Game Thread: Nets @ Trail Blazers - 11/15/14 10:00pm

[Albanian Damien]

Guys try to put this into perspective. What Joe Joe said wasn't necessarily wrong. And it's now that his words have made the teams ball sack shrivel up. It's just that he came off as extra selfish by highlighting what he said right after the Orlando win. If he had called out the defense then I think we all here would have loved that leadership and supported him 100%. It's just that when he did he absolutely seems to have alienated certain players. But at the same time we can't dwell on the past so here's how we fix the problem(with JJ at least)

I want Joe Johnson to shoot at least 6-8 3PA a game. Now if you know where I'm going with this then you'll 100% agree but if you don't then hang on a sec. We all know Joe is our best scorer but the reality of it is that he makes it soo hard for himself. It seems as if all his points come from iso post ups on the right block or trying to bully his way to the basket. The team is misusing him like that. Joe Johnson would best be serviceable if Hollins starting running plays involving off ball screens and setting up Joe for catch and shoot 3's. Because let's be honest the Nets best 3 point shooters are:

DWill - whose too busy running the offense to just shoot 3s although I wouldn't mind seeing his 3FGA rise either
Bojan/Mirza - who are two streaky ass Bosnians. When they're hot they're on fire and when they're cold they couldn't hit the side of the ocean.

After that there's no one whose a good 3 point shooter. Anderson is alright but he chucks up way too many. Jack is midrange. I wouldn't mind seeing if KG hit a corner 3 because it seems as if that's the range he prefers anyway so why not make em count for 3. But like I said none of those guys are good or reliable enough. So that mean's why have 3 good shooters at best and 2 of them are extremely streaky. In todays ball world that's not gonna cut it.

Johnson is tired of the selfishness? Good because when you're running off ball screens and setting up for catches and shoot you're becoming the beneficiary of ball movement. Not to mention that once Joe gets it going from ranger he's unstoppable offensively. Hollins should try and utilize Joe the way Boston utilized Ray Allen. Joe is much better ball handler anyway so I could easily see him thriving.

As for the defense, it looked better vs Portland but then again Portland had nobody.. So untill they trade one of Brook/KG/ Plumlee I expect it to continue to suffer.

[MrDollarBills]

Team is mentally soft if words affects your play

End of story.

This has been the manta of the Williams/Johnson/Lopez led trio from day one: MENTALLY SOFT

[Paradise]

If a teammate that is 90% quiet says the team is seflish to the media after a win, that will obviously translate on the court. It doesn't mean your mentally soft per say. It means everyone is trying to not be "selfish" even if it's detrimental to the team.

[jbeachboy]

I would be shocked if these guys become good defensively this year, grizzlies even took 2 to 3 years to rank high and they have more athletic players than lopez and kg

[kerry kittles]

If a teammate that is 90% quiet says the team is seflish to the media after a win, that will obviously translate on the court. It doesn't mean your mentally soft per say. It means everyone is trying to not be "selfish" even if it's detrimental to the team.

That's not the case, that everyone is trying not to be "selfish" since Joe spoke. Do you really think this team is now overpassing? In fact they're still having issues with ball movement - so if anything Joes words had no effect.

Here's quotes for Deron after our last game:
"You have a stat sheet?" Deron Williams asked after the Nets dropped another one in Portland on Saturday. "How many assists do we have?"

"I think that's a big problem," Williams said. "This team, this system, the way we want to play, we should have 25 assists, not in the teens. Simple as that. If we're moving the ball, sharing the ball -- if you look at our wins, we've passed the ball relatively well."

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baske ... -1.2012955

[therealbig3]

Lopez should be coming off the bench.

Plumlee shouldn't be in the rotation.

Our starting lineup should be: Deron-Bogs-Johnson-Mirza-KG. If you want more defense, throw AK47 in there for Mirza. I think in general, that's going to be a better defensive lineup than what we have regardless. I'd trust a Mirza-KG front line more than I do a KG-Lopez front line, because let's face it...Lopez has been AWFUL defensively this year, and he's never been all that good in general. He looks slower and more lost on defense than ever. He can't rebound, because he sees the game in slow motion and can't get the ball unless it bounces directly to him. Otherwise, everyone else on the court is quicker to the ball.

Those are the major lineup changes I'd make. In terms of the offense, we obviously need to move the ball much better, but more importantly, we need to make MUCH better decisions. Even more than the lack of actual plays and the dependence on ISOs, we force so many bad shots that are highly contested and with plenty of time left on the shot clock...and it's not always JJ or Lopez or Jack either...Bogs REALLY pissed me off against Portland doing that too. And we commit so many stupid, unforced TOs as well. So we might build up big leads, because we end up being on fire for a little while...but we inevitably blow them, because we cool off, and then everyone continues to take bad shots and commit bad TOs.

[Paradise]

If a teammate that is 90% quiet says the team is seflish to the media after a win, that will obviously translate on the court. It doesn't mean your mentally soft per say. It means everyone is trying to not be "selfish" even if it's detrimental to the team.

That's not the case, that everyone is trying not to be "selfish" since Joe spoke. Do you really think this team is now overpassing? In fact they're still having issues with ball movement - so if anything Joes words had no effect.

Here's quotes for Deron after our last game:
"You have a stat sheet?" Deron Williams asked after the Nets dropped another one in Portland on Saturday. "How many assists do we have?"

"I think that's a big problem," Williams said. "This team, this system, the way we want to play, we should have 25 assists, not in the teens. Simple as that. If we're moving the ball, sharing the ball -- if you look at our wins, we've passed the ball relatively well."

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baske ... -1.2012955

I was referring to the Phoenix game.

There is definitely a problem with ball movement, though. Brook, Jack, Anderson, Plumlee are easily the biggest culprits. I have said these losses are more offensive related than defense. Poor shot selection can lead to fastbreak points for the opposite team.

[jeff1624]

If a teammate that is 90% quiet says the team is seflish to the media after a win, that will obviously translate on the court. It doesn't mean your mentally soft per say. It means everyone is trying to not be "selfish" even if it's detrimental to the team.

That's not the case, that everyone is trying not to be "selfish" since Joe spoke. Do you really think this team is now overpassing? In fact they're still having issues with ball movement - so if anything Joes words had no effect.

Here's quotes for Deron after our last game:
"You have a stat sheet?" Deron Williams asked after the Nets dropped another one in Portland on Saturday. "How many assists do we have?"

"I think that's a big problem," Williams said. "This team, this system, the way we want to play, we should have 25 assists, not in the teens. Simple as that. If we're moving the ball, sharing the ball -- if you look at our wins, we've passed the ball relatively well."

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baske ... -1.2012955

I was referring to the Phoenix game.

There is definitely a problem with ball movement, though. Brook, Jack, Anderson, Plumlee are easily the biggest culprits. I have said these losses are more offensive related than defense. Poor shot selection can lead to fastbreak points for the opposite team.

Add Joe to the problem. He's upped his ISO game these past three games. I have no idea why he isn't shooting corner threes on a higher scale. He's money from there and it benefits the team than having him post up every other possession.

[Prokorov]

That's not the case, that everyone is trying not to be "selfish" since Joe spoke. Do you really think this team is now overpassing? In fact they're still having issues with ball movement - so if anything Joes words had no effect.

Here's quotes for Deron after our last game:
"You have a stat sheet?" Deron Williams asked after the Nets dropped another one in Portland on Saturday. "How many assists do we have?"

"I think that's a big problem," Williams said. "This team, this system, the way we want to play, we should have 25 assists, not in the teens. Simple as that. If we're moving the ball, sharing the ball -- if you look at our wins, we've passed the ball relatively well."

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baske ... -1.2012955

I was referring to the Phoenix game.

There is definitely a problem with ball movement, though. Brook, Jack, Anderson, Plumlee are easily the biggest culprits. I have said these losses are more offensive related than defense. Poor shot selection can lead to fastbreak points for the opposite team.

Add Joe to the problem. He's upped his ISO game these past three games. I have no idea why he isn't shooting corner threes on a higher scale. He's money from there and it benefits the team than having him post up every other possession.

joe going in solation has given us our best scoring chances. its not like lopez in isolation where he is pretty much going to shoot it ever time. joe is going to pass it if he draws attention or the double team comes. and he is going to score at a very high clip. i mean pheonix and portland were "bad" games for him yet he still had a 56 TS% over the 2 contests.

Why isnt he shooting more corner threes? because those arent something you get in the flex offense, which is geared toward layups off baseline cuts and elbow/straight away jumpers. we dont get anything in transition, and there is really no one create offense forcing defenses to rotate as to lead to alot of corner jumpers. FWIW, joe has taken and made the most corner 3's (9-20) on this team.

Joe's only issue offensively is the isolation 20 feet from the hoop where he dribbles the air out of the ball. but we really dont see a ton of that anymore, its more post ups and back downs -- which is simply great offense for us when he has a mismatch.

We need to get more out of the pick and roll. KG/Brook/Mirza is like 90% pick and pop. it doesnt make defenses scramble and teams are happy to live with lopez and KG shooting long 2's and mirza is hot and cold. We need someone who is going to roll hard to the hoop. Dwill is being agressive going hard off the screen, but there isnt much after that as its usually kick back for a long 2

[Prokorov]

Guys try to put this into perspective. What Joe Joe said wasn't necessarily wrong. And it's now that his words have made the teams ball sack shrivel up. It's just that he came off as extra selfish by highlighting what he said right after the Orlando win. If he had called out the defense then I think we all here would have loved that leadership and supported him 100%. It's just that when he did he absolutely seems to have alienated certain players. But at the same time we can't dwell on the past so here's how we fix the problem(with JJ at least)

He DID call out the defense. that got overlooked cause the "selfish offense" thing makes for more headlines.

[MGrand15]

Lopez should be coming off the bench.

Plumlee shouldn't be in the rotation.

Our starting lineup should be: Deron-Bogs-Johnson-Mirza-KG. If you want more defense, throw AK47 in there for Mirza. I think in general, that's going to be a better defensive lineup than what we have regardless. I'd trust a Mirza-KG front line more than I do a KG-Lopez front line, because let's face it...Lopez has been AWFUL defensively this year, and he's never been all that good in general. He looks slower and more lost on defense than ever. He can't rebound, because he sees the game in slow motion and can't get the ball unless it bounces directly to him. Otherwise, everyone else on the court is quicker to the ball.

Those are the major lineup changes I'd make. In terms of the offense, we obviously need to move the ball much better, but more importantly, we need to make MUCH better decisions. Even more than the lack of actual plays and the dependence on ISOs, we force so many bad shots that are highly contested and with plenty of time left on the shot clock...and it's not always JJ or Lopez or Jack either...Bogs REALLY pissed me off against Portland doing that too. And we commit so many stupid, unforced TOs as well. So we might build up big leads, because we end up being on fire for a little while...but we inevitably blow them, because we cool off, and then everyone continues to take bad shots and commit bad TOs.

I would strongly consider doing something like this. Not even as a punishment to Lopez but his scoring might be better served on the 2nd unit. Lopez can anchor the 2nd unit. He normally starts the 1st quarter ripping off 9 straight points at one point. If he could do that off the bench, that would be awesome.

Deron/Boj/JJ/Mirza/KG is a lot of shooting and a lot of high BBIQ. Defensively, swapping Mirza for Lopez is probably a wash, maybe even an upgrade when you look at Brook this year. We finish the half with whoever is playing well. I'd throw Mirza in there because I feel like we get too caught up in mid-range shots sometimes. I would like to see more 3s added to our mix - in the flow of the offense of course.

Frontcourt rotation:
Mirza/AK47/Plumlee
KG/Lopez

[MGrand15]

Also any team can become unstable from one of the leaders calling them out. Doesn't have to do with being mentally soft. Or being guilty. There's a reason Duncan isn't out there making media waves when the Spurs lose a couple of games and being interviewed on TNT about it. Or KD doesn't crush Westbrook every time they lose. It's not always productive for the team environment for the entire team to be called selfish while they're winning.

I'm not blaming Joe for our poor performances but I think in certain spots, you can see our guys overthinking. Not shooting confidently. That sort of stuff comes with someone calling you selfish. Instead of shooting an in-rhythm shot, you pass it up. Instead of confidently attacking, you pass it up.

People are talking about us losing because we faced better competition but Portland WITHOUT Aldridge and Batum does not = better competition. That was a bad team that had no business being able to score on us outside of Lilliard and Wes Matthews going off and had no business being able to stop us. We not only lost to that Portland squad, we were decidedly beaten. I'm fine with losing to PHX and GSW. Those are legit playoff teams and we should've definitely won the PHX game. The Portland loss was very bad. There was no point where we had command of the game.

[jbeachboy]

Defense is bigger problem plus hollins needs to play kirilenko . Brown and jefferson