Losing to the knicks in unacceptable. Period. For us to play the way we did in the 3rd was abysmal. Vc was pissed after the game in the locker room, he even said something smart about the coach.
He WAS given the players he wanted, but you have to choose between defensive skills, offensive skills, and team skills. He has a group of hard-working, team-first guys who (for the most part) can shoot from the perimeter and will share the ball. He also has a large number of young players filling important roles who are more apt to make defensive mistakes. It also takes longer for players to learn to coordinate defensive assignments then to mesh offensively. If they do not improve by, say, mid-February, then there may be something to gripe about. Hopefully the eventual return of Najera will help somewhat.
When did everyone start to believe that this is an elite team? They have come together quicker than anyone imagined, but they still have breakdowns. They are still just middle-of-the-pack. They have a bunch of new players, a bunch of injured players, and are learning how to play together. They should gradually improve over the course of the season and could sneak into the playoffs--wouldn't everyone be happy with that anymore? I think everyone's expectations are a bit inflated right now.
@ dumpy, speaking for myself obviously, when i see that the Knicks are playing with undersized guys in their C and PF spots, why do we let them get away with that??? what was frank trying to Prove??? Both Yi and Brook had no foul troubles, both weren't hurting us offensively, both were getting their points and grabbing boards but just because the Knicks made a run we had to pull them out? Pound the ball inside, draw a foul or draw inside, wait for that double team(good move on the NYK) dish out and shoot... we played small ball where it was easy to defend since 4/5 guys were sitting behind the 3 where we had a weak C with no post moves inside, what was Frank thinking? i didnt think this game was due to breakdowns of sorts, it was poor coaching decisions by that idiot Frank. Frank put the wrong players in, and kept the wrong lineup in the 4th... he thought with 12 mins left in the 4th Q down by 1-3pts, he can come back and win by shooting... why draft big men with any sort of Offensive skill if they're not seeing the floor come crunch time...
I have no proof of this, but I SUSPECT that the Nets are showcasing Swift to trade him. Consider: (1) Kerber, who is the king of the beat reporters right now, has been hinting strongly that there is interest in Swift by other teams. (2) Over the past three games, Swift has played a total of 45 minutes. (3) Over the past three games, Brook's minutes have been at the lowest level since he entered the starting lineup. In fact, since becoming a starter, the three games that Brook has played the FEWEST minutes has been each of the last three, despite committing a total of just six PFs in those three games. (4) Boone was unexpectedly left inactive, implying that the Nets intended to give Swift fairly big minutes. I wonder what will happen.
Atleast you had some respect for him. I will always dislike Frank. Win or lose. Recorded with this team or not. I refuse to jump on the Frank bandwagon. The guy is terrible. People are going to argue that Frank let Harris loose, but Frank is a players coach and a push over. Has the young guys believing in the system? But pulls these guys that believe and benches them when they are clearly at an advantage. IMO FRANK SUCKS!!!!!
not directing my frustration at you in anyway, but we basically tank this one to showcase? maybe i'm overreacting but now i have to go and hear all this b.s about the "jersey boys" beating down Jersey, the "New Jersey Knicks" call Izod home etc... why? because we want to showcase... we'll were not developing our young guns arent we? gr8 management right there... throw away games because we "can win anytime"
I don't see it as intentionally tanking a game. There are just a lot of priorities to take into account. Perhaps the Nets have decided that Brook will play no more than 25 minutes a game in the hope that he'll avoid the rookie wall. Who knows.
Vince's defense CAN be GOOD or BAD and is often BOTH in the same game. He plays good defense when he decides too. At times, he takes the easy way out and gambles in the passing lane, relying on someone else to rotate to his guy, causing everyone else to need to rotate. Specifically against the Knicks, Vince played GOOD defense against Al Harrington. Yes, All still shot over him on fadeaways, etc, but Vince definitely played by the book solid man defense when he was guarding him during short stints. Perhaps he looked even better guarding Harrington after watching Ryan Anderson try to do it... My main point is that Trenton Hassell should have been put in to guard Harrington during the 2nd quarter, when the Knicks calmed down and starting playing better.
NBA is all about match ups, right now Knicks is a bad match up for us. Their frontline is too fast for ours, but more importantly our frontline are too inexperience to make them pay for playing small. we went to Lopez the first half, and Knicks even doubled him, but he turned the ball over like 4-5 times. I think every time Yi touched the ball inside he scored, but he's just camping outside most of the times like usual. Best you can take from the game is that the Nets still need a lot of work.
Seriously, dude, I am not trying to be mean or pick a fight, but did you read either of my posts? The whole point is that the Nets could have matched up better if Trenton Hassell was put in to guard Al Harrington...
Problem is putting Hassell in would be like adding an extra defender against your own team. In the future maybe, when Frank is able to put more offenses in that include a defensive line-up. Right now, the Nets offense doesn't even include post play or interior scoring.
By your own words, if he's a winner with a rebuilding core of young players, with 2 rookies in his rotation (one starter), you will never acknowledge his talents and will always consider him terrible. It's stuff like this that makes no one take your opinion very highly.
I disagree. Harrington has 5 inches on him and is stronger. There is absolutely nothing that says he would have fared better. I personally think that Harington would have destroyed him. Also, perhaps if this was the playoffs, Frank would try an experiment like this, and if it worked, he'd seem like a genius (Bruce Bowen vs. Dirk). In the regular season, there is no reason to panic and put in a player who's not in your short or long term plans. Frank was actually doing what most people are saying he should have done, he didn't play D'Antoni's game. If we started trying to counter the Knicks' lineup, we would have failed because not only are the Knicks' players more suited for that style of play, but they also have had a whole season to practice. I don't think Ryan defending Harrington was a great idea, but a lot of the blame also rests on team defense. If people expected immediate defensive improvement, you were kidding yourself. We sucked with Kidd and RJ because they were not good MAN defenders. But they knew their rotations. Currently, not only do we not have good man defenders, but our team defense often breaks down simply because we 1) Lack defensive vets and 2) we're insanely young. If Najera returns to 100% healthy form this season, and becomes a vocal leader he was during preseason, I expect NJ's defense to improve, simply by having Najera playing alongside them, no matter how many minutes. Networks: Welcome to denial.
