15th in the Eastern Conference

New Jersey Nets.

Backcourt:

The back court is one of the thinnest in the league but they do have a couple of bright or dim spots. The best player on the team is Vince Carter, who will play half of the season because his team is going no where, kind of like what he did in Toronto. If he’s able to at least duplicate what he did last season then there’s some hope that the Nets won’t be the top contender for the number one pick in the draft. Devin Harris will have a chance to shine, and he will try hard to fill his own stat sheet because he will want to prove to everyone that the Nets don’t need Ricky Rubio of Spain. Keyon Dooling will be a nice scoring punch off the bench but there’s not much else at the guard position on the bench. Will Maurice Ager surprise everyone and shine? Or will the Nets play a bunch of small forwards at the 2 spot?

Frontcourt:

They do not have a legitimate big man so they have to rely on rookie Brook Lopez to carry the load. I think the all-star potential of Yi Jianlian will take a serious hit because the two point guards that the Nets have are not initiators of any offense except for their own. Will Bobby Simmons wake up from the big contract he landed a couple of years ago for one decent year and play up to it? If I’m a Nets fan I better hope so. The man has the athletic ability to play both ends of the floor well and might be able to motivate the former Air Canada himself. The Nets frontcourt can arguably be even worse than the backcourt unless at least one of them develops. Come on Yi!!!!!!!

Overall:

If Sean Williams plays 30 minutes without fouling out he just might average five blocks per game. Have fun protecting the paint, New Jersey. You probably have the worst defensive set of players in the league. You have two point guards that put decent pressure, you have two relatively heavy set wing men (Najera and Hassell) that are good defenders, and you have some players that can record a few blocks for your team. Unfortunately for you though, you don’t have a legitimate anchor for any of that. Plus you’re probably going to play Mr. Carter and Mr. Simmons (until he realizes he can actually play defense) plenty of minutes to greatly offset any of your defensive efficiency. Not only that but last year you were 6^th in turnovers and 6^th in fouls committed meaning that you have to play even MORE defense, which I already think you're going to be terrible at.

Projection:

Worst team in the league.

But I'll give this team 2.5 balls of potential because Brook Lopez, Devin Harris, Sean Williams, and more importantly Yi Jianlian are young talented players that haven't completely adjusted to the game yet.