The Nets Effect: Who Needs VC?
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by Ibearg
If you’re a basketball fan you surely know Vince Carter, the Nets 65 million dollar man, is out for about a month with an ankle sprain. I may be in the minority, but I’m not at all upset about this. In fact I think this could be for the best. The Nets will have 5 guys on the floor who will defend, Carter has been shooting at a terrible rate and they will run their offense all the time rather then endless pick and roles for Carter. Carter had already been playing with a bum thumb, so hopefully when he comes back he will be fully healthy and be a nice addition to the team, but I for one will not miss him. I’m more anxious for the return of Marcus Williams than Carter.
In the Nets first full game without Carter they faced off against the Hornets and they were the classic red headed girl with a curl; very good at times and very bad at other times. In the first half they didn’t defend particularly well and fell behind by double digits. Would Carter have helped them against the Hornets 8-11 three point shooting? I would guess not. The Nets came out on fire in the second half though behind 16 third quarter points from Richard Jefferson. They built as big as a nine point lead in the fourth only to have it slip away as they struggled to put anything in the basket towards the end of the quarter. They would up with a grand total of 15 points scored in the quarter. Not coincidentally Jefferson was held scoreless in the fourth as the Nets did not do nearly enough to get him the ball and he only had 3 shots in the quarter; one of which wasn’t really a shot. Why they went away from him so much I don’t know, although when you have Darrell Armstrong, Jason Collins and Sean Williams on the floor at the same time as him, you’re going to have trouble finding space.
One of the bright spots in the game besides Jefferson was Sean Williams. When he’s on the floor he seems to be involved in just about every play. He made several very athletic blocks which he’s know for, but he was also active on the boards and made several good aggressive cuts to the hole putting home one dunk and drawing three shooting fouls. He earned the moniker Elastic Man from the Nets play by play guy Ian Eagle, but I think we can do better than that. I feel like he’s a baby animal of some sort. A gazelle or deer or something. Very athletic, all arms and legs, but he doesn’t quite know what to do with himself yet. Sometimes he’ll go after a shot that he doesn’t have much of a chance of blocking and leave himself out of position for a rebound. As he learns to better control his enthusiasm and athleticism he should become a very valuable member of the team.
