Epic showdown at Barclays tomorrow night as the Nets host the Lakers. Sadly I think Brooklyn probably wins this one, but I'm not sure they'll be favored in another game this month. Having watched much more of this team than anyone should ever have to, they are capable of semi-decent play for short stretches. Pretty much anytime the other team puts the foot on the gas, though, they turn the ball over, can't get stops and get run off the floor.
JJ is super-cooked. The backcourt is probably the worst in the league and will be destroyed by guards all season while having very little shooting ability of their own. Lopez is doing what he usually does but still disappears plenty. They have trouble getting him the ball as often as they should because the guards are an awesome combination of terrible yet prone to hero ball. Thad is fine but should never ever be any team's second-best player. Probably should look to trade him for a pick...nobody is signing there to play with him (or Lopez for that matter). RHJ looks good in limited minutes as the defensive energy guy we knew he was, but Hollins refuses to force-feed him minutes for some reason. The Nets' faithful are jumping all over Hollins while ignoring that the talent level on the team is just horrendous.
Because of the pick situation they'll be hard-pressed to outtank Philly and LAL but most of the teams they finished ahead last year are very clearly better teams this year - Orlando, Indy, Miami, Detroit, NYK. Hornets should be better too. Even in the West you have several teams looking feistier than expected like Minny, Denver and Portland. Can't wait to see what happens is Brooklyn finishes the month at something like 3-14.
Remember, this is all happening with the team at 100% health.