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Assistant coach Doug Overton exploded at rookie Chris Douglas-Roberts, shouting at him and getting up in his face before Frank came over to get in the middle of the two men. It happened in full view of reporters, who had just been let in to see the final few minutes of practice. It wasn't evident what got Overton so angry.

G_MoNeY wrote:1 word for CDR = WOOF!

To those who don't get it, he'll probably be in the doghouse now.

Rich Rane wrote:If he's trying to wake the team up...it's CDR. He's a rookie. Maybe it motivates him, maybe it puts his confidence in the dirt. You're going to wake the team up, you yell at a role player who actually gets time on the floor. Go after someone like Najera, Simmons, Boone, Hayes or Dooling. It gets the team fired up to take that guy's minutes and it calls for leadership from VC and Harris (You can't go after a star at first, especially as an assistant coach or your job is as good as gone).

Now...if CDR instigated it, I would understand.

rag-time4 wrote:The team is coming apart at the seams....

Way to blame the rookie. It's not his fault that Najera and Anderson have a combined 6 blocked shots for the entire month of January....

jerseyjac wrote:or maybe CDR is constantly clowing around at the end of practices when the Nets just had a bad practice...you can speculate about a lot...guys not taking practice serious enough, ect...I just think its good to see someone get emotional once in while about something...of course an emotional rollercoaster displayed from a player or a coach can be distracting, misleading and discouraging...

Rich Rane wrote:

jerseyjac wrote:or maybe CDR is constantly clowing around at the end of practices when the Nets just had a bad practice...you can speculate about a lot...guys not taking practice serious enough, ect...I just think its good to see someone get emotional once in while about something...of course an emotional rollercoaster displayed from a player or a coach can be distracting, misleading and discouraging...

I know we can speculate a lot. My whole gripe on this is that if this was just for the sole purpose of trying to wake the team up as some here claim for it to have been, I think he went after the wrong guy. Guys that have playing time to lose are probably just going to look at the situation as a "well, he deserved it" whether CDR was doing something like you mentioned like clowning round or not playing hard enough. Judging by the way we played tonight, it looks like this fiasco hasn't gotten to anyone too.

jerseyjac wrote:

rag-time4 wrote:The team is coming apart at the seams....

Way to blame the rookie. It's not his fault that Najera and Anderson have a combined 6 blocked shots for the entire month of January....

that must be the stat of the century...

CDR tells his side of the story
January 30, 2009
Here's Chris Douglas-Roberts' side of the story regarding the rookie's verbal confrontation with assistant coach Doug Overton, who told him to, "Shut the ---- up! You're a rookie!" - on Thursday during practice.

Keep in mind that the following is how Douglas-Roberts responded, uninterrupted, to a single question. "So what happened?":

"We were playing one-on-one game, where you play on the wing, top of the key, on the other wing. It was a competitive game and it got physical. But the coaches don’t give me any calls because I’m a rookie. Whatever the reason is, they just don’t give me any calls. That’s how I was feeling, like I wasn’t getting any calls. But when I was fouling they were calling the fouls. Me being a competitor I got upset and I started talking and saying how I felt," he said.

"It wasn’t fair to me," he continued. "But that’s just me being a competitor and me wanting to win the drill. I guess Doug didn’t like that and he came over and basically said how he was feeling. He blew up or whatever. He got close and I just nudged him like, ‘Come on, Doug. Back up.’ And that’s what it was, in the heat of the moment thing. Because I felt if we were just going to be playing the bully ball, everybody should be playing it. I shouldn’t be limited on it. If we’re going to all foul, just let us all foul. But however it went, it didn’t go like that. I got in my mode where I was just taking it right back to them. It’s Detroit, outside basketball. So I was just going to foul every play."

Douglas-Roberts said "everything is fine" between him and the first-year coach but admitted that they hadn't yet spoken as of about 6:30. How's that work?

Anyway, Douglas-Roberts also had an issue with the article that appeared in the Daily News today that suggested he was about to cry as he walked off the court following the incident. Apparently, his teammates gave him some ribbing about that because it seemed like he hadn't read it himself but was well aware of the story. When he found out who wrote it, he just shrugged it off and smiled. So give the guy credit for being level-headed, at least when he's not between the lines. Either that or he's heard about my brand of Bergen County street ball and didn't want to go there.

"It was what it was. But it wasn’t crying," CDR said. "All of that is just foolish. Come on. But I was very upset."

By Julian Garcia on January 30, 2009 7:12 PM |

rag-time4 wrote:

jerseyjac wrote:

rag-time4 wrote:The team is coming apart at the seams....

Way to blame the rookie. It's not his fault that Najera and Anderson have a combined 6 blocked shots for the entire month of January....

that must be the stat of the century...

Forgive me... just my particular gripe for the day.