Posts Tagged ‘Avery Johnson’

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Nets Look To Williams To Push The Pace

December 29, 2012  ·  2:48AM

BROOKLYN – It’s hard to take much out of 48 minutes against a team that has now lost 17 straight games, so no grand conclusions will be drawn from the Brooklyn Nets’ 97-81 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday, their first game after the dismissal of head coach Avery Johnson.

Interim coach P.J. Carlesimo did his job, the players did theirs, and the Nets avoided the embarrassment of losing to an awful, awful team on their home floor. If the Nets’ didn’t win by double figures, there would really be something to talk about.

Until the third string allowed a 27-point, fourth-quarter lead to whittle down to 12, the Nets’ offense looked sharper than it had all December. But such a performance should be expected against the worst defense in the league, no matter who the coach is.

There were no real changes to the system and only a minor change to the rotation. There was a subtle difference in the Nets’ approach, however. Instead of walking the ball up the floor, Deron Williams looked to get it across the mid-court line as quickly as possible, even off made baskets. And that led to a more fluid and free-flowing offense.

The Nets ranked 29th in pace before Friday’s game, averaging a hair over 90 possessions per 48 minutes. Their offense was slow and deliberate, and they were too often taking too long to get to any kind of offensive action that could generate an double-team or an open shot.

All the isolations that Williams had issues with were ran were more out of necessity – in situations where the shot clock was running out and there were no other options – than design.

Even when the Nets ran Jerry Sloan’s “flex” offense that Johnson implemented to placate Williams after his pro-Sloan comments last week, it sometimes took too long before Williams could get the ball in position to make a play.

The Nets do have the personnel that can succeed at a slower pace. Brook Lopez can do work in the post and Joe Johnson can flourish in isolations or in the post as well. And really, this team is never going to play anything like the Houston Rockets.

But they can certainly play faster than they have thus far. And that can only make things easier on their offense.

So, in taking over for Johnson, Carlesimo told his team to get the ball up the floor quickly and keep the ball moving. In the brief time he had to work with them in the wake of Johnson’s dismissal, it was about all he could do to change things up. But it was a needed change and it worked … against the Bobcats.

“We would prefer to push the ball, because Deron is so good pushing it and creating,” Carlesimo said before his Nets coaching debut. “We’d like to push it and get it to Brook [Lopez] down low. We’d like to push it and get it ahead to Joe [Johnson] or [Gerald Wallace] or our other players.”

If the Nets are to turn around their season and get back to a top-four standing in the Eastern Conference, improvement has to start with Williams. Friday’s win was just one game, but Williams was indeed the key to an encouraging performance.

With the point guard pushing the tempo and aggressively looking for his shot, the Nets scored 33 points in the first quarter, their second-highest mark of the season. By halftime, Williams had 17 points himself, the most he’s had by halftime since last March.

“I just think I need to be aggressive,” Williams said afterward, “because I’m not playing well right now and I’m being too passive. And I don’t think that’s good for my team.”

In terms of possession count, Friday’s game wasn’t played at a much faster pace than a typical Nets game. But that was somewhat a product of the 24 possession-extending offensive rebounds that the two teams combined to grab. And it was clear that the Nets were getting into their offense a lot quicker than usual.

“We got a lot of easy baskets today,” Williams said. “The ball was moving today. It wasn’t one of those games like in the past where it was somebody’s turn and then somebody else’s turn. It was kind of moving out there.”

It wasn’t exactly a breakthrough performance (have we mentioned the Nets were playing the Bobcats?), but it was a step forward, for both the team and its star.

“He made his shots, which is great,” Carlesimo said of Williams. “But I thought he pushed it for us. He got us up the floor. He got us into things.

“I thought he played an excellent game. He really did.”

“This was one game, and a game we figured we should win,” Williams added. “We have to come ready to play tomorrow. That will be the test.”

Well, not really. On Saturday, the Nets play the Cleveland Cavaliers, the only team in the league that ranks in the bottom five in both offensive and defensive efficiency. After that though, they visit San Antonio on Monday and Oklahoma City on Wednesday.

Though those teams will test the Nets’ regressing defense more than their regressing offense, it’s all tied together, because it’s easier to push the ball up the floor when you’re not taking it out of the basket.

***

John Schuhmann is a staff writer for NBA.com. Send him an e-mail or follow him on twitter.

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Nets Need To Hold Williams Accountable

December 27, 2012  ·  8:03PM





HANG TIME NEW JERSEY – There is nothing to indicate that Deron Williams had direct input on Avery Johnson‘s dismissal on Thursday. In their press conferences on Thursday afternoon, both Johnson and Nets general manager Billy King said that the blame can’t be pinned on Williams. And King added that no players were consulted before the decision was made.

Considering his comments last week regarding Johnson’s offense though, the timing of all this only adds to Williams’ coach-killing reputation. First, Jerry Sloan resigns shortly after an argument with Williams in Utah, and now Johnson is fired shortly after Williams pines for Sloan’s offense.

But let’s just put Williams’ relationship with his coach(es) aside for now, and focus on what he has done on the floor.

The numbers, both simple and advanced, tell the story. Williams has shot less than 40 percent from the field and less than 30 percent from 3-point range this season. Defensively, the Nets have been much worse with Williams on the floor than they’ve been with him on the bench.

Nets efficiency with Williams on and off the floor

On/off floor MIN OffRtg DefRtg NetRtg +/-
Williams on 996 103.3 106.7 -3.4 -37
Williams off 362 102.0 96.3 +5.7 +41
Total 1,359 102.9 104.0 -1.1 +4

OffRtg = Points scored per 100 possessions
DefRtg = Points allowed per 100 possessions
NetRtg = Point differential per 100 possessions

When you’re the star of the team, they can’t be better without you. But that’s been the story with Williams and the Nets this season. So while the Nets hope to improve in the coaching department, they also have to wonder about the $99 million investment they made in their point guard.

Williams has been saddled with various injuries throughout his time with the Nets, starting with a right wrist problem that has clearly affected his ability to make shots. But beyond his shooting numbers, there has been a lack of leadership, both in New Jersey and in Brooklyn.

Over the last few weeks, despite all the talent on their roster, the Nets have failed to respond to adversity. And that’s on Williams as much as it is on Johnson. True stars should be able to put their teams on their backs when times get tough. But Williams has really had just one star performance this season, those 14 brilliant dimes he dished out in the Nets’ only win over the Knicks.

The Nets have players with more experience than Williams, and he’s not the only guy on the roster getting paid like a superstar. But this roster was built around him. Keeping him in a Nets uniform was the reason King traded for both Gerald Wallace and Joe Johnson. He’s the two-time Olympian and he’s supposed to be the franchise player.

Being a franchise player is about more than just points, assists and defense. It’s about intangibles, both on the floor and in the locker room. It’s also about the words that come out of your mouth, both off the record and on it.

Publicly expressing doubt about what the coach is doing is a no-no, especially when you’re not living up to your end of the bargain with your play on the floor. No matter what his intentions were, Williams’ comments last week just made it harder for Johnson to do his job. The coach tried to placate his star by incorporating some of Sloan’s offense into the Nets’ system, and Williams tried to soften his quotes later on, but there was no erasing what was originally said.

Though Johnson always had Williams’ support prior to this season, there were signs that Williams wasn’t a great locker room leader when the Nets went 22-44 in their final season in New Jersey. Still, the team had no choice to re-sign their point guard and try to build a contender around him, because the alternative would have been uglier than anything that is going on right now.

With Johnson gone, the Nets have to find a new coach. More important, they have to hold Williams accountable for both his play and his leadership.

When Johnson was asked about the next potential coach for the Nets, he had a very pointed response.

“I just know when the coach comes in, he’s going to have to be able to do it his way,” Johnson said. “Hold everybody accountable, coach true to his style. That’s the way it’s going to have to be.”

Johnson, we know, comes from the School of Pop, where Tim Duncan is treated the same as the 15th guy on the roster. Why Johnson wasn’t able to do the same in Brooklyn isn’t clear, but what is clear is that the Nets’ need their biggest star to step up and take responsibility for leading them out of the hole they’re in.

While the Nets have minimal salary flexibility going forward, they don’t lack talent. And while they need to evaluate the roster, rotation, offense and defense, what they need most is a happy, motivated and productive point guard who can make the most of that talent currently in uniform.

Williams certainly has the ability to turn things around, both individually and for his team. But there’s no other way to put it than to say that he’s been a disappointment since arriving from Utah 22 months ago. And whether or not there’s blood on his hands in the wake of Johnson’s dismissal, there are certainly stains on his reputation as a franchise player.

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Who’s Sitting On A Hot Seat Now?

December 27, 2012  ·  6:11PM


–

HANG TIME, Texas — Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.

In the NBA that familiar line from the holiday classic “It’s A Wonderful Life” has a different twist.

Every time the bell rings a head coach gets his walking papers and a handful of others start looking over their shoulders.

It’s a tenuous life.

Of course, this season has already been quite unusual with Mike Brown fired by the Lakers after just five games. But now that the schedule has reached the one-third mark and claimed Avery Johnson, it’s time to look at some others down around the bottom of the standings.

Randy Wittman, Wizards (3-23) – No, he hasn’t had John Wall all season. Yes, he’s had to play at times without Nene and Trevor Ariza and Bradley Beal. But the Wizards are the only group in Washington that makes Congress look competent by comparison. After a recent 100-68 thumping by the almost-as-hapless Pistons, even Wittman seemed to have enough. “That was an embarrassment, and I apologize to our ownership and to our fans,” he said. “I especially apologize to anyone who watched that entire game. I would have turned it off after the first five minutes.” It would seem to be a matter of when, not if.

Monty Williams, Hornets (6-22) – It’s hard to see the Hornets turning right around and cutting Williams loose just months after giving him a four-year contract extension. There has been the matter of Eric Gordon’s injury and the fact that No. 1 draft pick Anthony Davis was on the shelf for 13 games. But there are rumblings in New Orleans about his constantly changing rotations and collapse of his defense, which ranks 29th.

Byron Scott, Cavaliers (7-23) — The Cavs are likely headed to their third straight trip to the lottery under Scott, but that doesn’t mean that he’s headed to the exit. The key to his previous success at New Jersey and New Orleans was having a top-notch point guard and Scott has an excellent relationship with maybe the next great thing in Kyrie Irving. This was always a long, heavy lift from the moment LeBron James bolted and that has not changed.

Mike Dunlap, Bobcats (7-21) – What a difference a month makes. After beating the Wizards on Nov. 24, the Bobcats were 7-5, had matched their win total from last season and their rookie coach was getting praised. Now 16 straight losses later, Dunlap is preaching patience with his young core of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Kemba Walker, Byron Mullens and Jeffery Taylor. He has earned that. A dozen of Charlotte’s 21 losses have come by 10 points or less, a dramatic change from the historically horrible last season when the Bobcats were rolled in one-third of their games by 20 points or more.

Lawrence Frank, Pistons (9-22) — Frank insists that his Pistons are a better team than they were a year ago. The record — identical then and now — does not back that up. He says that his club now is more competitive, but just doesn’t know how to finish games. Some of the players have grumbled that there is also a failure of coach to make the right calls and adjustments when games get late. When push comes to shove, it’s the coach that gets nudged out the door.

Dwane Casey, Raptors (9-20)– Another one of those seasons when the Raptors were supposed to turn things around and make a push for the playoffs in the lesser Eastern Conference has gone south. Injuries to Andrea Bargnani, Kyle Lowry and Linas Kleiza. Amir Johnson gets suspended for throwing his mouthguard at a referee. G.M. Bryan Colangelo says the talent is there, but the Raptors lack focus and attention to detail. The Raps’ offense is mediocre (ranked 17th) and their defense just bad (27th). Even in Canada during the winter, that all puts Casey on thin ice.

Keith Smart, Kings (9-19) – Smart got the job to replace Paul Westphal specifically because of what was perceived as an ability to work with the mercurial DeMarcus Cousins. So he turned Cousins loose last season, let him do just about anything he pleased and got enough results to earn a contract extension. Now that Cousins has abused his free-rein relationship with his coach and another season is sinking fast, it would be easy to just blame Smart, which the Kings eventually will do. But this is a bad team with a knucklehead as its centerpiece and ownership that can’t tell you where they’ll be playing in two years.

Alvin Gentry, Suns (11-18) — It was at the end of a seven-game losing streak when Suns owner Robert Sarver told ESPN.com that Gentry’s job was safe. “We’ve got confidence in our coaching staff and we’re not considering making changes,” he said. Of course, that usually means start packing your bags. It was all about starting over in this first season post-Nash in the desert. He’s changed lineups more than his ties and the result is usually the same. Gentry is a good bet to last out the season, but it’s probably going to take a big finishing kick to return next year.

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Avery Johnson Runs Cold With Point Guards

December 27, 2012  ·  5:35PM





HANGTIME SOUTHWEST – Avery Johnson keeps striking out with point guards, the position he loved to play and eventually thrived as a hard-nosed underdog.

The scorecard lists three point guards now that haven’t seen eye-to-eye with the Little General. One got traded away and the next two have played roles in him twice being fired.

On Thursday, the Brooklyn Nets did the deed, just 28 games into Johnson’s third season and little more than a week since struggling Deron Williams openly complained that Johnson’s system wasn’t doing him any favors. Williams pined for the old days in Utah with Jerry Sloan, the same coach with whom he became combative and drove into mid-season retirement two years ago.

Johnson’s trying times with point guards goes back to 2007. In July, three months after Johnson’s 67-win Dallas Mavericks were humiliated in the first round by the Golden State Warriors, Johnson elevated Devin Harris, the fifth overall pick in 2004, to starting point guard and shifted Jason Terry to shooting guard.

Johnson and Harris met up in Las Vegas, where the Mavs’ summer-league team was playing, for an intensive few days on the court, one-on-one. The two had already developed an interesting relationship, sort of like the demanding father and the son who can’t please him no matter what, or the hard-nosed college coach determined to ride his prized pupil until he emotionally cracks.

“Yes, he does push me. Yes, I don’t think that’s ever going to change. Yes, I probably get yelled at the most,” Harris said during a late-night interview back then in Vegas. “But I’ve learned to deal with it. I’ve learned to cope with it, and it’s good.”

Here’s how Johnson viewed their dynamic.

“The problem with him is he was born a point guard and he has a former point guard [as his coach] who has played at all levels and has won at all levels,” Johnson said. “That’s a big problem for him because I see plays before they happen. I see things develop and that’s a big problem for him, me being his coach and having played the position.”

Johnson then explained his shifting strategy with Harris. It’s not without irony.

“The experiment with me trying to make him Jason Kidd, that’s not his game,” Johnson said. “We have an idea now exactly who he is and I think we can maximize him being a certain type of point guard. He has a chance to be in that mold of a [Tony] Parker or even a Kevin Johnson.”

Seven months later, with Dirk Nowitzki weary of Harris’ inability to create open shots for him in Johnson’s iso-heavy offense, the Mavs traded Harris to the New Jersey Nets for Kidd.

Five games in and the Johnson-Kidd relationship went south. Down two points with 34 seconds left in San Antonio, Johnson called timeout and sat Kidd. A frenzied possession ensued and Dallas lost. Johnson said he leaned on players familiar with his system. Kidd would call getting yanked in the clutch “a first” and “maybe the biggest thing that stands out” during his short time with Johnson.

Less than three months later, Mavs owner Mark Cuban fired Johnson before the team plane had made it back from New Orleans where Dallas bowed out of the first round in five games. One reason for change was to bring in a coach and offense better suited for Kidd to orchestrate.

So Williams makes three. He complained of Johnson’s iso-heavy system and pined for Sloan’s pick-and-rolls and the kind of movement in the half court Williams said he grew up playing in high school and then at Illinois.

Some suggest that Williams’ criticisms of Johnson were meant more as praise for Sloan, driven by lingering guilt over his old coach’s surprising resignation (Williams was traded to the Nets two weeks later).

Williams’ comments come with some truth. Johnson is rigid and his offense can be unimaginative. He attempted to bend, saying that some 30 percent of the Nets’ offense was borrowed from what Williams ran under Sloan, yet it didn’t show up in Williams’ suffering shooting percentages.

Williams could have signed with his hometown Mavs and led coach Rick Carlisle‘s “flow” offense, the one Williams’ close friend Kidd captained to the 2011 championship.

But Williams said he liked what was going on in Brooklyn better. Out of excuses, Williams now shoulders the Nets’ burden.

It’s hard to say when Johnson will get his next opportunity. When he does, he’ll have to take a hard look at his offense and even deeper introspection into how he communicates with his point guard.

As Johnson knows, they can be a stubborn and hard-headed lot. But he can’t win without one being an extension of himself.

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Nets Fire Avery Johnson

December 27, 2012  ·  1:19PM

HANG TIME NEW JERSEY – On Dec. 3, Avery Johnson was named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month. On Dec. 27, Johnson was fired as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets.

In 24 days, everything fell apart for Johnson and the Nets, who are now 3-10 in December after an ugly loss in Milwaukee on Tuesday. They’ve lost five of their last six games and stand at 14-14, just a half game from being a Lottery team.

Of late, they’ve been awful defensively and not nearly as good offensively as they should be with all of their high-priced talent.

Nets efficiency

Month W L OffRtg Rank DefRtg Rank NetRtg Rank
Oct.-November 11 4 104.6 7 100.0 11 +4.6 8
December 3 10 101.0 18 108.6 28 -7.6 26

OffRtg = Points scored per 100 possessions
DefRtg = Points allowed per 100 possessions
NetRtg = Point differential per 100 possessions

Deron Williams, of course, has played well below All-Star level. He is shooting career lows from both the field and from 3-point range, and the Nets’ defense has been at its worst with Williams on the floor. And now, Williams has his hand in two coaching departures in less than two years.

Ironically, Williams pined for the offense he ran under Jerry Sloan just last week. Johnson added some of Sloan’s offense in practice this past weekend, but the move obviously came too late.

Johnson doesn’t deserve all the blame, however. After Wednesday’s loss in Milwaukee, Gerald Wallace sounded off, as documented by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post…

“We’re a way better team than what our record is,” Gerald Wallace said. “I’m [bleeping ticked] off about us losing, and especially the way we’re losing.”

…

“It’s mind-boggling that we’re in the situation we’re in,” Wallace said. “As good of a team as we are, as good as started off … you saw the potential we had as a team, and the talent we have as a team. And yet, still, instead of team, it’s more of ‘I.’ “

…

“Confidence is our problem now,” he said. “I think that’s our main problem. Guys have got too much confidence in themselves and are not trusting in the team.

“Our main thing is we’ve got to get back to a team concept, all for one. Offensively and defensively, when we move the ball, we execute, we take care of the ball, we make the extra pass. … We’ve got to do everything as a team instead of relying on one guy to do this and one guy to do that.”

…

“Anybody can talk, but we’ve got to go out and execute that out on the court, and right now we’re really not doing that,” Wallace said. “We play a good half or we play a great quarter, and then we go back to playing selfish ball offensively and defensively, and that’s not getting us anywhere.”

P.J. Carlesimo (204-296 as a head coach), who was Johnson’s lead assistant, will take over on an interim basis. The Nets might reach out to Phil Jackson, but probably don’t have what it takes (the proper geography and championship-readiness) to coax Big Chief Triangle out of L.A. Either way, they should already be talking to Stan Van Gundy, who has proven that he can coach both ends of the floor at a high level.

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Can Blatche Make Good On New Basketball Life With Brooklyn?

December 25, 2012  ·  7:30AM






HANGTIME SOUTHWEST – Andray Blatche can be a baaaaaad man. By both interpretations of the vernacular.

His talent (if not always his effort) is undeniably positive, a big man with a handle so supple he makes guys half his size envious. And, man, does he have moves. Like Sunday night when he sized up Sixers center Spencer Hawes a step inside the arc and with one dribble to the right put Hawes on his heels, veered into the paint, launched himself to the rim while levitating the basketball on the upturned fingertips of his right hand only to flip his wrist at the last moment and throw it down.

His behavior, however, is equally as undeniably negative. Confounding, maddening, a chain of self-inflicted screw-ups, senseless altercations, childish decision-making and outright selfishness.

Google “Andray Blatche” and “trouble.” Before you can finish typing “trouble,” “trouble again” pops up.

There are hard-headed players who enter the league too young, too ill-equipped to handle the sudden wealth and freewheeling lifestyle, or are simply too stubborn, and never materialize. Phoenix’s Michael Beasley is well down that road and Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins may be, too.

For some, the light bulb eventually comes on. For others, it never does. Blatche, in his first season with the Brooklyn Nets, is standing at that career crossroads. And why not hope for a so-far feel-good story to continue that way on Christmas, when Blatche, granted new life in the league, and his recently wobbly Nets play host to the Boston Celtics (Noon ET, ESPN)?

“I’m wiser, definitely wiser,” Blatche said last week during a telephone interview. “Just more open-minded today. Back then I didn’t have my priorities straight.”

Blatche is averaging 11.5 ppg, 6.0 rpg and 49.8 percent shooting in 21.0 minutes as a valued reserve. His per-36 numbers have soared to career-best levels of 19.8 points and 10.3 rebounds.

But, there’s also been signs that Blatche still doesn’t get it. After the Nets’ home opener, Blatche ran out of gas and thought it’d be a good idea to share his misadventure via Twitter. While an empty tank is no a crime, it’s not exactly a sign of staying on top of things. Putting it on Twitter didn’t do much to enhance his reputation.

A few weeks later, as his old Washington Wizards were in midst of a long losing streak to start the season, Blatche ribbed the club that drafted him and signed him to an extension in interviews and on Twitter. He said the Wizards, who drafted him in the second round and signed him to an extension despite numerous red flags, didn’t support him and “they tried to end me.”

So the ending to this story, happy or sad, is far from told.

“It was a reality check,” Blatche said. “I almost lost something that I love doing, so you can say it was a wake-up call.”

Blatche isn’t talking about the Wizards surrendering by using the amnesty clause to rid themselves of Blatche, even with all that talent to still to be mined and with $23 million over three seasons still to be paid.

“There was no doubt in my mind that [being amnestied] was going to happen,” Blatche said. “So it was more of just getting myself ready for the next stage of whatever was going to happen.”

Only nothing happened. Blatche’s phone didn’t ring. July, August, nothing.

“Oh yeah,” Blatche said. “During the summer, I didn’t get no phone calls.” (more…)

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No Easy Answers For Brooklyn Malaise

December 19, 2012  ·  11:58PM

NEW YORK – December has not been kind to the Brooklyn Nets.

When the month started, the Nets were 11-4, they ranked 11th in defensive efficiency and Avery Johnson was named the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month. Less than three weeks later, the Nets are 13-12, they rank as one of the three worst defensive teams in the month, they just got thrashed by the New York Knicks, and Johnson’s seat might be getting a little warm.

Just two days ago, Johnson’s star point guard Deron Williams publicly pined for the “flex” offense he ran in Utah. The Nets actually rank in the top 10, offensively, but they’re clearly not getting the most of their high-priced talent.

Williams is shooting less than 40 percent from the field and less than 30 percent from 3-point range. Joe Johnson has recovered somewhat from a slow start, but he’s mostly doing his own work to get his shots. Gerald Wallace is too often a spot-up shooter instead of a cutter, and Brook Lopez isn’t seeing the paint as much as he did before he injured his foot.

“I don’t have something I can really put my finger on,” Williams said of the team’s offensive struggles on Wednesday. “I guess it’s still a learning curve. We’re still learning to play with each other, still trying to pick our spots.”

Even against the Knicks’ struggling defense on Wednesday, Brooklyn often took too long to get to any kind of action that would put New York at a disadvantage. On too many possessions, the ball wound up in Williams’ or Johnson’s hands with nothing to do but try to beat their man in isolation as the shot clock wound down. When they tried posting their big guards against their opponent’s smaller backcourt, the Knicks fronted the post and the Nets failed to do anything about it.

Two nights after the Houston Rockets scorched the Knicks by playing fast and aggressive, the Nets played slow and deliberate.

Still, the Nets managed to score more than a point per possession (86/83) on Wednesday. Yes, their offense could be better. Much better. But their defense couldn’t be much worse.

The Knicks tore that defense apart on Wednesday, scoring 100 points on 83 possessions. Carmelo Anthony was barely bothered by Wallace, scoring 31 points on 22 shots. Raymond Felton kept running high pick-and-rolls with Tyson Chandler because the Nets couldn’t stop it.

“We have a game plan that we tried to execute tonight on the defensive end, and it just wasn’t working,” Williams said afterward. “We weren’t doing the things that we needed to. We weren’t getting the help in the right spots, our rotations were slow, we let guys drive right to the basket without any help. And that’s not how we want to play.”

The Nets were so flustered, Johnson started doubling Anthony as soon as he crossed the mid-court line — the ultimate sign of defensive desperation.

“Defensively, tonight, is where we lost the game,” Williams admitted. “Our offense wasn’t clicking on all cylinders, but we didn’t get enough stops.”

Offense. Defense. The Nets’ lost their way when Lopez got hurt on Nov. 28, and they haven’t been able to get back to where they were when they were beating the Clippers, Knicks and Celtics on a five-game winning streak that had them playing for first place in the Eastern Conference just 18 days ago.

“It seemed like we were rolling pretty well and we just kind of hit a snag,” Williams said. “And we can’t figure out how to get it back — get our confidence back as a group. We’re looking to do that.”

Williams isn’t going to put the onus on Avery Johnson to right the ship though.

“It’s on us,” he said. “It’s not anybody’s fault. It’s us as players. We’ve got to come out with more energy and more focus. It’s like we lost a little bit of our toughness. So we’ve got to get that back.”

Yes, the coach needs to get more creative with his offense. But the Nets’ issues are about more than just Xs and Os. Defense especially is about effort and focus.

“Our fight, our energy, our intensity,” Williams said when asked what needs to improve. “Just how we come out and approach the game, I think, as a group. We have to come out a lot more focused mentally, just ready to compete for 48 minutes; not 24 minutes, not 36 minutes, [but] for a full 48 minutes.”

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Johnson: ‘Supreme Confidence’ In Deron Williams

December 18, 2012  ·  2:27AM

HANGTIME SOUTHWEST – Seems a wee bit early into a five-year, $98 million contract for Brooklyn Nets guard Deron Williams to clip current coach Avery Johnson and pine for the one he provoked into sudden retirement.

With the Utah Jazz marching into Brooklyn on Tuesday night, Williams used Monday to delve a little deeper into his shooting slump with the New York media and fired a rare shot this season that hit its intended target.

Williams said he hasn’t been the same point guard since he left Utah, left Jerry Sloan and the offensive system Sloan ran like clockwork for 25 seasons and 54 games, the last 22 seasons and 54 games with the Jazz.

With a field-goal percentage holding under 40, and a 3-point percentage chilling in the 20s, Williams said he misses the motion offense, the cutting, the screening, the passing, the type of schemes he’s run since high school. He said he’s still adjusting to Johnson’s more isolation-based approach.

Surely his good buddy and new cross-town rival, Jason Kidd, told him as much during those summer golf outings in The Hamptons. After all, Kidd, in his short time with Johnson in Dallas, never invited the Little General to his birthday dinner.

So Williams tossed newly revealed system struggles on the pile of multiple bodily pains and strains, and a mental block he now says he’s up against as probable culprits for his poor shooting percentages.

Johnson said Monday that he has “supreme confidence” in Williams’ ability to snap out of it during a telephone interview with NBA.com conducted prior to Williams’ comments.

“First of all, everything starts in the mind. I told him he’s got to get it out of his mind, he’s not struggling. You’ve got to get that out of your mind,” Johnson said. “His shots are not wide left and wide right or short. Most of them are just going in the basket and kind of popping out a little bit. The main thing is his shots are right on target. He’s just got to work on his arc a little bit of getting it up and over. But for the most part his shot looks really, really good. He’s just had a couple of shots that’s popped in and out. It’ll come.”

Although the Nets have struggled of late, slipping to 13-10 after a 10-4 start, it’s not like they’ve hit an iceberg. They missed center Brook Lopez for seven games, going 2-5, and Gerald Wallace was out early. Still, Brooklyn has notched wins against the Knicks, the Clippers and Boston twice.

Through it all, Williams has struggled to make shots, including a couple late that could have affected outcomes. He’s shooting 38.8 percent from the floor and 33.9 percent on 3s in December with the Nets losing six of eight.

For the season, Williams is averaging 17.0 points (38.8 percent shooting and 29.9 percent on 3s) and 8.3 assists.

Johnson said Williams is still getting used to new personnel, and that he’s not concerned because time is still on Williams’ side.

“It’ll come and I think he’s still getting used to playing with Joe [Johnson] and finding the right spots when Joe gets double-teamed, because he used to be the guy to get double-teamed all the time and now it’s Joe,” Avery Johnson said. “So I just think he’s fine. I told him don’t over-think it, that’s why I haven’t called you into my office to have a big meeting because I got supreme confidence in you, and it’s 23 games, it’s not 46 games.

“If we’re at this point after 46 games or 64 games, then we can have a talk. But it’s kind of cycle of the season. He’s a really good shooter, he’s a terrific point guard and I just told him I’m not worried so he shouldn’t be worried about anything, so just play.”

Williams could have been playing for his hometown Dallas Mavericks and joined Dirk Nowitzki and likely Kidd, too (he almost certainly would have stayed in Dallas had Williams signed), and run 2011 championship coach Rick Carlisle’s “flow” offense.

He instead chose the more lucrative option and to lead the Nets’ transformation in Brooklyn and under Johnson,  having played 77 games in his system over parts of two seasons. The Jazz traded Williams in late February 2011, not coincidentally, just two weeks after Sloan surprisingly re-signed having lost a war of wills with his All-Star point guard.

So it would seem a wee bit early into a five-year, $98 million contract, into this season of rebirth with excitable fans and a re-tooled roster shaped to Williams’ liking — or so he said when he re-signed — for Williams to decide to selectively reminisce.

“I was telling the guys just play free and have fun, and we don’t want anybody on our team to put the whole weight of the team on their shoulders,” Johnson said. “That’s why we’re a team. We’re not one individual, we’re a team. Joe started off slow and I predicted he would come around in the middle of December. So he’s coming around.

“Deron is going to be fine. So I just think guys need to relax, don’t press, just have fun. This is a fun time in their lives.”

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Nets Happy To Have Lopez Back

December 17, 2012  ·  6:33PM


HANGTIME SOUTHWEST – Did the Brooklyn Nets’ performances during Brook Lopez‘s seven-game injury absence classify him as their most irreplaceable player?

Perhaps. And not for the reason you’re probably thinking.

“It’s not even that (Lopez’s 18 points a game on 52.3 percent shooting),” coach Avery Johnson said during a telephone interview on Monday. “The kid was blocking almost three shots a game.”

Of course, it wouldn’t be an easy ride without their floor general, Deron Williams, even with him mired in a shooting slump and grinding through various aches and pains. Still, Lopez’s importance to Brooklyn becoming a contender in the East can’t be undersold after the Nets went 2-5 while he was sidelined with a mild strain to his left foot. It was the same foot he fractured prior to the start of last season, then injured again and ultimately reduced his fourth season to just five games.

“I just know when we had Brook Lopez in the lineup [this season before the injury] we were 10-4,” Johnson said, “and we could be a pretty good team.”

The foot injuries didn’t stop the Nets, now 13-10, from re-signing the 7-footer with the impressive set shot to a max deal during the summer once they finally had had enough of the Dwightmare and bowed out of the race for Dwight Howard‘s services.

The re-branded and re-cast Nets, having re-signed Gerald Wallace at a hefty price, traded for Joe Johnson and his enormous contract and maxed-out Williams, among other deals to bring in key role players, decided that the highly skilled and soft-spoken Lopez — the tame one compared to his wild-haired, less-talented twin brother Robin with the Hornets — would be their center for the future.

Without a doubt, Nets fans holding their breath for a Williams-Howard combo would closely watch Lopez’s progress — and especially his health — as Howard, a three-time defensive player of the year whose first choice was to play in Brooklyn, went to work with Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.

“Brook’s kind of got that Tim Duncan kind of personality,” Johnson said. “He’s not a rah-rah guy, he’s not a guy that’s going to talk a lot on the court, but he’s a great teammate, he’s talented and he’s improving defensively,” Johnson said. “And I think that’s what he wanted to prove more than anything, that he’s not going to be a defensive liability in the middle.

“He’s gotten stronger. He lifted more weights this summer than he ever has his whole career combined, so he’s maturing. When I first got the kid he was 21 going on 16. I’m really excited because he’s going to get so much better.”

The Nets are 1-1 in Lopez’s return with Johnson limiting his minutes to ease him back in. Brooklyn plays the Utah Jazz at home Tuesday and the Nets will be particularly giddy to have their big man up and running Wednesday night for their third meeting in three weeks against Tyson Chandler and the cross-town Knicks, and the first at Madison Square Garden.

Brooklyn won the opener, 96-89, with Lopez playing like a grown man — 22 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks. The Knicks won the second game a week ago, 100-97, with Lopez sidelined.

With Lopez out, the Nets allowed 9.2 points more a game than with him on the floor (90.7 compared to 99.9), and opponents shot markedly better when they didn’t have to deal with Lopez’s long arms defending the rim.

Lopez has 40 blocks, 11th in the league despite having missed seven games. He’s averaging a career-high 2.5 blocks a game, which ranks him sixth in the league, on par with Duncan (2.54) and Howard (2.56) and close to Roy Hibbert (2.96), NBA co-leaders Larry Sanders (3.00) and Serge Ibaka (3.00).

Last year when Lopez played in just five of 66 games, the Nets allowed 99.1 points a game. They’re allowing 93.8 this season. Credit much of that to Lopez’s presence in the paint. The Nets finished last season with 260 blocks, 70 fewer than their opponents and ranked last in the league averaging 3.9 a game.

They already have 118 blocks this season, 22 more than their opponents.

“He is blocking shots,” Johnson said of Lopez, whose previous career-best was 1.8 blocks a game as a rookie. “When people go down the middle they’re going to have to think twice because he’s going to go after it. And he’s having fun going after it.”

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Mavs’ 3-Point Streak Ends at 1,108 Games

December 15, 2012  ·  9:45AM

 

HANGTIME SOUTHWEST – Robert Pack, Travis Best, Antoine Walker, Antoine Wright, Dan Dickau, Erick Dampier, Danny Manning.

Just a few of the names that contributed along the way to the Dallas Mavericks’ remarkable (but once not unrivaled) 3-point shooting streak. For 1,108 consecutive games entering Friday night’s chilly visit to Toronto, at least one Mavericks player has made at least one 3-point shot.

Back when gas cost a buck-seventeen, before George W. Bush became president, as Y2K threatened every last computer, even pre-dating Mark Cuban‘s first NBA fine, Michael Finley and Erick Strickland combined to make three 3-pointers in a 97-90 win over the Sacramento Kings at the now-demolished Reunion Arena.

The date was Feb. 27, 1999.

Keith Van Horn, Cedric Ceballos, Shawn Bradley, Trenton Hassell, Adam Harrington, Danny Manning, Rawle Marshall.

On Feb. 26, 1999, the season was just 13 games old because of the lockout. Dirk Nowitzki was a rookie. Don Nelson was in his second year as head coach. The Mavs were 4-9, but had won two in a row when they got to Salt Lake City. In the middle game of a back-to-back-to-back, the Mavs missed all eight 3-point attempts and lost to the Jazz 80-65.

Incredibly, it would still stand as the last game that the Mavs didn’t make at least one 3-pointer as they arrived Friday at Air Canada Centre.

Drew Gooden, Juwan Howard, Antoine Rigaudeau, Steve Novak, Matt Carroll, Jerry Stackhouse, Vernon Maxwell.

On this night, the Mavs would not have available the franchise’s top three active 3-point shooters. Nowitzki, the all-time leader, remains shelved after October knee surgery. Jason Terry, second, plays for the Boston Celtics. Jason Kidd, fourth, plays for the New York Knicks. Third on the list is Finley. He works in the Mavs’ front office.

As play entered the fourth quarter, the Raptors held a 69-55 lead. One reason was Dallas had yet to make a 3-pointer, missing all 12 attempts. Toronto had made seven of its 24, hardly a flattering percentage, yet a 21-point differential nonetheless.

Early in the fourth quarter, Derek Fisher looked to have extended the streak to 1,109. But after a replay review, Fisher’s foot was determined to be stepping on the arc. Two points.

Dallas would attempt one more and miss it: 0-for-13.

Brandon Bass, Steve Nash, J.J. Barea, James Singleton, Kelenna Azubuike, Alexis Ajinca, Lamar Odom.

Fifteen times during the streak, the Mavs skated by with a lone 3-pointer. Arguably the most famous streak-saver came on April 19, 2006, the final game of the season. With a playoff seed wrapped up, coach Avery Johnson sat out some starters, including Nowitzki getting his first rest of the season, and he greatly limited others.

With Dallas trailing 84-68 to the Seattle SuperSonics, Johnson drew up a play to get DeSagana Diop his first career 3-pointer with less than a minute to go in the 7-foot center’s fifth season.

By gosh, he hit it.

“You think I would’ve shot it if he [Johnson] didn’t draw it up?” Diop would say, smiling.

The streak lived on, 610 games strong, into another offseason.

Wang Zhizhi, Eduardo Najera, Josh Howard, Marquis Daniels, Antawn Jamison, Christian Laettner, Hubert Davis.

The second-longest consecutive 3-point streak in NBA history belongs, coincidentally, to the Raptors at 986 games.

And now for the truly bizarre part. Remember the date Feb. 26, 1999? The night the Mavs went 0-for-8 from behind the arc in Utah — the last game they would not make at least one 3-pointer for the next 13 years — the Raptors’ Vince Carter, Doug Christie and Dee Brown combined to make four 3-pointers in a 102-92 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Who knows how minuscule the odds, but one night before the Mavs embarked on their record streak, the Raptors had started their own, one that would span 986 games until Jan. 24, 2011.

On Dec. 14, 2012, the Raptors finally stopped Dallas’ at a potentially untouchable 1,108.

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