NETS

Most of the teams in the NBA would give anything to take part in back to back runs at a championship, but the New Jersey Nets had a slightly different idea of where they were headed. The team finished the 2001 season with only 26 wins but bounced back in 2002 to win 52 games and make an improbable run all the way to the NBA Finals. The team continued their domination over the Eastern Conference in 2003 with another run to the Finals before losing again to the Los Angeles Lakers, led by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. For most squads, a back to back run to the finals and a decent start to the season would be reason for optimism and hope but in New Jersey, all it did was ask management to fire Coach Byron Scott. The organization said the team needed to change things around and bring in a new leader. That new leader was Lawrence Frank, a young assistant coach that spends hours upon hours involving himself with the game of basketball. Frank seemed to rejuvenate the team and they won their third consecutive Atlantic division championship before falling to the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The team has had an adventurous off-season and no one is sure exactly how 2005 will shape up.

The team slowed down near the end of last season when point guard Jason Kidd began to have knee injuries. Kidd was the leader of the team and when he was out of the lineup, things definitely changed. The Nets traded away Kenyon Martin to the Nuggets and Kerry Kittles to the Clippers to cut costs and make a transition even though Kittles and Martin combined for 30 points, 13.5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals a night. They signed Richard Jefferson to a huge contract extension and Kidd wasn’t pleased to see the way the team was moving around. The team also signed players like Eric Williams and Rodney Buford in free agency but lost Rodney Rogers, a big man with ample range on the perimeter. The Nets made a few strange moves in their section of the 2004 NBA draft when they chose small forward Viktor Khryapa out of Moscow and then traded him to the Trail Blazers for point guard Eddie Gill and $3 million. They’re second round pick was used on Christian Drejer, a forward who started last season at the University of Florida before leaving mid-season to play professional basketball in Europe with FC Barcelona. Drejer is a bit weak and will need to develop quickly if he wants to stick around in the NBA.

The New Jersey Nets have won the last three division championships but they haven’t even averaged 50 wins over that span to accomplish it. They’ve played in the weakest division over the last few years and they’ll continue to play in one of the weaker divisions again this year even with the realignment of the NBA. They’ll match up with the Boston Celtics, the Philadelphia 76ers, the New York Knicks, and the Toronto Raptors and although each of those teams will compete, the Nets will still be the favorites to win the Atlantic for the fourth straight season. Their biggest competition will likely come from the New York Knicks, a team that made numerous moves in the off-season. Legendary point guard Isiah Thomas was named the general manager in the middle of last season and the team responded but was swept by the Nets in the first round of the playoffs. The Nets will have one of the better starting lineups in the division and the conference but they’ll win most of their games through their backcourt with Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson starting. Jason Collins will start at center with Aaron Williams starting and power forward and new signee Eric Williams at the small forward spot. The New Jersey Nets will also have a number of key players coming off the bench so that superstars like Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson won’t have to worry about playing too much during the regular season and being overly fatigued as they head into the postseason for the fourth season in a row.

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