New Jersey Nets @ Chicago Bulls, Sat, Dec 13, 2008

Scouting report: New Jersey Nets

Starters

• Devin Harris (22 pts, 7 ast) is the real deal. He has tremendously quick first step, and the ability to split double team. He’s unstoppable when driving to the rim, finishing with both hands, drawing fouls or making some nice drive-and-dishes. He’s also excellent in initiating fast breaks. Rose had absolutely no clue in stopping him. The only weakness of his game is his streaky jumpers. Once he can get more consistent with his outside shots, he will easily become one of the best PGs in the league.
  


• Vince Carter (39 pts, 14-14 FT, 6 reb) scored in various ways, posting up, driving layups, 3-pters, drawing fouls, you name it. The best thing is, he was not hogging the ball. In the past, after receiving the ball, he would hold on with the ball, stare at the opponent, fake once, twice and thrice, hold on again, before launching a fade away long J (and miss). Nowadays Vince Carter is more quick on decision. He will either pass or make a move before the opponent is set up. More surprise is that that he has become a more willing passer, making a few nice drive-n-dish.
  


• Bob Simmons (12 pts, 5-11 FG) is a very serviceable SF, hitting several mid range J.
  


• Yi (2 pts, 9 reb) looks ok, though his shots are off (1-8 FG, 0-4 3PT). At least he’s not as lost as last season. Maybe he’s having some good Chinese food in New Jersey? By no mean he’s a star, but he is an acceptable role player who can score on post up and 3s and rebound. He’s not an athletic swingman, or a bulky banger, but at least he doesn’t make his team worse.
  


• Brook Lopez (17 pts, 7 reb, 3 blk) is no white stiff. He’s tough and solid. He runs the floor well and set some solid picks. His post up move is a bit stiff and robot-like, but he did manage to score a few post up baskets. OK, he scored over Aaron Gray and Drew Gooden. Not exactly elite defenders. Lopez’s defense, however, is as bad as any rookie.
  


• Their starters played some ok defense protecting the paint, they were able to prevent Derrick Rose from driving the lane and they challenged all the shots in the paint. But their perimeter defense is another story. The defense rotation is just slow on the perimeter. Players like Vince and Harris are just half hearted when playing defense, respeatedly allowing the Bulls to have wide open shots. The Bulls scored mainly on Js beyond 18 ft. The Nets were also lousy in transition defense, as the Bulls often scored fast break points off a long miss by the Nets.
  

Bench

• The Nets’ second unit is flat out lousy. Very limited offense skills other than Keyon Dooling hitting some open Js. On one possession in 2Q, they failed to put the ball into the basket after 3 consecutive put back attempts. Their defense was absolutely atrocious, allowing the Bulls to score off the picks, back doors and was just helpless in defending fast breaks. The Bulls were able to turn an 8-pt deficit into a 2-point lead.
  

Clutch time performance

• This is where the Nets failed to show up. The Nets experienced some critical defense breakdown in Q4. Unfortunately, despite his early committment to teamwork, Vince Carter returned to his old selfish form with the game was on the line, as the Nets down by 96-99. Vince forced the drive to the rim, drew fouls, hit the FTs. Then when the Bulls scored an easy shot on the other end, the almighty self-absorbed Vince launched a deep, deep 3-pter, I’d say at least 25-ft, which was way off, and led to yet another Bulls’ fastbreak and a tough shot by Derrick Rose. That’s vintage Carter. What was he thinking? I think deep down, he’s watched too many Lakers’ videos. He thinks he’s as good as Kobe to launch such kind of desperate shots.
  


• Anyway, down by 98-103, after a timeout, Lawrence Frank drew a play for Harris to curl around Vince Carter’s pick and drove to the rim. Derrick Rose obviously was blocking Harris, but somehow the ref didn’t call a foul (home court advantage). Harris argued with the ref and was assessed with a T, and the Bulls make the T FT. 104-98 Bulls. Next possession, apparently still bothered by the non-call, Harris simply lost his concentration, mistakenly passed the ball to Tyrus Thomas under no pressure, and TT was fouled, made 2 FTs and the lead swelled to 106-98 with 37 sec left. Game over.

Verdict

• This team is young and talented. They have a franchise player, Devin Harris, to build upon. Overall, the Nets had extremely good ball movement, and they played unselfish basketball. Give credits to coach Lawrence Frank. They also got decent size in the frontcourt, therefore they have some good rebounding, esp. several valuable offensive rebounds.
  Also due to their youth and inexperience, they did an awful job at the clutch time. This is part of the learning and I believe Lawrence Frank should be able to improve that as the season goes on.
  


• While they may sneak into the playoffs this season thanks to the mighty performance of Devin Harris, they are by no means competitive enough to go past 1st round. They would need at least one more scorer, preferably a shooter, and 2-3 more quality backups before we can talk about them as a quality team. But so far, they have far exceeded the expectation this season.