September 23, 2009

Rod Breaks Bread at Breakfast

Seated behind a breakfast plate and a steaming mug of hot chocolate, one once buried beneath whipped cream, but now a forgotten, melted mixture cast away by the course of the conversation, Nets President Rod Thorn allowed himself to envision the future:

"We will be in position at the end of the year to be in the free agent market and be competitive for virtually anybody. You don’t know what draft pick you’ll have, so that’s too early to say, but we do anticipate our young core getting better. I think at the end of the year we’ll be in an enviable position going forward."

Well then ... how enviable, exactly?

"We definitely want to be a team that can compete for a championship. We certainly would like to be in a position where it’s not even a possibility that we won’t make the playoffs. That’s where we’d like to be, where virtually everybody is saying, "Hey – you’re going to be in the playoffs and it’s just a matter of how far you’re going to go."

It's a bold, clear vision – perhaps startlingly so – but one that must be shelved for 12 months' time, because there is a season to play and some major moves to be made before it can become a reality. Back here in the present, the Nets are fielding a team led by a first-time All-Star (Devin Harris) and supported by a cast that has left head coach Lawrence Frank with what he termed a "horizontal depth chart."

With Vince Carter traded, 20-plus points per game go unaccounted for, along with an offensive hub known for facilitating and drawing double teams. Speaking with media on Tuesday at Harold's Deli in Lyndhurst, N.J., Thorn said he expects the team to have a rotating third- (or even first- or second-)leading scorer on a given night. And now that the focus of opponents' early-season game plans will shift to Harris, Thorn is counting on the point guard to serve as more of a catalyst, much like the end of last season, when Harris posted double-digit assists seven times during a 12-game stretch from March 1-April 1, averaging 9.3 per game.

Though Thorn and General Manager Kiki Vandeweghe tried to make a few moves this summer, they were limited by the NBA-maximum 15 guaranteed contracts filling the roster. Thorn revealed that after discussions with most of the teams in the league, there were "three or four real good things" that he felt came close, though none ultimately came together. Having reached the late stages of September, with training camp starting Monday, Thorn pointed out that transaction logs will become sparse until the New Year approaches.

"Everybody thinks they’re better right now," Thorn said. "By the middle of December you start to have an idea of what you are; that’s when you start to see movment again. Plus, some guys can’t be traded until December, that’s another thing. I’m reasonably sure – you can never be 100 percent sure – that we will not have any changes in roster that you’d call major things. There may be some minor (ones)."

So with the roster likely to remain the same, the question becomes one of maximizing personnel. That means playing a faster game this season, in an attempt to utilize speedy, über-athletic wings and bigs who can run, hopefully providing easy buckets in transition. But that means an improved focus on the defensive end, where the team should be able to take advantage of additions like Courtney Lee and Terrence Williams.

They'll join Jarvis Hayes, who was the team's best perimeter defender last season, and Harris, who earned a reputation as a strong defender in Dallas, though most of his energy has been expended on offense since coming to New Jersey. While the perimeter talent is notable, interior defense and rebounding will be key to the endeavor. Natural improvement from second-year center Brook Lopez (8.1 RPG, 1.84 BPG) should provide a strong base, but strong efforts from players like Yi Jianlian and Josh Boone are crucial to the defense's success.

Additional upper-body strength should benefit Yi, who played well in August's FIBA Asia Championship (18.3 PPG, 10.4 RPG, 2.4 BPG). Vandeweghe noted the 21-year-old's committment to weightlifting and improved confidence, while Thorn observed that half of Yi's shots during pickup games with the other Nets are coming on the inside, and that he expects Yi to mix it up in the post more often.

But expectations and hypotheticals can only carry you until the tipoff, and this Thorn knows:

"I think you’ve got to be realistic," he said. "Once you get into the season and you see exactly what you have, you’ve got to be realistic about what you have. I think we are – probably more so than most – at least reasonably realistic about what we should or shouldn’t be doing. But I’ll be candid with you, I think we’re going to be better than people think. I really do."

T-Will's Takeoff?
It wouldn't surprise Thorn if Terrence Williams found his avenue to rookie success earlier than most:

"Terrence is a very confident player, (and) I don’t see that being knocked out of him. He has a skill set that allows him to play different positions, which also gives him a chance to be on the floor. He can play 1, 2 or 3 – not necessarily in that order, but any of those positions. He can defend, he’s a good guy to play with and he passes the ball; those type of guys tend to get minutes.

"With Terrence, right now, (the question is:) 'Will he make open shots?' He’s got to be able to make open shots, and if he does, then I think he’ll get significant minutes. He’s got an all-around game and he’s easy to play with and he can finish. In the open court he can really get off the floor."

Depth-Chart Dance Card
Queried about whether playing time could hinder player development (clearly one of the season's goals), Thorn indicated performance would determine the early rotation, before closing with an interesting addendum:

"We do have a lot of veteran guys, and playing time – to me – is parceled out by how people play. That tends to work itself out: some people will play better than others, you get injuries. It’s what you do. If it’s late in the season and you’re out of the playoff run, then you tend to play your younger players maybe more, but for instance, Bobby Simmons is in much better condition right now than he was last year at this time. He looks good."

Playoffs?!? You've Got to Be Kidding Me!
Thorn said he thought Cleveland, Boston and Orlando were the class of the East, with Atlanta looking "strong" and Detroit "coming back to the pack. He said that the fifth through eighth seeds are likely up for grabs, tabbing Washington as a real wild card ("They could be very good, they could be not so good – how good is (Gilbert) Arenas going to be?") and Toronto as a team that definitely improved with the addition of Hedo Turkoglu.