Please bench Boki Nachbar

[FOMW]

I've been as patient as I can be. I know he's supposed to have a bad back now, which is all the more reason he should not be in the game. He's inconsistent as hell even when perfectly healthy. Now he is consistent . . . consistently terrible, a liability on BOTH ends of the court. Wide open time and again, he bricks shot after shot when good penetration and ball movement have set him up, the kinds of missed shots that demoralize a team. He is eaten alive defensively in most matchups against big, small, or medium. He sometimes tries to be a playmaker and usually ends up making a play for the other team. And he frequently can't rebound balls that fall to his decided advantage.

He's not the only reason the Nets lost to the Suns (thank the refs for their hefty contribution to that with the most horrible no calls while Carter (and Jefferson) were getting clobbered in the paint time and again). But he contributes only negatives to the team. I'd rather see Nenad on the court, who may be as bad defensively but has found his stroke and can at least rebound now and then. I'd rather see Sean; I'd rather see Swift; I'd rather see Ager; I'd rather see Hassell. Heck, I'd much rather see Marcus get his minutes in a small lineup, despite his bonehead decisions every 5 minutes, because he at least balances them out with some timely shooting and nifty passes.

This stubborn, blind loyalty to older or more tenured but less capable players is a terrible blight on Frank's coaching. There were other examples, even tonight, where he hurt the team by failing to make a needed defensive substitution (e.g., refusing to play Diop more than a few minutes when Shaq and Amare were dominating the Nets in the paint and on the boards, especially in the third quarter.) But this clinging to Boki game after game after game where he sucks the life out of the team with his horrible shooting and worse defense has got to end.

Please, Thorn. Don't give Frank the option next year. Don't resign Boki, no matter how cheaply you can get him.

 

[Balla 15]

Nachbar is truly the definition of inconsistency. The sad part is that really affects this team because they usually win when he plays good and struggle to win when he plays bad.

 

[razel231]

i guess it would be a good time for Ager to get time on the floor since Boki is struggling pretty badly at the moment. Without a doubt the reason he's gotten so much time on the floor is his shooting and his length against forwards. With the dearth of shooters the team already has, there's no reason not to resign Boki to a reasonable contract in the summer. I'm not gonna fault the guy for playing hurt. But if he's really hurt, it's time for the coaches to take him out.

 

[Jizzy]

he sucks, he's an 8th man on any good team. i dont want to resign him but we will because he had one good year where he shot a good percentage, look up his history, he's always been a poor shooter. add to the fact he's as one dimensional as they come.

its pretty funny how some of you try and defend this guy. you would have to be a straight homer to not want JR Smith over this scrub. BTW, Jr Smith - 7-16, 20 pts in a HUGE win by the nuggets. boki homers?

 

[razel231]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jizzy @ Mar 30 2008, 12:14 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>he sucks, he's an 8th man on any good team. i dont want to resign him but we will because he had one good year where he shot a good percentage, look up his history, he's always been a poor shooter. add to the fact he's as one dimensional as they come.

its pretty funny how some of you try and defend this guy. you would have to be a straight homer to not want JR Smith over this scrub. BTW, Jr Smith - 7-16, 20 pts in a HUGE win by the nuggets. boki homers?</div>
On pure ability alone, I have no problem if the Nets were able to sign Smith in substitution of Boki. But saying it doesn't mean it's gonna happen.

 

[FOMW]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (razel231 @ Mar 30 2008, 12:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>there's no reason not to resign Boki to a reasonable contract in the summer. I'm not gonna fault the guy for playing hurt. But if he's really hurt, it's time for the coaches to take him out.</div>

The reason is that Frank latches onto certain players like a bulldog and won't let go, even when common sense dictates he should. For whatever reason, he seems to have done that with Nachbar. So I don't want Boki to be an option for Frank, don't want him taking minutes from Sean Williams, and want any money otherwise earmarked for him to be used toward covering the salary of a real shooter, which the Nets will hopefully acquire this summer via trade.

I don't fault Boki at all for playing hurt. I fault Frank.

 

[Jizzy]

i didnt see the game but looking at the boxscore, diop hardly played? why not?

 

[pegs]

Boki and small-ball lineups FTL!!!

Seriously, we could do away with small-ball lineups for a while. I mean, time and time again, we see a lineup with 2 bigs (especially during the Suns game, 1st quarter, Krstic/Boone) and then we see Frank switch it up by putting Boki in at the 4. Sometimes, it works for a brief amount of time, but eventually, in every game, Boki becomes a liability at the 4 or we give up WAY too many rebounds/easy buckets that could have been denied one way or another with a big body/shotblocker.

Small-ball lineups suck. Play conventional, 3 perimeter, 2 big men lineups. It works. There's a reason championship teams play 2 big men at a time.

 

[d-blockrep2]

Not to sound like a broken record but I did mention Boki's back was something to watch for since the Atlanta game. He isn't healthy but we all know its his contract year and I can not fault him for playing through the injury. At the same time there is an indivdual at fault Coach Frank. Yes its crunch time and according to the NBA coaching textbook you shorten your rotation. Frank last night should have gone with Hassell, his a better defender and can shoot. And who in their right mind plays a 6'9, 223 lb rookie against Shaq in single coverage??

 

[ghoti]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (FOMW @ Mar 29 2008, 09:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I'd rather see Sean; I'd rather see Swift; I'd rather see Ager; I'd rather see Hassell. Heck, I'd much rather see Marcus get his minutes in a small lineup, despite his bonehead decisions every 5 minutes, because he at least balances them out with some timely shooting and nifty passes.</div>

Sorry, but none of these players are a suitable replacement for Nachbar.

Another poster complaining about Frank when it's Thorn that should be drawing her ire.

There are lots of legitimate scoring forwards who need to be guarded at the three-point line, but the Nets only have Nachbar.

This is exactly the same as the pointless thread about Boone. The player has too much responsibility and the Nets have no other option on the roster.

 

[Kaz]

Boki is same as andrea bargnani, when they struggle the teams struggle, and thats why raps benched bargnani, and i agree with u 100% others gotta play instead of him

 

[FOMW]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ghoti @ Mar 30 2008, 08:21 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (FOMW @ Mar 29 2008, 09:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I'd rather see Sean; I'd rather see Swift; I'd rather see Ager; I'd rather see Hassell. Heck, I'd much rather see Marcus get his minutes in a small lineup, despite his bonehead decisions every 5 minutes, because he at least balances them out with some timely shooting and nifty passes.</div>

Sorry, but none of these players are a suitable replacement for Nachbar.

Another poster complaining about Frank when it's Thorn that should be drawing her ire.

There are lots of legitimate scoring forwards who need to be guarded at the three-point line, but the Nets only have Nachbar.

This is exactly the same as the pointless thread about Boone. The player has too much responsibility and the Nets have no other option on the roster.
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You're missing my point. It's not that any of the others are going to give you what Boki is supposed to be giving you. It's that Boki is not giving you what he's supposed to be giving you. He hasn't been anywhere near the player this year that he was last year, and that's hardly Thorn's fault (or Frank's, really).

In his best games, which have been few and far between this entire season, he has exactly two skills that are helpful to the Nets: he can hit three pointers and thereby make teams pay for loading up on Carter and RJ and (now) for reacting to penetration by Harris; and he is fleet enough that when there's a reasonable opening, he can drive the ball to the basket and draw a foul or finish. That's it. That's ALWAYS been it. And that's okay, as long as he is reasonably effective and consistent in that limited role to overcome the fact that he sucks in almost every other capacity.

But he is not reasonably effective in those two areas this year. He put a number of guys in posters last year with his quick drives and strong finishes at the rim. This year he can't finish to save his life, as apparently the surprise factor is gone. He is second in the league only to Yi in getting blocked at the rim, with a quarter of his drives ending in those momentum changing plays that frequently result in a fast break score at the other end. Even though his inside scores are assisted at a VERY brisk pace of 71% (near the top of the league in that stat), he still is only shooting 53% there. The only players who are doing less to finish plays while being helped at a comparable rate are Ben Wallace and Andrea Bargnani.

But that's chump change next to the fact that he is a terribly streaky outside shooter who (this year) may give you one game in 4 or 5 where he actually makes a decent percentage of wide open shots that the defense is explicitly giving him in order to make life harder on other players. As calculatedly open as he is, anything less than a 40% 3-point percentage is a failure. This year he's shooting 35% from there.

It's not Thorn's fault that Nachbar's production dropped so precipitously after what seemed a very promising season for the Nets last year. A little bit of blame could be placed on Frank for using Nachbar so much at the 4 when it is clear as day that he is much more suited physically and skill-wise to the 3 (and even Boki gently made that point early in the year). Maybe Boki's head is just really messed up because it's a contract year for him, and I'm sure the back has only made things worse lately. But his struggles this year long predated his back injury and have been equally as prominent in the long stretches where he was perfectly healthy.

He seems like a nice kid, and none of what I'm saying is intended to be mean spirited towards him. He simply is a liability on both sides of the ball and should not be on the floor.

On the other hand, although no one would pretend that Sean Williams or Diop or Swift are going to bring the same ostensible skillset and fill the same role that Boki has, they each bring SOMETHING that would be less detrimental to the team than what Nachbar is giving them (or not giving them). All of them bring interior shotblocking that can ignite the break, and Williams and Swift are both elite athletes that can finish rim plays much more effectively than Nachbar. They can all use either their size or athleticism to get rebounds and extra possessions. They are all much more effective than Nachbar at guarding players 6'9" and up inside and Williams and Swift are certainly better guarding them outisde. And Swift can actually hit a jumper (better than Boki, it seems) inside of 18 feet.

Then there's Hassell, who is a better defender than Nachbar and has certainly hit a respectable percentage of open baseline jumpers, even though he's airballed a few, too. And there's Ager, who we don't know much about but who reputedly has a very nice stroke and has worked very hard in practice. In other words, Ager might be able to give the Nets what Boki is supposed to be giving them offensively, though positions would have to be shifted since he's only 6'4".

Yes, you are correct that none of the options are particularly strong, and that's Thorn's fault. On the other hand, all of those options are better than Nachbar, and it's entirely Frank's fault for not using them.

 

[Stromile6]

Great post, FOMW.

 

[Jizzy]

wow, FOMW, you type long but its good

 

[ghoti]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (FOMW @ Mar 30 2008, 10:53 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>On the other hand, although no one would pretend that Sean Williams or Diop or Swift are going to bring the same ostensible skillset and fill the same role that Boki has, they each bring SOMETHING that would be less detrimental to the team than what Nachbar is giving them (or not giving them). All of them bring interior shotblocking that can ignite the break, and Williams and Swift are both elite athletes that can finish rim plays much more effectively than Nachbar. They can all use either their size or athleticism to get rebounds and extra possessions. They are all much more effective than Nachbar at guarding players 6'9" and up inside and Williams and Swift are certainly better guarding them outisde. And Swift can actually hit a jumper (better than Boki, it seems) inside of 18 feet.

Then there's Hassell, who is a better defender than Nachbar and has certainly hit a respectable percentage of open baseline jumpers, even though he's airballed a few, too. And there's Ager, who we don't know much about but who reputedly has a very nice stroke and has worked very hard in practice. In other words, Ager might be able to give the Nets what Boki is supposed to be giving them offensively, though positions would have to be shifted since he's only 6'4".

Yes, you are correct that none of the options are particularly strong, and that's Thorn's fault. On the other hand, all of those options are better than Nachbar, and it's entirely Frank's fault for not using them.</div>

None of the options are better than Nachbar.

They need a player who can guard small forwards on one end and draw a perimeter defender on the other.

The only option on the bench is Boki. It doesn't matter what else all those other guys can do. None of them can fill either of those roles. None of them are alternatives to Boki.

Like I said before, if he is used for 17 minutes or less, Boki is just fine. After that, the returns don't just diminish, they lead directly to losses.

 

[FOMW]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ghoti @ Mar 30 2008, 06:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>They need a player who can guard small forwards on one end and draw a perimeter defender on the other.

The only option on the bench is Boki. It doesn't matter what else all those other guys can do. None of them can fill either of those roles.</div>

Boki can't fill that role either, and it becomes more obvious with every game.

 

[ghoti]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (FOMW @ Mar 30 2008, 07:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ghoti @ Mar 30 2008, 06:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>They need a player who can guard small forwards on one end and draw a perimeter defender on the other.

The only option on the bench is Boki. It doesn't matter what else all those other guys can do. None of them can fill either of those roles.</div>

Boki can't fill that role either, and it becomes more obvious with every game.
</div>

He's better at both of those things than any of the other players on the bench.

That's one of the main reasons it's not surprising the Nets have a poor record.

That's also why I get frustrated when the national media says the Nets are underacheiving. The roster is very poorly constructed and it gets worse every year.