Possible Nets Playoff improvements?

[Henacy]

Now since we have departed of the Knicks in round 1, its off to round 2 & more difficult tasks. So I was just wondering what changes, adjustments or improvements have you noticed that the Nets need to make heading on in the playoffs?

I mean it could be a general team improvement, or a player that needs to step their game up. Here are some things I think the Nets need to improve on:

1)Turnovers- The Nets averaged 19 turnovers per game in the series vs the Knicks. And that stat is kind of fooling because the Nets had several games where they turned the ball over 20(+) times. That stat was helped out by the fact the Nets had a low turnover amount in game 4. But overall the Nets committed alot of turnovers against the Knicks.

Now dont get me wrong the Nets are going to commit their share of turnovers due to the fact they play such an uptempo style. And have a point guard who like to take risks in the open court. The time when turnovers worry me is when they get into that 20(+) area. The Nets can live with committing 15-19 turnovers a game on most nights. But its going to be hard to beat the better teams when your turning the ball over more than 20 times.

2)Production from our half-court shooters-Nobody can stop our fastbreak game, but the better times can go thru stretches where they limit our fastbreak game. And make us play a half-court style. That means that our shooters in the half-court like Lucious Harris, & Rodney Rodgers, have to knock down those perimeter jumpers. Neither shot the ball well in the Knicks series. But if they dont start producing in the next round its going to be hard for the Nets to pull games out, especially on the road where the opposing team can dictate the style of play on their homecourt.

3)Jason Collins where are you?-Its time for JC to start earning his keep. He averaged 4.8ppg & 2.5rpg in 25mpg during round 1. And his defense on Knicks bigmen like Nazr Mohammod, was horrible at times. Now the 4.8ppg I can live with. JC isnt a scorer & never will be a scorer(even tho he can still do a better job finishing easy plays down low). But the 2.5rpg isnt acceptable. It seems like he leaves K-mart to battle alone on the boards sometimes.And that really scares me. I wonder whats going to happen with the rebounding, when the Nets face a team like the Pistons. And Kenyon cant dominate the boards single handed.

I know the Nets focus alot on team rebounding with the perimeter players like kidd & RJ, helping out on the boards. But their are going to be times where the guards are going to be stuck on the perimeter. And cant help out on the boards. I think JC needs to focus on getting the Nets 7-8 rebounds per game from round 2 thru the rest off the playoffs.

Those are just three things I notice that the Nets need to improve. So comment on your improvents that you think they need to make.

 

[InNETSweTrust]

I know. But I think the Nets were trying to show off too much in the Knicks series that's why they created a lot of turnovers. They know that it's in the bad. Plus, they were experimenting on new things.

I agree with our half court shooters. They'll be needed to open up space inside. That's why I feel the bench shooters should've been given more chance against the Knicks.

I agree with JC. We'll need him to grab at least 5+ boards for him to be effective. But if he can at least box out the Detroit big men, then he has done his job.

 

[throwback]

totally agree on all the above.

to's: i dont even know if we can afforf 15-20to's against det next rd. det also has a run game and can take advantage of our missses, which leads to something else. we cannot rely on jumpers in this game. ben and sheed will gobble up the boards and they can start to run. we need to attack the rim and get to the line. i know in every game there are times where we are just going to shoot jumpers and go 0-9 and let them get a big lead or cut into our lead. when we dont go to the rim, we need to get kmart to post up or someone else to post up. if we keep taking jumpers and missing, we are asking for trouble. coach frank has done a nice job in making adjustments during halftime or even during timeouts. we going to have to keep attacking the rim and get the big men in trouble,but being smart when attacking the rim. we cant just attack and throw the ball up and get it blocked by the front court of det. we have to drive to the basket and might have to alter our shots to get a foul called or make the basket. jumpers need to be on and we have to attack the rim, can't get comfy on the perimeter.

jason collins....*sigh* i wonder sometimes how we got to the finals 2yrs in a row with collins as our center. yea he has a nice game here and there, but not everyday. he can make a jumper once in a while, but he doesnt have the best hands and if a ball falls into his lap, he cant make the layup half the time. iknow the offense has him comin to the top of the key to handle the ball, but aside from the beginning of the offensive setup, he is in the paint. just standing around int he paint he should have more than 2.5rpg. im really starting to get upset with jc's play. that is a position we 100% need to upgrade in the offseason to be an elite team in the entire league,not just east. we need a guy we wants to get every rebound, a guy who can get a rebound and dunk it instead of just throwing it up and getting it blocked like jc doest at times, we need a guy who can block shots on a consistant basis. that is what we need, because we know twin wont be that kind of player. he is a good team player, but he could be hurting us more than helping us. plus he seems get to 2fouls very early in the game. thats why i like atrain a little more than twin. atrain has more offensive moves, he goes and tries to block the ball, he goes after rebs and dunks the ball instead of laying it up and having it possibly blocked.

the other thing i was touch on is tempo/control. even if we fall behind in a game or series, we need to be in control and play our tempo of bball. being on the road for the first two games (again, assuming det wins,which they should) can cause the road team to get a little off their game if the home team comes out hot and gets the crowd into it. we need to control the crowd early and just take our time running our offense.im sure if we get behind and the crowd is pumpin and screaming and we are making bad mistakes, that coach frank will use his timeouts to calm everything down. coach has done a nice job when it comes to when to call timeouts, that has really impressed me compared to what byron used to do.

 

[InNETSweTrust]

JC is very vital to the Princeton offense that we're running. He's a decent passer from the high post. He usually makes the pre- assists (the pass that leads to an assist). But he needs more than that against Detroit.

 

[throwback]

he is vital for this offense, but there are also other big men who can pass who are more productive. a big man should not be a better passer than being a good rebounder. his main job is to get rebs and a bucket here and there. it seems that jc does more passing and is better at passing than reb. passing is a huge part of our success, but we also have 4other ppl who can pass as well and better, but we dont have a dominating center like a lot of other teams. i love jc, but it just doesnt seem that he can be a force in the middle in the nba. he could be a solid backup center, but he doesnt give you what centers normally should: blocking ability, 10+rebs on a consistant basis and toughness down low on def and off. i like jc, but sooner or later we need to upgrade that position to make it to the spurs/lakers lvl in the nba. <3 jc

 

[bballfreak524]

I agree. Collins has to bang around with the Wallaces. He has to average around 5-6 rebounds per game.

 

[Henacy]

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting throwback:</div><div class="quote_post">he is vital for this offense, but there are also other big men who can pass who are more productive. a big man should not be a better passer than being a good rebounder. his main job is to get rebs and a bucket here and there. it seems that jc does more passing and is better at passing than reb. passing is a huge part of our success, but we also have 4other ppl who can pass as well and better, but we dont have a dominating center like a lot of other teams. i love jc, but it just doesnt seem that he can be a force in the middle in the nba. he could be a solid backup center, but he doesnt give you what centers normally should: blocking ability, 10+rebs on a consistant basis and toughness down low on def and off. i like jc, but sooner or later we need to upgrade that position to make it to the spurs/lakers lvl in the nba. <3 jc

</div>

I totally agree 180%(lol). Iam not going to knock JC to hard because when we got in the blockbuster trade for Eddie Griffin, I figured at the time he would be alot worst. I really didnt like him at Standford. But he ended being a nice peice to add on to the fact that we got RJ in the deal as well. And he also isnt really a starting center like you said. He more of a backup combo PF/C. But due to the fact that our bigman moves havent worked the past 2 or 3 seasons(Todd Mac was always injured so we traded him, Dikembe was injured at the start of the 2002/03 season & never really fit into the system,And this year Zo had to retire due to kidney failure),he has been force to be our starting Center. So I give him credit for at least trying to step up to the task of being a starting NBA Center.

But its time for him to start producing more in the rebounding area or its time to go in a new direction. I really dont care about his scoring because his ablity to pass out of the high post makes up for his lack of scoring somewhat. Even tho he could complete more easy opportunity around the basket, just to keep the Defense honest. But there is no excuse for his lack of rebounding. And weakside Defense. 5rpg from a starting center isnt productive. Only 2.5rpg in the playoffs is even more unacceptable.

JC has great size for a NBA bigman nowadays, around 7foot, 250pounds. You look at JC and you would think he was a rebounding machine. Granted he isnt that moible. But still he needs to be more explosive when attacking the boards. JC is always getting out man by smaller players on the boards. He never has to worry about guarding or boxing out the best bigman on the opposing team thats Kenyon's job. So he should be a better weakside defender & rebounder.

I see alot of people saying JC needs to give us 5rpg against Detriot. I still say 7 or 8 rpg. Call me unrealistic, but he will more than likely be guarding Ben Wallace for most of the series. Ben isnt an offensive player. So his main job will be to stick with Ben Wallace on the boards. How can he do this if he is only pulling down 5rpg?

Iam not saying he has to out rebound Ben Wallace,that would be unrealistic. But Ben Wallace is going to have games in this series where he has 15(+) rebounds. JC can get at least half that to help take the rebounding edge away from Detroit. If JC can give us 7or 8rpg,K-Mart continues to have his normal success on the boards combine with the fact that our peimeter players are good rebounders, we should be able to make up that rebounding edge everyone think the Pistons have on us.

 

[InNETSweTrust]

7 to 8 rebounds is asking too much man. If he can minimize Big Ben's production in terms of rebounds by boxing him out then grab 5-6 rebounds, then he's done his job in my book.

 

[throwback]

yea, twin isnt the greatest athelete we have. his main objective should be defense in this series. after EVERY shot we/they take, he MUST block out ben. ben is still going to get his share of rebs b/c he is probably the best rebounder in the entire league. he cant allow ben to get 15-20 rebs, he needs to contain him to about 10 would be very nice. but when he does block out ben, he needs to get the reb.

also for jc, please dont get fouls early in the game. me and my dad always joke that w/in the first 2-3min that jc will get a lazy foul on him. it just seems that he gets 2 fouls very quick and takes himself out of the game, then debo or atrain will have to come off the bench,while he's cold and try to defend ben. so jc needs to play smart and if hes going to foul, make it a hard one