Poll: How Many Games Does NJ Win in 2010-2011

[Trader_Joe]

After last season's debacle it's clear this team can only go up, but how high up can they go? IMO, NJ is one of the toughest teams to predict next season. There are only 4 holdovers from last year's team, and only 3 of them look to play significant minutes (Harris, T.Williams, Lopez). Assuming Harris, Lopez and T.Williams play about 90 minutes total, that only accounts for 35% of the cast being the same.

So who's in and who's out?

OUT
PG
Chris Quinn - a late season pick-up who isn't in the league currently
Rafer Alston - last season may have been the nail in Alston's coffin, since he doesn't have a job
Keyon Dooling - Keyon admits he played in pain last season and his numbers backed that up

SG
C.Lee - he never wanted to be in NJ and he won't be missed as he never lived up to expectations
CDR - a distraction most of the season. A decent scorer and little else.

SF
Trenton Hassell - another vet looking for a job still
Jarvis Hayes - see Trenton Hasssell
Bobby Simmons - see Jarvis Hayes

PF
Eduardo Najera - he left mid season, and Net fans rejoiced
Sean Williams - he was waived late in the year and has just signed with an Israeli team - oy vey!
Yi Jianlian - arguably the worst starting PF in the NBA last year. Enjoy, Wiz fans.

C
Josh Boone - I like the guy, but most GMs don't as he still doesn't have a job
Tony Battie - He barely saw the court, which should not change in Philly

Coaches:
Lawrence Frank - a hard worker who wasn't getting through to his team. He killed us with small ball
Kiki Vandeweghe - no head coaching experience, poor GM decisions. Buh-bye
Dell Harris - he just couldn't take it anymore and quit. Can you blame him?

GM
Rod Thorn - In Rod we trusted, though he didn't do much for us the last couple years.

Owner:
Bruce Ratner - still a minority owner actually, but not in charge. Cheap and didn't know basketball

Arena:
Izod Center - an older arena, without public transit. A terrible place to play.


IN
PG
Jordan Farmar - will be interesting to see outside the triangle. Quality back-up with championships.
Ben Uzoh - nice height, nice stroke. A project with modest potential and a non-guaranteed contract

SG
Anthony Morrow - a steal for the money. A deadly shooter who could be the starting SG
Quintin Ross - from the Yi trade, a defender that should see limited minutes

SF
Travis Outlaw - Avery specifically requested him. He likens him to Josh Howard. Long and can shoot
Damion James - one of best performers in Orlando SL. SF/PF who can shoot, defend and rebound

PF
Derrick Favors - same measurements as Dwight pre-draft. Similar potential according to some.
Troy Murphy - a stretch 4 who can actually shoot and rebound. The right compliment for Lopez?

C
Johan Petro - seemingly overpaid, but young enough to improve and competently backup to Lopez
Brian Zoubek - Another non-guaranteed deal, but a prolific rebounder, and fouler

Coaches
Avery Johnson - He looks like the ideal candidate. A motivator and proven winner
Sam Mitchell - former COY who is hungry to get another head coaching gig
Larry Krystkowiak - also has head coaching experience.
Popeye Jones - a big man to mentor Brook and Favors.

GM
Billy King - says he's learned form his mistakes in Philly. Good drafter, questionable trades

Owner
Mikhail Prokhorov - An active owner with a vision and a pocketbook

Arena
Prudential Center - state of the art, on public transit, pre-season games did sell out last year


Hold Overs:
PG
Devin Harris - After a down year, expect big things playing under Avery, such as defense

SG
Terrance Williams - 14/7/5 the last 20+ games of last season. Will play PG/SG/SF probably as 6th man

PF
Kris Humphries - energy player who can rebound and likes to shoot. May not see much PT

C
Brook Lopez - Should be a happy man surrounded by shooters and a rebounder next to him


Looking Back
Despite this year's team being so drastically different from last year's team, it's important to look at what created a 12 win team and what the team did to address it:

Shooting/Scoring - NJ was the worst shooting team last year, and 2nd worst 3 point shooting team. They were also the lowest scoring team. Thus season they have added shooters throughout.. Uzoh, Farmar, Morrow, Outlaw, D.James and Murphy. Avery's Dallas' teams were actually rather high octane offenses, so expect scoring to go up significantly.

Defense - NJ was one of the worst defensive teams last season, but with Avery at the helm and players capable of playing D (esp. if they want minutes) such as Harris, T.Williams, D.James, Favors, Lopez, they should be better.

Injuries - NJ sometimes dressed the minimum number of players last season. Alston, Dooling, Lee, Harris. CDR, Hayes, Simmons, Yi, Battie, etc. all missed chunks of time. Only Lopez was immune from the injury bug and played all 82 games for the 2nd year straight. I had never seen anything like it.

Coaching - Frank was not being heard and Kiki had no experience. The team was a mess on and off the court because there was no leader. Avery Johnson should change that for the better.

Rebounding - NJ was one of the worst rebounding teams last season. This should improve this season with Murphy and Favors on board along with T.Will, Outlaw and James on the wings. Also Avery likes size, so I don't expect to see small ball where we get killed on the boards.


2010-2011 ROSTER
Devin Harris / Jordan Farmar / Ben Uzoh
Anthony Morrow / Terrance Williams / Quentin Ross
Travis Outlaw / Damion James
Troy Murphy / Derrick Favors / Kris Humphries
Brook Lopez / Johan Petro / Brian Zoubek


That is the current projected depth chart. NJ still has roughly $4m in cap space and plenty of assets to play with. Not only do they have all their 1st and 2nd rounders for future drafts, they are owed a mildly protected 2012 1st from GS, along with 2nd rounders from GS, Chicago (via Milwaukee) and Miami. I wouldn't expect any trades right away, unless it involves Carmelo. NJ seems to like the roster they have currently, though Prokhorov still does crave a star player. He has promised the playoffs this season, and a title within 5 years. Those are rather lofty goals for a team coming off a 12 win season.. then again, this is a far cry from last year's team.

[ecuhus1981]

36-46.

[Trader_Joe]

Sean May waived.. our season is over.

[ChrisTheFuturePaul]

The team improved but I think other Eastern Conference teams improved alot more, will be interesting to see how they go, alot of good role players but no real star players. I think 30 is their ceiling personally.

[superstar]

Is this one of those threads that has a punch line? Either way

[r3drumNYNJ]

40 wins, 8th seed

[vincecarter4pres]

I don't think 40 wins comes close to the 8th seed this year. 42 bare minimum needed IMO, maybe 43 or 44.

[Trader_Joe]

I don't think 40 wins comes close to the 8th seed this year. 42 bare minimum needed IMO, maybe 43 or 44.

The 8th seed ( and maybe the 7th) will be .500 or under.
The East is much stronger and top heavy.

Try to predict how 615 wins is split among the 15 teams in the East (assuming they are on par with the West) and you will see this.

[Joel Embust]

30-34.

[jerseyjac]

this a catch-22 year for the Nets...sux, but I'm really looking forward to seeing how things turn out...could get interesting...

[vincecarter4pres]

I don't think 40 wins comes close to the 8th seed this year. 42 bare minimum needed IMO, maybe 43 or 44.

The 8th seed ( and maybe the 7th) will be .500 or under.
The East is much stronger and top heavy.

Try to predict how 615 wins is split among the 15 teams in the East (assuming they are on par with the West) and you will see this.

I understand this theory, but I don't think the East is nearly as top heavy as some are assuming based on wins and losses this season.

The Miami cHeat will probably win an assload of games, but after them I think there are maybe two 50 something win teams and a bunch in the high 40's.

Then I think the bottom two seeds are low to mid 40's.