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.
