Joe Harris, who re-signed with the Nets on a two-year, $16MM deal this past offseason, is helping Brooklyn play a better offensive game, Tom Dowd of NBA.com writes. The team’s shooting has helped keep the paint open and entering Tuesday, the Nets led the league in drives per game.
“Just because the spacing that we have, even with Jarrett [Allen] being able to step out and pose a threat at the 3-point line to open stuff up, we’ve just got to do a better job making the correct reads where, the drive is there, obviously we’re taking it,” said Harris. “But if they’re not and they’re contested, especially against these heavy shift teams, we’ve got to get off it and move the ball quicker. Where we’ve gotten ourselves in trouble is getting in there, turning it over versus getting in there, making the right pass, making the simple pass and moving it from good shots to great shots.”
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Shabazz Napier is expected to make his debut for the Nets on Wednesday against the Cavs, Dowd relays in the same piece. “[Napier] looked good in practice yesterday, so that’s a good sign,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “Don’t expect big minutes from him, but we’ll build him up. I think he’ll be that sparkplug. I think it gives us something defensively. He creates turnovers. He’s a ball-pressure guy. He gets into guys. He’s fast. And offensively he can give you a punch and come off and get 10 points in 10 minutes. His experience, right? NBA experience. He’ll help us.”
- The Magic envision Mohamed Bamba becoming Orlando’s version of Joel Embiid down the road, Sean Deveney of Sporting News writes. “I said to [team president Jeff Weltman],” Hammond recalled, “‘It’s going to be interesting to see in about five years from now.’ He’s not as naturally big and thick as Joel, but just see who he is five years from now. He’s going to look a lot different. We just have to have a lot of patience.”
- Blake Griffin has emerged as a leader for the Pistons, Keith Langlois of NBA.com contends. Coach Dwane Casey applauded Griffin’s mental toughness after a recent win, comparing the power forward to Gary Payton, Kevin Garnett, and Dirk Nowitzki. Casey will likely have even kinder words for his star after Griffin put up 50 points on the Sixers on Tuesday, scoring the final bucket to win to the game.
Comparing Griffin to Garnett’s mental toughness is laughable.
Because you’ve been around both enough to compare the two right??
Unless you’ve spent time around either player all you know about them is what the media has fed you. Might be true, might be false, but unless you’ve gone to war with both guys, and been in their locker rooms, you can’t fairly judge…
I find two things comical. One being Kevin Hart, and the other is when people make assumptions based off things they truly know nothing about…
brutha u should expand your sense of humor
Nothing about the OP was said in a humorous manner. Expand your comprehension of English, brah.
We can watch them play though, and we can judge there fireyness or competitiveness or softness by that?
It seems a little odd for Hammond to refer to Weltman as President Jeff. I get that’s what he his but it’s still a weird way to address a coworker. I doubt Weltman calls him General Manager Hammond
Of course Casey is going to give a glowing if not stretching it report on his best player, all coaches do it.
That said, Blake’s start has been fantastic, and quickly the Pistons are starting to make it look like Dwayne is a better coach than what he has lauded for previously. It’s three games in, so don’t want to overreact, but this Pistons team looks quite a bit different than the one that SVG coaches last year.
Maybe that’s b/c they arent dealing with several injuries to important pieces….
Blake Griffin, who historically plays 3 quarters and disappears, probably isn’t someone you would compare to those guys. That being said, he showed up last night and played the entire game. That’s what he should he doing. This guy made himself into a top 10 type of player a couple of years ago, but you cant be considered one of those guys if you stop playing. Hopefully, this is the start of a different mentality
Where was all that mental toughness in those playoff runs with Paul and Jordan though? That Piston team is severely flawed, Stanley Johnson is looking more and more like a trade-able piece, might as well trade Stanley,Ellenson, and a pick for Butler and just shoot for the Finals if you are Detroit.
Minnesota ain’t making that deal dionis
Pistons have all they need for a finals run– barring injury. And that trade idea will never be offered it’s so bad.
Really?
Good shots to great shots, that’s the warriors entire offensive scheme. I hope nobody thinks this clown is smart or innovative. He s a Xerox copy machine, he tries and fails to copy the original.