GT#8: Brooklyn @ Sacramento - 11/18 - 6:00 on YES

[Paradise]

Also, am I the only one who is noticing Avery is using his rotation like it's baseball? Bogans and Childress are inactive but Brooks gets the minutes, against Boston. Brooks was available but used for 3 minutes to rest Bogans/Childress who saw the most off the bench minutes.

What the hell is with that? The excuse seems to be based off Marshon's defense but where has he been bad defensively if he gets no minutes in a real game not practice? I don't honestly get that.

[MrDollarBills]

I love how we can win 5 straight games and we still don't give a damn lol. We still hate the coaching, we still hate the decision making and defensive rotations at times but we're 6-2 while in the midst of all of that.

It's great, Net fans do not settle for mediocrity because we know damn well that we will need better play to defeat the elite teams

[PetroNet]

As disappointing as the team and coach has been so far, it is nice that we can play awful and win 5 games in a row as opposed to playing well and losing like the last couple years

[Keith Van Horn]

And I'm still waiting for someone to ask why is Marshon not our 6th man?

You must not read all of the posts on here... I said this before your post

The rotation has got to change. It really needs to be Marshon in first.... Marshon should be first man in for Crash, he plays the 2 and JJ moves to the 3.... or in for Hump and Crash goes to 4 and JJ to 3.

[Keith Van Horn]

As disappointing as the team and coach has been so far, it is nice that we can play awful and win 5 games in a row as opposed to playing well and losing like the last couple years

This is definitely the silver lining of our season so far. We are winning the games we should be winning, even though they're not pretty. We still have MONTHS to work things out and get a groove going. the playoffs are the big picture, not necessarily winning each game on a nightly basis.

[Born_Ready]

^^ This is kind of my take on it too. Even though the Nets opponents aren't the top tier teams in the league, they are beating the teams they are supposed to beat. When is the last time that could be said about this team (especially on the road)? I'm lovin it.

It's such a long season, so I enjoy every win regardless of the opponent, because winning is so much better than losing. I don't think we have seen them play the perfect game yet, or resemble anything remotely close to a perfect yet.

They are still gelling as a unit, but once they are molded, this team will win those games against teams "they aren't supposed to win". Enjoy the season!

[DarkXaero]

We played a "perfect game" against the Magic in Orlando, holding them to under 70 points while hitting everything offensively. Our game against the Cavs was a really good one offensively too, as our 3 main players (Deron, Lopez, JJ) had big scoring games at the same time and we scored 110+ points.

[MGrand15]

I agree with everyone else. Really liking Lopez's defense on Cousins.

But JJ, uhhh...he's about to be the center of my wrath soon. He gets paid way too much to suck like this.

If you get paid $20mil per season, you need to be 18-20ppg threat every night. No more of this 13ppg on horrible efficiency crap.

Not really his fault if he's not getting proper shots in his sweet spot. HE's trying to be a post up guard and he's not. He's an Isolation guard. He showed it against Boston.

You mean like that terrible shot he put up?

He's DONE. He can't beat SGs off the dribble, and he can't elevate against SFs.

I have zero tolerance for JJ and his **** at this point. There is no way he should be the focal point of our offense until he proves otherwise.

This is how JJ plays though. I looked at ALL his scoring plays last year in Synergy. He doesn't beat SGs off the dribble, he shoots over them. He rarely gets all the way to the rim, he scores using floaters and short jumpers. This guy is a shooter. He was a top isolation player last year and most of those buckets came off pull up jumpers. That's what he does. If you don't think he'll start knocking those jumpers down, thats okay. But this is exactly how he played last year when he was extremely efficient and very capable of being a 20+ ppg scorer.

Me personally, I REFUSE to believe that these open shots won't start falling. He missed a couple wide open corner 3s and a couple open mid range shots off of screens. The fact that we're getting him these shots are encouraging. I think he'll be fine. He's been missing open shots and missing shots at the rim at a league worst rate (37%). The best part is we've been winning despite his struggles - I expect the team to go up another gear once he gets it together.

[MrDollarBills]

I see no reason to panic about Johnson as of yet.

[JoseRizal]

I'll say this again. We have the best bench in recent memory. Now if only our starters can get their acts together...

[SpeedyG]

This is how JJ plays though. I looked at ALL his scoring plays last year in Synergy. He doesn't beat SGs off the dribble, he shoots over them. He rarely gets all the way to the rim, he scores using floaters and short jumpers. This guy is a shooter. He was a top isolation player last year and most of those buckets came off pull up jumpers. That's what he does. If you don't think he'll start knocking those jumpers down, thats okay. But this is exactly how he played last year when he was extremely efficient and very capable of being a 20+ ppg scorer.

Me personally, I REFUSE to believe that these open shots won't start falling. He missed a couple wide open corner 3s and a couple open mid range shots off of screens. The fact that we're getting him these shots are encouraging. I think he'll be fine. He's been missing open shots and missing shots at the rim at a league worst rate (37%). The best part is we've been winning despite his struggles - I expect the team to go up another gear once he gets it together.

If he was a 2nd year guy like Brooks, yeah I'd agree, no reason to panic. But when he's a 31 year old SG who clearly has dipped in athleticism? Yeah, that's a cause for concern, given how he's supposed to be a cornerstone for the team.

[N Ireland Nets]

This is how JJ plays though. I looked at ALL his scoring plays last year in Synergy. He doesn't beat SGs off the dribble, he shoots over them. He rarely gets all the way to the rim, he scores using floaters and short jumpers. This guy is a shooter. He was a top isolation player last year and most of those buckets came off pull up jumpers. That's what he does. If you don't think he'll start knocking those jumpers down, thats okay. But this is exactly how he played last year when he was extremely efficient and very capable of being a 20+ ppg scorer.

Me personally, I REFUSE to believe that these open shots won't start falling. He missed a couple wide open corner 3s and a couple open mid range shots off of screens. The fact that we're getting him these shots are encouraging. I think he'll be fine. He's been missing open shots and missing shots at the rim at a league worst rate (37%). The best part is we've been winning despite his struggles - I expect the team to go up another gear once he gets it together.

If he was a 2nd year guy like Brooks, yeah I'd agree, no reason to panic. But when he's a 31 year old SG who clearly has dipped in athleticism? Yeah, that's a cause for concern, given how he's supposed to be a cornerstone for the team.

But Joe Johnson has never relied on his athleticism in the first place so why should that be a concern?

The concern should be the fact his shooting is way off and what he is meant to be elite at but at the minute he's struggling with it big style. All should hopefully be good soon and he finds his shot again.

I'd be more worried about someone like Wallace losing his athleticism (which he will) when that is his entire game. He's not a good shooter at all so his game will sooner or lately take a huge nose dive where as Johnson's game 'should' age fairly well as a shooter.

[MGrand15]

This is how JJ plays though. I looked at ALL his scoring plays last year in Synergy. He doesn't beat SGs off the dribble, he shoots over them. He rarely gets all the way to the rim, he scores using floaters and short jumpers. This guy is a shooter. He was a top isolation player last year and most of those buckets came off pull up jumpers. That's what he does. If you don't think he'll start knocking those jumpers down, thats okay. But this is exactly how he played last year when he was extremely efficient and very capable of being a 20+ ppg scorer.

Me personally, I REFUSE to believe that these open shots won't start falling. He missed a couple wide open corner 3s and a couple open mid range shots off of screens. The fact that we're getting him these shots are encouraging. I think he'll be fine. He's been missing open shots and missing shots at the rim at a league worst rate (37%). The best part is we've been winning despite his struggles - I expect the team to go up another gear once he gets it together.

If he was a 2nd year guy like Brooks, yeah I'd agree, no reason to panic. But when he's a 31 year old SG who clearly has dipped in athleticism? Yeah, that's a cause for concern, given how he's supposed to be a cornerstone for the team.

So if a someone with no track record like Marshon was struggling you wouldn't panic BUT if an established vet who was an elite shooter last year struggles you panic?

That makes no sense.

Sure I expect his jumper to get worse as time goes on - but right now it's fallen off a cliff, these things are normally steady.