I know it's still way too early to make any decisions, but there's several weeks to kill with stupid threads until opening night. This is my contribution to that list. So let's talk about what players should play together and what lineups should open and close games. First, no offense to Trenton Hassell, who is probably a good player to have on the team for behind the scenes and chemistry reasons, but I don't want to see him on the floor any time a game is in contention. It's enough to say that his offense was a lot better than his defense. Think about that. Bobby Simmons has looked surprisingly better and more mobile defensively than I thought he would. Not great by any means, but competent and physical. If the jumper starts dropping as advertised, then I'm sure Frank will end up starting him at the three. While I'm not opposed to that to begin the year, I would like to see what a unit with Lopez, Yi, and Anderson would look like. Both Yi and Anderson shoot well outside; both can dribble well enough to slash if a defender is late getting out on the swing of the ball, so they would essentially be interchangeable parts in the offense. On defense, let Yi play the 3 and Anderson handle the 4, where his toughness, strength, and rebounding appear to give him an edge over Yi. Other interesting combos would include Sean in place of either Yi or Anderson, playing the 3 defensively and the 5 offensively. Yi/Anderson would be the 3 offensively and the 4 defensively. Lopez would play the 5 defensively and the 4 offensively, where his excellent midrange touch (per what we've heard and what we saw in summer league and today) will allow him ample pick and pop or other opportunity jumpers. I still like Boone to start at center early in the season with Lopez getting the bulk of the closing minutes at 5 depending upon foul situations and how well he's played early in the game. This keeps Boone off the foul line late and should help Lopez's growth rate since he would see crunch playing time. If that growth really takes off, as I think it will, he will be both the starting and closing center. Definitely want to see more of the lineup with Harris, CDR, Carter, Yi, and Lopez. That unit is strong both ways at every position. I hope to see a number of games with that lineup on the floor at some point in the 4th quarter.
Saw the first game but missed the second one, Yi's line looked like the type of numbers Krstic used to put up.
Like I said before.. Harris/Dooling/Gill/Hodge VC/CDR/Ager/Hamilton Simmons/Hayes/Anderson/Hassell Yi/Swat/Najera Lopez/Boone/Swift In that order. Like Dumpy said before, there will be injured players.
No.. lol Hassell, Hamilton and Hodge are the odd men out. But they are next in line in case someone gets injured.
I like Simmons starting but I think CDR will eventually get the nod at the 2 with VC sliding to the 3.
normal rotation: Boone (30), Lopez (18) Yi (36), Anderson (12) Simmons (30), Najera (18) Carter (36), Douglas-Roberts (8) Harris (36), Dooling (16) irregular minutes: Williams, Hayes inactive: Hassell, Swift, Ager
I'd rather do with Najera what Popovich used to do with Finley: Start him, but don't play him major minutes. Najera is a solid vet, a great defender and can be our block of stability in both the beginning of the game and the later stages. Better yet, no one will be able to complain about him because of his leadership and veteran status. Let's play Najera the first 5 minutes of the game, then another SF depending on the match ups (Hayes / Simmons / maybe SWAT or Ryan)
to start the season the starting lineup will be pg- devin harris - no brainer sg-vince carter - no brainer sf-bobby simmons- a vet who can hit a open j and 3 helps spread the floor. pf-yi - a 7foot talent who can hit the mid j and also take pf's off the dribble. plus a whole marketing strategy is set up for him by the nets so he's starting unless he falls on his face. c-- boone- 3rd year player who will start the season and be the garbage man and suck up boards and crash the offensive boards too keep it alive. knowing lawrence frank he's comfortable starting vets easily over rooks and second year players. bench pg- keyon dooling- perfect combo guard coming off the bench also a leader. sg- CDR - only viable option behind carter must help the bench with his scoring. i see him finishing games later in the season as maybe the 2nd option behind carter in the 4th. starting ain't the big shit it's who finishes and makes the clutch shots in the last 2 minutes i see him there later in the season. sf/pf- Najera - a feisty scrapper you want walking with you down a dark alley. his worth will be against tough teams like detroit,spurs,houston,chicago etc. pf - ryan anderson - as far as i can see he's going to be very valuable with his shooting and his rebounding will have problems against very strong pf's and quick sf's i hope frank puts him in a position to succeed. c- Lopez- by the end of the season he's the starter but for now you nuture him and bring him along increasing his minutes. he will be a bed rock by the end of the season. i see him being a double/double guy. sf/sg- jarvis hayes- can't play D too slow laterally. piston fans killed him there where the staple is defense there.but he does have a nice mid-range game if the shots are falling he gets minutes if not get him out of there. sf/pf/c- S.williams- i personally like the guy but if i'm roy rogers his position coach i'm bringing tapes of dennis rodman,michael cage,ben wallace,kurt rambis. this is what you are go rebound, defend. you want to score go after teammates misses. we are going to put you on lebron,duncan,carmelo,garnett go make life miserable for these guys. he's the most gifted athlete on the nets. i hope the bulb turns on he could be a stopper. if these guys are in the rotation we are facked up or injured as hell. sf-T.hassell - he used to be know as a wing stopper what happened. pf-S.swift - the guy is a good kid but he has a million dollar body and a 10 cent head. swat you can be here in 2-3 years. can't wait till the end of the year to get his contract off the books. i actually regret trading twin. somebody kick me in the ass if he turns it on. and becomes a rotation regular. pg/sg/sf-J.hodges- except for a live body and active hands that's where it ends. making him a pg is a disaster he can handle it but can't make decisions or start up our offense. pg-e.gill- if harris or dooling go down. a steady vet nothing spectacular. that's my take we have 3 rookies and swat who are very capable of starting by the end of the year it's going to be fun watching there development and also yi's.
thanks danxcr i think i found a home with people who really follow the nets glad to be here. been following these nets since buck and mike gminski were on. hopefully we reincarnate into a good team with this group.
Welcome to S2! If you need anything, don't hesitate to PM me or Zero (preferably Zero. I hate all of you nubs ).
I think our starting lineup should be: Harris Carter Simmons Yi Lopez backups: Dooling CDR Najera/CDR Anderson Boone P.S. Boone might start in the beginning of season but Lopez is will be the better player and will take his spot sometime during the season. CDR could easily start over Simmons but I think I would want him to bring energy off the bench for us
I think a big unknown that will determine if we can run a CDR/VC starting tandem over a VC/(SF) duo is how well Jarvis Hayes plays SG. If he can offer good bench scoring from that position, then I don't think you have to worry about not starting CDR for fear that you've got nothing behind him.
i really have no confidence in hayes. except hitting 17-20 ft jump shots. he defintely can't play D.and a below average rebounder being 6-8 and all. if he gives us 10- 12 minutes a game. 6-8 points a game i'll be thrilled. Cdr can be a true weapon off the bench a go-to guy when carter or harris is sitting. he'll defintely play with carter and harris at times. but you're right unless someone steps up like hayes . cdr is best suited for the bench for now.
Anyone think we'll see Ryan Anderson starting at SF in any of the remaining preseason games? I'm very curious to see how he would do in that position with the starting backcourt and with Yi and Lopez on the floor at the same time. I know he would likely struggle defensively on the perimeter, but he's also a better athlete than it might appear and he would certainly compete. Main thing is that he would be in the weakside corner to launch that very smooth jumper of his off the dribble/drive motion on the other side of the court. Since SF is obviously our weakest position and since we have a glut of "bigs" (some of whom either aren't all that big (Sean, Najera) or who are but have the offensive skills of a 3 (Yi, Anderson)), it seems to me the best way to address both issues is to think more out-of-the-box and try using 3 of the bigs at once. That sure beats putting Hassell out there as the starting 3. If we're going to experiment in the preseason, it should be with something considerably more bold and promising.
i think Yi is more athletic than anderson... so Yi would play the 3 on offense... and it makes it very tough for us defensively because a smaller or quick 3 would just blow by them...
I'm not sure Anderson is a good choice for SF, although I agree that it would be interesting to try three bigs at once. If one of the bigs is Sean, though, it would open up possibilities for a weird three-way switch on D. Sean would play center on offense, since he has no shot, but could possibly defend an SF. BTW, Ryan doesn't seem to like that shot from the corner. Most of his shots seem to be from the arc or behind it, between the two "elbows", if that makes sense.
But think about this. Is Anderson really that much slower than Simmons or Hassell? I don't think so. Is he much slower than Boki? A little, but not much. He moved very well in the Paris game in getting a couple of steals. No question an RJ type SF would blow by him from 23 if he's left on an island. But you can see already (and the coach and players have said) that he's a smart player, so he will understand team defensive concepts and shading a guy to where the help will be. He's dedicated and hard working (has to be to do what he's done all his life in overcoming low expectations), and so he will know the scouting report on his opponents well. You give up a guy with top level quickness at the SF position, but you make huge gains in rebounds and very likely big gains in 3-point shooting and offensive versatility. Check out that nifty pass he made to a cutting CDR to seal the victory in Paris. I'm obviously not advocating this as a regular season starting lineup at this point. But I think it's worth a look in preseason.
Sean is also a prime candidate because he is so small and quick and could probably guard all 5 positions if it were a one on one game. (think about that one for a minute!) The reason I am looking at Ryan for SF is because he seems, so far, to be best ball handler of the Nets big men, the one who looks like he's best able to come to a controlled stop in the lane with the ball and make a play. Yi is obviously quicker and more agile but doesn't seem quite as comfortable as Anderson moving with the ball. Yi could possibly switch jobs with Anderson on defense. I'm not sure who would do a better job on that end further from the basket. But I believe Anderson is a better rebounder and stronger around the basket though he won't have Yi's potential as a shotblocker and help defender in close.
