Ager playing aggressively, and hitting his jumpers. He shot poorly after becoming a Net last year. Maybe some residual lack of confidence carry-over from Avery?
at 5:33 the Nets broke down the court, and Devin tried to take to the rim himself 1 on 3 with Vince trailing.
a couple plays where Harris gave up the ball very early. In one case, Lopez missed a shot; in the next, Yi missed but was fouled. Neither was Harris' fault, although he wasn't making plays. At 4:34, I have no idea what he did. He pulled up at the free-throw line and threw a bullet that clanged off the rim. It looks like it was a pass to Lopez, but it wasn't an alley-oop. It seemed like Harris wasn't sure whether to shoot or pass, so he did neither, or both.
All that talk by Hodge about being a defensive stopper was a bunch of blah blah blah because it looks to me like Jason Collins could take him off the dribble.
I'm impressed with that first unit (except for Hassell, who wasn't nearly as good defending Wade as Vince was in the first quarter). The defense overall has looked MUCH better than I thought it would. Brook was moving pretty well to get in position for secondary defense around the paint. He had a tough time catching the ball near the rim, but I'm not worried about that yet. The offense with Yi in the game and Vince doing more of the play creation was night and day better than first quarter of the Paris game. And speaking of Yi, so long, RJ! This guy's shot is a work of art. I knew he would benefit from playing with Carter and unselfish guards generally. And he is so freaking long that no one short of a KG type (with amazing quickness and length) is going to be able to bother it. The pick and pop with Carter and Yi will be a staple of the Nets offense this year, and it will be more effective than with any other personnel since I started watching the Nets simply because Yi is obviously a better shooter. The one thing that everyone said about Yi was that he was automatic from 20 if you gave him any kind of decent pass. What the Bucks couldn't capitalize on last year (for whatever reasons) is not going to be a problem with the Nets. I see this guy easily being our 3rd scorer.
at 4:24 Harris gives the ball to Yi on the pick and roll. Yi loses it/gets it stolen. Not Harris' fault.
at 4:10, harris dribbles, hands off to Vince, who drives, kicks to Hassell, who hits. No complaint with Harris there.
Hell, yeah. Yi can hit the jumper (like Nenad) and also roll to the rim with great quickness and jam (like Boone). But the really exciting thing about him is that he can also exploit an aggressive defender by blowing by him and getting to the rim.
How can you not be happy with what you've seen today? Carter healthy, going to the rim, showing leadership; Yi not just hitting shots but driving the lane, making great passes; one of the guys fighting for a job--Ager--playing very well...even Swift has played well. Lopez will be fine the second half. I jinxed him by writing that glowing profile...and for that I am deeply sorry.
At 3:36, Harris is just inside the arc, and it looks like he loses control when he tries to make a lazy one-handed nonchallant pass. Unclear to me from this angle whether he was trying to feed it through traffic to Brook down low, or to make a no-look pass to Vince who is along the circle on the right, and completely loses control. Just too nonchallant--a lazy play. Totally Harris' fault.
