Uncle Cliffy, What's That in Your Hand?

While some writers and columnists like to point at the Richard Jefferson/ Vince “Vinsanity” Carter similarities as the reason the Nets are down 3 games to 1 to the geriatric Miami Heat, or to the fact that the greeziest coach in the NBA is outthinking the Lawrence Frank the boy wonder, I would like to point at Uncle Cliffy Robinson and his purported love for the doobie as the downfall of the New Jersey Nets' playoffs. It looked so good this year, rattling off 14 wins in a row, integrating Vince Carter and learning to run again, the emergence of Nenad Krstic...

RJ and VC can play together. Despite Vinsanity jacking up shots with 20 seconds left on the shot clock, and despite an 0 for 7 from behind the three point line performance, they are not incompatible. They are a double threat. But Vince, here’s something we know from college: the three point line gives you hope, but it is the inside score that brings you victory (mjr: That sentence will be a part of my entry in the “Bible” which will be discussed in this blog at a later date). The Nets need RJ to bring the victory. And though he needs to demand the ball, his passivity is not an indication that this pairing cannot work.

If anything, the issue is that neither Vinsanity nor Jason Kidd is a very good defender. The team can’t get stops. The backup point, Jacque Vaughn, is a speed bump. A very short, weak speed bump. I’d whip out Zoran Planinic’s long arms and chaotic drives to the basket myself, but I can’t seem to get Lawrence to hear me yelling at the television.

Lawrence’s rotation yesterday had John Thomas at the forward spot; his name, Dor informs me, was a name used by Kyle Machlachlan for his male member in Sex and the City. The JohnThomas rebounded and hustled… and refused to put up shots, even at point blank range. Good for a guy to know his role, but damn, do something. Anything. The JohnThomas looks like starting PF Jason Collins out there, with an offensive arsenal taken from a monk’s playbook—no scoring! And 4 on 5 basketball just doesn’t work so well. Coach Lawrence also played Lamond Murray (who looked passable on defense but did little offensively). Meanwhile, the Heat scored 47 from the forward positions, to the Nets’ 29 (with 17 from Richard Jefferson).

Note Jacque Vaughn and The JohnThomas’ +/- stats from 82games.

And yes, while RJ needs to do more, and sho’ nuff, Lawrence needs to find a bench player who has experience playing competitive basketball, the issue is Cliff Robinson. Uncle Cliffy, who has apparently run afoul of the doobie before, happens to be 6-10 and possessed of muscle and desire. Meaning—he would be put on Shaq, Haslem, Antoine Walker, et cetera. He might actually put a hand up. He might rebound. He might muscle those guys out of the box. He definitely would shoot a few threes, taking Haslem/ Walker away from near the basket, and opening slashing lanes for RJ.

Instead, he is watching on television, banned for five games. And Nets fans will soon find their basketball at a physical and emotional distance, thinking through the summer months about J-Kidd triple doubles and RJ dunks, wondering what might have been.