Nets Missing Toughness or leadership?

"I felt like we should’ve won this series and been playing still," Williams said. "It was a season of a lot of ups and downs. We’ve been talking about it all season. So hopefully we say this is a learning experience. I don’t think anyone expected us to win a championship this year, so just bounce back, prepare in the offseason and hope to come back stronger mentally and physically. "

“When we move the ball and we’re not just iso-ing it,” he said. “Pushing the ball up and down the floor. Getting into a good rhythm, a good flow. I think when we just keep it on one side, the ball kind of sticks, we don’t have success.”

Deron Williams has been criticised for not being a leader all season and this playoff loss to an depleted team does not look good on his resume. Williams is the type of leader who leads by example and couldn't this season because of his injuries, the "offense", and being out of shape coming into the season. The media overuses the word leader but does not specify what that leader should do. An perfect example would be Charles Barkley questioning the Nets passion on the court. How can you question someones will to win based off their body language and not having some kind of inside information. Too much criticism is given to the Nets qualities while there is not enough attention going to the Chicago Bulls defense or the stagnant offense of the Nets. Without Question the Nets played bad but Tom Thibodeau is a defensive specialist.

A problem for the Nets was basically everything. When you let Marco Belinelli score at will , Nate Robinson get into the lane then there is an serious problem. Joakim Noah scoring 22 points is just outrageous and Lopez needs to get tougher period. Offensively, the Nets rely on isolations heavily and the Bulls are one of the best at stopping them. There were times when Andray Blatche and C.J. Watson going one on three while Williams is on the floor. But that is just an issue of learning how to play with each other. Williams can score but he has to find a balance which allows Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez to score. Either way, the Nets need to get better (tougher) because the main players will be together for a long time and the Eastern Conference will be much healthier next season.