Gameday Preview Charlotte Bobcats at New Jersey Nets

by David A. Arnott on Apr 12, 2010 12:03 PM EDT

Pump Up Music: Cake -- "Stickshifts and Safety Belts"

The Big Picture: The New Jersey Nets are the most boring bad team in the NBA today, which might sound crazy if you'd only watched their games against the Charlotte Bobcats. The Cats are 1-2 against the Nyets (maybe not!) this season, and had to come up with a huge comeback to win that one game, 79-68, in which Gerald Wallace pulled down 20 boards. Their collection of talent isn't so bad that we should pity them, but they're not good enough to warrant more than a passing interest if our team's not involved.

But to be fair, the Nets have a lot going for them right now, even if they don't have any must-watch players. Brook Lopez is very good, Devin Harris is good enough to play point for a title contender and good enough to land some pretty big fish should they use him as trade bait after drafting John Wall, Yi Jianlian is finally scratching the surface of his tremendous upside potential, and they've still got Rod Thorn calling the shots. When they move to Brooklyn, they'll sell more jerseys than the rest of the NBA combined, and even if that doesn't benefit them directly (it doesn't, because the league and players split jersey revenue evenly, if I recall correctly), it'll go a long way to capturing hearts in the Tri-State area.

Key to Victory: I really don't know. They should be competitive or clearly better in every area of the game, so I don't know how the Nets have had such success against the Cats. Specific ideas, anyone?

Detail That May Interest .08% of You: Josh Boone was a 1st round draft pick despite averaging only a 10/7 in his final year of college ball.

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Larry Hughes going for 50 tonight. Lol.

by Charlotte Bobcat on Apr 12, 2010 12:19 PM EDT reply actions

Lopez is a monster.

They have a versatile big man in Yi. This the thing I have noticed about the Cats this year. If you have a Versatile big man…you’re gonna hurt us.

Take Dirk for example (as mismanaged as I think the Mavs game at the Cable Box was this year), he destroys almost every single time we play against him. Also lets take the Bane of our existence, the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers are like a poor mans Mavericks. Troy Murphy is their Dirk EXCEPT he can rebound, Danny Granger is an upgraded Caron, Mike Dunleavy is a less athletic Shawn Marion, TJ Ford will never be Jason Kidd but he SURE IS FAST, and Roy Hibbert is a step below Brendan Haywood. They have a versatile shooting guard in Brandon Rush coming off the bench (a la Jason Terry). Funny comparison huh?

I fear this is the same problem with the Nets. Lopez is much better than Hibbert or Haywood for that matter. Devin Harris is a definite starter for years to come. Courtney Lee can take and make big shots. Like I said before Yi is extremely versatile except the fact that he won’t bang down low. The Nets actually have an upside with the players they have their claws on. So they actually CAN matchup well against us.

Sorry about the length of this. I had to make my point. We’ve never beat the Mavericks and teams that resemble weaker versions of the Mavericks make us sweat.

"Rufus On Fire" :http://www.rufusonfire.com/ - where even the haters get a little love...or get dunked on by Gerald Wallace. Either one.

by maverick24 on Apr 12, 2010 12:35 PM EDT reply actions

The Nets will be in the playoffs next year.

by Charlotte Bobcat on Apr 12, 2010 12:39 PM EDT up reply actions

Thats what the said about the Wizards last year.

An improvement of that magnitude is unlikely.

by Ft.Mill Bobcat on Apr 12, 2010 2:05 PM EDT up reply actions

The game that eliminated the Bobcats from

the playoffs last year was a loss to the lowly Thunder, who had only won their 22nd or 23rd (can’t remember) game at that point. This was my first time watching them, and I had told a friend who watched the game with me, in 2 years, the Thunder would be very good and in the playoffs. They were a young team with good players, that didn’t “play the right way” as Larry likes to say. The way they beat us that night was really all about athleticism. They had a lot of turnover and mental errors, but you could clearly see the talent there. Now, that same team, with James Harden being the only big addition has a record good enough to compete for the number 2 seed in the hectic western conference. When I watched New Jersey beat us this year, I said the same thing to my boy. Once they eliminate the mental errors, all of the sudden, we’re looking at a roster that features a top 10 PG and a top 5 Center (the two hardest positions to filled, added with a VERY young but talented core of players that include Yi Janilin, Terrence Williams, Chris Douglas Roberts, Courtney Lee, and Kris Humphries. You could add a player like David Lee and whoever they get in the draft (could very well be Wall) and this team can compete for a bottom seed in the playoffs easily.

by Charlotte Bobcat on Apr 12, 2010 5:39 PM EDT up reply actions

possibly

If, you know, they get Lebron James and Dwayne Wade on the same team. Otherwise, I don’t think it’s going to happen. They’re a 28 team win at best.

by adamcawa on Apr 12, 2010 3:47 PM EDT up reply actions

An addition of John Salmons would be enough

to get the Nets to the playoffs, an addition of LeBron or D Wade turns them into instant championship contenders.

by Charlotte Bobcat on Apr 12, 2010 5:31 PM EDT up reply actions

It should be interesting to see what a healthy Chandler does defensively tonight.

Steve Martin and Del Curry have openly speculated (and hinted at inside information about it as well) that the last two games were rest/heal time for the starters. They also followed that up by saying the final two games against the Nets and Bulls were where Larry was going to go all out for wins. The speculation is that these two teams are the kittens that LB will use to “blood” his pit bulls to get them good and vicious for the big pit fight.

If our broadcast buddies are correct, Larry Brown wants to destroy and humiliate the Nets tonight and the lineups we see in this game and against the Bulls are going to provide a preview of what the Bobcats will be throwing at their opponents in the first round.

by Ourdaywillcome on Apr 12, 2010 1:08 PM EDT up reply actions