Posts tagged ‘Lawrence Frank’

1) Sean Williams MUST Dominate – No if’s, and’s, or but’s, the only Net from last season’s regular rotation needs to assert himself. Williams will match-up against a host of rookies and players that will never see an NBA roster, he needs to be the best player on both ends of the floor. Taking plays off and not hustling are inexcusable. With experience under his belt, Williams is viewed as a leader for this Summer League team, and must do so by example.

At a skill level, Williams has an opportunity to show his offensive repertoire. Last season he displayed flashes of a foul line jumper and a jump hook. Now is the time to refine it, and show he is capable of more than highlight reel dunks. On defense, we know he can jump through the roof to block shots. The question remains if he can stay out of foul trouble, and actually play solid man-to-man defense rather than trying to block every shot in sight. If he keeps finding himself out of position, Lawrence Frank may need a visit to Hair Club for Men when he gets back to Jersey.

2) Rookies Ready to Contribute – Alright, they have only been pros for about two weeks, it takes time to assimilate to everything. Summer Leagues do not make or break careers, in fact they mean very little in the bigger scope of things. However, Lopez, Anderson, and CDR will all have a chance to prove to Frank that they can step in and contribute. They can earn a lot of equity with the coach with solid efforts here.

And that’s where it starts – Effort. The first thing coach will look for is consistent effort and hard-nose, tough defense. If any of them can prove that, it will earn playing time. Otherwise, Lopez will get a chance to prove he can score with his back to the basket and generally be a presence inside. Joakim Noah and Aaron Gray are the only other NBA-caliber center/7-footers in Orlando. Can Anderson fill shooting gap for the Nets, and can CDR slash his way to enough scoring to become VC’s backup.

3) Where is Cinderella? – Each year at least one unknown player emerges that impresses a team enough to receive roster consideration. This year more than most, the Nets need help off the bench, especially at guard and small forward. Julius Hodge, the local product, tasted life in the NBA briefly before an overseas journey. Rumor has it the Nets like what they see, and would consider him. Hodge now has a chance to prove it on the court. One desirable attribute he possesses is the versatility to play the point and off guard. A few other names to keep an eye on Will Conroy, Jaycee Carroll, and Jamar Butler – a trio of guards that play a position of need.

If Yi was not enough, the first Japanese player to don an NBA uniform is on the Nets roster: Yuta Tubase. The Nets are taking it international, following the league trend.

A month filled with percentages and possibilities ended Tuesday night. Not even Jay-Z could bring the Nets luck as they stayed put with the 10th pick in the lottery, as expected. Trade rumors have already surfaced that involve the Nets swapping the lottery pick, and even their other first-rounder (#21), for a proven All-Star in Carmelo Anthony or to move up in the draft for a chance at Michael Beasley. The rumors will continue right until draft night, as everyone expects the Nets to make big changes after a disappointing 34-win season. For now, we’ll focus on the possibilities at the 10th and 21st picks, until rumors become reality.

Ahead of next week’s pre-draft camp in Orlando, where many top picks only show up to get measured, potential draftees are busy working out at various academies or with basketball trainers. ESPN documented the progress on a few notable underclassmen that fit the Nets needs: Kevin Love, Chase Budinger, Joe Alexander, and Marreese Spreights.

Frank needs a big man with offensive post skills that can bring toughness to a team that lacked an edge last season. Love displayed great footwork in college, an ability to score both from the post and to step outside and knock down the mid-range jumper. His passing skills and basketball IQ are impressive for a 19-year-old. On the downside, Memphis exposed the UCLA freshman in the Final Four by pushing the tempo. Not known for his conditioning, Love was a non-factor, often trailing plays in transition. In the second half, he tired from the pace, evidenced by his inability to get his legs underneath his jump shot.

Critics question his defensive ability, particularly against much quicker NBA players. Dedicated to full-time training since leaving school, reports say Love has dropped significant weight, mostly through nutrition and conditioning, and plans to trim his 275-lb frame further prior to individual workouts. The 19-year old has the offensive skills New Jersey needs, if his quickness and defense improve with better conditioning, Love could fill the hole in the paint.

Another player popping up for the Nets in Mock Drafts is Florida’s Marreese Spreights. The 6’11” Florida Gator also reportedly dropped significant weight, appearing strong and fit at Joe Abunassar’s Las Vegas camp. Spreights is still raw, a freshman like Love, his game is not matured to the same level as the UCLA star, nor does he possess the basketball IQ. Spreights played under the radar most of the season, as the rebuilding Gators struggled. The Nets need a contributor now, Spreights has nice upside, but still needs more development time.

Budinger fills a different need – outside shooting. Teams often reverted to zone defense against the Nets forcing them to shoot from outside. Left without a knock down, pure shooter after Eddie House’s departure, the Nets often succumbed to the zone defense, and suffered when their guards were unable to penetrate. The lanky Arizona swingman can hit the 3, but critics question his defensive ability, dribbling, and toughness. At the same Las Vegas camp, Abunassar has Budinger working on using the dribble to create space on the perimeter, a key to creating your own shots. He has the offensive ability to be a lottery pick. With questions about his heart, aggressiveness, and the poor defense he showed in college, if he slides to 21, the Nets should snag him. At 10, they can do better.

A sleeper in this year’s draft, Alexander almost came out of nowhere down the stretch last season. Scouts rave about his athleticism. He displayed great offensive skills in the postseason play, using a stellar mid-range game, good range on his jumper, and an innate ability to find the basket at all costs. The 6’8”, 220-lb forward displayed toughness. He attacked the boards aggressively. Similar to other prospects though, Alexander played poor defense. Aside from defense, the elevation on his jumper, and explosive moves to the basket have teams salivating.

Every player has his strengths and weaknesses. Most of them look great in a pair of shorts at a workout, which does not necessarily translate to success on the court. After Rose and Beasley, the draft has no standouts, but lots of good players. The Nets stand to get two potential contributors if they hold their cards. At number 10 they should err on the side of caution, opt for lower risk players that can contribute sooner, not a big project. Love may be in the air.

Check out Chad Ford’s May 16^th conversation with Kevin Love and May 20^th chat with Joe Abunassar on his NBA podcasts at ESPN.com for more news on these prospects:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/archive?id=2669425

Vince Carter could hang up his number 15 Nets jersey and called it a season last week with the Nets playoff hopes on life support. Other teams would almost force Carter to do so, not risking the team superstar and its biggest investment, trying to improve draft position by not fielding the best team possible. Miami threw the towel in weeks ago, Boston and Memphis were accused of throwing games last season, its an almost annual occurrence.

After sitting out Friday, watching a listless Nets loss to a Detroit team with nothing more to play for, Carter had even more reason to sit out. Not only did he play on an injured ankle Saturday, Carter starred with 32 points, including 21 in the second half when he carried New Jersey past Toronto for an otherwise meaningless win. Carter played 45 minutes, but showed so much more than you can see in a boxscore. After the game Carter said, “I refuse to quit on the season, or quit on this team.” Coach Lawrence Frank acknowledged the effort “says a lot about him,” playing on a swollen ankle likely to require offseason surgery.

Frank alluded to “professional responsibility” in a pre-game interview with YES Saturday, a responsibility to the league, the team, and the fans. Toronto is still fighting for playoff position, the Nets owe it the competition and integrity of the league to play hard. As Frank said, its about the name on the front of the jersey too, not just the back. Carter mentioned how important it was for the young guys – Sean Williams, Marcus Williams – to see him and Jefferson finish strong, even with nothing at stake, to set the right example, the lunch pail mentality. In a season where Jason Kidd deserted these same teammates, Carter has stepped into that leadership role by example.

Sadly, NBA players get commended for just doing what they are paid an obscene amount of money to do. But look at Miami, Dwayne Wade and Shawn Marion took an early vacation, even the head coach sits out games, a first in my memory. Pat Riley subscribes to theory that racking up losses by playing with an NBA D-League team will earn the Heat a top draft pick, leading to a quick turnaround.

He should know better. Boston and Memphis pulled the plug early last season, deciding to battle for Greg Oden and Kevin Durant rather than play Detroit or Chicago. Neither team received a top 3 pick, the only selections determined by the lottery. Boston still managed to turnaround, but not through the draft lottery. A year earlier, Portland finished with the worst record, yet finished out of the Top 3. Back to 2005, Atlanta, Charlotte, and New Orleans all finished with under 20 wins, yet only Atlanta picked in the Top 3. 2004 is the last time the worst record won the lottery, yielding Dwight Howard for Orlando – sometimes losing does help.

Go a step further, evaluate the past three drafts, last year’s prize sat out the entire season with injury, the two best players from the 2006 draft were selected sixth and eighth (Rudy Gay and Brandon Roy), and while Milwaukee struck gold in the lottery in 2005, Utah and New Orleans have Deron Williams and Chris Paul. If fate holds, the lottery will not reward Miami for the tank job, and Memphis will not benefit from fielding a terrible team.

Back to Carter, his turnaround dates back to the Kidd trade. Widely criticized throughout his career, fairly and unfairly, for being soft, and getting comfortable after signing long term contracts, Carter has elevated his all-around game. Compared to the first half of the season, in 23 games since the All-Star break Carter increased his scoring by over 3 points per game, plays 2 more minutes, and grabs about 1.5 more rebounds a night. Carter has truly tried to fill every void left by Kidd. Rebounding, often overlooked for big scorers, proves the point. Thanks to a big second half on the glass, when the team needed help to replace its leading rebounder, Carter has elevated his season average to 6.1, on pace for a career high.

Perhaps the NBA draft gods will reward the Nets for playing hard – Gay, Amare Stoudemire, Andrew Bynum, and Andre Igoudala all fell between 8^th and 10^th in the draft, where the Nets will likely pick, unless the ping-pong balls bounce the right way.

ESPN’s NBA Senior Writer Chris Broussard reports on this morning’s NBA 411 segment during the Mike and Mike in the Morning simulcast on ESPN2 that Lawrence Frank is on the hot seat and could lose his job if the Nets don’t earn a playoff berth. Broussard mentions how both Bruce Ratner and Rod Thorn like Lawrence Frank, but says winning has become a priority and will take precedent over personal feelings.

Broussard first reported that Larry Brown is interested in returning to coaching, at almost any cost, before his segue way into the Frank story, though he made sure to mention that Brown would not fit in New Jersey. One look at the Nets record, compared to the pre-season expectations, and Frank on the hot seat does not come as a shock. Fans have lit up message boards calling for the coach’s head during this dysfunctional, disappointing season, though this marks the first public report from sources close to Ratner and Thorn that a change may be on the horizon.

Ironically, this report comes a day after possibly the most disappointing loss to date this season, a 16-point defeat to Chicago, with a potentially season defining game against Atlanta tonight. The rumor will not serve as any distraction, only a reminder of how far the Nets are from where they expected to be.

If Frank goes, who should be next in line?

The Nets never had a chance on this road trip. Five games against teams a combined 50 games over .500 at the time, a history of failure against the Texas triple, an MVP candidate and hot franchise in the fourth game, two teams riding double-digit win streaks, all while integrating a new starting point guard into the fold. Even with those odds, you figure the Nets could steal one game, or at least beat the Grizzlies. Think again.

Only the Rockets, riding an 18-game win streak, stand between the Nets and an 0-5 road trip, the second extended winless trip in two months after dropping six straight out West in mid-January. Do they miss Jason Kidd? Did the matchup in Dallas with Kidd’s Mavs Saturday distract the young team, who struggle to focus without any unneeded stress? No, on both fronts. They have played terribly inconsistent, on all fronts – similar to with Kidd before the trade.

Finally, everyone can put the Kidd hoopla aside – we think – now it’s time the Nets truly put up or shut up for the 2007-2008 season. Since the trade, Carter’s quotes have sounded like a countdown, “It’s the next 28 games,” “25 more games like that,”, …, now its down to 19. Time to stop talking about finishing the season strong and making the playoffs, and play like it.

Sitting outside the playoff picture in ninth place, even if the Nets earn a seventh playoff appearance it will likely end similar to this road trip, four painless blowouts. Lawrence Frank needs to start using players with an eye towards the future, towards evaluation, while still trying to win in the process. How you say, do they do that?

• Start in the fourth quarter, where New Jersey continues to fall apart every game. Get the ball to Nenad Kristic. He continues to improve, working his way back to pre-injury form, but only does his damage early in games.
• Stop shooting quick jumpers late in games. It starts with the point guard and the coach. Devin Harris needs to penetrate and run the offense, not take 15-20 shots a game from long range. If Harris insists on shooting too much, and Marcus Williams continues to play within the flow of the offense, Frank has to finish games with Williams on the floor until Harris gets the message.
• Attack the zone. Team will continue to throw 2-3 zones at the Nets until they show an ability to beat it. 63 games into the season and they still quiver at the site of the defense. Before the season ends, just once, look prepared to attack the zone. Flash Kristic to the high post, penetrate the seams, throw a lob over the back line.
• Use a rotation that gives the best chance to win…and allows Thorn and Kiki to make decisions about players for next season. Is Trenton Hassell in the Nets plans? Does he help them win? Self-explanatory, bench him. Ditto Darrel Armstrong. Is Swift in the plans? Lets find out.

The rest of the season starts tonight, now truly in the post-Kidd era. More than wins, the Nets need to compete, not show up for half the game. Show some resiliency in the fourth quarter. It starts with the leadership – RJ, VC, and Frank. Carter and Jefferson don’t need to score every basket, but act like leaders, make the big play, take the charge, throw the extra pass, get to the line, encourage the new guys and young players.

Check out the podcast for more thoughts on who the leader of the team, it’s more clear cut than you think.