Portland Trail Bloggers

The VS Series: The New Jersey Nets

Welcome everyone to the PTB VS Series. The VS Series will be a team by team breakdown of how the Blazers match up against the rest of the league. We’ll be posting a new entry in the series every day until the season opener against LA. 29 days. 29 teams. Let’s get it on!

The Nets

Last season’s results: 1-1

Games this season: 2

Team Breakdown

Somebody call Guinness: the New Jersey Nets are about to break the record for the most eggs ever put into one basket. In the last 12 months they’ve gotten rid of the guy who made Garden State basketball relevant again, given fan favorite Richard Jefferson away for a marketing move (Yi Jianlian), and tried to convince the fan base that picks like Brook Lopez, Ryan Anderson and Chris Douglas-Roberts can be corners to actual professional basketball teams. Of course, I’m surprised they had time to do anything what with praying to the basketball gods that Jay-Z can convince super-friend LeBron James to be the new face of Brooklyn basketball. How decimated will this franchise be if The King doesn’t come to his new throne?

As for the team that the Nets are going to trot out this season, let’s break it down.

Position by Position

Point guard: Steve Blake vs. Devin Harris

Harris put up the best numbers of his four-year career last season averaging 15 ppg and doling out 6.5 assists per contest. He was the key piece the Nets got back in the Kidd deal and is a cornerstone of the franchise. Definitely not a three point shooter, he uses a long body and just overall quickness to slide past defenders and get to the rack. On defense, that same length gives him a major size advantage over some of the smaller point guards in the league. He’s also a guy Portland allegedly was very close to acquiring last February so that should also speak to the quality of his game.

Advantage: Harris. He’s an above-average to good starting point guard in the league while Blake falls closer to below-average. His defensive abilities give him a major edge on Blake.

Shooting guard: Brandon Roy vs. Vince Carter

Will it be the unstoppable, jump-over-a-seven-footer, three-point-swishing, dunk machine we occasionally get to see? Or will it be the moping, bizarro VC who’s perfectly content to never step foot in the key on offense and jack up 25-footers all night long? I’m thinking the latter. Portland and New Jersey don’t get together until January 15, plenty of time for Carter to realize the Nets are sinking faster than the stock market.

Advantage: Roy if the bad-Carter comes out; push if the good-Carter shows. You know Roy will be playing his hardest every night but you never know what the enigmatic Vince will come to the arena with.

Small forward: Martell Webster vs. Bobby Simmons

Simmons used to be good averaging somewhere around 15 points a game on two decent Clippers and Bucks squad. He was a very solid third or fourth fiddle but could definitely not lead a band by himself. Unfortunately, those two years earned him a fat contract from Milwaukee and he got a bit complacent but also injured and missed all of two seasons ago. He’s one of the biggest eggs in the LeBron basket as his $10 million comes off the books at the end of this coming season. And we all know what happens in contract years. He’ll average somewhere around 14 and 5 boards on a crappy Nets team, someone like Kevin McHale will fall in love and he’ll kick back for four more years with a brand new deal. Still, could be some inspired play from Simmons.

Advantage: If it’s a healthy Martell we’re considering here, maybe it’s a push. Maybe. I’m pretty high on Simmons this year so I’d have to give him the nod. But if it’s him versus Travis Outlaw? Without question the edge goes to Outlaw.

Power forward: LaMarcus Aldridge vs. Yi Jianlian

The second-year Chinaman found out last season that NBA players play slightly harder defense than the countless chairs Yi worked out against leading up to the 2007 Draft. I seriously can’t remember another player getting as hyped as much as he did, with as little actual footage to judge from. Then there was the rumor that he wasn’t as young as his documents said. Ages ranged from 19 to 22 with some people guessing 112. Those people were wrong. Anyway, the Yi for this year will have a better grasp of what playing in the league entails. He’s seen it, struggled through it and maybe learned a little bit from it.

Advantage: Aldridge. Not close at all. Yi’s a hope for the franchise’s marketing people who want to capture all those billions of viewers who tuned in for last season’s Houston vs. Milwaukee game. He’s good at that and a good thing to rally behind other than Yao for Chinese sports enthusiasts but all the support in the world won’t help against a superiorly talented L.A.

Center: Greg Oden vs. Josh Boone/Sean Williams/Brook Lopez

Lots of youth all over the place in this one. As long as Oden’s healthy, his giant-sized stature will crush any of these three weaklings. Boone and Williams are really more power forwards being pushed into center’s duty because their team stinks. Lopez could be ok down the line but there’s no way he’s ready to take on someone so much bigger and stronger so soon. If he’s the starter by Jan. 15’s showdown in the East Rutherford, he’ll foul out by the midway point of the third quarter.

Advantage: Oden.

Key Bench:

Nets: Keyon Dooling, Trenton Hassell, Stomile Swift, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Ryan Anderson

The only team the Nets’ bench puts fear into is Cleveland because they know in two years most of those guys and their big contracts will be gone, opening the door for You-Know-Who to bolt Ohio’s second-best city for New York’s best borough.

Advantage: Blazers.

Series outcome: Even though the Nets suck on paper and this is a team who’s eyeing the future like one of those hopeful fortune tellers who hope they can guess what might happen in someone’s life, I’ll call a 1-1 split with each team winning at home. The game at NJ comes in the middle of a mediocre four-game Eastern Conference road swing. It just screams throwaway/letdown game for Portland. Don’t worry. We’ll return the favor March 13 at the Rose Garden when the Nets are in full-on tank mode.