Posts tagged DevinHarris at FanHouse

A couple of days ago, we showed you video of the Nets' Devin Harris playing a little too casually against what turned out to be a street ball legend in London, and getting schooled/embarrassed/hustled because of it. Turns out people were blowing up his cell phone after the clip made it around the internet, wanting to know why he allowed himself to get used like that. According to Harris, he was just trying to be accommodating, and received some bad information:

"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."

A "Special Olympic" kid? That's a pretty cold set up. But why was it time to go after just a couple of possessions? Once he realized what was going on, Devin should have at least taken the kid to the rack once, right? Ah, there's probably nothing to be gained by doing that, I guess. Kudos to Devin for being such a good sport about the whole thing.

Via TrueHoop, let's watch New Jersey's Devin Harris get hustled off a London playground by an English streetballer.


If it's any consolation, chum, Jason Kidd would have lost at least 20 seconds sooner ... although there's the off chance Kidd's missed jumper could have rendered the Englishman unconscious.

After the jump, one more puny white kid destroying a star NBA guard. If you dislike Kobe Bryant or the Lakers on any level, I'd highly recommend you check it out.

Check out FanHouse's NBA Preview.

This is not a division. It is a gauntlet. A spiked, imperial gauntlet inhabited by minotaurs, pterodactyls, stone giants, warrior pygmy tribes, and other things that go bump in the night. There is no sense of "If we can just make it to .500" in this division. .500 means nothing. .500 is for the Central division.

The Southwest Division hosts two former MVPs, the MVP runner-up from last season, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, the reigning Coach of the Year, a bazillion All-Stars, elite shooters, elite defenders, elite scorers, and Ron freaking Artest. Yeesh.

There are not headlines here. There are omens, prophecies, and obituaries.

Okay, so it's not Elton Brand's defection or Baron Davis headed home, but there are other free agents floating out there, and they're starting to find new homes. Two signings lead me to a strange conclusion.

The New Jersey Nets are quite possibly the most interesting team in the Eastern Conference.

Hear me out.

A lot of the time, it seems like teams are just trying to keep their heads above water by signing whatever is left. There doesn't seem to be a long term plan in place, and if there is one, it's usually a Grizzlies-like scorched earth policy. The Nets are finding players to fill their roster. They're going to be competitive. They have some nice young pieces, like Devin Harris. They have the superstar, Vince Carter. They're signing some nice role players for next season.

And they're doing all of this while leaving cap space in 2010, reserved for you-know-who.

Now, there's absolutely no guarantee that this plan will bear fruit. There's no way to tell if they'll make the playoffs, or even be competitive (who knows with Vince Carter). And there's no guarantee that New York City will provide enough incentive to leave all the beauty and culture of Cleveland,Ohio. But there's clearly a plan in place.

And that's where Eduardo Najera and Jarvis Hayes come into play.

Crystal Ballin' takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 26th NBA Draft.

Rod Thorn's rebuild officially started when he hijacked traded for Devin Harris and the 21st pick from the Mavericks for Jason Kidd, but this draft, with two first rounders, has the potential to be a tremendous springboard for any improvement the Nets make in the immediate and longterm future.

Picks: #10, #21, #40

Needs: The Nets have Harris, Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter as their core. So, the big three, only a little younger. Josh Boone has flashed low post potential, but you have to think they're looking a big man that can provide them with a consistent offensive threat in the post, although a scoring point guard or combo wouldn't be a bad fit here either.

Best case scenario: Brook Lopez or Anthony Randolph falls in their lap. Unfortunately, that's probably not going to happen. Charlotte will likely snag Lopez if he drops and Randolph is primarily projected as a top 7 pick. So instead, they decide to take one of the better players in the draft, and scoop up Randolph to run/gun with their squad at the four.

After a rather humiliating sweep in the first round by the Los Angeles Lakers following a rather mediocre regular season, Denver Nuggets fans wanted change. Be careful what you wish for, for ye will surely get it.

In a report this morning by the North Jersey Record, there is a blockbuster trade being worked on between the New Jersey Nets and the Nuggets that would send Carmelo Anthony, yes, Carmelo Anthony and Marcus Camby to New Jersey in exchange for Richard Jefferson, Marcus Williams, Keith Van Horn and his faux-contract, and the Nets potential lottery pick.

Take a sec to let that idea sink in. I'll give you a few.

Okay.

So beyond the obvious prospect of trading away the player that was long considered their franchise player and one of the league's leading scorers, the Nuggets are also considering throwing in a former Defensive Player of the Year that is still able to do things like, you know, defend. In return they are talking about a 27 year old solid small forward, but after that it's a rookie prospect, some cap room, and a draft pick that is likely to be around the eleventh. In order for this to work, the Nuggets would have to make a pretty big splash in both the draft and free agency. We're talking "max contract offer to Elton Brand" level of splash. If that weren't to happen, where does this leave Allen Iverson? Carrying the burden for a group of underachievers and a few talented pieces? Haven't we seen this script before? The Nets, on the other hand, would instantly have a ton of talent, and still have a first rounder. They would then start a lineup of Devin Harris, Vince Carter, Carmelo Anthonyge, Krstic, and Marcus Camby, with a late 1st round draft pick, Josh Boone, and reasonable cap flexibility within a few years with Melo's player option and Carter's expiring. Wowzers.

Ah, trade season's back. How we missed it. Let the rumors fly!

Just in case there was any question as to how Avery Johnson felt about the February trade which sent Devin Harris and draft picks to New Jersey for Jason Kidd, here are some quotes from the Le Petit General's closing statements to the Dallas media.

[Harris] was going to be an 18-and-8 player. I invested a significant amount of time with him and, again, he was injured and a lot of things were happening around the NBA, and like I said, if we can just hold on a little while, we've got the best record against the West. ... The team was changed and we never really got back on track. [...]

[The trade] was something that was tried and it didn't take us anywhere that was close, we were struggling to make the playoffs, so it didn't nearly bring us the rewards that we wanted.

Now that Dallas is done, it's obvious the trade was a bust. A huge, magnificent bust. Harris for Kidd straight up would have been considered a bust, since, you know, Kidd makes $20 million next year while Harris is locked up until 2012 at a salary that never gets larger than $9.3 million. And also because Kidd is 35 year old and Harris is 25. And also because Harris is arguably a better player today -- a 17.5 PER, 15 points and 6 assists in 32 minutes on the season -- than Kidd, with a 16.7 PER, 11 points and 10 assists in 36 minutes.

Throw in those draft picks (#21 this year, and a 2010 first round selection) and DeSagana Diop? No offense to Pat Riley, but this was a far worse deal than Phoenix's trade for Shaq. The Suns ruined their season. The Mavericks might have ruined their season and their future.

Various Mavericks fans have been calling for Johnson's termination since the Warriors upended Dallas in the first round of last season, but Mark Cuban has stood pretty firmly by his coach.

But you have to figure that if the players suddenly decide to publicly turn on AJ, that things could change drastically. And I may be going out on a limb here, but let's say that 'practicing without your coach and contrary to his orders' qualifies as 'publicly turning on'.

The players stepped out on their own Monday afternoon. After coach Avery Johnson spoke briefly with the team at American Airlines Center, he canceled practice and said he would see everybody at the team plane for the flight to New Orleans.

But several players said that they wanted to practice. So they did, without the coaching staff.

[...] Johnson talked openly Monday about whether the players are still in his corner. He said he will continue to run his team the way he believes it should be run. He said that since the trade for Jason Kidd, the transition has been rocky.

The Morning-News also made it pretty clear that Avery's tone was not that of "pleased" when discussing the players only practice. Avery Johnson isn't the type of guy that would just give up, so it's a little surprising to see him cancel practice.

Not to mention he's a self-admitted control freak, so this type of thing probably would not sit well. Although, maybe his attitude just doesn't sit well with certain players. And honestly, who would be surprised to see Kidd either not succumb to Avery's controlling ways or to just straight up lead a quiet mutiny in Dallas? You can put your hand down, Byron. It was hypothetical.

Boston was a championship favorite before this road trip. How much does the 3-0 sweep through Texas boost the population on the Celtics bandwagon?

This is the first Texas Triangle sweep since 2001, when Chris Webber's Kings pulled it off. (Thanks for asking.) The Celts were able to survive a horror of an offensive night from Rajon Rondo in Dallas this eve; Rondo went 0-7, no points, 3 assists and 5 turnovers in 22 minutes. The Big Three (yep, Ray Allen's back) managed to carry the load.

Jason Kidd had a very Jason Kidd game, with 2 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists. Unfortunately, in competing against top teams (DANGER!), Dallas needs Kidd to score a little more, or at least shoot more efficiently. (Meanwhile, last night for Jersey, Devin Harris had 26 on 15 shots... and 9 assists of his own.)

But this game says more about how good Boston is rather than Maverick concerns. It's beginning to get difficult to imagine Boston doing anything but dominate the first two rounds of its playoff run.

Jan Hubbard of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram offers up a discussion of just how contagious Jason Kidd's passing has been for the Mavericks. (Via Mavs Moneyball.) Stats are used. And while all Kidd's teammates and Hubbard's headline say the passing is in fact contagious, the stats don't corroborate.

Hubbard uses assists per game before and after Kidd's arrival as an indicator. This, of course, doesn't isolate Kidd's impact on his teammates' passing, which the whole point of this story and all the quotes. In fact, the boost in Kidd-era assists can be directly attributed to... Kidd himself. His predecessor, Devin Harris, averaged 5.3 assists a game in Dallas this season. Kidd is averaging 10.2/game, a difference of 4.9 assists. The increase in team assists after the trade? 4.3 per game. So Kidd himself accounts for almost 90% of the increased passing, showing any contagious effect to be minor at best.

(More curmudgeonly mythbustin' after the jump.)