GT: Nets @ Pistons - Weds, Oct 17, 7:00pm |YES | Season Opener!

[Prokorov]

didnt' watch the game but reading on some posts to catch me up....

sounds like a positive performance despite the L.

Good effort, offense was a well oiled machine... spurs like. despite the loss, alot to be happy abot.

How was Kenny's in game adjustments, rotations...etc? improved or smh still?

Much shorter rotation... 8 guys (Dlo, Levert, Harris, Ddudley, Allen, Davis, Dinwiddie) with some spot minutes for kurucs. Thought he coached a good game. we didnt get a shot off the last possession, but that may have been more on levert who kind of fouled it up.

Read we got killed on the boards and Faried didn't play, was that the right call?

Faried isnt in the rotation. they want to go stretch bigs. whether its the right call is debatable depending on how much you value stretching the floor. i dont think rebounding cost us this game.

Wouldn't Faried fared better vs Blake on both ends? Blake(& Andre) got some BIG #s, slow either of them down, perhaps we take the W?

Faried doesnt spread the floor. having dudley/graham out there is a huge reason why levert/dinwiddie went off. pistons were spread way out and the gaurds had all the room in the world to work with. Faried doesnt do that.

Drummond despite the 20/20 game really didnt have all that much impact, especially since he got DESTROYED on defense by not just allent but the nets gaurds on switches.

[SpeedyG]

The Nets dont really care about rebounding... at least not as much as spacing... part of why levert/dinwiddie went off is because pistons bigs were drawn out to the three point line and overplaying allen on the roll. its a trade off, and i know your not a big stats guy but the analytics show rebounding isnt all that important a priority these days.

Davis should help the second unit... we had Acy playing alot of center last year. Faried likely wont see time unless its at center. although id love to see him play because im a big fan of his and think his intensity would help. last night was the best ive ever seen this offense run. not sure if it was because fo spacing or what but it didnt hurt

I never have a problem with analytics. The problem I have is that most that talk analytics completely abandon old school basketball. There needs to be balance.

Here's also my belief:

When it comes to late game situations? Dump analytics.

1 minute left in a close game?

Every possession counts. Who cares about the efficiency of a shot that can only be calculated in 6 shots when you only have 2 offensive possessions left?

What's the efficiency of that put back layup you gave up because you are playing small? Does our oRTG rating really matter when all we needed war one more rebound to win this game?

Extremes of both sides are bad (like Scott who shuns threes).

Point is, you're in a close game with a minute or so left.

Throw the analytics and the stats out of the water. You do whatever you need to do to win every possession doing whatever it takes.

If the defense gives you a wide open 2 and you're a Karl Malone or Rip Hamilton or Allan Houston, even a Courtney Lee .. you take that shot in closing minutes of a game because it's a good shot for you.

I'm sorry man but this is the biggest BS point of all time. Super lazy. Skip Bayless, Barkley level point.

Every single coach on the staff has been in basketball their whole lives. Acting like they're throwing all that away because someone figured out that 3 > 2 is insulting.

Kenny has NEVER given anyone flack for taking good mid range shots. RHJ just had an awesome year from the mid-range.

He 100% thought about the cost benefit of having Dudley vs Davis on the floor. And it worked! Last 2 minutes, we outscored them 6-2 until we had to intentionally foul. No offensive rebounds. We had 2 chances to take the lead and we fumbled it.

Uh...we cut it down to 1 and gave up consecutive put back baskets as Dudley/Graham/Joe whoever was unable to keep Drummond off the board after Allen challenged shots.

Again, you (and our coach who preaches rebounding and defense) is focusing on the offensive side.

There is only so much an undersized PF can do against much bigger guys no matter how much hustle and grit they show (which I do give Dudley tons of credit for).

This isn't a one game issue. it's been consistent throughout his stint here.

To be clear, I have nothing against the way the offense played last night. Except for a handful of shots, a lot of the threes we took weren't bad shots (unlike last season when we would have stretches were we were clearly settling for threes). They came off ball movement, and the guys who had the ability to drive, drove it in when the defense gave them inside lanes.

Let's not get to this Kenny and coaches are professionals and have been doing this their entire lives. EVERY coach makes bad mistakes. Even a great one in Pop made a crucial mistake in the biggest game of a series that ended up losing them the series.

Just because they have been doing this all their life doesn't absolve them of mistakes. We as viewers have the benefit of TV and better angles that they do not have. That's the challenge of being a coach. Everyone can coach from their couch, but doing it in live environment is another beast.

It still doesn't mean they will always do the right thing.

And the fascination of this small ball, when we are clearly getting hammered on the boards in certain match-ups, needs to have it's limits especially on a night when our stretch 4s aren't shooting well AND we are going against a big team.

It's one thing if this is a rare occurrence, but it's not. And clearly it was recognized in the off season by the addition of Davis, Faried, Williams, and even Graham.

Dudley has averaged over 7 boards per 36 minutes only TWICE his entire career. To rely on him for 36 minutes and expect he'd be enough is beyond over confidence in his ability.

Drummond by himself had more offensive rebounds than our entire team combined. Shoot he nearly doubled us up.

[SpeedyG]

Was watching the game off/on due to work. Are y'all talking about the 1/8th court in bound play when criticising Spencer? If so, holy crap y'all.

The positive is that Spencer and Levert were aggressive most of the evening. In most nights where we shoot as badly as this last year, it's a blowout unless we got hot to come back. We never really got hot...but hey, efficiency stat guys... guess what got us back in the game?

Drives and short "inefficient" mid range shots (mostly by Spencer and Levert) ...

I don't expect this team to be this cold across the board from downtown especially when crabbe, Napier and Carroll are back. But with those guys hurt, other than Joe there's not really anyone that will scare defenses from downtown. Allen led us from threes if I'm not mistaken.

And so now, I'll offer my criticism, because he's clearly just as big of a factor to this team's success.

But Kenny, when are you going to play big when we're getting killed on the boards?

Kenny preaches defense and rebounding...but his strategy caters to offensive floor spacing.

I think Dudley did an admirable job vs Griffin, and Allen did a good job with help defense. The problem is that when Allen gets himself out of position for challenging the shot, we got killed.

This has been an on going theme with our small ball. It's the same story regardless of who we had at C: Brook, Zeller, Allen. The moment the center challenges a shot, the other big from the team goes and gets the rebound.

Also not a fan of our last possession.

15 seconds, on the road. The general rule there is take the last shot (or just enough to leave time for a put back).

Levert made his move with 12 seconds. Kenny said he'd do it again if given the same chance.

Thank God Levert realises he should have slowed down and waited for the last shot.

Allen, Levert, Spencer, even Joe and Russell looks improved.

But Kenny needs to take that step too.

Atleast someone saw what was going on with Allen. He is constantly putting himself out of position because he is constantly looking at the ball to block shots. He needs to realize when to just contest, stand tall, or just alter shots. The point is he is not preventing where the play is happening but always looking for that last moment to block the shot. This is the difference between a true defensive enforcer and a highlight reel player.

Like don't get me wrong his stats are nice. But my expectations for Allen is very high. Maybe that's because in the last 20 years, he is the best center we have that has the potential to have the highest success rate to succeed for impactful basketball. But I just think he needs to do better. I just don't like the idea that if he thinks he plays with energy he does his job. That's what a bench unit's mentality are suppose to be. I'm expecting a lot more for him.

For Kenny, I understand why he praises defense. Because for a run n gun, uptempo team, we play good defense for that style of basketball. He wants us to score in a good rate in order to limit offensive transitions. Which is a dynamic part of playing good defense. We shot FG 49% which is really good. But that's because he is missing key details on his system on that end of the floor like what I talk about above. I mean if you think about it. Scoring 100 in an uptempo style shooting 49% from the field is very low. So in a sense we really underperformed at this game.

Not really sure what you can expect Allen to do. Several of those contests lead to missed shots that otherwise would have been clean shots.

When our defense is scheme to funnel the ball towards him, it's up to the rest of the team (especially the forwards) to clean up and help him out.

[DarkXaero]

On the positive side, loved the aggressiveness out of Levert and Dinwiddie last night, especially Dinwiddie. I know that they were exploiting the space and the foul trouble, but I still hope that Dinwiddie looks to attack the basket more this season, and not settle for bad shots. He has the first step, size, and finishing touch, he has to do it more often.

[Claud]

Thoughts:

- LeVert looked amazing. He has clearly taken a significant jump in his development. Dude looked unstoppable slashing + getting fouled. Obviously there's still room for improvement and needs to clean up his overall game but we have to remember we still have 2 full seasons of Levert with rookie contract. I think this season is about him getting used to being the man handling the rock most of the time, similar to Harden in HOU + getting used to being the man in clutch situations. Very happy for Caris. Gotta keep grinding.

- Jarret Allen looks more poised and also stronger compared to last season. Still plays with high IQ both ways plus looks to make the right plays. Looks like he has added the 3 ball to his arsenal which will only get better with more experience and time. Next step for Fro is to continue getting bigger and stronger in order to handle those thicker bigs like Kanter/Embiid/Boogie types + also needs to improve finishing around the rim. Also noticed he looks more comfortable handling the ball and driving to the rim to score or pass.. I can't believe we got him in the 20s. Very high ceiling.

- Russell had a poor game 1 but there's no doubt he has improved. His body looks stronger which will help his finishing around the rim + also on defense to contest more shots given his height. I will wait until the season is over in order to pass final judgment. Best case scenario he reaches Lillard type level but worst case scenario he ends up being Jason Terry type guard which is solid NBA player but not franchise level. Kenny was harsh by benching him considering the entire team was at fault for the Pistons run but I don't hate it since Dlo needs to be held accountable.

- Joe Harris looks even more comfortable in his overall game but shot the ball poorly last night. If some of those 3s went in we could have won. Just a poor overall shooting night from 3s. Good role player. Danny Green type which you need to win chips once you have established talent on your roster.

- Dudley was terrible last night and Kenny played him way too many minutes for my liking. Dude KILLED us last night more than anyone IMO. I love Dud as a positive vet to have around the kids but unless he is cash from 3 he needs to sit down.

- Rodi definitely looks much better than expected. Much better defensively especially. He still looks like needs to time to learn to play NBA level basketball. Talent is there but he needs to cut down on dumb fouls + turnovers.

- Ed Davis is a great mentor/backup for the Fro. Love what Ed brings to the team. Impact.

- Dinwiddie had a strong game in the 2nd half last night but his 3 ball looks shaky to start the season. Defensively he still has not learned how to properly go over or under the screen while keeping up with his man. Also you can tell he is playing with his contract in mind. I think he will have an interesting battle vs. Russ for starting PG gig. Not sure how it well end up.

- Graham does not look like an NBA player to me. Very inconsistent offensively plus his defense is not that great. He plays hard and hustle but that's not enough at this level.

- Overall solid game 1 for the team. Can't get too down considering we were missing 3 starters in Carroll, Crabbe and RHJ. Guys who aren't used to being starters like Harris, Dudley and even Levert to a certain extent were thrown into a different situation. Our 3 ball shooting was dreadful but we got tons of easy/open looks so the offense was working but shots were just not going down. I imagine something to do with being game 1 or whatever. We had nobody to cover Blake with DMC/RHJ being out and Kenny did not give Faried a try but instead forced it with Dudley and it cost us.

- In my mind this is finally year ZERO after being in a nightmare scenario where we were trash team/organization while not having control of our pick at the same time strengthening a direct rival in the celtics. Now we have 2 young guns in LeVert and Allen who project to be very good still under rookie contracts + other interesting projects like Russ, RHJ, Crabbe, Din, Musa, Rodi, etc. Maybe one or two of the others also breakout and help us improve. I want to win as much as anyone but if we are playing at our best and still losing a little tanking at the end of the season when our schedule gets super tough might be in order. We'll see.

[Prokorov]

I never have a problem with analytics. The problem I have is that most that talk analytics completely abandon old school basketball. There needs to be balance.

Here's also my belief:

When it comes to late game situations? Dump analytics.

1 minute left in a close game?

Every possession counts. Who cares about the efficiency of a shot that can only be calculated in 6 shots when you only have 2 offensive possessions left?

What's the efficiency of that put back layup you gave up because you are playing small? Does our oRTG rating really matter when all we needed war one more rebound to win this game?

Extremes of both sides are bad (like Scott who shuns threes).

Point is, you're in a close game with a minute or so left.

Throw the analytics and the stats out of the water. You do whatever you need to do to win every possession doing whatever it takes.

If the defense gives you a wide open 2 and you're a Karl Malone or Rip Hamilton or Allan Houston, even a Courtney Lee .. you take that shot in closing minutes of a game because it's a good shot for you.

I'm sorry man but this is the biggest BS point of all time. Super lazy. Skip Bayless, Barkley level point.

Every single coach on the staff has been in basketball their whole lives. Acting like they're throwing all that away because someone figured out that 3 > 2 is insulting.

Kenny has NEVER given anyone flack for taking good mid range shots. RHJ just had an awesome year from the mid-range.

He 100% thought about the cost benefit of having Dudley vs Davis on the floor. And it worked! Last 2 minutes, we outscored them 6-2 until we had to intentionally foul. No offensive rebounds. We had 2 chances to take the lead and we fumbled it.

Uh...we cut it down to 1 and gave up consecutive put back baskets as Dudley/Graham/Joe whoever was unable to keep Drummond off the board after Allen challenged shots.

Again, you (and our coach who preaches rebounding and defense) is focusing on the offensive side.

There is only so much an undersized PF can do against much bigger guys no matter how much hustle and grit they show (which I do give Dudley tons of credit for).

This isn't a one game issue. it's been consistent throughout his stint here.

To be clear, I have nothing against the way the offense played last night. Except for a handful of shots, a lot of the threes we took weren't bad shots (unlike last season when we would have stretches were we were clearly settling for threes). They came off ball movement, and the guys who had the ability to drive, drove it in when the defense gave them inside lanes.

Let's not get to this Kenny and coaches are professionals and have been doing this their entire lives. EVERY coach makes bad mistakes. Even a great one in Pop made a crucial mistake in the biggest game of a series that ended up losing them the series.

Just because they have been doing this all their life doesn't absolve them of mistakes. We as viewers have the benefit of TV and better angles that they do not have. That's the challenge of being a coach. Everyone can coach from their couch, but doing it in live environment is another beast.

It still doesn't mean they will always do the right thing.

And the fascination of this small ball, when we are clearly getting hammered on the boards in certain match-ups, needs to have it's limits especially on a night when our stretch 4s aren't shooting well AND we are going against a big team.

It's one thing if this is a rare occurrence, but it's not. And clearly it was recognized in the off season by the addition of Davis, Faried, Williams, and even Graham.

Dudley has averaged over 7 boards per 36 minutes only TWICE his entire career. To rely on him for 36 minutes and expect he'd be enough is beyond over confidence in his ability.

Drummond by himself had more offensive rebounds than our entire team combined. Shoot he nearly doubled us up.

The coach saying "we need improve defense and rebounding" doesnt mean that he is going to completely change the franchises philosiphy on roster contructions, scheme, and reliance on analytics. They are going to run a pace & space system and they are going to play small because thats the philosiphy they bought into and the philosiphy that both marks (spurs) and atkinson (hawks) have bought in to.

Giving up back to back offensive putbacks ignores that we erased a 9 point deficiet to take the lead in the first place. and dinwiddie and levert dont have the room to attack the rim/mismatches if there isnt a floor spacing PF on the court.

[MrDollarBills]

rewatched the game this morning... Jarrett Allen is going to be phenominal. the pistons changed their entire defense in the second half to limit his touches in the pick and roll, and basically gift wrapped dinwiddie and levert easy buckets either overplaying the role or switching drummond/pachuillia on them while in foul trouble.

another thing that stood out in the second watch was that dudley played alot better then i thought. especially first half he held his own on griffin outside of some really bad tic-tac foul calls that forced him out of the game. he also directed traffic well and set some great off ball screens. dont love him playing this much or starting but love him in a 20ish minute bench role. guy is a good fit here.

Russell + Levert in the first quarter was awesome to watch. both were super active on both ends. really mvoed the ball well.

This was maybe the best ive ever seen this offense look under kenny. we were just executing and being in the right spots we were doing it at high speed and with all the nuance. slipping back cuts, fading to the corner, playing off their help.

we didnt score a ton and didnt hit threes but just from and execution standpoint it was prime-spurs esque. that was my biggest take away. once the threes fall its going to be a real fun offense to watch.

Spot on.

Dudley also grabbed a clutch rebound in the 4th that went totally unnoticed, if I'm not mistaken it led to us getting a basket as well. Dudley should not be starting but he definitely helps this team with his defense and leadership.

Last year's team would have been blown out in a game like this shooting sub 20% from downtown. instead, the spacing and the threat of Jarrett Allen's rim rolling (don't forget about his 3point shooting...which is crazy in itself) has really opened up this offense to a new level.

And the people saying Russell sucked last night did not watch this game from start to finish. Russell and LeVert were dogging the Pistons in the first half. 2nd half, Russell just did not have a good rhythm and he got caught on screens a few times and didn't fight through them like we have seen him usually do. I dunno if getting that elbow to the head took him out of it mentally but I believe he will bounce back on friday night.

This team, win or lose, will be fun when we get our full roster back. We need RHJ out there

Yeah i loved how we played.... looking forward to getting crabbe back too, can use him some at the 3/4 as well with some lineups, less likely to have an awful night from three with both harris and crabbe in the lineup.

Allen looked amazing. guy is going to have a great year. he went 40th in my fantasy draft last night... so its not just nets fans high on him. he is really graceful for a guy his size. his left hand is outstanding for a big. and he looks like he may have a lopez-like increase in threes made/attempted. if he can consistently hit that corner three, he will be a force.

Excellent footwork as well, that spin move he made in traffic was beautiful.

[MrDollarBills]

Was watching the game off/on due to work. Are y'all talking about the 1/8th court in bound play when criticising Spencer? If so, holy crap y'all.

The positive is that Spencer and Levert were aggressive most of the evening. In most nights where we shoot as badly as this last year, it's a blowout unless we got hot to come back. We never really got hot...but hey, efficiency stat guys... guess what got us back in the game?

Drives and short "inefficient" mid range shots (mostly by Spencer and Levert) ...

I don't expect this team to be this cold across the board from downtown especially when crabbe, Napier and Carroll are back. But with those guys hurt, other than Joe there's not really anyone that will scare defenses from downtown. Allen led us from threes if I'm not mistaken.

And so now, I'll offer my criticism, because he's clearly just as big of a factor to this team's success.

But Kenny, when are you going to play big when we're getting killed on the boards?

Kenny preaches defense and rebounding...but his strategy caters to offensive floor spacing.

I think Dudley did an admirable job vs Griffin, and Allen did a good job with help defense. The problem is that when Allen gets himself out of position for challenging the shot, we got killed.

This has been an on going theme with our small ball. It's the same story regardless of who we had at C: Brook, Zeller, Allen. The moment the center challenges a shot, the other big from the team goes and gets the rebound.

Also not a fan of our last possession.

15 seconds, on the road. The general rule there is take the last shot (or just enough to leave time for a put back).

Levert made his move with 12 seconds. Kenny said he'd do it again if given the same chance.

Thank God Levert realises he should have slowed down and waited for the last shot.

Allen, Levert, Spencer, even Joe and Russell looks improved.

But Kenny needs to take that step too.

Atleast someone saw what was going on with Allen. He is constantly putting himself out of position because he is constantly looking at the ball to block shots. He needs to realize when to just contest, stand tall, or just alter shots. The point is he is not preventing where the play is happening but always looking for that last moment to block the shot. This is the difference between a true defensive enforcer and a highlight reel player.

Like don't get me wrong his stats are nice. But my expectations for Allen is very high. Maybe that's because in the last 20 years, he is the best center we have that has the potential to have the highest success rate to succeed for impactful basketball. But I just think he needs to do better. I just don't like the idea that if he thinks he plays with energy he does his job. That's what a bench unit's mentality are suppose to be. I'm expecting a lot more for him.

For Kenny, I understand why he praises defense. Because for a run n gun, uptempo team, we play good defense for that style of basketball. He wants us to score in a good rate in order to limit offensive transitions. Which is a dynamic part of playing good defense. We shot FG 49% which is really good. But that's because he is missing key details on his system on that end of the floor like what I talk about above. I mean if you think about it. Scoring 100 in an uptempo style shooting 49% from the field is very low. So in a sense we really underperformed at this game.

Wait let me get this straight...you'd prefer Allen to not rotate and help on D?

and again....he is twenty years old. Twenty. Give him a chance to actually learn and mature.

[MrDollarBills]

Every time people say things like, "overreaction", "itt", "right now", "knee jerk", man that gets annoying.

I think it's quite clear there's nothing in the moment about the things being said about Russell by posters such as myself, nor is it emotional. It's pretty clear actually, that we don't like Russell much as a player, dislike him as a point guard, but hope he suddenly turns the corner mentally, because he's not going to suddenly be a takeover athlete or a true knockdown, Steph Curry type shooter, nor a Nash decision maker.

It really isn't overreaction, or turncoating, it's opinion that he's just flatout not a very good player right now, will never be a good point guard and the sample size is becoming damning by the day.

There are people that still love Dion Waiters and his "potential", just because of his prior hype and that he improved from a bucket of empty stat filler garbage to a mediocre minute eater.

You guys never keep this same energy when Russell plays well. You all just shut up. But when the kid has a bad game, like clockwork the hot takes come flying out and it looks crazy.

You have one poster calling for Russell to be benched immediately after one game in OCTOBER. Another poster is saying he should be traded for a 1st. This is why people call it knee jerk and overreacting. The posters who have an agenda against Russell are never consistent with this dude. it is what it is.

I'd rather give this kid a good sample size this season to show improvement. if not, well hey. but its October 17th.

Condemning a player (in this instance, Russell) solely based on their first game of the season is definitely a hot take. Personally, I'd like to see how the team performs over the course of 20 games or so just to really assess how much players have actually improved since last year. I'm sure Marks is doing the same thing.

With that said, a lot of these critiques of Russell aren't hot takes. They are longstanding complaints that posters have had of him for awhile. In their eyes, they've already seen him make the same mistakes repeatedly and they doubt he'll ever be able to fix them.

What separates stars and superstars from good players is their consistent greatness. Some guys can put together great games every once in a while, but the best of the best bring great play nearly every single night.

Even when the Nets were at their best, you were never certain who was going to show up during each game. My issue with Joe Johnson is that he was paid to be THE guy, but he rarely had the impact of a superstar. IMO, the only reason why people lauded him so much while he was here was because it's been such a long time since we've had a legit star that anyone who would show out 1 of every 4 or 5 games was treated like they were always great.

Some people will look at Russell's good games and see it as flashes of what will become consistent great play. Others will look at those same flashes and rather than seeing signs of future excellence, they see unfixable inconsistency. There's a collective fear from Russell's detractors that he will not become a star, but the Nets might pay him a max contract as if he were one, which would prevent us from making the moves we need to make to become a good playoff team and eventual contenders.

I can't fault people for calling out the bad things that they see, but like you, I'd suggest waiting for several more games to be played before we make definitive claims about whether Russell has addressed and fixed some of the weaknesses during the offseason.

I called out Russell's game last night as well. He was solid in the first half. Second half...I don't know what happened to him but he became very indecisive with the ball and the rhythm that he had in the 1st half was gone and he reverted to some bad habits (over dribbling, not fighting through the screen). I thought the coach made the right decision in not playing him in the 4th because Levert and Dinwiddie were destroying the Pistons by themselves.

That being said, does last night warrant Russell to be benched on friday, or traded out of here? Absolutely not and those were the extreme hot takes that I'm referring to. Despite his poor play I did not see any bad turnovers and his shot selection was very much under control. For some reason though he opted for over dribbling instead of moving the ball, something which I'm sure will be pointed out to him by the staff.

Now come January/February and we're still seeing the inconsistency or just baffling drops in play like we saw last night in the 2nd half, I would consider that the Nets not invest significant money at this moment in time. I'm assuming Sean Marks is taking the wait and see approach as well. I would have to rewatch the game but for some reason Russell's play just went into the toilet after he got elbowed behind the ear. I'm not giving him an excuse either, but I fully expect him to bounce back and play like he was playing during the preseason and in the first half of last night's game: under control, unselfish, and assertive.

[MrDollarBills]

Thoughts:

- LeVert looked amazing. He has clearly taken a significant jump in his development. Dude looked unstoppable slashing + getting fouled. Obviously there's still room for improvement and needs to clean up his overall game but we have to remember we still have 2 full seasons of Levert with rookie contract. I think this season is about him getting used to being the man handling the rock most of the time, similar to Harden in HOU + getting used to being the man in clutch situations. Very happy for Caris. Gotta keep grinding.

- Jarret Allen looks more poised and also stronger compared to last season. Still plays with high IQ both ways plus looks to make the right plays. Looks like he has added the 3 ball to his arsenal which will only get better with more experience and time. Next step for Fro is to continue getting bigger and stronger in order to handle those thicker bigs like Kanter/Embiid/Boogie types + also needs to improve finishing around the rim. Also noticed he looks more comfortable handling the ball and driving to the rim to score or pass.. I can't believe we got him in the 20s. Very high ceiling.

- Russell had a poor game 1 but there's no doubt he has improved. His body looks stronger which will help his finishing around the rim + also on defense to contest more shots given his height. I will wait until the season is over in order to pass final judgment. Best case scenario he reaches Lillard type level but worst case scenario he ends up being Jason Terry type guard which is solid NBA player but not franchise level. Kenny was harsh by benching him considering the entire team was at fault for the Pistons run but I don't hate it since Dlo needs to be held accountable.

- Joe Harris looks even more comfortable in his overall game but shot the ball poorly last night. If some of those 3s went in we could have won. Just a poor overall shooting night from 3s. Good role player. Danny Green type which you need to win chips once you have established talent on your roster.

- Dudley was terrible last night and Kenny played him way too many minutes for my liking. Dude KILLED us last night more than anyone IMO. I love Dud as a positive vet to have around the kids but unless he is cash from 3 he needs to sit down.

- Rodi definitely looks much better than expected. Much better defensively especially. He still looks like needs to time to learn to play NBA level basketball. Talent is there but he needs to cut down on dumb fouls + turnovers.

- Ed Davis is a great mentor/backup for the Fro. Love what Ed brings to the team. Impact.

- Dinwiddie had a strong game in the 2nd half last night but his 3 ball looks shaky to start the season. Defensively he still has not learned how to properly go over or under the screen while keeping up with his man. Also you can tell he is playing with his contract in mind. I think he will have an interesting battle vs. Russ for starting PG gig. Not sure how it well end up.

- Graham does not look like an NBA player to me. Very inconsistent offensively plus his defense is not that great. He plays hard and hustle but that's not enough at this level.

- Overall solid game 1 for the team. Can't get too down considering we were missing 3 starters in Carroll, Crabbe and RHJ. Guys who aren't used to being starters like Harris, Dudley and even Levert to a certain extent were thrown into a different situation. Our 3 ball shooting was dreadful but we got tons of easy/open looks so the offense was working but shots were just not going down. I imagine something to do with being game 1 or whatever. We had nobody to cover Blake with DMC/RHJ being out and Kenny did not give Faried a try but instead forced it with Dudley and it cost us.

- In my mind this is finally year ZERO after being in a nightmare scenario where we were trash team/organization while not having control of our pick at the same time strengthening a direct rival in the celtics. Now we have 2 young guns in LeVert and Allen who project to be very good still under rookie contracts + other interesting projects like Russ, RHJ, Crabbe, Din, Musa, Rodi, etc. Maybe one or two of the others also breakout and help us improve. I want to win as much as anyone but if we are playing at our best and still losing a little tanking at the end of the season when our schedule gets super tough might be in order. We'll see.

I don't think Kenny was harsh at all. Russell was very indecisive with the ball in the 3rd quarter which led to stagnating the offense. Also, his defense dropped in the 3rd because he was not fighting around the screen as we've seen him do so far this year. I think it was warranted especially since Dinwiddie and LeVert had it going.

[CalamityX12]

Good effort, offense was a well oiled machine... spurs like. despite the loss, alot to be happy abot.



Much shorter rotation... 8 guys (Dlo, Levert, Harris, Ddudley, Allen, Davis, Dinwiddie) with some spot minutes for kurucs. Thought he coached a good game. we didnt get a shot off the last possession, but that may have been more on levert who kind of fouled it up.



Faried isnt in the rotation. they want to go stretch bigs. whether its the right call is debatable depending on how much you value stretching the floor. i dont think rebounding cost us this game.

Wouldn't Faried fared better vs Blake on both ends? Blake(& Andre) got some BIG #s, slow either of them down, perhaps we take the W?

Faried doesnt spread the floor. having dudley/graham out there is a huge reason why levert/dinwiddie went off. pistons were spread way out and the gaurds had all the room in the world to work with. Faried doesnt do that.

Drummond despite the 20/20 game really didnt have all that much impact, especially since he got DESTROYED on defense by not just allent but the nets gaurds on switches.

Did the floor spacing pay off dividends?

[MrDollarBills]

Wouldn't Faried fared better vs Blake on both ends? Blake(& Andre) got some BIG #s, slow either of them down, perhaps we take the W?

Faried doesnt spread the floor. having dudley/graham out there is a huge reason why levert/dinwiddie went off. pistons were spread way out and the gaurds had all the room in the world to work with. Faried doesnt do that.

Drummond despite the 20/20 game really didnt have all that much impact, especially since he got DESTROYED on defense by not just allent but the nets gaurds on switches.

Did the floor spacing pay off dividends?

LeVert and Dinwiddie were having a lay up drill out there because of it.

Believe me, the Nets don't claw their way back into that game after a disastrous 3rd qtr if not for LeVert/Dinwiddie having the room to attack the basket.

Kenneth Faried is becoming the 2018-19 version of Jahlil Okafor on here. The Nets didn't lose that game because of Jared Dudley. They lost that game because they shot 18% from downtown for the entire game and Caris LeVert made a critical turnover at the end of the game. You can also add in missed FTs down the stretch as well.

[Prokorov]

Wouldn't Faried fared better vs Blake on both ends? Blake(& Andre) got some BIG #s, slow either of them down, perhaps we take the W?

Faried doesnt spread the floor. having dudley/graham out there is a huge reason why levert/dinwiddie went off. pistons were spread way out and the gaurds had all the room in the world to work with. Faried doesnt do that.

Drummond despite the 20/20 game really didnt have all that much impact, especially since he got DESTROYED on defense by not just allent but the nets gaurds on switches.

Did the floor spacing pay off dividends?

yes... as i mentioned a few pages back, it was the best ive seen our offense look under markinson... i cant think of a bad shot we took all night and levert/dinwiddie had tons of space to work with on drives. we had so many poorly/non contested shots on their drives

[jbeachboy]

i wanted more ed davis and faried, im sick of this small ball crap atkinson forces . also d angelo russell should have taken grahams minutes somewhere in 2nd half.

[jbeachboy]

i think we need to play big more when we have griffin and drummond killing us on the glass, if dinwiddie and levert cant drive with an ed davis or faried on the floor, what does that then tell you about their ability to lead us? we needed rebounding and bigs to help out on griffin and drummond and kenny was stubborn with this jared dudley defendin griffin.

[DarkXaero]

Faried doesnt spread the floor. having dudley/graham out there is a huge reason why levert/dinwiddie went off. pistons were spread way out and the gaurds had all the room in the world to work with. Faried doesnt do that.

Drummond despite the 20/20 game really didnt have all that much impact, especially since he got DESTROYED on defense by not just allent but the nets gaurds on switches.

Did the floor spacing pay off dividends?

LeVert and Dinwiddie were having a lay up drill out there because of it.

Believe me, the Nets don't claw their way back into that game after a disastrous 3rd qtr if not for LeVert/Dinwiddie having the room to attack the basket.

Kenneth Faried is becoming the 2018-19 version of Jahlil Okafor on here. The Nets didn't lose that game because of Jared Dudley. They lost that game because they shot 18% from downtown for the entire game and Caris LeVert made a critical turnover at the end of the game. You can also add in missed FTs down the stretch as well.

You can say whatever, but at the end of the day, 1 pt and 3 rebounds in 35 minutes of action is absolutely unacceptable from a NBA rotation player. It even got its own thread in the GB last night. And Dudley being useless was a big part of the Nets shooting 18% from 3 pt.

I also agree with Claud said, Treveon Graham is not an NBA player. You can find more than a dozen guys from the G-league who can offer the same things that he does. I don't see any good reason as to why Faried can't get a single minute, while Graham is getting like 16 minutes in a game.

[MrDollarBills]

Did the floor spacing pay off dividends?

LeVert and Dinwiddie were having a lay up drill out there because of it.

Believe me, the Nets don't claw their way back into that game after a disastrous 3rd qtr if not for LeVert/Dinwiddie having the room to attack the basket.

Kenneth Faried is becoming the 2018-19 version of Jahlil Okafor on here. The Nets didn't lose that game because of Jared Dudley. They lost that game because they shot 18% from downtown for the entire game and Caris LeVert made a critical turnover at the end of the game. You can also add in missed FTs down the stretch as well.

You can say whatever, but at the end of the day, 1 pt and 3 rebounds in 35 minutes of action is absolutely unacceptable from a NBA rotation player. It even got its own thread in the GB last night. And Dudley being useless was a big part of the Nets shooting 18% from 3 pt.

I also agree with Claud said, Treveon Graham is not an NBA player. You can find more than a dozen guys from the G-league who can offer the same things that he does. I don't see any good reason as to why Faried can't get a single minute, while Graham is getting like 16 minutes in a game.

The GB is a cess pool of ignorance. I could care less what they have to say on there.

Dudley was out there to help space the floor. You think we're getting spacing with Faried out there? I don't think anyone played well overall outside of LeVert/Dinwiddie/Allen. But you can't ignore the reason why LeVert and Dinwiddie were able to bring this team back into the game and it was because the line up Kenny was going with provided spacing.

Again...I heard the same stuff about Faried last year re: Kenny and Jahlil Okafor. Guys complaining about why he wasn't playing. And then when Kenny did get him in, he was terrible. Faried isn't playing because he isn't better at C than Allen and Davis and his PF game isn't a good fit in the offense, whereas someone like RHJ fits well because he can generate offense with his mid range game and hit the occasional three.

I like Faried, but I'm not going to question why the coach isn't playing him nor am I deluded enough to think that a guy who is a notoriously bad defender would have gone out there and started shutting down Blake or kept Drummond off of the glass.

[MGrand15]

I get the argument for Faried. Or even Davis at the 4. But I just can't get down with the idea that staying small was some crazy mistake or something done out of stubbornness or some hard line analytics move.

Process aside, we had the chance to take the lead TWICE in the final minute. And we had the chance to tie with the final shot. Its not like we got crushed on the boards and blown out. We only lost by 3. We lost the game when we went down 13 in the 3rd.

In terms of process, we were getting AMAZING shots at the rim. Like we turned the game into a layup drill at points in the game. If I'm Kenny, I'm not sure I sacrifice that for better rebounding. Its a risk but sometimes you gotta trust your guys to stay solid and gang rebound.

[DarkXaero]

LeVert and Dinwiddie were having a lay up drill out there because of it.

Believe me, the Nets don't claw their way back into that game after a disastrous 3rd qtr if not for LeVert/Dinwiddie having the room to attack the basket.

Kenneth Faried is becoming the 2018-19 version of Jahlil Okafor on here. The Nets didn't lose that game because of Jared Dudley. They lost that game because they shot 18% from downtown for the entire game and Caris LeVert made a critical turnover at the end of the game. You can also add in missed FTs down the stretch as well.

You can say whatever, but at the end of the day, 1 pt and 3 rebounds in 35 minutes of action is absolutely unacceptable from a NBA rotation player. It even got its own thread in the GB last night. And Dudley being useless was a big part of the Nets shooting 18% from 3 pt.

I also agree with Claud said, Treveon Graham is not an NBA player. You can find more than a dozen guys from the G-league who can offer the same things that he does. I don't see any good reason as to why Faried can't get a single minute, while Graham is getting like 16 minutes in a game.

The GB is a cess pool of ignorance. I could care less what they have to say on there.

Dudley was out there to help space the floor. You think we're getting spacing with Faried out there? I don't think anyone played well overall outside of LeVert/Dinwiddie/Allen. But you can't ignore the reason why LeVert and Dinwiddie were able to bring this team back into the game and it was because the line up Kenny was going with provided spacing.

Again...I heard the same stuff about Faried last year re: Kenny and Jahlil Okafor. Guys complaining about why he wasn't playing. And then when Kenny did get him in, he was terrible. Faried isn't playing because he isn't better at C than Allen and Davis and his PF game isn't a good fit in the offense, whereas someone like RHJ fits well because he can generate offense with his mid range game and hit the occasional three.

I like Faried, but I'm not going to question why the coach isn't playing him nor am I deluded enough to think that a guy who is a notoriously bad defender would have gone out there and started shutting down Blake or kept Drummond off of the glass.

We don't get 3pt shooting from RHJ either but that doesn't mean he isn't an automatic starter for us at the 4. And the GB being ignorant has nothing to do with the facts here: 1 pt, 3 rebounds in 35 minutes. I'm not a Faried fan at all, but when the likes of Dudley and Graham are getting a combined ~54 minutes in a game and being utter trash, there's no reason why Faried can't get a single minute to show something.

[Paradise]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter