Start Boone and continue playing hassell. Sit simmons and najera they stink.

WONDERING? Classic!
Is that the same wonderment that made Frank start Simmons at SG, who somehow played more mins than TWill? Only in the Nets!!!

Duh!!!! If you play Yi and CDR major minutes, you will have major holes in your d. CDR is great as a 6th man. Yi, I don’t know what he is good for – a paper weight?! But, just watching Najera and Boone play, I saw what was missing – they actually rotated pretty well (until Ray Allen schooled Boone) and covered ground well. They kept us in the games. Yi is so lost out there on the D side and actually costs us. Simmons is tougher and a stronger presence as well. Yes, I know it is all about developing the youth, but let them come off the bench after the Vets set the tone – and the standard.

got to play the kids. but we’ve also got to win at least 5 games this year and that might not happen with the kids. “close” and “good effort” don’t count.

Simmons is a tougher and stronger presence out there? Oh my, this is just getting better and better. The first game in which he wasn’t utterly horrible, and he suddenly became more deserving for starting? Any way you measure it, Simmons is the worst perimeter player on this team, period!!!!

I have been very pleased with Najera. He should start because of his efforts.

Quite possibly the dumbest article i’ve ever read from Dave.

SMALL. SAMPLE. SIZE. You don’t make arguments based on one or two games no matter how impressive at anything a particular team is.

The better defense from these guys doesn’t matter. It just doesn’t matter, it just doesn’t matter because they can’t shoot and they can’t score. So, a loss with a score of 90-80 is just the same as a loss of 105-95. Besides, the turnovers are killing us with this group. Except for Rafer, the rest of this article named group belong in street clothes at the end of the bench. We are going to keep losing until Devin, CDR, YI and Lee are back and re-adjusted. 0-15 might just be reality, and our re-adjusted goal for the year might just be 25 wins. That would be fine with me, if our younger players learn and grow. I don’t want to win 25 games, playing Najera, Simmons and Sean. We need to be thinking about two or three years from now.

I agree with those who’ve said to start Boone with Brook. Having Boone at the pf spot. I thought they played well together, maybe not the best offensively, but it’s definitely a lot better on the defenseive end.

We should try starting T-Williams, I like the energy that he brings when he is on the floor. CDR and Yi can come off the bench, with CDR being the main scorer for the 2nd unit.

@ croc

I was talking about Simmons playing a forward spot instead of swiss chees Yi. He’s tougher than Yi – but so is Mr. Softee and the charmin guy.

And yes, T-will will be playing more and more minutes as the year goes on – the kid is so tough and aggressive.

Bottom line: the Nets don’t have the horses, as everyone here admits.

Yes, Simmons is physically tougher than Yi, but I think they’re equally dumb as far as decision making. For me, Simmons has been a lot worse than Yi thus far. You’d want Simmons to body up a PF, sure! But I’d want Yi to be on the weakside when Lopez is busy defending his guy. After all, Yi is the leading rebounder of this team, which isn’t a compliment at all. Simmons is a very very bad rebounder and he always forgets to box out.

Simmons should be glued to the bench

I’m also very pleased with the Lopez/Boone tandem. People were claiming that they couldn’t play together because Josh is not a jump shooter but that nonsense has been squashed.

This is all hypothetical
We can easily say if all the Nets were healthy we could be 7-0
Not true either.
If you have 4 guys playing 36 minutes in a game, of course they will develop chemistry

We need everyone healthy PERIOD

Hey netincome, firefox is blocking me from the site “reported attack site!”

This team has players on the roster that are better on defense than they are on offense ( say…Boone Swat Hassle)
And players who are better on offense than on deffense ( CDR , Yi )
My problem with Frank’s rotation is that he play out defensively challenged players starting and our offensively challenged players coming of the bench. So my point is, why not start Boone or SWat or Hassle to play solid D against the opponent’s starters and bring in Yi and CDR to offensively take advantage of the opponent’s second unit.

Frank’s coaching has too much overlaping. Ex. 2 or 3 point guards on the floor at the same time , a center with 4 guards on the floor at the same time. It realy drives me crazy.

@NetIncome
“Bottom line: the Nets don’t have the horses, as everyone here admits.”

True. But that seems to me to argue in favor of playing the kids (when healthy). The veterans are never going to become horses, and are not going to be on this team when (if) it gets horses.

Dave D’s article is interesting, but as pointed out above, defense is only half of the game. You need to score also. And the vets who are playing better D are worse on offense. At this point in the season, the Nets offense is much worse than the defense. The defense is merely bad, while the offense is horrifically awful. To put that into numbers – look at Hollinger’s offense and defense efficiency stats. Nets are 20th in the league in defensive efficiency – bad but not horrible. In fact, the Nets are ahead of San Antonio and Utah in defensive efficiency. However, the Nets are 29th in the league in offensive efficiency – absolutely horrid. They would be last in the league in offense if not for Charlotte.

(One interesting note is that the team currently first in defensive efficiency is Milwaukee! A team that starts a kiddie at PG. But that may just argue in favor of the small sample size theory.)

Do not for one moment equate veterans with better defense.
TWill and Lee are the best perimeter defender on this team, and Hassell is the overall more experienced. The thing for Hassell last year was that he could only have an excellent all-around game here and there, once every 4-5 games. seems like it’s the same this year. Night in and night out, TWill and Lee are the ones who can be depended on more. And, the fact that Simmons played more than TWill last night (and not at PF but at SG and SF positions) really made me questioned Frank’s decision once again. TWill’s younger, more versatile, and brings better energy. Yet, he played less than Simmons in two positions that Simmons have been horrible at.
Let me run this to you. TWill has been first perimeter player off the bench, and has clearly been the better player this season than Simmons. Simmons has been playing third string PF and SF. So, tell me, when your starting SG and SF go down, what other coaches have ever privilleged the third string guy, and played the well-deserved sixth man as if he’s inferior to the third string player?
This well-deserved guy had a 9 assist- 1 turnover game just the night before, stepping up for the injured starters. YET, he was punished (not rewarded) by getting less mins the very next game. I reallly really do wonder how do you run a tight ship when your punishment-reward system makes absolutely no sense.

@ croc

Fair. I agree. Yi shouldn’t be starting. Maybe Boone earns it with a few more inspired games.

Thorn, get a PF. Really. Since The Kidd, Kittles, Martin, RJ, era, you have not put a balanced squad on the floor. What is your problem? Are you allergic to PF’s?

Everyone who talks about developing the youngsters – has to realize that Boone is a youngster who needs to be developed. I have never understood why people are so opposed to him playing. I think the Nets could get 10-10 from Boone this season if he starts at the PF position. He works well both offensively/defensively with Brook. Plus by doing this – you are grooming him to be a valuable bench reserve for the future with this team.

By playing Yi as the backup PF off the bench – he is going to be a more efficient scorer – as instead of matching up against the Tim Duncans, Kevin Garnetts of the world – he is matching up against Brian Scalabrine and DeJuan Blair (Blair probably breaks him in two). Either way – Yi is still a young kid and his biggest issues have been basketball experience, strength and confidence. His minutes will equate to nearly the same if coming off bench or starting – because as a starter he is always in foul trouble. Stength is going to be a work in progress all season – but from a confidence perspective – consistenly playing well off the bench will be better for his confidence.

The only reason I can understand giving minutes to Simmons and Najera after guys return from injury/sickness – is that the Nets are trying to showcase them for midseason trades. Najera should never be allowed to shoot the ball.

Hassell is a guy who will be effective in spurts off the bench – and again could be potential trade bait come the deadline. He is definitely a standup veteran presence though.

As for TWill and CDR – I have said all year that CDR is perfectly suited to the 6th man role. When DH is leading the offense, CDR becomes a 3rd or 4th option which kills his effectiveness. He is effective when he has ball in his hands in position to score. I think Coach Frank is just waiting for TWill to become more acclimated with the NBA game (my guess is 1 month into the season) before making this move. This addresses the offense in the second unit – and TWill is better equipped to get his points without needing the ball in his hands.

The reason the Nets have looked better is simple and something I’ve been writing about for 2 years. You took out your worst defensive player (Yi) and replaced him with one of your best (Boone). Forget about the Kids and Vets thing. It’s about the talent it takes to win. I know some posters don’t like Harris’ D or his decisions on offense but imo there is a big difference between him and Alston and CDR is clearly the best offensive player on the team. If we play with our best front court on D with Lopez, Boone (I’d go with Swat but that isn’t happening) and TWill (I’d go with Yi but that isn’t happening either) it sets the tone and will create an offense for CDR/Lee and Harris. We also need Battie cuz we are real thin up front. I give the coach credit for starting Boone. He acknowledged his good play but I just hope he understands why he played good. For him it was about as big as he has ever played with this team. I’m afraid he was just trying to matchup with the Celtics. He should stick with Boone at PF and make other teams matchup with us.

"I mean, there’s a lot of know-how with this group – they do a lot of cleanup and a really good job with help-side D and stuff. A good job in talking, too." Lopez says I believe if you read between the lines you really understand what he is trying to say. Boone over Yi.

Ryan, + Boone supporters….That’s not too smart considering Boone won’t be here next year.

I have said before many times about starting J.Boone at PF. When the team becomes healthy.
First Unit:
D.Harris/C.D.Roberts/J.Hayes/B.Lopez/J.Boone
Second Unit:
K.Dooling/C.Lee/T.Williams/T.Battie/Yi Jianlian
R.Alston/T.Hassell/S.Williams sub based on injuries,foul trouble.

Alright, Boone played well in one game, but let’s not get carried away. He is still incredibly soft under the rim. I agree that not having to guard the biggest guy makes him more effective, but you have to see through the end of the tunnel. This guy is not a starter in a good team. I don’t care if you want him to start over Yi or what. I’m just saying we’ve invested enough on him, and his skillsets did not improve a bit over the years. Let him have fun, and call it a day.

I wouldn’t mind Boone starting at PF for the rest of the season. The Nets look way better defensively in the paint with those two down there. Yi is not going to be the starter next season anyway and I agree, CDR and Yi would fare better off of the bench where they won’t be in there with Harris who kills their effectiveness. This could solve some issues

Lopez-Boone-Williams-Lee-Harris
A better defensive starting 5, Williams at the point forward so Harris can focus on scoring which is his strong suit. Lee will just have to start hitting shots. Also, with that line up, the onus can be on pick and rolls with Williams/Lopez or Harris/Lopez and feeding Brook in the paint. Boone can also benefit from pick and roll plays. Then come off the bench with Yi, CDR, Alston, Hayes, Najera/Battie.

Net Income is right, we don’t have enough horses but Frank has to work with what he has(when we actually get more than 8 people active) and he needs to put the best line ups on the floor to increase the effectiveness of his players. Playing CDR in there with Harris/Lopez, the two guys that need the ball most, is counterproductive for all three players. We’re 0-7 and T-Will is going to have good nights and bad nights regardless if he’s coming off the bench or not so I say start him now.

“biggie Says:
This guy is not a starter in a good team.”

This isn’t a good team, LOL.

Yi isn’t a starter on a good team IMO either. But he should be very effective coming off of the bench.

@biggie
“Alright, Boone played well in one game, but let’s not get carried away.”
Boone has grabbed 7+ rebs in games he has played 17+ minutes. The guy is our best rebounder. I think he should be a keeper beyond this season. He used to be a double-double machine when he started for us a couple of seasons ago. He doesn’t have great upside, but he is a very useful player us.

Boone has collected 7+ rebs in games he has played 17+ minutes this season so far:

Oct 30 vs ORL- 8 rebs.
Nov 04 vs DEN- 8 rebs.
Nov 06 @ PHI- 7 rebs.
Nov 07 vs BOS- 12 rebs.

He leads the team in rebs P48M.

Yi is the starter, Boone is a lame duck as this is his last year here

Basketball is not math. Boone is not reliable when you actually need him to save life. I’m not saying Yi’s better, in case you guys misunderstand. For all I care, i want both of them out. They do not belong to the contending team we have in our vision. Boone and Yi are very much replaceable. Boone has been here for four years already. Unless he does something dramatic this season, otherwise the experiment is over. You can start him or whatever, but it’s over after this season. I don’t want to see a missed layup or a hack-of-somebody strategy used against my team no more!!! Enough is enough. Get rid of them, and draft some new guys who actually have respectable NBA skills and mindset.

I don’t think we extend Boone his qualifying offer, but I can see us trying to bring him back at a lesser price. He can D-up and he can rebound, and he has some versatility in being able to play C and PF. Perhaps most encouraging, he is starting to be able to hit that baseline 8 footer, which would be a huge lift once/if Lopez starts to command a double.

While I agree we’ll need a stud PF next year (we could get one in the draft), I think that for a rebuilding team, we actually have a couple of decent young PFs in Yi and Josh.

Yi was playing well before he got injured, and Boone has done a pretty solid job these past few games. He’s somehow regaining the form he had a couple of years ago when he averaged nearly a double double as a starter. He’s looking pretty solid next to Brook.

I agree w/ Mr DB: I wouldn’t mind Boone starting at the 4 for the remainder of the season. I believe in Yi, but sometimes he looks more effective when a pass 1st PG is running our offense.

Play the “kids”. I don’t care if we go 0-82. As long as the kids don’t get injured or lose their confidence, let them get the majority of playing time. Sure the vets might win you a game now and then but who really cares. My worst nightmare would be Najera, Hassel, Simmons and Alston getting most of the playing time. Yuck…

I would think it would be in our best interest to play the young guys who actually may still be on the team next year. I’ll take winning 15 games with a starting line that features Harris/Lee/CDR/Yi/Lopez, then winning 25 games with veterans like Najera, Hassell, and Simmons logging most of the minutes. At the rate we’re going, the playoffs aren’t in the picture in either scenerio. Develop the young players. Let them learn to play together this year, and then hope for the best during free agency and the draft this summer.

Come on people were 0-7 a win to me now would be disappointing I’m already thinking about the draft and us getting a top 3 prospect. Of course this team is capable of winning when everybody is healthy but still no trades or nothing is needed for the power forward position were more then good.

This site should have a character-count limit like twitter. Some comments are longer than the article.

Rafer is a turnover waiting to happen. The Lopez-Boone combo is the best post defense combo we have, but Boone misses point blank layups. Hassel is a new man, just a temporary fluke?

I can only laugh that people are discussing whether Yi or Boone is better. The real joke is that Frank doesn’t want to play both in the same game. Before his injury, Hayes was the backup PF. Next in line was Simmons. That’s madness. Five minutes of smallball is enough to turn a competitive game into a loss. Frank routinely plays 10 to 30 minutes of smallball.

No one other than Yi, Boone, Najera, Sean Williams, or Battie should play PF for this year, period. If Frank had followed this strategy the Nets would probably have 2 to 4 wins by now.

Chris2, When free agency starts we will be looking at the big fish first, not wanting to lose any space until the big guys are off the board. We won’t fillout the 12-15 spots until near or at the beginning of camp. Figuring the rest of his year goes like his career has, Boonie will have offers and won’t be in any position to wait on us {if we’ll have money, need him, want him etc}

I agree that we would not sign anyone until we exhaust all possibilities of hooking a big fish. But I don’t foresee Boone being a hot commodity either. Even this past offseason, PFs like Warrick and Sheldon Williams were waiting around for an offer until just weeks before training camp. Then they took small deals. If we do use our cap space on all stars then we will likely need to fill out our roster, particularly the front court where we have less returning players, with near minimum salary guys. If we can bring back Boone for that price, we would be lucky to do so. You can put Boone is against just about anyone,and he won’t embarass you on D.

You would have to think that the Nets are going to address their PF position. If we still “need” Boone at that point, we will be in big trouble…

@Mike
We won’t need him as a starter nor as a 30 minutes a night guy next year, but he is a very useful player we should keep.

@ Andres;
  I agree, but at what price$$$. At least Boone should have enough playing time this year to show what he’s got. Make or break time for Josh.

If the Nets continue to lose game after game and Frank is not fired, we will know that current Nets management is O.K. with it. Dumping for top 3 pick? At least it’s a “plan”. Don’t like the idea of dumping, but if it is done “honestly”, what the heck.

I dont know why people are getting so excited. Once everyone gets healthy he is going to go back to His BS.

That said. Boone/Swill playing next to Lopez should have been done much sooner. FRANK has just shown how incompetent he is. Why didnt he try this pairing sooner?

Is it me or is just common sense, but Simmons plays better when he is playing his natural position, SF. Why has FRANK been using this guy at PF when clearly combos of Boone/Lopez or Boone/Yi or Swill/lopez or SWill/Yi can work?

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS COACH!!!!!

Sometimes you just need to keep tinkering to find components that work. It’s usually a sign that your team is terrible, but you have to keep messing with the roster until it clicks and gets a rhythm.

Please don’t censor my comment, mighty Lords of the Message Boards.

Chris2, good point, perhaps you’re right, thanks. I think someone will grab him for 2 yrs/3 mill, or if they really want him 2/4 mill.area. I however think he will have his suitors.

I have always been in the Boone camp. Look I do not think he is a starter on a championship team. But in case nobody realizes – every championship caliber team has a deep bench. Having Josh as a backup big man to spell both your starting PF and Brook throughout the season is invaluable. The guy is a valuable rotation player. And I bet that if we don’t keep him – he goes to a contending team who values a guy who can play 15-25 minutes a night and provide rebounding and post defense.

And he is still a kid – he is only 25 years old. If he can average 7 or 8 points and 8 boards in 20 min of playing time, along with playing defense – he is valuable to the future of this franchise. And he has proven he is capable of that.

I disagree with Boone playing along side of Brook. Boone clogs the middle and creates easy double teams on Brook. Did you see where Brook was forced to shoot from to get away from the double? He was shooting 16 -18 ft jumpers and also forcing bad fade aways. Brook is best with Yi bec yi stretches the d and enables Brook to take his guy one on one closer to the basket.

Yes, every contending team has a deep bench, but most of those teams have at least one backup big who’s WAY WAY WAY better than Josh Boone. People forget easily! JOsh BOone is not USEFUL by miles. HE had too many games where he’s literally useless, and the crowd reaction toward his SOFT MISSING LAYUPS are getting older and oldern. THe experiment is over, and we cna easily replace him with someone on the market. EASILY!

When we do have a contending team, we should not have a primary big who doesn’t always box out, missing an easy basket that might be extremely important, and being targeted by the opponents as a weaklink. THere should be no attachment for the likes of Josh BOone, as there are way TOO many players who can do what he does BETTER!!

One okay game does not erase my years of observation.

@ Johnfried – I dont think that the reason why Brook was taking those shots is because of Boone. It is because this team has no offense. That whole BS of Wildcat or Frenzy was just that BS. Remember these guys didnt practice offense until…… Did they ever?

I dont think Boone should start, but I would rather have him be subbed in to play PF then Frank’s STUPID idea of playing Simmons there. Clearly Simmons is more effective at SF.

I think Boone can be the second big man off the bench on a really good team. Ideally, you want someone with a more polished game backing up your PF and C and then that second guy should be able to compete, defend, rebound, maybe get some second chance points, etc. Yes, there are plenty of bigmen in NBA better than Boone, but they normally do not come cheap. Cavs getting Leon Powe for a song was a rare exception. If Nets do spend their cap space on some big names next summer, they may consider bringing back Boone for a small amount.

We should not think cheap when we’re trying to land a big time FA like Lebron.
2010 is the time. We either gonna have a big time FA come in and make this team ready to contend in a couple years, or we gonna sign someone who makes us good enough to get a playoff spot but nowhere close to be a contender. So, every move we do in the offseason is very important. If I remember correctly, the Celtics traded for Ray Alen right before the KG trade went down. KG needed to be convinced. Signing Boone to an extension is not a move that the likes of Lebron, Wade, or Bosh would pay attention.

@ Chris2 – That was because he might not be back until the end of March, and who knows how he’ll play once he does get back?

@ SIC – Simmons at SF probably wouldn’t work out much better because Simmons has no foot speed and is essentially a stick figure on defense.

Where is Jason Collins? Is he available?

net income- by the way, the rockets have less talent than the nets, yet they play with effort and actually have a sound NBA system theyre running there under coach adleman.\
 here you go with more excuses for frank. now that carter and kidd arnt there, his pathetic coaching and decision making is being revealed out to the open. bottom line, its more effort, and extablishing a system and identity over talent sometimes. and the nets do have talent and lits of them, its just young. thats where coaching comes in, dont you think?

bottom line, boone gets exposed when he plays too many minutes in too many games. hes been in the league for 4 yrs, and he has yet learned to make a wide open layup.

some people here are overr reacting to one game. the vcelts played to the nets level until it mattered in the end of the game, it was so obvious.

whjat the nets need is a leader of a coach who just doesnt talk a good game but makes hois players play a good game.

this has been going on foreveer under frank, one game the nets are a offensive jugernot, and cant -lay defense, athen the other game vice versa. the nets have no identuiity, and its because of the coach.

i can bet my last dollar frank is as good as toast. HE WILL NOT BE THE NETS COACH NEXT YEAR.

@Chris2
“I think Boone can be the second big man off the bench on a really good team.”
Agreed. I also agree w/ what Ryan said.

I think we all know Boone ain’t great ion the offensive end, but he is our BEST rebounder and he is a solid defender. If people here can’t notice the job Josh did on KG, then I don’t know what to tell you. I sure realize that really helped keep us in the game.

Now, Mina is someone who has it in perspective. People are overreacting one okay game by Boone. Boone is not the best rebounder at all. When he actually has to physically fight against a big guy like Lopez has to do, Boone can’t grab a rebound to save his life. Boone is a weakside rebounder. When our big man is doing his job boxing out the player who’s the most aggressive on the board, then Boone can clean it up. BUT BUT BUT, over the years, I’ve seen it many times when Boone has to be that person boxing out the most physical big man in the other teams, he can’t even do it right. He forgets to box out frequently, and when he does box out he loses track of the ball. There are so so many flaws of Boone (not just in offense) that have been mentioned before over the years when he does play over 30 mins on a regular basis.
Face it, you guys tend to favor your own players, which is understandable. I am a lot more aware of the talent level in the broader world of NBA. Boone is very very much replaceable. Your attachment to a player who has done much to our franshise is understandable, but if decision-making falls on that kinda sentiment this franchise will never rise to the top.

I’m not overreacting to one game. I’ve always liked Boone. And it’s not like he had an OK in his entire career. He looked like a double-double machine when he started for us a couple of seasons ago, and he’s looking good again.

Again, he has had solid rebounding numbers in every game he has been given enough PT to make an impact this season. He leads the team in rp48. It’s not just an OK game. He looks good next to Lopez. He is a great defender, too. He did a GREAT job on KG last game.

The whole Celtics were just off. I ‘ve seen Boone getting murdered by many many bigs in the game. Means nothing to me to put up a good defensive effort one game; Swat has done that here and there. Means nothing if u can’t bring it whenever you get the call. RP48 means nothing, because reboounding is a matter of sustained focus and aggressiveness, which is something soft Boone cannot do.
Sure, maybe he’s better fit playing alongside Lopez, but so do a lot of big men. One word: replaceable! Plus, he screwed up way too many times for most fans to wish him for an extension. I’ve attended games regularly over the years, and even kids are frustrated with his soft missed layups. We do not want any big in this team who got the ball under the rim wide open and do not dunk the ball. All the worst FT shooting bigs in this league will try to dunk it; only Boone doesn’t! It’s an embarrassment to our franchise! I consider it good riddance for someone with some many flaws and is easily replaceable: it’s simple management logic!

I can’t take it anymore. No more small ball. I want to scream, and do everytime I see Yi, Bobby Simmons, Najera, Trenton and Twill at the 4.
 Before everybody decides on Boone, how about we see him actually play regular minutes at his real position, I think you will see a decent NBA 4 who is going to pick up a ton of Off rebs, which is exactly what he is going to end up doing after the Nets ship him out.
BTW: All evaluations should be put on hold until after we have a big time coach or at least taller coach who understands the NBA game and DOESNT PLAY SMALLBALL CONSTANTLY.
I can"t take it anymore. How long to the 2010 draft

One other thing on Josh. Would you please dunk the ball when you are 2 feet from the basket instead of those fade away layups. Still like the offensive rebounding presence tho. Has anyother Net gotten more than 1 in a game?