2009-10 New Jersey Nets Predictions

Written October 21, 2009 by Jack Jones

There isn’t a lot of hoping coming out of New Jersey for the upcoming 2009-10 season. For the second straight year the Nets dealt a superstar away in order to cut costs and to clear room to make a run at a big free agent next summer. Last year it was Richard Jefferson, this year they sent Vince Carter to Orlando in exchange for Courtney Lee, Rafer Alston and Tony Battie. There is still plenty of talent on this team as the team has high hopes for Lee, Devin Harris, and Brook Lopez. However, the NBA odds makers are not too confident in this team as the Nets are 100-to-1 to win the East and 150-to-1 to win the NBA Finals. If you are going to be doing any NBA betting this year, take a look at the $500 in FREE bonus money offered by BetUS to our readers.

Backcourt

Gone are the days when the Nets had one of the top backcourts in the league as Jason Kidd and Carter are off to greener pastures. Even last year with Carter and Harris this team had the highest scoring pair of guards in the NBA. Still, Harris has proved to be an emerging star. He is coming off a 21.3 points per game and 6.9 assists per game season, but he shot only 29% from behind the arc. Lee was not to happy about leaving a title contender in Orlando to join a team in rebuilding mode, but he should get a chance to shine as a leader in New Jersey. The depth here isn’t great with Rafer Alston, Keyon Dooling, Chris Douglas-Roberts, and rookie Terrance Williams.

Frontcourt

There are a bunch of guys who will be filling in at small forward, but none of them really stand out to me. Bobby Simmons and Trenton Hassell are the two veterans who will see the most time here. Simmons scored 7.8 points and grabbed 3.9 rebounds while Hassel’s numbers were 3.7 and 2.8. Over at power forward it’s time for Yi Jianlian to live up to his potential. Last year he only scored 8.6 points per game while grabbing 5.3 rebounds and he looks soft out on the court. There is no doubt that Brook Lopez will be counted on to step up in a big way this season. As a rookie the 7-footer put up 13 points and grabbed 8.1 rebounds per game. His scoring contributions should increase as he will be the go-to guy in the Nets’ half-court offense.

Summary

This team isn’t going to be contending for a playoff spot this year. There is a lot of young talent, and Lawrence Frank is a solid coach, but even if one of the young guys emerges into a superstar it likely isn’t going to be enough with the rest of the holes in the lineup. With my NBA predictions I see this team holding down the bottom of the Atlantic.

If you want winning NBA picks each night to help you win more bets, take a look at the NBA handicappers we have here on the site.

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

No comments yet, but your thoughts are welcome!

Comments

Got something to say?