lol I wish I could remember which one exactly but I listened to Dunc’d On Eastern Conference mailbag pod, Mondays Open Floor podcast and Mondays ESPN hoop collective last night while I was watching games. And looking through the descriptions they all said they talked about the nets so I can’t narrow it down.
withe the 3's and inbound turnover, it's funny how little people talked about the fact that brooklyn lost that game because TLC missed what was literally an uncontested, point-blank layup at the buzzer. i guess i haven't seen andre drummond play much recently (or ever). i know he likes to grab rebounds but is the guy any good at rim protection? like is he really going to help the nets on defense? certainly doesn't seem mobile enough to help. just seems like an expensive way to lock yourself into a team that will always be terrible at D. also, how long before people start hack-a-drummond as an alternative to stopping the nets ridiculous offense? i know he's gotten up to 60%, but i might be willing to bet with the bright lights on that he'll start regressing if it becomes a topic of conversation.
This supports what @blahblehblah was saying about leaving Jordan out the other night. My conclusion is theyre currently screwed on d with any lineup.
This is a good point. I was also concerned about the mobility issues with Drummond, i also havent watched him as much. My guess is the plan is for him to help the defense just enough to be average.
I am thinking at some point the Thunder will buyout Horford. He would be a dream fit for the Nets and make the title favorites.
Drummond isn't necessarily a good interior defender. He has lapses in coverage but he's a lot quicker than DJ at this point and does enough to make it more difficult for layups at the rim. He's not McGee on the defensive end as far as a rim protector. But he will help get them to an average D which all they need. The best thing about Dre is his rebounding. A lot of people focus on the defensive issues The Nets have but leave out the rebounding problem. They are routinely giving up 2nd chance points because they are getting beat on the offensive glass which kilss the D. Dre 100% solves that issue.
Trevor Ariza is a guy to keep an eye on. Extremely close to JH and is a prime candidate to get bought out. He would help tremendously. The small ball Nash/Morey like to run would be 10X more effective with Trev.
They really lack strength & physicality on the perimeter. I've never seen so many chicken legs and noodle arms on one team outside of Harden.
Here is another interesting tidbit: The Nets have the 4th best defensive rating in the league against teams above .500 echoes my thoughts about the effort.
This. Drummond is going to help them a great deal with his rebounding as the Nets are one of the worst rebounding teams atm. But from the games I've watched of them thus far... they've been playing a drop back coverage on the pick and roll with their centers and that's been a problem with teams hitting wide open mid-range (50%) and threes on them. Neither Drummond nor Jordan are mobile enough to switch or hedge effectively, so I expect their problems with defending the pnr will continue. Regarding TLC missing the wide open layup. I've seen the video and while it was contested, he still shouldve made that. But perhaps more shocking, how the hell did the refs miss Kyrie traveling on the inbounds pass. He literally took 3 or 4 steps.
I think the most egregious to me will always be the in bounds play. That should never ever happen. And yet ....I've seen it three times. I donno what the hell was going on there. Also agreed on drop coverage. Drop coverage is going to continue to get shredded as long as dude are setting that screen higher and getting more pull up 3s. Its probably why Capela is good(this year in particular) on defense. You can set the screen higher and Capela is springy enough to go up there.
I gotta imagine he would push for it. Since he's never won a ring and he's getting old. Also his contract is astronomical. I think they could find a good middle ground. Cuz no contender has enough cap space to trade for him.
That nets starting 5 is the best offensive lineup in the history of the league imo. Every player is shooting over 40% from three and 4 out of 5 are able to attack the rim. 3 of them at elite level.
I just looked at his contract. He has 2 more years after this year at 27 million per. They aren't going to buy him out. Not with that much remaining.
As great as they are offensively, Nets just aren't committed to playing defense. It's 90% an effort and focus problem. With the exception of Durant in GS, none of these guys ever committed to doing the little grit and grind things on defense. They don't guard physically, no pressure, no hedging, no running back, nothing except lackadaisically following their man.