Harris' Hot 97
Devin Harris is a good sport.
He took what Stuart Tanner did to him in this video in stride and was able to laugh about it.
In case you haven’t seen it, check it out. The Nets’ point guard was schooled by a legendary London street baller and the youtube video made the rounds. He said he got 97 calls yesterday about it.
What happened Devin?
“When I first went out there, they told me one of the Special Olympic kids wanted to play me one-on-one,” Harris said. “So I went down there, said OK, shot jump shots or whatever.
“So he hit the first shot, and I was like, ‘OK, he has a little talent.’ Then he just whipped out the other thing - I was kind of confused at the point with all these dribbling moves, and before I knew it he threw it through my legs and laid it up.
“At that point it was time to go. So they had fun with it, they got me pretty good. I didn’t expect it to be that popular, but it is what it is.”
***
There were many encouraging things from the Nets’ 2-0 trip to Europe and one was the play of Brook Lopez, particularly in the second half of the London game. Vince Carter had something to do with it.
Lopez struggled in the first half and Carter had a conversation with him, basically trying to get “the nasty” out of the rookie.
“He told me to go up and dunk it,” Lopez said after practice today. “He just kind of changed my mentality a bit.”
There is some irony in Carter trying to bring out the nasty in someone else. Then again, when it comes to dunking on people, Carter is nasty.
“Being seven feet, we want him to have a nasty side to him,” Carter said. “Even if he doesn’t make (the dunk), his intent, the referee will see he’s being aggressive going to the basket. He might get some blocked, but nine times out of 10 he’ll get the foul call. Once he tastes a bit of that the mentality will come.
“It doesn’t have to be outlandish or anything - just the aggressiveness of, ‘When I get to the paint, I’m going to dunk everything, so you either foul me or let me have it.’ Once he develops that he’ll see life is a lot easier.”
***
Coach Lawrence Frank probably has an idea of who will be his starting five tomorrow and what bigs he will use, but he’s not telling. All he said it will be totally different than either of the two he used in Europe.
My guess is Carter, Harris, Bobby Simmons, Yi Jianlian and Josh Boone. That’s also my guess for the Nets’ starting lineup opening night.
Frank said he would like to have a regular starting five and set rotation by the last two preseason games if possible. A problem is he hasn’t had Eduardo Najera and Jarvis Hayes yet and won’t have either tonight.
“We’d like to as we get toward the last exhibition game, last couple of exhibition games get a feel for a potential rotation so it’s not a surprise come opening night and then from there basically tell the guys this is how it’s going to be for now,” Frank said. “Our performance as a team, your performance as an individual will determine how long it’s going to be.
“You’d like to go into the last exhibition games with a pretty good feel of who’s going to play, how you’re going to substitute and what combinations you’re going to play.”
***
The latest on the injured guys is this: Najera and Hayes are out and probably Sunday, if not longer.
Najera had an MRI on his wrist yesterday and Hayes an ultrasound on his hamstring and took a shot. Neither is worse, but they need to avoid contact for the time being. Frank estimated 7-10 days for Najera and Hayes about a week.
Of course, they want to play tomorrow, especially since they’re missing everything, so they’re hoping they’ll be back sooner.
Hayes said he would try and run on it this weekend, and wouldn’t rule himself out for Sunday at Boston. Najera said he would be re-evaluated Monday and hopes to get back to playing after that. Najera re-aggravated the wrist during a fall in practice in France.
“I feel like I’m stealing,” Najera joked.
But Najera said he wishes you could be out there, competing for a job in the rotation. With his resume, hustle and defensive intensity, there’s a good chance he’ll have one, though,
“I’m not worried about it but I don’t feel good about it because I’m falling behind,” Najera said. “I’m sure the coaches have got to start thinking about who’s going to play this and that. I’m sure I’m making their decision a lot easier. But at the same time I truly believe I’m going to be back way before the season starts and I'll get to practice and to start getting some minutes.”
The starting lineup needs to be Harris,Vince,CDR,Yi and Lopez.
Boone is much better from the bench, Sean is an instant energy boost as long as he has the coach's trust and Ryan Anderson needs to play the 3 for us.
Simmons should be coming from the bench as well as CDR played much better than him in Europe.
Hassel,Swift,Hodge and Ager need to be left out of the rotation Im afraid.
Posted by: Adam.y | October 15, 2008 at 06:42 PM
I give Simmons another start before i start CDR. CDR also has to produce next game to justify starting.
Posted by: Mr Dollar Bills | October 15, 2008 at 08:53 PM