Friday, December 4, 2009
The New Jersey Nets set the unenviable record Wednesday for starting the season with the most consecutive losses with a record of 0-18.
Coming into this season, it’s hard to believe out of all 30 NBA teams, the Nets is the team that’s this historically bad.
The past two seasons, New Jersey finished with just 34 wins. But with Devin Harris and the development of Brook Lopez, this should have been their year to at least attempt for .500.
Their roster is not that bad. I’d much rather have their team than Golden State or Memphis. They fired head coach Lawrence Frank last Sunday and now are coached under Tom Barrise.
Chris Douglas-Roberts, the Memphis product Kansas fans know so well, is having a breakout season, averaging 16.9 points per game. The Nets picked up Rafer Alston in the offseason to take the load off Devin Harris, but he is nowhere near as effective as he was in Orlando last year.
Granted, Harris, their best player, has only played in eight out of their 18 games because of an injury, but obviously, his presence hasn’t yielded a victory.
Remember Yi Jianlian? Somehow, he found his way onto New Jersey last season and has yet to make a significant impact, except for on the injury report.
He’s only played in four games this year because of a knee injury, but Net’s sources said Jianlian will be back at full-court practice later this week. Not that it will make much of a difference.
The foundation is there to have a successful team, but how they haven’t won a game is beyond comprehension. It’s hard to tell since their games haven’t been nationally televised (and I only had NBA League Pass for a couple weeks). They may not want to win. Their coach might be terrible. Maybe the chemistry is terrible.
No matter the reason, there is no excuse for an 0-18 record. It’s inexplicable. You hear athletes say it’s harder to lose all your games than win them all. If that is the case, the Nets have accomplished quite a difficult feat.
Backtrack to Wednesday when Kansas beat Alcorn State by 67 points in men’s basketball. A lot of the Jayhawk fans and even the players and coaches said they felt sorry for Alcorn State. It’s acceptable to feel that way because they are one of the worst teams in the nation, and their athletics department can’t compete financially.
The Braves really tried, but the better team showed why they were considered as such.
But the Nets don’t have much of an excuse to be in this position. They already lost to the New York Knicks (4-15) at home and the Minnesota Timberwolves (2-16).
Looking at their coming schedule, they will undoubtedly get lucky and win somewhere. They have Charlotte and their second game against New York ahead, so maybe they can break this streak as it stands.
Everyone usually embraces the underdog, but don’t embrace a historic loser.
— Edited by Lauren Cunningham
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