The New Jersey Nets

Devin: It all starts with his jumper. After starting the season just 25% from 16-23 feet, Deron’s finally connecting on those shots at a stunning 63% clip (29/46) in the past nine. He’s getting the same looks off curls and ball screens that he’s gotten all year, but that didn’t translate to made shots for whatever ethereal (or undercover) reason. He hasn’t made a vast transformation as a player — he’s still the same point guard he’s always been, running the floor and finding open looks for everyoneeven if his teammates can’t keep up with him. But for at least the past nine games, Deron’s done a rapid-fire progression to the mean, centered around hitting from midrange.
Are there any guards left on this team? Is Marshon just ducking Ricky?
Are you counting out the great Jordan Farmar?
Okay, that’s a joke, but Farmar and Williams have seen success on the floor together. Either one can handle PG duties and create off the ball, and D-Will is big and quick enough to guard most of the NBA’s 2′s. Since the Wolves play a lot of two-point guard rotations with Rubio, Luke Ridnour, and J.J. Barea, the Nets shouldn’t have too many issues tonight.
The loss definitely hurts, though. While he may not throw the behind-the-back bounce passes with purpose that Ricky does, there are few rookies in the league (Kyrie may be the only comparable one) with MarShon’s combination of outside and inside scoring ability. Before MarShon Brooks, we generally had to hope that Anthony Morrow’s floater and fadeaway post-up jumper were enough to throw off defenses; now we’ve got Brooks deking, faking, and spinning galore. He’s used the backboard about as well as anyone I’ve seen on jumpers and floaters and has scored a bunch of buckets just on his ability to loft the shot higher and off the glass alone. He’s attacked Dwight Howard in the lane and scored. He’s hit his open and contested jumpers with stunning regularity. He dropped 15 points in a half on the 3rd-best defense in the league, then didn’t try to force his offense when they threw doubles at him in the second half. He’s more mature and confident than I think anyone expected, without crossing the line into arrogance, and his conservative passing approach (more often than not swinging the ball up top rather than forcing passes into the lane) beget his low assist totals rather than a penchant for ballhogging.
I know Timberwolves fans are counting their lucky cinnamon sticks that they’ve landed such a talented point guard in Ricky Rubio, but MarShon’s ability thus far to create from anywhere without overplaying his usefulness has been an equally bright light in a mostly dark New Jersey cloud. We wish him well and hope he’s back to 100% soon.
And if anything, MarShon’s staying out extra time so that Ricky doesn’t get shown up and lose his bid at the Rookie of the Year award. See? He’s selfless! He can create for others in unique ways!
Seems like the Nets are really bad at defending the pick-and-roll. How do they stop the Wolves’ guards from exploiting that?
By hoping that the Wolves bigs can’t exploit it. The Nets switch on nearly everything, which usually means that the ballhandler’s defender gets switched onto a smaller player, then scrambles to recover for his own man. Of course, this means that Shelden Williams, Kris Humphries, and Johan Petro have to recognize that double-teams 30 feet from the basket aren’t prudent, and the remainder of the team has to recognize that there’s one man heading to the basket and that one defender needs to rotate. For the generic team, it’s not wholly difficult, but with the Nets, it’s a lot of hoping and praying. Luckily, the Timberwolves boast one of the few centers whose hands I trust less than Johan Petro’s. But if Ricky Rubio’s getting penetration in the lane and Love’s using his wide frame to clear out space inside, it’s going to be yet another long night defensively.