First Pick Blog

Okay, so I lied…these preview posts won’t be released every single day. But we will try our hardest to get them to you on a regular basis. Let’s stick with the Atlantic Division and talk about the Brooklyn Jay-Z’s! Whoops I mean the Brooklyn Nets…

Where They Stand

The days of J-Kidd, Kenyon Martin, and Vince Carter are long gone. The new era of the Nets began when they traded for Deron Williams from the Jazz a few years ago. Williams gave them a relentless scorer, a player who (when playing to his potential) morphs into one of the best guards in the league. Honestly, an on-fire D-Will is right up there with the Roses, Pauls, and Nashs of the world. The only problem was the lack of talent surrounding him. The potential was there: Brooke Lopez, Kris Humphries, MarShon Brooks just to name a few, but they weren’t able to put anything together last year.

The scene has changed quite a bit now, literally. The transition to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, the input and redesign by part-owner Jay-Z, and the acquisition of plenty of fresh faces has turned Brooklyn into a team to watch this season. Let’s be honest, with all the player-movement around the league the Lakers will be followed ferociously by everyone, but it is in Brooklyn where a sleeping giant lies.

 Roster Thoughts

Let’s first recap the player movement with the Nets this summer. Players added: Joe Johnson, Reggie Evans, Mirza Teletovic, CJ Watson, Andray Blatche, and Josh Childress. Players gone: Gerald Green, Johan Petro, DeShawn Stevenson, Jordan Farmar, and Anthony Morrow. The Johnson deal with Atlanta obviously made the most noise, giving Brooklyn a solid option at shooting guard. A proven talent, this gives Williams a great option to kick out to. The two trees down low include a healthy Brook Lopez and a rebounding machine in Kris Humphries (maybe now we can finally stop talking about him and Kim Kardashian’s split-up??….please??). Lopez had a rough time last year, missing half the season with a broken ankle, but the guy can flat out score. He averaged 20 ppg in his ’10-’11 campaign, with his other years full of similar averages. And lastly: Gerald Wallace. I’m still not entirely sure how the veteran forward fits in with this team. Wallace doesn’t shoot all that well, but is a pure scorer. This might actually work well to balance out the outside shooting of Johnson, and gives Williams a slashing option to pass to.

Time to talk about the bench, another group of players that have been upgraded. If the starting five looks like I just discussed, the backup group should include CJ Watson at point, MarShon Brooks at shooting guard, Josh Childress at small forward, Teletovic at forward, and Blatche at backup center. This is all still speculation, mostly from blogs on Bleacher Report and Yahoo, but this seems about right. This is not a bad backup group by any means, with Brooks happily able to come off the bench and do what he does best: shoot. Watson is a strong ball handler, and completely used to backing up a star like he did in Chicago. Teletovic averaged over 20 ppg playing over in Europe, and will be a 27 year old NBA Rookie this year. That down-low tandem of him and Andray Blatche is my only concern, but maybe Brooklyn will be able to figure out how to get the best out of that enigma. Besides them, Tyshawn Taylor, Keith Bogans, Jerry Stackhouse (you dirty ring-hunter you), and Reggie Evans rounds out the rest of the squad.

Predictions

Time to unwrap the crystal ball and make some probably way off predictions about the Nets this year:

–Deron Williams gets back to his Utah days, averages a double-double. It is strange to realize that since D-Will arrived on the Nets, his passing stats have decreased, mostly due to his “If i’m not going to score than no one is” attitude he had to bring last year. The weapons weren’t there, he had to press a little bit and put up a high volume of shots (he took more threes last season than he had ever before). Now with Johnson and Wallace on the perimeter, Williams gets back to his passing game.

-Joe Johnson will hit a game-winner. Along the same lines as the first prediction, Johnson gives another great option on a final play. With all the attention probably focused towards Williams at the end, Johnson is coming off a season in which he hit 4 of 9 last-second shots to win the game for the Hawks. The number of last second shots will clearly decrease, but he will hit them when it counts.

–Drama will continue to follow Andray Blatche. I’m not just saying this as a scorned Wizards fan, the guy is messed up in the head. This is from years of watching The Andray Blatche Show in Washington, he might be the dumbest player in the league. Blatche believes he is a point guard trapped in a forward’s body. He has no muscle definition, not great handles, and a below average mid-range jumper (which he takes constantly). Something will come up about his work ethic, his complaints about lack of PT, or he may just retire in disgrace. If Brooklyn turns Andray in a prime-time player I will eat my Wizards jersey.

-Kris Humphries becomes the next Kevin Love. Don’t shoot me, please. I love Love (that’s fun to say), and I am not the biggest Humphries fan but the guy can flat-out rebound. Now, let’s say he worked on his outside game over the summer. Let’s say he starts growing an awesome beard, let’s say he starts doing commercials…..Kevin Love 2.0????

-Brooklyn challenges New York and Boston for best team in the Atlantic, wins. I can’t just discount the Knicks and the Celtics and their playmakers, but again Brooklyn is so darn intriguing. This is just a prediction, don’t freak out on me. But wouldn’t it be sick to see Brooklyn take on a team like Miami or Indiana in the playoffs?