyone fed ex you a camera so that we can get pictures to go with this story?????

also, don't know if you could notice watching the feed, but Ryan Anderson seems to really like to hang out near the top of the arc, ten feet away from the PG, where the SG would normally line up without the ball. It seemed like Ryan is more comfortable shooting a three from the top of the key instead of from the corner. This made me think of FOMW's long-standing observatino that Vince is the team's best post player . . . when Vince is on the court with Ryan, they could actually switch traditional roles for a PF and SG when setting up the offense. Hope that makes sense.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (FOMW @ Jul 11 2008, 04:01 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Did the intensity/enthusiasm of the Nets bench stand out in comparison to the Pacer bench? And, most importantly, did anyone fed ex you a camera so that we can get pictures to go with this story?????</div>

i used my father's camera. it's an older digital, so the delay after pressing the shutter is just terrible, so i couldn't get any action shots. i took some pics during warmups, though. i also took a 4-minute video during the final five minutes of the game, so you could see how the bench was really reacting to what was going on--but when I played it back through the camera there wasn't any sound. Hopefully the sound will be there when i transfre it to my computer later.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (FOMW @ Jul 11 2008, 04:01 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Did the intensity/enthusiasm of the Nets bench stand out in comparison to the Pacer bench? And, most importantly, did anyone fed ex you a camera so that we can get pictures to go with this story?????</div>

to be honest, i wasn't focusing on the pacer bench at all--i don't really know.

i had a nice conversation with joey graham, though. he was there to watch his brother.

one more quick comment before i have to go--there were a ton of foreign speakers in the gym sitting next to me. At first I didn't know why, but then it hit me: they were probably foreign scouts, looking to identify a few players to offer contracts to.

Does Joey Graham have a posse? Did you ask him if I can be in it?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dumpy @ Jul 11 2008, 04:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>also, don't know if you could notice watching the feed, but Ryan Anderson seems to really like to hang out near the top of the arc, ten feet away from the PG, where the SG would normally line up without the ball. It seemed like Ryan is more comfortable shooting a three from the top of the key instead of from the corner. This made me think of FOMW's long-standing observatino that Vince is the team's best post player . . . when Vince is on the court with Ryan, they could actually switch traditional roles for a PF and SG when setting up the offense. Hope that makes sense.</div>

All of Vince's career, I've longed for him to be teamed with great outside shooting bigs so he could really take advantage of his superb post scoring and passing skills. Krstic was close to being good enough for that, but the other big was always Collins or Boone or Magloire or (in past years) Kevin Willis or Antonio Davis. This roster could actually put 4 bigs on the court that can all shoot well out to 20 feet (or beyond): Yi, Anderson, Lopez, and (possibly) Krstic. One thing's for sure, Frank must be really unimaginative if any 2 of those 4 are on the court at the same time with Harris, VC, and Simmons and Vince doesn't get at least 3-4 postups per quarter.

It's also nice, though, that the Nets now apparently have a bonafide big guy that can post up too.

Hey Dumpy, how did you find Brook's defense (man to man and help defense) as well as his rebounding ability? His offense definitely stood out watching over the internet but it seemed his defense and rebounding were somewhat iffy.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (NOMAM @ Jul 11 2008, 04:51 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Hey Dumpy, how did you find Brook's defense (man to man and help defense) as well as his rebounding ability? His offense definitely stood out watching over the internet but it seemed his defense and rebounding were somewhat iffy.</div>

that's a hard question for me to answer. Because I was sitting just fifteen or so feet from the court, and the game was played at eye level (or, in Brook's case, above eye level), I found it hard to grasp what was unfolding in front of me--it was a perspective that I wasn't used to. You have to learn to look through all the (huge) bodies to see what was going on in the middle and other side of the court. Also, the game was fast. VERY fast. Consider that there was more than 200 points scored during four ten-minute quarters. At that pace, the Nets would have scored 128 points over a full 48 minutes. For those reasons, I couldn't really focus in on Brook on the defensive end. However, as a team, the Nets were not getting beat on transition--they were busting their asses getting back on defense, which was a pretty good sign. As I said, they wanted to win.

One thing I did notice about Brook, though, is that he didn't do a good job on the pick-and-roll. . . because he wasn't picking. He established position about two feet to the side of the defending PG's path, and kind of halfheartedly stuck out his hand to slow him down. It didn't work very well.

He was clearly focused, too. He is pretty intense.

how about our new rookie

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (yinets1860 @ Jul 11 2008, 10:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>how about our new rookie </div>

Which one? We have Chris Douglas-Roberts, Brook Lopez, Ryan Anderson...and I guess Jaycee Carroll, too.

Oh and Dumpy - those are very encouraging words. It seems rare for a Summer League team to actually want to play defense. I'm getting curious as to see what would happen with Marcus on the floor - would the defense decline, or stay the same?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ghoti @ Jul 11 2008, 04:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Does Joey Graham have a posse? Did you ask him if I can be in it?</div>

Joey was there with his son--I assume it was his step-son, because he was probably about 18-20 years old. His wife or Stephen's wife was there also. He said he lives in Tampa--we could have carpooled! We didn't talk about basketball, though--we talked about something far more important.

He sounds boring.

Next time meet Drew Gooden.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dumpy @ Jul 12 2008, 10:56 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ghoti @ Jul 11 2008, 04:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Does Joey Graham have a posse? Did you ask him if I can be in it?</div>

Joey was there with his son--I assume it was his step-son, because he was probably about 18-20 years old. His wife or Stephen's wife was there also. He said he lives in Tampa--we could have carpooled! We didn't talk about basketball, though--we talked about something far more important.
</div>

Did you talk to him about Antoine Wright?