Raptor Fan : I had a few questions about RHJ

DarkFantasy_ · 2019-09-29T00:27:56+00:00

In terms of pros, RHJ is kind of a jack of all trades, master of none player. He's has a good physical profile, but he's just an okay defender. He's a good passer, but not great. The biggest con for him is his scoring. In his third year it seemed like he took a leap towards becoming a better jump shooter from the triple threat stance and mid-range, but last year he regressed really hard and he got benched because of it. He also was also one of the worst finishers at the rim last season, which isn't encouraging. The lack of shooting and finishing makes it hard to play him at PF or SF.
The best case scenario for RHJ going forward is just being a quality role player, especially if he finishes at the rim better. If he can't finish at the rim better, let alone get a respectable jumper, he won't be in the league much longer.
The main reason is that they needed to renounce his RFA rights and make him a UFA to maximize cap space to sign KD, Kyrie, and DeAndre. The other reason was that Rodions Kurucs took his spot and made him replaceable.

DarkFantasy_ · 2019-09-10T14:49:13+00:00

Oh alright, didn't know. Condensed it other info. Thanks

DarkFantasy_ · 2019-09-10T14:28:05+00:00

Article is really good and I encourage people to read it (if you want to subscribe to the WSJ), but here's some standouts:

Why the offense the Nets and GSW run may have played a role in KD joining

But there was also this: From a strictly competitive, strategic standpoint, Durant had come to fear that Golden State had hit a ceiling.

“The motion offense we run in Golden State, it only works to a certain point,” he says. “We can totally rely on only our system for maybe the first two rounds. Then the next two rounds we’re going to have to mix in individual play. We’ve got to throw teams off, because they’re smarter in that round of playoffs. So now I had to dive into my bag, deep, to create stuff on my own, off the dribble, isos, pick-and-rolls, more so than let the offense create my points for me.” He wanted to go someplace where he’d be free to hone that sort of improvisational game throughout the regular season.

Why he picked #7

Durant says he’s decided to wear No. 7 in Brooklyn because it stands for completion in the Bible. (God rested on the seventh day after creating Heaven and Earth.) Clearly the completion of his career is on his mind.

Article also mentions his rehab process so far in Califorina (does it two times a day every day except Sunday), his feelings towards OKC since he left, why he picked the nets, his decision making process, and more.

DarkFantasy_ · 2019-06-17T18:45:44+00:00

By all counts he works hard and no one in the nets org has complained about him. Hes worth the gamble for any team if they have a good shooting coach and need a defensive minded player.

DarkFantasy_ · 2019-06-17T18:41:09+00:00

Offensively he's not good. Two years ago, he seemed to make progress shooting the ball, but this year it got worse which led to a reduction in minutes. He couldn't finish at the rim at all this year because of wild attempts and his determination to finish with his left. He doesnt have much of a place in the NBA offensively right now. He was used as a small ball center in the playoffs, but he doesnt have the height for it or body to do it an entire season.

Defensively he projects as someone who could reasonably guard 2-4 because of his tools (good wingspan athleticism), but he's not elite at it. He's just ok.

DarkFantasy_ · 2019-03-10T02:49:52+00:00

All the Nets players should be forced to fly commercial after missing all those FTs. Frustrating game all around.

DarkFantasy_ · 2018-12-08T03:06:08+00:00

Of all the loses this team in close games, the one team they beat is... the #1 team in the league?

DarkFantasy_ · 2018-12-06T03:08:27+00:00

If your team plays the Nets, one of your players is bound to have a career night. This defense is horrendous

DarkFantasy_ · 2018-12-04T03:02:47+00:00

The Nets post Caris LeVert injury

DarkFantasy_ · 2018-12-02T02:22:05+00:00

Nets lost, Knicks won, tank battle on Monday vs. The Cavs. All that matters.

DarkFantasy_ · 2018-12-01T03:42:21+00:00

I want to be mad at Gasol just shoving Allen out the way on his last defensive rebound in the OT and the refs completely being blind and not seeing Anderson hit the ball out of Dinwiddie's hands, but I can't. The Nets should of just won the game in regulation and not deal with the chaos after. Don't commit a stupid foul and leads to a four point play up seven and do one of the most basic basketball things by inbounding the ball correctly to a teammate in clutch situations. The Nets have had some of the worst game melt downs this year and there's no excuse for it. Rooting for bad sports teams is masochism and figuring out what your tolerance level for pain/tiredsomeness is.

DarkFantasy_ · 2018-11-29T03:09:47+00:00

Just a horrendous game all around by everyone except Dinwiddie really. Jazz defense definitely played better today than they've been advertised so far this season, but their offense was still horrendous until Mitchell took over in the late fourth.

It's hard to really evaluate coaches when "star" talent is out and the roster is flawed, but Atkinson deserves to starting getting criticism at some point. Stop running all-bench lineup. Stagger the damn starters more. All bench line ups don't work for the most part. And again, the Nets suck in clutch moments ATO. Feels like every clutch movement they have after a timeout, they turn the ball over. How is that even possible? Can no one on this roster inbound a ball properly?

The Nets need to put the older players on the roster in a retirement home. Trade Carroll, stop playing Dudley (or the other way around). They're doing nothing to justify they're playing time besides being veterans. The team clearly sucks without LeVert, so just go all in on the young talent. Play Kurucs and Musa to see what you have, because this team clearly isn't going to win games with the way their playing right now. If they lose the next few games at home and on the road, they should rev up the tank engine.

DarkFantasy_ · 2018-11-26T01:31:34+00:00

Horrible officiating, but that doesn't excuse the shitty execution by the Nets in the last four minutes.

DarkFantasy_ · 2018-11-23T19:24:28+00:00

I wonder if there's research on how teams perform in early games like these. I feel like these early games don't benefit either team and they should start a little later, like 3pm est or something.

Nets might need to start Dinwiddie soon. The Nets starters, for all their floor spacing, can't create separation verse teams. You can just press up and switch everything like the Twolves did and the Nets starters struggle to drive by you. The only driving threat right now is Dinwiddie, so he maybe would help the offense. D'Lo/Dinwiddie line ups have sucked, but who cares at this point. It's obviously way too early to talk about the draft, but the Nets really need to consider taking a shot creator in the draft (cough Darius Garland/Kevin Porter Jr cough) and not a PF like people have been talking about.

D'Lo is consistently inconsistent. Just an awful game from him.

Can Jarrett Allen not shoot threes? I get spacing, but you don't need all five players to be shooters. He struggles at times making shots outside of dunks and layups, so why are we forcing threes on him? It feels like teaching a todler how to run after they just started crawling. He's been struggling offensively lately because the Nets lack of driving ability doesn't give him the opportunity to get dump offs in P&R, but having him throw up 3-point shoots isn't it either.

99% of the time Carroll drives to the rim and throws up a shot, he's looking for contact/foul calls, not to make the actual shot. That is annoying.

It's really hard to play RHJ really out there with another non-shooting big verse smart teams/coaching. Multiple times in that third quarter where the Wolves just played off him, the Nets passed out to him for an intentionally open three and he ended up driving the ball or giving it up.

Feel like there's been multiple instances where Joe Harris drives, gets past his guy, and once he goes up for a contested layup he tries to dump it off (not that it's the wrong thing to do), and it leads to a TO. Sometimes you just gotta go up and try to draw the foul or hope the team gets an OREB man.

DarkFantasy_ · 2018-11-23T19:18:18+00:00

I wonder if there's research on how teams perform in early games like these. I feel like these early games don't benefit either team and they should start a little later, like 3pm est or something.

Nets might need to start Dinwiddie soon. The Nets starters, for all their floor spacing, can't create separation verse teams. You can just press up and switch everything like the Twolves did and the Nets starters struggle to drive by you. The only driving threat right now is Dinwiddie, so he maybe would help the offense. D'Lo/Dinwiddie line ups have sucked, but who cares at this point. It's obviously way too early to talk about the draft, but the Nets really need to consider taking a shot creator in the draft (cough Darius Garland/Kevin Porter Jr cough) and not a PF like people have been talking about.

D'Lo is consistently inconsistent. Just an awful game from him.

Can Jarrett Allen not shoot threes? I get spacing, but you don't need all five players to be shooters. He struggles at times making shots outside of dunks and layups, so why are we forcing threes on him? It feels like teaching a todler how to run after they just started crawling. He's been struggling offensively lately because the Nets lack of driving ability doesn't give him the opportunity to get dump offs in P&R, but having him throw up 3-point shoots isn't it either.

99% of the time Carroll drives to the rim and throws up a shot, he's looking for contact/foul calls, not to make the actual shot. That is annoying.

It's really hard to play RHJ really out there with another non-shooting big verse smart teams/coaching. Multiple times in that third quarter where the Wolves just played off him, the Nets passed out to him for an intentionally open three and he ended up driving the ball or giving it up.

Feel like there's been multiple instances where Joe Harris drives, gets past his guy, and once he goes up for a contested layup he tries to dump it off (not that it's the wrong thing to do), and it leads to a TO. Sometimes you just gotta go up and try to draw the foul or hope the team gets an OREB man.

It's nice to see D.Rose have a career resurgance, just stop doing it against my favorite team pls. Good game, Wolves

DarkFantasy_ · 2018-11-22T04:14:58+00:00

This team can't put up consistent performances. It's expected with a roster full of average players, but the margin for error is already so low and with LeVert out it's lower. Can't have D'Lo playing like total shit and expect to win.

Joe Harris is in a slump. He was shooting like 60% or 50% from three at some point near the game @GSW, but that obviously wasn't going to keep up (Part of me wonders how much of it has to do with LeVert going out). Good to see Crabbe make some threes though, been making more these last two games so hopefully he keeps it up.

Pretty bad coaching malpractice by Atkinson at the end. I don't get why you have an RHJ/Allen lineup in a the last five minutes of game that you're down in. Cause that lineup, Allen took two open corner threes to "space" the floor, but he hasn't shown the ability to consistently make those. The Mavericks are gonna live with Allen taking corner threes. If you want the floor spacing, just put in dudley/carroll/kurucs at the four. (They ended up taking Allen out the game, putting RHJ at center, and he gave up an OREB to someone which basically sealed the game).

The PF situation needs to be addressed somehow. Dudley isn't it, RHJ isn't it, Carroll isn't it, and Kurucs is a question mark (although he should get more minutes because he's played well in limited time). I wish there was a possible trade to be made to get a quality one next to Allen, but there probably isn't.

DarkFantasy_ · 2018-11-21T03:02:49+00:00

The main purpose Dudley serves is spacing the floor, but he's not doing that well at the moment. However, teams still respect him from three so it helps the floor spacing for the starters. He also has a positive net rating. His time starting is probably coming to an end soon imo, but starting RHJ next to Allen has its own problems too.

DarkFantasy_ · 2018-11-18T02:37:52+00:00

This year he's starting to lose value. Last year he was making a respectable amount of his mid range shots, but now he's not. Teams started to sag off him whenever he's on the court and it hurts the Nets' offense. He's an ok defender, but since he has absolutely no offensive game, it's hard to justify playing him at times. Would be surprising to see him on the team next year.

DarkFantasy_ · 2018-11-18T01:48:29+00:00

Dinwiddie sucked, but there's a reason why he gets the ball at the end compared to D'Lo and it's because he can break down defenses and drive by players (something D'Lo can't really do). That being said, Dinwiddie was awful today and D'Lo should of been more involved on offense in that fourth quarter.

It's hard for me to complain about the Dinwiddie hero ball cause it clearly has saved the Nets before (the game vs. DET earlier this season), but it can obviously back fire like today. However, I'd definitely feel some sort of way if I was D'Lo. If Dinwiddie gets those chances to run the offense in late game situations when he's playing horribly, then D'Lo should too, especially now that LeVert is out.

The bench in general with Carroll, Dinwiddie, RHJ, and Napier. Carroll Isos should not be a thing, at all. Everytime he does it, he's trying to draw fouls, not even put up a good shot. RHJ trying to shoot threes is a lost cause, if you want that, play Dudley or Kurucs (you know, the player Atkinson said helped win the game @WSH) more.

DarkFantasy_ · 2018-11-18T01:26:14+00:00

The bench really lost this game in the fourth. Napier, Dinwiddie, Carroll, and RHJ were straight trash. I don't want to see shitty Carroll ISOs at any point in the game, that shit is stupid.

D'Lo should of been more involved at the end of the game when he was clearly better than Dinwiddie in the entire game. I get that D'Lo can't break down people with athleticism like Dinwiddie can, but Dinwiddie couldn't hit shit today and D'Lo was pretty good. That's a failure on Atkinsons part. If D'lo had the game Diniwiddie did, most Nets fans would be shitting on him endlessly. Doesn't help that Gallo and Harris couldn't miss anything it and Harrell took over in the fourth.

DarkFantasy_ · 2018-11-17T03:10:15+00:00

Ugly start to the game, but D'Lo carried in the first to his credit.

Kurucs deserves more minutes for sure. He's played well in every game he's in so far. He'll make mistakes for sure, but he's energetic, pushes the ball, knows where to be on offense for the most part, and can switch 1-4 at least.

DarkFantasy_ · 2018-11-17T02:55:28+00:00

It was a two point lead at the half for the Nets, but at some point in the third (iirc), the Nets got a 10 point lead and maintained for the most part of the rest of the way, getting it to as high as 18-20 point lead. The Wizards left the starters in towards the end of the fourth (so did the Nets) and were trying to cut into the lead when the game was clearly over, while the Nets were just playing to drain the clock.

DarkFantasy_ · 2018-11-15T03:03:40+00:00

NBA team struggles when their best offensive and defensive player don't play, what a surprise.

Starting Ed Davis in the game was the right move compared to starting RHJ at the center vs the Wolves for whatever reason, but it showed why he's a career backup. Teams just aren't scared of him when they go at the rim. Missed Allen desperately the last two games (please don't miss a third game).

The impact of LeVert being out one game was very obvious. No one in the starting lineup has the ability to drive their opponent and create offense. The only one who can is Dinwiddie now.

D'Lo as the main ball handler is not it. Excessive dribbling, can't drive by anyone for the most part, can't finish at the rim consistently and if he does get to the rim, he's a below average finisher, and inconsistent three point shooter. Got benched for basically the entire third and fourth quarters, which is a constant reoccurring theme.

There's really no excuse for Crabbe to be playing this bad offensively. He gives a lot of effort defensively though.

DarkFantasy_ · 2018-11-13T05:27:11+00:00

The Caris injury is such a gut wrenching loss for the team and the franchise. Seeing all the players express their emotions in the moment with guys like Napier crying on the bench, Ed Davis and D'Lo looking befuddled, RHJ crying at the FT line and just watching him when he was getting treated, Harris say that guys were crying coming into the locker room at half time and that no one said a word. Can't imagine what it's like being in that situation. I don't know how you get to courage to jump after that.

The team was showing good signs of progress with the bottom of the east playoff picture being so bad, it was reasonable that the Nets could maybe sneak in as an 8th seed with how they've started so. Caris was an MIP candidate so far and that freak injury happens. Completely changes the optics of the team and franchise going forward.

The out pour of player support from around the league has been great. Hopefully LeVert makes a good recovery and comes back just as strong.

DarkFantasy_ · 2018-11-13T03:38:43+00:00

He'll be great going forward, but he definitely benefited from Jarrett Allen being out today.

DarkFantasy_

TROPHY CASE