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Here are some intriguing quotes from Billy King and Jason Kidd in Zach Lowe's Grantland article:

We’ve found our personality,” says Nets GM Billy King.

“You have to have a sense of structure and an identity,” says Jason Kidd, the team’s coach. “You have to know who you are, and how you’re going to play both ends. And now we do.

The Nets are not winning because Lopez is gone, but they are playing a style he’d be hard to fit into. Kidd has downsized, shifting Pierce to power forward and Garnett to center in hybrid lineups that are small up front and huge on the perimeter. The weirdness continues when Kidd goes to the bench with the positionally funky Andrei Kirilenko–Mirza Teletovic–Andray Blatche trio.

“I don’t think it’s that simple,” Kidd says. “I don’t think the team with Brook is built to be a hybrid like this. Now we are, because we have no choice. We have a structure, and Brook going out has helped us define that.”

King is confident the Nets could play this way with Lopez, in part because of his shooting from the center spot. But even he acknowledges meshing everyone and staying “small” would be a challenge. “Brook is a great scorer,” King says, “but now, when we’re smaller, defensively we are a little better.”

via http://grantland.com/features/a-team-gr ... klyn/#fn-3

I'd recommend reading the entire thing but considering the points discussed, there are two main questions that I'm left wondering (and would like your opinions on).

1) Our Personality
We've obviously been playing better since the start of the New Year. While I'm not ready to fully believe the team has turned it around, it's good to know that we're not getting destroyed by teams like the Magic and the Cavs anymore.

The question is: Do you believe we've found our personality/identity? Also, do you think our current style of play is good?

2) Keeping Brook Lopez
From the beginning, I've been suggesting that I don't think Kidd is fond of Lopez. While I'm sure he likes the scoring Lopez brings, I think Kidd prefers to get out, run, and have a big man that can properly defend PnR (basically a Tyson Chandler prototype, who was a major component of Dallas winning their title in 2011).

While Zach Lowe could obviously be pulling quotes to create tension that's not there, it seems somewhat clear that Kidd genuinely prefers this style of basketball and having a smaller, faster lineup.

On day 1, he said he wanted us to run even though we all know Brook is far from a cheetah. Hearing him say that the team can't function as a hybrid with Brook is not a ringing endorsement whatsoever. Even though you can tell Billy really likes Brook, even his comments seem to suggest an admission that we benefited from a smaller, quicker lineup.

So the question is simply: Do you think we're going to keep Lopez?



PS - I'm kinda upset that Zach Lowe basically took the Lopez trade idea I wrote a few months back here. I said this in "Trade Targets" thread when talking about making a plan to get KD by first getting Kevin Love here in :

1) In the 2014 offseason, trade Lopez for 2015 picks and young players.

.......

I know a lot of people have made the claim that no one would want Lopez due to his health, but the passing of time always makes people forget how bad the damage was at the time of the action.

I could definitely see a team like Charlotte offering their 2015 1st round pick along with some scrubs for the opportunity to have a core of Kemba/MKG/Big Al/Lopez.

The key would be to trade Lopez this offseason. Technically, Lopez could've come back at the end of the season because the recovery time is 3 months but we decided to shut him down for the year. Give him all of that time to recover (with no setbacks) and teams will be way more higher than him than they are right now.


As a side note, I've always believed that Kidd would prefer to have a Tyson Chandler/KG-like center who's better at defense than offense but who is a threat over the top and can set good screens. I could see Kidd telling BK that we should trade Lopez.

Re: 1)

I think we did. but i think with dwill it muddles it a bit. I think when we roll out: Livingsont/AA/JJ/PP/KG that is a REALLY solid defensive team that can switch 1 through 4 and be good enough defensively to beat .500 and under teams with great consistency. i think that lineup struggles vs. better teams but still has a punchers chance.

i think with dwill you now kind of teeter between that solid defensive unit and one with more upside but less consistnecy. its why i liked dwill off the bench. leverage opponents second unit and hide dwill defensively. but with or without dwill, i think we are better off with this kind of squad thats defensive minded.

Re 2)

I dont think it makes sense to keep him, but you also cant throw him away for peanuts. you need a first round pick in the top 15 in return. I just dont think you can win today if your bigs is a guy who make 10+ million and isnt a very good defender. especially in the pick and roll. if you cant gaurd the pick and roll today you simply arent going to beat many good teams.

I dont see that charlotte team working. i cant see lopez and jefferson playing together.

I think there are 2 things you can do with lopez:

1) shop him during the draft and hope to get someone to bite on him for a top 10-12 pick

2) keep him around, move JJ or Dwill and then use lopez in a sign and trade for someone like love or durant once your under the tax line

They're a bunch of ass holes

Not at all. We found our personality through the regular season but in no way, shape or form, I believe that we are going to continue to prosper with this small ball lineup in the playoffs.

The reality is losing Lopez WOKE the team up. Same with Deron's injury. They wanted to play through Brook every time down but that still didn't stop lazy habits like heavy ISO ball and ignoring Brook. Losing him pretty much made them realize they each had to give more effort and efficiency into games or they would easily get blown out.

It's easy to look at these things right now as a culture change or personality defining moment but I don't see how the hell this team is going to score in the halfcourt in a 7 game series without someone that can score inside. So, It looks good for the regular season but our small ball lineups and rotations is not built for success with Pierce/KG logging the minutes at those positions.

I do agree we are clearly better with KG at Center because KG at this stage of his career is most effective at Center but him playing Center makes it difficult for him to play more than 25 minutes a game and we already see how horrible things look when Blatche gets injured.

We just had the three worst rebounding games of all time. I don't think It's 100% figured out whatsoever yet. I think both Kidd and Billy are jumping the gun here.

MrDollarBills wrote:They're a bunch of ass holes

You are definitely consistent in your appraisals in every thread. LOLOL.

The Nets do own their picks in 2015 and 2017 due to the league’s prohibition on trading away two consecutive future first-round picks, but they’ve given Atlanta and Boston the right to swap first-rounders with them in each of those years. Boston has the 2017 swap rights, leading Billy King to quip, “Hopefully, Danny Ainge has Boston rebuilt by then!” ^

This was in the footnotes. Why does Boston being good again help Brooklyn/King in this situation? Is he dumber than he seems?

165bows wrote:

The Nets do own their picks in 2015 and 2017 due to the league’s prohibition on trading away two consecutive future first-round picks, but they’ve given Atlanta and Boston the right to swap first-rounders with them in each of those years. Boston has the 2017 swap rights, leading Billy King to quip, “Hopefully, Danny Ainge has Boston rebuilt by then!” ^

This was in the footnotes. Why does Boston being good again help Brooklyn/King in this situation? Is he dumber than he seems?

I wanted to point this out too.

It just shows a shocking lack of BBIQ by Billy King. Even if he made an accidental mistake...how does the GM of an NBA team make that kind of mistake in logic?

Boston being good by 2017 would be BAD for us. They would take our pick.

MrDollarBills wrote:They're a bunch of ass holes

Our personality is that our team is a bunch of losers.... glad to hear Billy King is catching on...

but want a less sarcastic respone?

Our personality is that we're not a team with an identity IMO.... the BIG money max players can't and haven't aided this team as they're suppose to. Injuries have their role but I recall healthy bodies around for games vs lesser opponents... fooled us.

Identity is that Sdot plays well with JJ, PP n KG..... Dwill plays well with AK.... thats it... Dwill's lack of impact as the max/franchise player/pg is really irritating and simply pathetic.

Livingston has been phenomel and plays like more of a franchise pg than Dwill, Shaun's game is not even revolved around scoring and he hasn't been a top scorer either. Dwill needs to help this time n man up first.

as for Lopez, if they want small ball or a faster lineup, move Lopez. Lopez as a stretch 5 is damage inflicting for the team and does not benefit us at all...

Lopez is as good as gone by draft night.

165bows wrote:

The Nets do own their picks in 2015 and 2017 due to the league’s prohibition on trading away two consecutive future first-round picks, but they’ve given Atlanta and Boston the right to swap first-rounders with them in each of those years. Boston has the 2017 swap rights, leading Billy King to quip, “Hopefully, Danny Ainge has Boston rebuilt by then!” ^

This was in the footnotes. Why does Boston being good again help Brooklyn/King in this situation? Is he dumber than he seems?

Did they drug test this guy before giving him this job?

We have known their personalities all along. A bunch of washed up overpaid soft players.

Sent from my g2 using RealGM Forums mobile app

vincecarter4pres wrote:Lopez is as good as gone by draft night.

I don't think he'll be out "by draft night" but I do think there's a good chance he's traded this summer.

I said it a while ago but I really think Kidd prefers a faster and quicker big man who can play in an uptempo system.

I also think that Kidd's power with the organization will soon exceed Billy King's power if it hasn't already done so. Remember hiring Kidd wasn't King's original plan. Ownership told him to check Kidd out as head coach and Billy went from being doubtful to singing Kidd's praises because he knows it's in his best interest to do whatever ownership wants.

I won't be surprised at all if Kidd ends up staying with us way longer than King.