Once again we visit the “what have you done for me lately” NBA. This time a team with no talent called appropriately the New Jersey Empty Nets have been called upon to fire a once upon a time young coaching prodigy. His name is Lawrence Frank and he is now referred to as the Ex-Coach of the New Jersey Empty Nets.

You have to understand that in the NBA, if you have no talent or your talent screws up and you lose a bunch of games, the first person to have their head removed is the coach. Is it Lawrence Frank’s fault?

Does a front court of Brook Lopez, Terrence Williams, and Courtney Lee scare you? Only if you happen to be their coach. Does a back court of Rafer Alston, Devin Harris, Chris Douglass-Roberts, and Trenton Hassell rotating in and out to squeeze a few extra ounces out of your guard play even make sense? Not if you happen to be the Empty Nets coach.

Will Lawrence Frank end up on Dancing with the Stars?

So did anyone expect the Empty Nets to produce anything beyond empty stands of no fans once Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson, and Jason Kidd were dealt away? How good were those players? Hmm, Orlando took in Vince and will go for the Conference finals in the East. Richard Jefferson went to San Antonio and they will challenge the Lakers for the West. Jason Kidd led the Olympic team and now makes Dirk Nowitzki one of the most feared forwards in the league.

Yes, Rod Thorn is doing an excellent job of systematically destroying the Empty Nets.

So who are the prime candidates to replace Frank?

GM Kiki Vandeweghe prominently has been mentioned as a replacement, but one team source strongly denied the possibility. John Loyer, in his first season as Nets assistant but 10th overall in the NBA – he did nine years with the Sixers and Blazers – is a possibility along with other assistants Doug Overton, Roy Rogers and Barrise.

But Thorn said he will be meeting with candidates from outside the organization. A source from an opposing team said that former Rockets, Bucks and Lakers head coach Del Harris is one option.
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By the way, one time Kiki Vandeweghe was playing for Denver, your intrepid author NBAObsessed thinks, and he was on a fast break to the basket and had this uncanny knack of finishing in what seemed like slo-motion. So while other defenders flew by him trying to block his shot he slowly made his moves to the basket and laid it in. He was really a true joy to watch. That has nothing to do with any of the above, but thought you might enjoy that story.
Image: Zuma Press

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Maybe if you have been following the events surrounding Allen Iverson for the past few years then his impending retirement would not leave you stunned, just the same, it does. And why should the retirement of Allen Iverson leave you stunned? Because Allen will be back. Mark my words, Allen Iverson will play in the NBA again this year.

Iverson was in his 11th season with the Sixers when they traded him to the Denver Nuggets in December 2006. Denver dealt him to the Detroit Pistons last November.

He averaged 27.0 points per game in his career.
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Stephen A. Smith broke the story Wednesday on his web site. You can watch the interview of Smith on the following YouTube.

As for my thoughts about Allen Iverson being back, turns out in the video, that Stephen A. Smith came to the same conclusion.

Can you imagine the Cleveland Cavaliers dialing up Allen in time for the playoffs? You are talking Shaq, LeBron, and AI. That would be one of the top 3 little guys to play the game, one of the top 5 big guys to play the game, and a player that may end up being one of the top 3 players of all time! You can debate those levels, but cannot debate the fact that it would be a very interesting team.

What if Orlando signed him? Could you have both Vince Carter and Allen Iverson on the same floor on the same team at the same time? Would Dwight Howard ever see the ball?

Allen Iverson has a fan

Maybe the biggest supporter of Allen Iverson is his old coach George Karl.

“I think he still has something left to give some team out there. If that’s his decision, he’ll go down in history, I think, as the greatest little guard ever to play the game of basketball,” Karl said.

“I was happy to have him for a couple years and hopefully our paths will cross. But I have a sneaky feeling that somewhere along the way an injury or a circumstance with a team will open that window back up.”

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So will Allen be back or are teams afraid of the baggage he brings with him? You think about it and let me know!

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It often seems like a mistake to me that teams will go so far in the playoffs, lose and then use that loss as a map for how the team should be defined the following year. For example, if your team loses to a team with a big center that posts up, like a Shaq, then in the off season you trade a starter to get a defensive low post player. That rarely makes sense to me.

Orlando failed to consult with NBAObsessed and went ahead and retooled without me.

Gone is Hedo Turkoglu and missing for a while is Rashard Lewis (failed drug test). In their place is Vince Carter for points and Jameer Nelson for direction. Now eventually Rashard Lewis will return to the lineup and Jameer Nelson was with the team last year, just injured. It is Vince Carter that adds the new dimension to the team.

Dwight Howard will get help from Vince Carter

Orlando is thinking Vince Carter will give them more explosive scoring so that Dwight Howard does not have to always carry the team. It is different than having Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu bomb long range threes to open up Howard underneath. Carter has always been able to score.

“All those moves? Sure it’s risky,” ESPN analyst Jon Barry said. “I know they would’ve preferred to re-sign Turkoglu, but once they realized that wasn’t happening they felt they needed to add another piece.

“I just don’t see Carter over Turkoglu as an improvement. That’s not an indictment of Carter. I just thought Turkoglu was Orlando’s best playmaker in the postseason. I think it’s going to be a problem for them.”

But losing the Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers in five games set Smith off on a new course.

“Vince gives us somebody who can create his own shot or create a shot for somebody else,” Smith said of filling last season’s void.

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It remains to be seen if breaking the NBAObsessed rule for retooling will cost the Orlando Magic or benefit them. Even if Vince Carter only gives them scoring, the return of Jameer Nelson and the continued development of Dwight Howard point to a successful campaign for the Orlando Magic.

Photo source Newscom

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Dwight Howard is Superman and if you have watched him play through the years then you know his super powers are improving. In other words, Dwight is getting more offensive moves and learning better how to get position on defense. He is becoming the best center in the game. We have to use the word becoming, because Tim Duncan is still playing.

The question being asked is why Dwight Howard needs Vince Carter.

This is tough because your intrepid author is not a big Carter fan and never has been. Oh, sure, he is talented off the scale, but what does he bring you over the long haul? He has the ability to take over games with his penetration skills and scoring ability. He has All Star capabilities, but does it transfer over to winning?

There can be no discussion of Vince Carter without a discussion yielding comparisons to Hedo Turkoglu the glue from last year’s team. Vince is essentially replacing Hedo.

Carter, 32, has career averages of 23.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists, although his statistics have dropped in each of the past two seasons. Turkoglu, 30, has averaged 12.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists.

“We want (Carter) to be aggressive on both ends,” All-Star center Dwight Howard said, “especially … on the offensive end, trying to finish at the rack.”
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Coach Stan Van Gundy is saying all the right things, but you wonder if the intangibles that Hedo brought to the floor will be missing. Can Vince subjugate his game to the greater talents of Dwight Howard? Lacking Hedo’s height will he be able to defend his position. Can he play winning ball?

Dwight Howard needs more of these!

Therein lays the answer. If Vince cannot establish a solid role on the Magic then Dwight Howard will not be able to take them to the NBA Finals. This is why Dwight needs Vince. There will be a crucial role to play on the team often calling on Vince to carry the team offensively and just as often asking him to reduce his own ego and penetrate with the sole idea of feeding Superman the ball.

Photo source Newscom

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In our earlier post the discussion was about who would win the West and it was the obvious choice, the Lakers and Kobe Bryant. Now it is time to speak about the East.

So, who did ESPN vote to win the East?

In a surprise vote, but maybe not a huge surprise, the ESPN voters went with Cleveland. They felt the Shaqland LeBrons would win the East, because they looked so good last year and then they added Shaq. It will not be that easy. There are already a lot of ingredients to mix into this soup.

Looming over it all will be the question LeBron James won’t answer: What will he do when he can become a free agent in 2010? His freedom to walk next year has raised the stakes in Cleveland to a level seldom seen in the NBA, and could contribute to tensions along the way unless LeBron, Shaq and the Cavs can successfully merge their games and their goals: LeBron’s first title, Shaq’s fifth (putting him ahead of Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan) and Cleveland’s hope of pleasing and keeping LeBron. And with the Cavs having added three rotation players to a 66-win team and probably demoting stalwart Zydrunas Ilgauskas in favor of The Big Disruption, it’s not clear how chemically balanced they will be.

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How they could pass on the Boston Celtics is a true mystery. The Celtics bring back a healthy Kevin Garnett and added Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels to the fold. They are dripping with talent.

Will Rasheed Wallace help Boston overtake LeBron James and the Cav's?

Lagging in third place is the Conference Champion Orland Magic. Some think they overachieved last year and worry that the chemistry will be different without Hedo Turkoglu. Others think the offensive talents of Vince Carter will make Dwight Howard even more valuable.
Photo source Newscom

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This will be more about opinion and less about facts, sorry about that. Hedo Turkoglu has opted out of Orlando and will be a free agent. Orlando decided to sign Vince Carter from New Jersey.

Hedo Turkoglu is looking for a big payday

Wait, those are facts. Now comes the opinion, and feel free to chime in and disagree.

Orlando will be worse off with Vince Carter. While Carter can put up numbers, he does not play winning basketball and he cannot check anyone. Ok, he held my grandma to less than 10 points once, but that was when she was hurt and using a walker.

Turkoglu was a more stable player and understood that Dwight Howard was what made Orlando great. There is a reason that New Jersey could not win when Carter, Jefferson, and Kidd played there at the same time.

The Magic believe Carter is an upgrade over Turkoglu as a one-on-one player who can create his own shot, any time, any where, especially at the end of games.

They traded starting shooting guard Courtney Lee, point guard Rafer Alston and power forward Tony Battie to the New Jersey Nets for Carter and power forward Ryan Anderson, a rookie like Lee.

The Magic will have a distinctively different look next season, changing starters at shooting guard and (probably) small forward.
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Photo source Newscom

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The trade rumor mill is cranked up and some of them are just outstanding. The silly part is they may all come true, because while you are still harping on the Pistons for trading All Star Chauncey Billups for AI, GM Joe D only took him for a free tryout, increased attendance, and a salary of 22 mill that comes off the books. In other words, you don’t know why a team trades for a player.

This rumor you have to love just for the shear unbelievableness. Is that a word? If not, it should be just for this case and this case alone.

Anyway, it looks like the final straw for the little 3 in New Jersey of Kidd, Jefferson, and Carter. Vince was the last one left.

Vince Carter to the Rockets. How messed up can you get? You have body breaking down Yao, gotta have the ball and never will win a playoff Tracey McGrady, and never going to move to Detroit Ron Artest. Now you want to add, gotta also have the ball and never going to win the playoffs Vince Carter to that lineup?

The Nets and Rockets have exchanged trade proposals and continue to talk, according to league sources and sources close to the Nets. One scenario has Carter and Josh Boone going to Houston for Ron Artest, Carl Landry and Luther Head.

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If the trade does go through then Ron Artest would be shipped out of town and head back to New Jersey. Why do some teams just think individual talent will win games?

(This story was posted in Hoopsworld)

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Vince Carter got into it with a Ref and supposedly bumped him. The Ref called him Boy and the league had a long talk with both of them.

Referee Derrick Stafford called two quick technicals on Carter after he argued an out-of-bounds call in the second quarter of the Pistons’ 83-75 victory.

A furious Carter went after the official following his ejection and seemed to bump Stafford. Carter had to be held back by teammates.

“We have spoken to both Vince and Derrick about their exchange during Wednesday’s game, and decided not to take any action with respect to the language that was used or any inadvertent contact that may have occurred,” the league said Friday in a statement provided in an e-mail by spokesman Tim Frank.

“However, we are going to make sure the two of them talk in the near future to clear up any misunderstandings that may remain about what was said during the argument,” the statement added.

The league said Stafford “expressed regret for his use of the word ‘boy,’ and we are persuaded that he did not use it with the intention of demeaning Vince.”

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Tim Duncan, the Big Fundamental, goes to work on New Jersey

How do they do it?

They do it with defense.

The San Antonio Spurs have the best record in the Western Conference. They just extended their longest winning streak of the season with a 10th win in a row against the Vince Carter New Jersey Nets. They are one game better than the Kobe Lakers.

San Antonio 81 – New Jersey 70

That’s right, 70 stinking points.

“Think about this. They won the game shooting 33 percent,” New Jersey coach Lawrence Frank said. “That just shows you how good they are. Those guys are the gold standard. They make you grind it out.” source

Tim Duncan

As usual, it was Tim Duncan leading the way.

Tim Duncan had 29 points and 12 rebounds for his 37th double-double of the season, and the Spurs overcame their offensive struggles to beat the New Jersey Nets 81-70 on Tuesday night for their 10th straight victory.

Manu Ginobili added 12 points.

New Jersey

No more Jason Kidd in New Jersey, so now it is Vince Carter leading the way with 19 points. New point guard Devin Harris had 13 points.

One had to realize that before it was all said and done that San Antonio would be back in the saddle leading the way in the Western Conference.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will the Spurs be in the NBA Finals once again?

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It was fitting that the Big Three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen all had great games as Boston won again.

Kevin had 20 points and 11 boards.

Paul had 18 points and Ray had 16 points.

With this victory the Celtics matched the 1959-60 Champion Celtics for best start in franchise history.

Final Score Boston 86 – New Jersey 77.

The New Jersey nets just seemed to wear down in the fourth quarter as the Celtics got a lot of help from their bench throughout the game.

“We got down on the road and our starters needed some rest,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “The bench was able to dig it out and get us the win. They were huge for us. Every game, we try to get our big guys rest because its a long season and were trying to give the bench more confidence.” source

The Celtics bench is often criticized, but will have to perform well if the Celtics have any chance of winning the NBA Championship, so Coach Doc Rivers was very pleased.

Maybe it was a battle of benches, because the starters for New Jersey did fine. Although, the team missed a ton of free throws going 9 of 24.

Richard Jefferson led the Nets with 17 points, Vince Carter had 16 and Josh Boone added 14 and a career-high 16 rebounds. Jason Kidd just missed another triple-double with 11 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists.

NBA Basketball Jason Kidd factoid - The assist by Kidd on Carter’s jumper with 8:07 remaining in the third was the 9,062 of his career, moving him past Isiah Thomas into fifth place on the all-time list.

So where do the Celtics go from here? Great defense, good coaching, solid bench play, almost unbeatable home and away…

It all comes back to the Big Three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen.

Kevin Garnett, especially, is on track for an MVP season and the winning certainly will attract the votes.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Would you vote for Kevin to be MVP?

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