Team page/schedule | Stats: Preseason | Roster
Last year: 26-56, sixth in Atlantic, 12th in conference
Coach/GM: Byron Scott/Rod Thorn
Arena, first game: Continental Airlines Arena (20,049); Oct. 30, 1981
All-time franchise record/NBA titles: 802-1,216/0
Notable: 345 games lost to injury, second most in NBA
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The Nets need to have a healthy season. More than any team in the league, they seem to have been snake-bitten with injuries. Jason Kidd will generate offense by himself. Kenyon Martin and Keith Van Horn both are quality players up front. The center position is still a question mark. They got Todd MacCulloch, an efficient player with good hands. He can shoot and pass, but he's slow. That will cost the Nets, especially in the East, where some teams don't play a center at all. They are hoping to make the playoffs, so are several other teams. It will be hard for the Nets to break through. |
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By Peter May
Special to ESPN.com
There's a lot of unpleasant history at work here.
This is a franchise that seems eternally jinxed, the
Curse of the Doc if you will. The Nets have been in
the NBA for 25 years. That came after they let Julius
Erving go to Philadelphia and the results have been
stupefying.
In a quarter century, the Nets have won one
playoff series -- a best-of-five upset of the 76ers in
1984. They've been ravaged by injuries, by poor
shooting, by horrible decisions (Yinka Dare) and by
bizarre happenings. Byron Scott came in last year all
full of you-know-what and vinegar, determined to right
the wrongs of years past. His team won 26 games,
closing with a six-game losing streak.
Injuries seem to be an unavoidable thing with the
Nets. Maybe a plague would be more appropriate. Last
year's team lost 345 man games due to injuries. Two
players, Kerry Kittles and Jamie Feick, were basically
lost all season and Feick remains probably gone for
this year as well. Kenyon Martin, the No. 1 pick,
missed 14 games with injuries. John Calipari talked
incessantly about changing the culture in the
Meadowlands. He did, for one season. He's now back in
college, coaching at Memphis.
With so much baggage, it's a wonder anyone can be
remotely optimistic about any season. But, of course,
no one has been hurt, yet. No one has shot 4-of-18
from the field, yet (although Jason Kidd was 0-for-9
in his exhibition opener, another sign that he's no
longer in Phoenix.) There is some hope in that Kittles
is back and playing, but how well, and for how long,
is unknown. The Nets also used the summer to make one
of the stranger transactions -- signing plodding
Sixers' backup center Todd MacCulloch to a whopper
deal.
Sure, things could change. Kidd could come in and
the bad karma would disappear. Keith Van Horn would
start playing like the No. 2 pick in the 1997 draft,
when a lot of people saw him as a not-so-bad
alternative to Tim Duncan. Martin and Kittles could
remain healthy and improve and the Meadowlands might
even be a decent place to watch a game. On second
thought ...
Who's Who
While the signing of MacCulloch raised eyebrows
for one reason, the acquisition of Kidd raised them
for quite another one. Kidd is the best pure point
guard in the league and, unlike Stephon Marbury,
thinks assist before basket. Van Horn had to be
poppin' the Krys when he heard this deal because he
and everyone else now knows that they'll get the ball
if they're open. That may even help them make a few
more shots. Marbury is a terrific talent, but he's not
the consummate team player that Kidd is. That will
help. MacCullough is an improvement in the middle only
because the Nets had no center there last year, unless
you count the retired Jim McIlvaine or any number of
guys playing out of position. The Nets made a curious
move on draft night. Or, we should say, curious for
anyone but the Nets. They drafted Eddie Griffin with
the No. 7 pick and then dealt him to Houston for the
three Rockets' later No. 1 picks -- Richard Jefferson, Jason
Collins and Brandon Armstrong. All three will make the
team and play. If they pan out, it will look good. If
Griffin blossoms as a lot of people think he might, it
will go down as one more Net blunder.
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FANTASY SLEEPER
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Kerry Kittles, SG -- After sitting out last season with a knee injury, Kittles returns to the Nets' starting lineup and, soon, to the fantasy radar screen. He plays with tremendous energy, which results in steals and probably a board or two more than you would expect from a string-bean off-guard. Kittles can also score (career 15.3 ppg), especially from downtown.
--Brandon Funston
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The Big Question
Ah, if there were only one big question. Alas,
there are many because it's the Nets. This is a team
which went out and got themselves the best point guard
in the league -- and it may not make any difference.
Only three teams shot a worse percentage than the Nets
did and Kidd should help there. Then again, Phoenix
was 20th in field goal percentage last season. Kidd
will help, but the deficiencies are more pronounced
elsewhere. The Nets were the second worst rebounding
team in the league last year and 25th in three-point
shooting. Will MacCullough help inside? Martin is
probably their best rebounder anyway, but he may have
to guard small forwards. Looking at it an optimistic
bent, there's a lot of room for improvement in a lot
of areas.
Best Case Scenario
Kidd is talking about
40-something wins and making the playoffs. Could it
happen? Yes, but it would take a reversal of fortune
and a complete culture change, not to mention a lot of
luck. If everyone stays healthy, which never happens,
and if Van Horn rediscovers his game, which could
happen, and if Martin continues to grow, which should
happen, and, well, you get the idea. Forty wins would
then be a possibility.
Worst Case Scenario
Pick a season. Almost any
season. Last year's 26-win season was fashioned with
typical, diabolical cruelty. Kidd has been immune to
all the Nets' ills -- until now. The bottom could
easily fall out -- Scott could lose it as well -- and
we'd have another sorry, 20-something win season with
another trip to Secaucus. At least it's a short drive.
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OVERRATED
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UNDERRATED
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TEAM MVP
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Keith Van Horn. Awfully soft for a guy who grabs some boards. |
Aaron Williams. A nice signing last year, and good fit up front. |
Jason Kidd. If only he can avoid the dreaded Nets curse. |
