The NBA FanHouse team is in the midst of previewing each squad prior to the start of the 2009-10 season. Tom Ziller spices things up a little by examining Yi Jianlian as a player to watch. In keeping with the theme I decided to highlight a New Jersey swingman who has more value than his current ADP would indicate. Out with the old, in with the new. In order to free up some more cap space for the summer of 2010, the Nets shipped Vince Carter to Orlando in exchange for Courtney Lee and and a few other pieces (yes, Rafer Alston has officially become a "piece"). The new guard in New Jersey consists of two fantasy super-talents and a number of late-round value picks.
We know for sure that Devin Harris and Brook Lopez are both second-round talents -- though Lopez can be had on the cheap with his general ADP currently at 29.12 (per Mock Draft Central). The remaining Nets are struggling to fall off the board any sooner than the 13th round. What that says to me is that there is plenty of value slipping through the cracks.
It's that old basketball adage, "somebody has to score, right?" Harris and Lopez accounted for just 34.9 percent of their team's total points last season. I expect Lopez to up his scoring from 13.0 points per game to close to 18.5 points per game this season. Harris himself dropped 21.3 points per game and former Nets swingman Vince Carter added another 20.8 points. Aside from those three players it was a hodgepodge of middling journeymen and young players with some promise who chipped in. No other player, though, averaged double-digit scoring for the Nets last season.
The 2009-10 New Jersey Nets have a number of up-and-coming talent waiting in the wings. Maybe the most promising of them all is newly acquired swingman Courtney Lee. As a rookie Lee averaged 8.4 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.0 steals, 1.1 three-pointers (40.4 percent), 45 percent from the floor and 83 percent from the free-throw line in just 25.1 minutes per game. In New Jersey he won't only see his minutes increase, but he'll also see an increase in touches -- he had a relatively low usage rate (14.0) in Orlando. To be honest, as much as I like Lee, Jianlian, Terrence Williams, and even Sean Williams, there's no sure thing in New Jersey outside of Brook Lopez and Devin Harris. The safest bet, however, has to be Lee. He can easily average 12 points, 1.5 threes, 1.3 steals and shoot over 80 percent from the line. In the 13th round that's a steal.
