<!-- BEGIN LINKS --> Tide rapidly rising in the Atlantic - Marty Burns - Sports Illustrated Our D got weaker? Hahahaha. Good one. Yeah, we had Marcus Williams, Richard Jefferson, Boki Nachbar, (injured) Nenads, and an injured Vince Carter on the team. How could our defense get worse than that?
Yeah I don't see how our defense got worse. Adding Najera and Dooling was definitely an upgrade. Replacing RJ with Simmons would be a downgrade if RJ played defense up to his capability, but he didn't last year.
Simmons has been a better defender than RJ since 2004 and is a much better defender now. Even when RJ was considered a "good" defender he was overrated.
Wow, that's like a double contradiction. First, they say we lost Nads and Boki...and then our D got weaker. Then, they say Jefferson is our best perimeter defender, and disses Vince's defense. Then, says Simmons can't defend. Fail.
hehe... damn i cant wait for this season to start so i can stop reading all these assumptions and predictions regarding our NETS...
Boone is unproven? We all know what he is. An 8/8 guy when starting. Simmons doesn't defend, but Jefferson does?
So the Nets add a defensive power forward, subtract a defenseless center and point guard. Add one of the top defensive PG's in the league....and the defense is worst? I think Yi's lateral quickness will quickly have Frank in love with his ability to defend the paint.
This is a thoughtless article. RJ and Kidd are gone so they're gonna be crappy, done, submit to get published. Oh no not Boki too! Whatever will we do? We might lose our fair share of games because the talent we're facing is greater but after last season's pathetic excuse for defense, half the time sleepwalking through it or just plain watching their defenders beat them, it's near impossible to be worse. We have fresh legs who are eager to defend and are thinking team first and foremost. That's an upgrade any way you look at it.
Good post; I pretty much agree with you. And seeing as how we have young guys on the team, the #1 rule should be, you either play D or you don't play at all. It's pretty easy to get discouraged and stop playing defense. But good defense creates good offense, so we'll have none of that.
CNNSI's take on the Nets offseason. I've never seen the bolded part by anyone else on Ryan Anderson. Had anyone else? -Petey
Re: CNNSI's take on the Nets offseason. if it's so wrong, how come so many news outlets say this? they're all wrong, but the nets fans are right? or do the Nets fans have a bias/resentment towards RJ? I mean one or two sites, but I've seen 4-5 different write ups saying RJ was the best wing defender and there is always a Nets fans saying the article got it wrong. I only saw the Nets a few times so I can't say I'd know myself. I'm just wondering...
Re: CNNSI's take on the Nets offseason. RJ was a very good defender, but over time he seemed to be doing it less and less
Re: CNNSI's take on the Nets offseason. Camby was given the DPOY Doc Rivers was given COY Steve Nash was given 2 MVP's I have tons of examples of the media being stupid and wrong
Re: CNNSI's take on the Nets offseason. Media is going by reputation and Nets fans go by watching all 82 games. RJ at his best was a good defender sporadicaly (when he got up for the challenge). Harris is by far the best perimeter defender. RJ even admitted his defense was sub-par after the trade.
Re: CNNSI's take on the Nets offseason. Simple but to the point, good post. That is pretty much the gist, RJ became more concerned about his scoring numbers and stopped really digging in on defense like he used to. He used to have his ankles as the bail out excuse but for everybody watching it was painfully clear that he just stopped giving a shit on the defensive end. Often times the guys Kidd and RJ were guarding were the guys tearing us a new one because they just watched guys buzz past them as they tried to get steals. Replacing their defensive non contributions with even the slightest bit of effort and young legs will be a huge upgrade to this team. The Nets weren't easy to watch the past couple seasons so it's understandable that's the last time they saw Kidd and RJ was the last time they tried on D, for us anyways.
In my most hopeful dreams, I see the Nets as this year's Blazers, a young team that developed quickly and even if it didn't make the playoffs, it got better and was a decent TEAM that fans appreciated for their spunk. (Of course, the Nets don't have Oden and Fernandez joining them next season, like the Blazers do this year. Damn, Kevin Pritchard is good.) I really don't care what pundits say (other than Hollinger, whose accuracy on predictions re the Nets scare me).
