GT: Atlanta Hawks @ Brooklyn Nets - 12/5/14 7:30pm

[Prokorov]

We're running a system that emphasizes mid-range shots and post ups. Hawks run a system that emphasizes ball movement and 3s. Completely different systems and it really showed today. There's a reason our offense is below average unless someone is dominating. The philosophy and the system are a problem right now.

By the way, has Hollins yelled at anyone except for Mirza, Plumlee or Brook Lopez during a game this year? Seems like he picks on the easy targets instead of the truly problematic players.

Plumlee and Lopez have been problematic all year because for the most part they've been horrible. Who should he be yelling at, D-Will?

Lopez, Plumlee can easily be benched at C for Jordan or KG.

YES, he can yell at DWill. He can yell at JJ. He can yell at Jack. Anderson. These guys are supposed to be vets - they should be able to handle it. hese guys aren't playing well or smart basketball.

dwill and jj arent playing great, but both are playung 10 times better then lopez

[Prokorov]

You can't be serious. The bench is consistently AWFUL.

how is what the bench has done this year relevant to the hawks game where the starters got embarassed? this is a game thread and we were referring to this game. Deron, Joe, Brook were awful, KG was invisible, Bogs did nothing.

Also, if you look at our 5 man units, our 5 man units of bench + starters has been no better then our 5 man units with no starters. in fact, the +/- and PPP are better, with one exception being the dwill-jack-jj-kg-lopez 5 man unit, which features 4 starters

The reason why we beat the Knicks and Spurs was due to the Big 3 playing well at the sametime. Jack isn't a playmaker, Anderson sucks, Plumlee sucks and Mirza isn't consistent.

Thats exactly my point... we won the knicks game cause the starters were good.... specifically dwill/JJ/lopez. we lost the hawks game because our starters and that trio were NOT good. it had little to do with the bench.

Whenever our starters don't play well, we are prone to blowouts or losing leads. Our bench gives us nothing. The score was 16-16 until the bench came in and mid-way through the 2nd, the score is 22-34 until the starters check in. It's a joke at how bad our bench is and equally a joke at how Hollins sees nothing wrong with playing five bench buys at once for 7 minutes to 10 minutes.

that simple isnt true. we were down 27-22 when the starters checked back in. the lead ballooned to 52-32 from there. our starters were worse then our bench by a pretty sizeable margin. the only bench guy who was worse then the starters was mirza, who started vs the spurs.

our bench isnt great, but its idiotic to bash the bench when our starting unit has been as bad as it has. No team can have their starters play poor and win consistently, even with an elite bench.

this is just another case of nets fans trying to find a scapegoat instead of realizing that a Williams/lopez/Johnson trio is not better then a slight above average core that will consistently beat bad teams and lose to good ones. we see it every year....

first it was Avery, then it was Reggie, then it was Watson, then it was PJ, then it was teague, then it was kidd, then it was anderson,...

This year it was jack, then it was plumlee, now its hollins.

you know what the only consistent part of the past 3-4 years is? Dwill, Joe, and Brook. hey... maybe its them! you know since all the statistics and video show its them.

First off, nobody is scapegoating a damn thing. We all know our core isn't very good. It's been said time and time again. So don't go there. Regardless of how good or bad our core starters are, your bench is supposed to give your team a SPARK. The Hawks had their bench unit in at the sametime and they built a lead while ours had 2 points on 0/8 FGs.

Our bench gives us nothing. Every. Single. Night. I'm sick of it. I'm also sick of seeing Hollins play them tons of minutes at a time and not realize they aren't impacting the game.

When our starting unit wasn't getting it done last season, our bench got us back into the game. It's an important aspect of basketball. Yet, as usual. You want to ignore it and pretend to be oblivious to a key problem. No team is going to win with a bad bench and inconsistent starting unit. One has to be terrific. Difference is our starters have played well and carried us to wins lately while I bench continues to be the worst in the league and hasn't had a good showing at all this season.

our bench is such a miniscure irrelevant problem in comparison to our starters. thats like yelling at a mechanic because the clock on the dashboard is wrong when your transimssion is blown.

we have lost 0 games this year due to the bench and 10 due to our starters. when your starters get their asses ahnded to them, it doesnt matter how good your bench is. the starters are so much more of an issue it is riddiculous.

and our bench has had plenty of good performances. the ones they have had dont matter because our starters have been so bad that our bench play - be it good or bad, simply doesnt matter.

[Prokorov]

To be honest it was a team effort. Both the starters AND the bench got **** on. But some of these assessments I have to disagree with a little. I was very disappointed in Dwill and Joe. Lopez I thought had one of his better games of the season. He had 20/7 in 27 Min.

i thought it was one of his worst performances to be honest. long jumper after long jumper after long jumper. not going strong at all. his first half was one of his worst halfs of the season... especially since he played alot vs milsap and antic, who he had a ton of size on.

20/7 looks pretty, but if you watched the game you know that a) alot of those came in the 3rd when we were down 23 points and b) those stats had little impact on the game

his defense was ugly. there was like 6-8 feet of airspace for the gaurd on every pick and roll.

[Keith Van Horn]

I was disgusted I wasted $35 to see that trash team play last night. Sad thing is I dragged a dozen friends with me. The best part of going to Brooklyn was eating at Bark hot dog joint, and then getting drinks after the game.

They looked so god awful. They played with 0 heart and no defense. They were constantly leaving so much space between the shooter and them. Atlanta was hitting everything. The Nets looked like they were struggling on every possession. It was just a bad idea to see them live.

[therealbig3]

I mean, we've seen it 2 years in a row now. Lopez and KG don't work together. One of them needs to start, the other one needs to come off the bench.

It sounds really awful to say this, but there's some truth to it...Lopez's injury last year was a blessing in disguise. KG became the full-time center, we went small, and the team as a whole had MUCH better ball movement and shooting and just smarter overall basketball...and our defense played better too.

Lopez is a talented player, but he doesn't play winning basketball. I've been over Deron and Johnson and their wannabe star status for a long time now...but I honestly believe that they're capable of playing winning basketball...I can't say the same for Lopez. The one season where he played really well and the Nets won a lot of games...I don't even think he was our best player (D-Will was), and I also think that his impact was pretty overrated that year anyway. We never really hit that next level until Deron regained his form.

[MrDollarBills]

I've had my issues with Johnson after he flat out dogged it following his whole twitter spat.

Williams to me has been the best player all year.

I'm over Brook. All of the years of losing and idiocy that has gone on with this franchise has poisoned the dude.

Let's see if KG/Mirza provides a better look for us on both ends of the floor.

[Prokorov]

I mean, we've seen it 2 years in a row now. Lopez and KG don't work together. One of them needs to start, the other one needs to come off the bench.

It sounds really awful to say this, but there's some truth to it...Lopez's injury last year was a blessing in disguise. KG became the full-time center, we went small, and the team as a whole had MUCH better ball movement and shooting and just smarter overall basketball...and our defense played better too.

Lopez is a talented player, but he doesn't play winning basketball. I've been over Deron and Johnson and their wannabe star status for a long time now...but I honestly believe that they're capable of playing winning basketball...I can't say the same for Lopez. The one season where he played really well and the Nets won a lot of games...I don't even think he was our best player (D-Will was), and I also think that his impact was pretty overrated that year anyway. We never really hit that next level until Deron regained his form.

This is spot on. and people need to wrap their heads around this, because it is the truth. Deron and Joe might both be underwhelming, overpaid, underperformaning players, but they have long track records of winning basketball. Lopez does not. and i agree, he simply doesnt play winning basketball and his impact is nowhere near what the statline indicates.

i dont know that we will be a ton better without him, but im fairly certain we wont be worse. as is we lose to every good team, and win 2/3 from bad teams. unless we start consistently losing to the 76ers of the world not much changes