NewJersey Nets 2005-2006
Oh what an exciting time lies ahead for me. The nets will be back stronger this season. The starting five are Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson, Nenad Kristic and Sahrif Abdur Raheem. I am sitting here right now and drooling thinking about the starting five. All five of them average double digits either in scoring, rebounds or assists.
Lets start with Jason. He is an amazing point guard with game vision that is unmatched other than Steve Nash in the present generation of active players. Jason Kidd has soft hands with a heart of a lion. A fierce competitor who will never give up and who thinks straight no matter what the situation is. He is quick, strong and usually has a play drawn up in his mind moments before it actually happens. That has always been his trump card. He understands the dynamics of his team to the plum. He is a classic facilitator and selfless to the core. He would rather pass the ball to an open player than take the shot- a perfect point guard. As coach Frank says in most of his post game interviews- Jason kidd imposes his will on the game whenever he feels like. It is going to be a mind-blowing season. He has an able support caste in RJ, Vinsanity, Curly(Nenad) and Reef.
Last season we all saw that Vince and Jason could co exist in harmony and keep the cause of the team higher than their own personal greatness. There were games where the duo did well and other games where they did not. Vince has this amazing ability to score. He was a shadow of himself in the playoffs, as he could not make it to the bucket due to the lack of a quality big man in our side. Now we have reef who can provide vince with the screens he needs. As they say, you live and die by the jump shot and we died in the playoffs because of the lack of penetration by the guards and the jump shots not going in. Vince played magnificently well to get us to the playoffs and then cooled off. I guess he ran out of steam as he did not have enough of help. RJ was just coming back and was pretty rusty doing the playoffs. That i felt was the X factor. That was one of the main reasons we got killed.
Richard Jefferson- He has grown by leaps and bounds. He looks like a good guy with a stable head on his shoulders. I guess it must be a result of being brought up my missionaries( his parents). He is young, athletic and a good shooter. The proof lies in the fact that he was amazingly consistent with his jump shots last season till he got injured. It will be good to see how he fares this season and hopefully continues the form he had earlier last season. He is a solid defender and can get you rebounds both on the offensive and the defensive glass. He is averaging in the 22 point region which is pretty consistent. He would have been an all star if not for his wrist injury, which crippled his season the nets season. He is good on the fast break and is one of the only remnants (other than Jason) of the Eddie Jordan-Byron Scott Princeton style offense era. One of the main shortcomings of last season was that we used to get stuck in the midcourt offense, which was not very effective. The lack of time to execute severely reduced the ability of the team to score. With Jason in full swing and the swingmen Vince and RJ on his wings it must be a different story. I have heard that sharif can run too. That’s yet to be seen. He can clean up the offensive boards if necessary. RJ has great elevation skills and can be very effective when he gets aggressive. He has lacked than on occasion and hopefully has addresses that shortcoming.
Nenad, Nenad, Nenad. What do you say about this kid? He stood up to diesel shack and got hacked but still came back and gave it all. I love this kid for his hardwork and focus. He has not once lost his cool on the court and stays focussed no matter what. He goes down and then comes back to fight another day. He is very persistent with his presence on the defensive side and his shooting seems to be improving all the time. For a big man, he is pretty light footed and has a good spin dribble to the basket. He was one of the brightest finds of the last season in the whole NBA and i would say made a pretty decent impact. The NBA separates the men from the boys and he certainly has proved his worth.
Last but not the least is Sharif Abdur Rahim. A veteran of 9 years with 19 point average per game. I am sure he is excited about playing for a playoff team and will be inspired to perform. It might be his best year to date and hopefully the nets will benefit from it. The team looks solid on paper and hopefully will manage to transfer it into deeds. Oh what a year lies ahead .
Lets start with Jason. He is an amazing point guard with game vision that is unmatched other than Steve Nash in the present generation of active players. Jason Kidd has soft hands with a heart of a lion. A fierce competitor who will never give up and who thinks straight no matter what the situation is. He is quick, strong and usually has a play drawn up in his mind moments before it actually happens. That has always been his trump card. He understands the dynamics of his team to the plum. He is a classic facilitator and selfless to the core. He would rather pass the ball to an open player than take the shot- a perfect point guard. As coach Frank says in most of his post game interviews- Jason kidd imposes his will on the game whenever he feels like. It is going to be a mind-blowing season. He has an able support caste in RJ, Vinsanity, Curly(Nenad) and Reef.
Last season we all saw that Vince and Jason could co exist in harmony and keep the cause of the team higher than their own personal greatness. There were games where the duo did well and other games where they did not. Vince has this amazing ability to score. He was a shadow of himself in the playoffs, as he could not make it to the bucket due to the lack of a quality big man in our side. Now we have reef who can provide vince with the screens he needs. As they say, you live and die by the jump shot and we died in the playoffs because of the lack of penetration by the guards and the jump shots not going in. Vince played magnificently well to get us to the playoffs and then cooled off. I guess he ran out of steam as he did not have enough of help. RJ was just coming back and was pretty rusty doing the playoffs. That i felt was the X factor. That was one of the main reasons we got killed.
Richard Jefferson- He has grown by leaps and bounds. He looks like a good guy with a stable head on his shoulders. I guess it must be a result of being brought up my missionaries( his parents). He is young, athletic and a good shooter. The proof lies in the fact that he was amazingly consistent with his jump shots last season till he got injured. It will be good to see how he fares this season and hopefully continues the form he had earlier last season. He is a solid defender and can get you rebounds both on the offensive and the defensive glass. He is averaging in the 22 point region which is pretty consistent. He would have been an all star if not for his wrist injury, which crippled his season the nets season. He is good on the fast break and is one of the only remnants (other than Jason) of the Eddie Jordan-Byron Scott Princeton style offense era. One of the main shortcomings of last season was that we used to get stuck in the midcourt offense, which was not very effective. The lack of time to execute severely reduced the ability of the team to score. With Jason in full swing and the swingmen Vince and RJ on his wings it must be a different story. I have heard that sharif can run too. That’s yet to be seen. He can clean up the offensive boards if necessary. RJ has great elevation skills and can be very effective when he gets aggressive. He has lacked than on occasion and hopefully has addresses that shortcoming.
Nenad, Nenad, Nenad. What do you say about this kid? He stood up to diesel shack and got hacked but still came back and gave it all. I love this kid for his hardwork and focus. He has not once lost his cool on the court and stays focussed no matter what. He goes down and then comes back to fight another day. He is very persistent with his presence on the defensive side and his shooting seems to be improving all the time. For a big man, he is pretty light footed and has a good spin dribble to the basket. He was one of the brightest finds of the last season in the whole NBA and i would say made a pretty decent impact. The NBA separates the men from the boys and he certainly has proved his worth.
Last but not the least is Sharif Abdur Rahim. A veteran of 9 years with 19 point average per game. I am sure he is excited about playing for a playoff team and will be inspired to perform. It might be his best year to date and hopefully the nets will benefit from it. The team looks solid on paper and hopefully will manage to transfer it into deeds. Oh what a year lies ahead .
posted by zambezi at 2:26 PM
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