GT#38: Brooklyn @ Atlanta - 1/16 - 7:30pm on YES Network

[Born_Ready]

I always figured Jerry Stackhouse was one of Avery's yes men. I honestly never expected Jerry to get near as many minutes he has thus far. I'm sure he's good to have in the locker room from a veteran perspective, but he really doesn't need to be out on the floor as much. However- I think the teams concerns are deeper than him.

I agree with the consensus of Reggie Evans not being a starter. Has he been a starter the last 5-6 years, ever in his career? With that said-- the front office needs to be have some serious discussions on how bad they are at the PF position if Reggie Evans is your starter. Don't get me wrong, he's a grinder and shows a little bit of toughness in spots-- but he is best served coming off the bench in my opinion.

I would also like to see this team land an above average PF and a 3 point specialist not named Keith Bogans, CJ Watson, or Jerry Stackhouse. I want the team to make something happen in that department ASAP. I wonder if the Nets are one of the teams calling about J.J. Hickson. I would loooooove him in Brooklyn for the right deal of course.

[Glory Road]

If what Vesley said is true then then the Nets are starting to realize that they will not get any good PF with Humphries.

I for one hate the idea of waiting for next year to trade Humphries because our window to win is very short so i wish the Nets would just take a calculated risk and trade Humphries for Nene. It works salary wise and Nene fixes pretty much everything that is wrong with our bigs. His high I.Q. and passing skills would improve our offense as well as his touch around the basket and decent mid range game. Best of all, while he would be a vast upgrade over Humphries on offense, he would be an even bigger upgrade defensively. Nene is quick on his feet and can even guard wings on switches and he defends the pick and roll very well.

Nene would not be available if there was not some risk involved. His Plantar Faciitis is a chronic issue that will plague him for the rest of his contract. That is a risk because his contract is pretty sizable. However when considering our options (there aren't many because nobody wants to take on Humphries) it is a very worthwhile risk.

We are by Billy King's own admission a team built for the playoffs. With the Nets Nene would not have to play as many minutes as he is playing in Washington. We have depth at PF and with the emergence of Teletovic we have even more reason to spread the minutes around. Reggie and Humphries play the same exact role and are redundant players so trading Humphries would not take away our depth even if we have to rest Nene at times. We can monitor Nene's minutes and with constant feedback from Tim Walsh even rest him on some days. We can afford that with Blatche and Teletovic and Reggie. We keep our starting PF fresh for the playoffs when we will need him.

Yes.. we WILL need him. With how the east is shaping up we are looking at a lot of teams that will burn us all day inside as well as on the pick and roll. There are also a lot of bigs that our bigs simply cannot handle (Garnett, Horford, West, Amare, Milwaukee's entire front line) as well as all the pick and roll nightmares which i should not have to name which are not just a concern for the playoffs but for the whole season.

Nene can also slide over to C which helps us even more.

After we address the big problem we need to handle our lesser but just as concerning problems; lack of shooting and lack of speed/athleticism.

Even though the game does slow down in the playoffs the fact that we are terrible in transition will be a huge problem playing in the east. Milwaukee has athletic speedy guards, Atlanta does as well. Miami i should not have to mention, and even the Pacers can push when they want. We have NOBODY that can answer the bell. Nobody! We do not play Taylor enough and frankly based on his play i can understand. The kid is awesome defensively but too much of a problem on offense. We NEED some athleticism.

One option is bringing back Gerald Green who flourished with us before. He is a fan favorite and would bring some excitement to Brooklyn which we need since our crowds tend to be very dull at Barclay's due to our brand of basketball. Green can provide a scoring punch off the bench. His numbers have been coming back up. I do not see how we can do this thou since MarShon does not get paid nearly enough.

Another option is Derrick Williams. Based on reports he is being shopped heavily and the Wolves are not asking for much. Would they accept Teletovic? He fits their ethnic requirements (joke). DWill has been terribly misused in Minnesota and they have not given him a real shot to succeed. That would be a very shrewd move by the Nets if they got him.

Another option is already on the roster! Damion James. I was very against the Nets decision to let Damion go. He is a good defender and elite rebounder and very athletic. That alone deserves a spot on this team imo. He is like a less offesively talented Crash from Charlotte. If we could groom him to come off the bench and just be the hound dog he was at Texas then we can benefit a lot.

As far as shooters my preference would be to trade with ATL for Korver. I do not think he is untouchable and MarShon alone should no it. I know a lot of people here love MarShon but i just do not feel MarShon has a place on this team and Korver is a huge upgrade. I think they would do that in a heartbeat.

PG: Deron/CJ
SG: JJ/Green/Korver
SF: Wallace/James
PF: Nene/Reggie/Tele
C: Lopez/Blatche

That is a formidable team imo that has few weaknesses and can matchup to pretty much anything

[Antti22]

One good thing about yesterdays game-day. We lost to a so-so team, but the Celtics lost to a bad team

[therealbig3]

One good thing about yesterdays game-day. We lost to a so-so team, but the Celtics lost to a bad team

Since Gordon's been back, the Hornets have actually been pretty good.

[Ronito]

One good thing about yesterdays game-day. We lost to a so-so team, but the Celtics lost to a bad team

Since Gordon's been back, the Hornets have actually been pretty good.

He didn't play last night.

[halfHAVOC]

it happens.

we need to do a better job containing guard play though...those guys like jeff teague and lou will were getting WIDE open shots coming off screens with no contest.