<div class="quote_poster">Quoting NJNetz:</div><div class="quote_post">The Nets will make the playoffs just because of they are in the east. They will probably be the 7th or 8th seed. Yes they did lose Kenyon and Kittles. but with if the players that the go in the off season. has a break out year like jefferson had.
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Well Iam not expecting a overally amount from the guys that we got during the offseason. But I definately think they will help to improve a Nets bench that absolutely stunk last season with Rodney Rogers and Lu Harris been inconsistent.And us having nothing else on the bench besides those two and A-train... but this year our bench should be much more solid with the new editions combined with the old players we had before, our bench should look something like this....
Eric Williams- this guys is going to bring alot of leadership verstilty to our basketball team and bench, seeing as he can fill in minutes at three different spots on the court when need be, and he is going to make a good fare share of defensive plays of the bench something Rogers' didnt do last season.
Ron Mercer-depending on what the Nets do with Lu Harris, whether they buy his contract out, trade him, or maybe even his experience with the Nets will allow them to have the faith in Lu as the starter, so I dont know if Mercer will be on the bench or be as starter(Iam thinking starter tho), either way Mercer will bring the potenial to provide the Nets with another legitimate perimeter scoring option. And someone who can create his own shot non-dependent on Jason Kidd, something we didnt have much of last year on our roster.
Jacque Vaughn- With Kidd out till december Vaughn really scares me as the potenial starter for us at the point. But once Kidd returns and Vaughn goes to the bench then I think he will be a major asset to the team. During the kidd era, we never had a legit backup(except for Anthony Johnson somewhat) for kidd to allow him to get a decent amount of rest. Jacque Vaughn, wont be overly productive but he will make smart decisions.And have a limited amount of turnovers, which will allow the offense to run somewhat smoothly while kidd is getting some rest. Something that hadnt happen here in the past.
Nenad Kristic- Iam not expecting to much from Nenad but he will provide us a guy who this year, can hopefully show some signs for the future in what should be limited minutes to a certain extent.
And then we have cats that were apart of the bench last year but have the potienial to produce more this year then they did last.....
Zo Mourning- Well name standouts the most right now, b/c you just dont know what to expect from a guy coming of a kidney transplant.And only played 12 games last season. But Iam sure that Zo wont return & the Nets wont allow him to return, unless he is 100%. I think if Zo provides the Nets with 55 to 60 games this year then thats the most you can ask of him.
I think that the thing that what Zo will provide the most is some of the intangablies the Nets lost with Martin, his overall approach to the game is very similar to K-Mart's. Of course, dont look for Zo to produce anything close to the # Martin put up, because his body just wont allow him too. But I think Zo will bring alot of intangablies to the table. And he will except nothing but quality effort from the younger bigmen we have on the roster like JC, Nenad, Davis etc, so he will be a on-court/ in practiuce mentor, possibly bringing a little more out of those guys games.
Brain Scalabrine- Scali maybe the player that benefits the most from the departure of Rodney Rogers' because it now open up a chance for Scali to have a legit role in the every game rotation. And one thing we know about Scali is he going to give the effort inorder to take full advantage of his shot. And effort was something that was rarely associated with Rodney last season.
Zoran Planinic- I think Ron Mercer and Zo are the two major wild cards on the Nets next year. but after those two I would have to say Zoran is the next biggest wild card, because we really dont know what Zoran can bring to the table. He had an excellent summer league series for us this year, but we still dont know what position or role is best suited for Zoran.
He was expected to be the 3rd point guard in the rotation with the signing of Jacque Vaughn, but with the recent news of kidd being out till December, it looks like Zoran will be the backup for the start of the season. So I guess we will get to see what exact improvements/ adjustments(if any) he has made in his game that will allow better handle the point guard duties.
But if Zoran doesnt show more signs then he did last season at the point, I think the Nets need to find something else to do with Zoran because made he isnt fit to run point at the NBA level. So why waste all of Zoran's Net career trying to play a position he is fit to play at such a high level.
And then we have the guys who can be look at as nothing more then roster filler right now....
Kyle Davis- He wont be apart of the every game rotation, but with our front court being shakey, he will find him shelf getting some spot duty here and there. I hear he is an excellent shot blocker, and rebounder with a good amount of athletism. So when Kyle Davis does get called on in his limited spot duty maybe he will provide us with something from time to time, because if you are athletic you have a chance to produce something alongside kidd.
Rodney Buford- Buford is no stranger to being roster filler, seeing as that was what he was with Sacro last year. But with LU Harris' postion still up in the air, he(Buford) may find himself away to actually get off the bench from time to time this year. And his extremely athletic ablity maybe the key to him doing so....
So no we dont have any Antawn Jamisons' or any Al Harringtons' or any other primetime bench preformer on our bench but we do have a solid collection of guys, who if can find a role or a niche of something they each do well and can contribute, then I think we can say we have a soplid bench core. Our frontline off the bench definately comes off as a little shakey.
It would be nice to add a guy like a Fizer or a Clark off the bench or starting (which would allow A-train to move back to a back position adding more stablilty to our frontline beench). But even if we dont add anyone else, if our frontline just provides consistent effort and takes on a role as a scappy bunch. Then Iam cool with that, because our perimeter load clearly has to carry much of the offensive load anyway. So one thing that is always assoicated with Eric Williams, Zo, Scali is effort. They always give it. And something we couldnt say we had evry night off the bench last season. So imo our bench is already an up grade over last years.