Dexmor wrote:Because he was the best player on the Nets. Vince is more talented but he is probably more talented then everybody but he just doesn't have that drive to play both ends or hustle, well you guys know. He was the second best defender and the most consistant player who got 22 a game.
Serpo the above post is your answer why. For the most part of last year VC was blamed for the Nets woes and big names like Magic Johnson was calling VC just a regular player and people who don't watch the Nets but know VC's poor reputation just assume VC is the reason the Nets suck (not saying RJ was either...whole host of issues why that Nets organization has tried to finally address - just see our draft picks for one of those reasons).
VC does play both ends of the court for the Nets and he does hustle (heck he dove for a loose ball out of bounds with Shaq chasing after it also when the Nets were pretty much out of the playoffs already, VC dives on the ground for loose balls as much as any Nets player). So he does hustle.
His defense is underrated. Who is the last opposing player to light up VC ? I'll agree that VC doesn't guard the best wing player (it was usually RJ unless the other wing's name was Kobe) but he does a solid job. I'd say VC's main weaknesses on defense is guarding quick players (not good a guarding PG's for that reason) and over-helping especially double-teaming the ball in the post too early and not being able to get back on time to rotate back to perimeter players when the ball is rotated back outside. He is one of the few Nets wing players that consistently reach in on drives to the basket to try & help his teammate get a strip, and he is the best Nets defender to use his hands to deny/disrupt/or steal balls in the passing lane (edit: oops - 2nd best now most likely - haven't seen him enough but Harris is up there). The #'s again prove this out as his defensive rating among SG's is above average in the league. Part of defense is also controlling your own glass & VC was solid at his position for grabbing defensive rebounds. He's also a strong post defender and therefore can even spot guard 4's and why it's best to attack him with quick players or pick & rolls.
(Kobe's opponent per at SG is 14.4 at 0.466 efg% while VC's is 14.3 at 0.466% efg. I assume Kobe probably has to guard #1 wing offensive players more than VC but it gives you an indication that VC does indeed play solid defense. I don't think you will read many Nets fans (people who actually watch the majority of Nets games last year) complain too much about VC's defense. Like everyone else he has bad days but for the most part he's good (not great).
Alot of Nets fans actually complained more about RJ's defense last year than VC's. Me personally I thought RJ was OK defensively considering that he had to handle (spend more energy) more responsibilities on offense. RJ also had the task of guarding the best wing (usually). I just think too many times in key moments/possessions RJ was scored which might have given the impression that RJ was far worse defensively then he really was.
I will agree that RJ was the most consistent WING Nets player for the year. He kinda stumbled at the end there after the Kidd trade in consistency. A good argument can be made that Boone was the most consistent Nets player last year though but I will concede RJ was more consistent than VC last year.
Finally, here are the #'s:
RJ - 22.6 ppg / 4.2 rpg / 3.1 apg / 0.9 spg / 0.3 bpg / 0.466 fg% / 0.798 ft% / 0.362 3pt%
VC - 21.3 ppg / 6.0 rpg / 5.1 apg / 1.2 spg / 0.4 bpg / 0.456 fg% / 0.816 ft% / 0.359 3pt%
so on raw #'s alone RJ leads in ppg / fg% / 3pt% (3 of 8 categories). To be fair their #'s are pretty identical even in the categories VC is ahead (small margin) except for perhaps assists.
However consider that defenses (even when Kidd was here) were focused on stopping VC (double+ teams, collapsing help defense towards VC's side whenever he touched the ball). Also VC had to create his own shot and facilitate scoring opportunities for his teammates much more than RJ (whose main role on offense was to get into scoring opportunities, run the fast break and score, score, score).
then also consider other stats like RJ's eff rating was +18.33 while VC's was +21.45 / RJ's Roland Rating was +2.6 while VC's was +8.5, RJ's +/- was +2.2 while VC's was +12.2.
This isn't a knock on RJ at all but just an explanation of why I think VC even on a bum ankle was the better player last year for the Nets. I watched practically all the Nets game and feel comfortable with that position but of course I must admit i'm a VC "fanboy" but even through these biased eyes I think the #'s also support what I'm seeing.