First Half Reflection

The Brooklyn Nets are having a good season so far compared to the last couple of years. They're currently the fourth seed in the East and well on their way to being a playoff team. With high expectations from the Nets' owner as well as the media, there seems to be a call for immediate success considering the talent the Nets have. So even with this winning record, it seems as though the Nets have not met expectations which can be validated because of their record against winning teams. Steps have to be made before becoming the best and the process has had its trials and tribulations this season. P.J. Carlesimo was asked about the stance of his team and here is the response:

“I hadn't thought of a number, but way back when, we might have said 30; that’s one of the things you always think of, is that if you’re a decent team, you want to be at 30 wins before the break,” Carlesimo said.

P.J. on the Coaching Change:

“I think they handled that (the coaching change) as well as they possibly could, and for good reason, because I think it wasn’t as big a change for them,” Carlesimo said. “It’s the same staff, the same coaches that have been here with them, and a lot of the system is exactly the same.”

P.J. on bad losses and production against proven playoff teams:

“We talk about some of the losses we’ve had, but to be fair, we’ve bounced back well at times,” he said. For example, if you turned on the TV for the second half of either San Antonio game and that was the first time you saw us this year, you’d think about investing some money about us not winning anytime in the near future – but we came back to win at Indiana Monday, and the first time we came back to win at Oklahoma City a few days later. Same thing at Atlanta, we were pathetic, but came back and beat them here a couple days later.”

“We’ve done a lot of things positively, but I don’t think we’re to the point yet where we’ve proven we can be consistent for a long time against the good teams,” Carlesimo said. “We’ve sprinkled in some of that and played some of the best teams in the league well for a while… and probably the other biggest thing we’ve struggled with is the really quick, up-and-down teams. Every year there’s teams you match up well with and some you don’t; sometimes you understand it and sometimes it makes no sense, but with us, it seems to be a pattern and we have to figure it out.”

“If you told us at the beginning of the year we’d win at Oklahoma City, at Indiana, and at New York, I’d say that’s pretty strong; we’ve been a decent road team, not a great one, and those are big wins,” he said.

P.J. Carlesimo is the type of person that will tell you how it is and I like that about him. The Nets have good players but everyone except maybe Gerald Wallace has a laid back attitude and it does not help when  times get rough. The verdict is still out on Carlesimo but he will need help from his star point guard Deron Williams. The decision to rest him for the last previous games were great and the Nets winning both games helps. Deron will need to come back healthy because their opponents will and the Miami Heat are not getting any worse with the way LeBron James is performing. The second half will be on the shoulders of Deron Williams. Hopefully, his will and ankles will support it.

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