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Kings @ Nets: Tuesday, December 18th By Matt McQueeny, NJNets.com Catching Up With Mikki Mikki Moore had a career year with the Nets last season playing alongside Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, and eventually Richard Jefferson. He stepped up at a time the Nets dearly needed it after losing starting big man Nenad Krstic to a torn ACL in December. With the opening, Moore thrived. He started 55 games and during the season averaged 9.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, and shot a league-leading 60.9 percent from the field. The nine-year career journeyman parlayed his career year into a multi-year contract with the Sacramento Kings this summer. Moore, who is in town tonight with the Kings, was happy to see him old teammates. “I went in there and RJ was sitting there,” said Moore. “I didn’t know the locker room had changed around like that since I last saw…I talked to RJ, I hollered at JKidd and Vince. They were sitting there getting treatment. They asked me if I was alright and if everything was okay, how was the family.” Moore had the chance to come back to the Nets. He admitted that they offered him a three-year deal for 10 million dollars with a time ultimatum of a half hour to decide on it. “I went to Chicago early that morning and sat down with Scott Skiles,” said Moore of that day. “We talked about everything, and he gave me his offer. I got on a plane that afternoon and flew out to Vegas to meet with Memphis because they were out there playing in the summer leagues. I got to my room maybe 6-6:30pm and I had a dinner at 7:30pm. They (the Nets) called my agent and told him that we had 30 minutes to make a decision. If you don’t take it, we’re taking it off the table. And I said that I’d been working a long time and I have to at least see what I’m worth.” “I sat on the phone with my mom and the rest of my family on three-way (speaker phone); they just told me to have faith in myself and the Lord. The Lord’s gotten me this far so if they take it off the table, it’ll come from somewhere else.” And “maybe four or five days later” it did. “I was in the backyard cooking out and my agent called and said Sac (Sacramento) was offering 18 million. ‘Will you take it?’ I just dropped the phone.” “But the whole time I’m going through negotiations I was talking to Vince and RJ…After I told them what was offered, they told me that if I came back there they would have whooped my butt every single day for turning down that money.” Moore said there is nothing personal in the situation – “it’s a business.” When asked about the current Nets, he noted that the team came out of a deep hole last year. His example also shows that when a team needs a boost, production can come from at-times unlikely places. “They have a squad that’s trying to restructure things also,” said Moore. “They have a bunch of good guys. They can pull it out. We started off like that last season so you never know who could step up for them.” From Shoot Around: Scouting the Kings Coach Frank: "(Beno) Udrih, (Brad) Miller, (Ron) Artest are hubs. (John) Salmons is an x-factor in that when he scores big, they usually win. They have talented guys; they’re a perimeter-oriented team but can make jump shots. Artest is on any given night capable of giving you 30 plus you know how disruptive he’s going to be on the other end defensively. Udrih has career numbers in every single offensive category, they’re a good pick-n-roll team, when Miller has the ball they’re a good movement team because he’s such a good hub, such a good passer. They’ll mix up defenses so they’ve done a great job without (Mike) Bibby and (Kevin) Martin. They still have enough to win games. They beat San Antonio, beat Detroit, beat Houston, and had a good win in Philly. Where they’ve struggled a little bit – they’ve been a good home team – is they’ve just struggled on the road and they finally cracked the seal a couple of games ago against Philly.” Youth Will be Served in Front-Court Youth will be served – or, rather, started – when rookie Sean Williams and second-year man Josh Boone join Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, and Richard Jefferson in the starting lineup Tuesday night against the Sacramento Kings. The Nets (10-14), who have lost seven of their last 10 games, will again shake up their starting five as they look for a combination that gives them the energy, execution, and spark they have so dearly sought through the early season. It will be their ninth different starting five through 25 games. The game will be Boone’s first career NBA start and the third for Williams, who is averaging 16.0 points and 6.0 rebounds in his other two starts. “We’re searching for different combinations,” said Coach Lawrence Frank at practice today. “I don’t really think it’s a slight on Twin (Jason Collins) or Malik (Allen) and Jamaal (Magloire). We’re just trying to see if these guys can bring a different dynamic. The key is executing a game plan on both ends. It’s going to be something new and a different challenge but hopefully they’ll continue to rise to the occasion.” “What it brings is from a defensive end hopefully you have some athleticism in there, hopefully (they are) deterrents to the rim from a shot-blocking standpoint. Offensively, in terms of getting two bigs who run the floor and try to create some tempo, try to get some easier baskets.” Boone has averaged 10.7 points and 9.3 rebounds over his last three games, including 4.7 offensive rebounds a game in the time-span. “Josh has played well,” said Frank. “He’s put together some really good games, he’s rebounding the ball, and he’s catching and finishing by and large around the basket. He’s made progress…He deserves an opportunity to start based on his recent play.” As has Williams, whose only downside at this point, and it sure isn’t his fault, is that he is rookie and as a rookie there are a lot of things about the NBA that you can really only learn by experience. “It’s dealing with first the physical preparation of getting your body ready every night,” said Frank. “To understand that you have to play day in and day out, you have to practice day in and day out, you have to focus in and then on the floor it comes down at this level to understanding exactly what’s expected from you every play. And that’s the road he’s on right now. He’s going to make progress bit by bit but he’s no different than any other rookie.” The spark the team is looking for is also in part a reaction to their 94-86 loss to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. In that game, they became too perimeter-oriented, at times “stuck in mud” as Coach Frank called it, and attempted only six free-throws through three quarters. Said Frank today, “Last game was very disappointing in that going into the game we talked about: one, we knew Curry was going to come with a little added and extra incentive after being shut out in 13 minutes in Chicago; two is no disrespect to New York but they are last in the league in shot blocking so we wanted to attack the paint. We didn’t do it. You have to give New York credit. They did a good job keeping us out of it but we have to summon enough energy, enough will, and enough persistence to try regardless of who the opponent is of playing at a certain level. We’re not there yet and we just collectively have to find a way to do better on a consistent basis.” “Big picture: they were the aggressors, they got the ball inside, their bigs were very effective, their second unit changed the game with their energy and their offensive rebounds and their extra possessions and getting loose balls. And then our lack of ability to get into the paint.” |
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