According to the Associated Press, both Josh Boone and Marcus Williams have been inked to contracts that will keep them on the team through 2009. Scoring 4.2 points a game last season, while averaging 11 minutes a game before suffering a shoulder injury, Boone definitely has room to improve. However, with the ineffectiveness of Jason Collins and the uncertainty of Jamal Magloire and Sean Williams, having Boone come off the bench or possibly start is hardly a bad thing.

As a matter of fact, I think that Boone may even have the skill and potential to be a solid contributor on the team. I know I’m not speaking for myself when I say that Collins hasn’t done a thing for the team in quite some time. He’s basically just a big body at this point in his career. Having Boone play a bigger role would make the Nets much more athletic and much stronger on defense.

While Marcus Williams is still injured as of today, still nursing a broken foot, when he comes back, he should be a solid alternative to Darrel Armstrong at point guard. Overall, having both of these guys on the bench helps solidify a Nets bench that really isn’t that bad, despite having a bevy of guards that aren’t going to get enough playing time to be as productive as they need to be.

Nevertheless, the Nets made another move that helped solidify the bench, trading for the well-traveled David Wesley. A few weeks ago, I wrote about how the Nets were looking to shop Bernard Robinson and Mile Ilic. A few people e-mailed me and left comments after that post, saying that no one would want to pick up either one of those players. Sadly enough, the Hornets took the bait and as a result, the Nets have another guard on their roster.

This kind of fills the gap the team believed they had when Allan Houston went and signed with the Knicks. The reason why I’m saying this is that Wesley and Houston can both still shoot the basketball, but can’t play defense to save their lives. With Vince Carter getting 35 minutes a game, Wesley is probably going to get anywhere from 10-15 minutes a night.

In that kind of role, I think Wesley can score about six points a game and provide the team with some solid bench scoring. That combined with Boone, both Williams’, Wesley and Collins, the Nets bench actually gets much more dependable.

While Robinson and Ilic are spare parts at best, that wouldn’t have played a part in the team’s success this season anyway, is a 37-year old that only averaged 2.2 points last season really worth trading two players for?

I have no idea. I guess we’re just going to have to see what Wesley can do on the court this season.

The Nets situation at point guard this season gets more interesting after every passing day. First, Marcus Williams gets injured and is out at least a month. Then the team signs Darrell Armstrong. Now, it looks like Jason Kidd may miss some time with a back injury.

However what makes this situation a juicy one is that Kidd may face disciplinary actions from the NBA if he gets in trouble for playing naughty touch with a female waitress in Manhattan two weeks ago. If that is the case, Armstrong may be the Nets opening night point guard. If this was eight or nine years ago, during Armstrong’s apex, it wouldn’t be too big of a deal, but as of now, the Nets have to be concerned.

I’m pretty sure that if he gets to play 30 minutes a game, he could play a decent game and help the Nets, but in all honesty, I have my doubts. It’s been four years since he’s gotten more than 25 minutes a game of playing time and even then he only averaged 10 points a  game. On top of that, he’s not the passer Kidd is.

That creates some serious holes in the Nets offense if Kidd can’t get himself together physically and criminally by opening night.

With that being said, my question to Jason Kidd is this: Why were you out at 2:30 in the morning when you had practice in a few hours? Aren’t you paid millions of dollars to take care of yourself and be a pivotal member of a team people expect to win games? What kind of message are you sending to the rest of your team when you can’t even do the right thing off the court?

The touching of the waitress is the cherry on top of the sundae of shame for Kidd. Just when you thought Stephon Marbury was the only true sexual predator on an NBA team in the tri-state area, Kidd, who according to the Smoking Gun (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0110071jasonkidd1.html) was been arrested for domestic violence in the past, adds another nice notch to his belt.

Great job Jason, keep it up. I’m sure all the kids walking around with your jerseys on their backs will jump for joy when they all hear this.

That has nothing to do with Kidd’s game though. Despite all of this, Kidd is still a great point guard that the Nets need in the lineup in order to make the playoffs this season.

If he’s healthy and can’t play because he’s too busy committing flagrant fouls off the court, Nets fans will have plenty of reason to be pissed off.

According to the Associated Press, Nets Center Nenad Krstic is still a ways away from being the same player that averaged 16 points a game last season.

Going down with an injury last season, Krstic played in only 26 games last season and is looking to get back on the court and help the Nets rebound after a mediocre season.

However, in an article published on October 11, AP’s Tom Canavan goes into how Krstic fired an air-ball in practice and Nets coach Lawrence Frank was busy making excuses for him.

If you’re a Nets fan, this isn’t great news.

Making things even worse is that towards the end of the article, Richard Jefferson goes on to say, “It might be 25 games before he is his normal self and even then he might have his ups and downs. It might not be until after the All-Star break that he is the consistent player that we are accustomed to.”

Considering that they lost Mikki Moore this offseason, the Nets better hope that Jamaal Magloire can relive his glory days from 2004, when he averaged 11.4 points and nine rebounds a game. However, with Jason Collins nursing a sore hip for the past week, Magloire may be getting more minutes at power forward then at center. While many thought that Magloire would be getting plenty of minutes as the team’s backup center, he may have to take over at PF until Collins is healthy.

From my point of view, I’d rather have Magloire at PF than Collins, just because he’s a better rebounder, a better shooter and can get around the court better than Collins can. However, with Krstic and Collins not at 100 percent, Magloire is going to have to do whatever he can to help the Nets, in what even position they put him in.

Trouble for Williams?

According to The Record, Sean Williams was 15 minutes late for practice last week and as a result, was benched in what was supposed to be his preseason debut. With Collins injured and Krstic taking it slow, Williams and guys like Josh Boone could really take advantage of added playing time. They just have to do the right thing on and off the court.

Showing up 15 minutes late to practice in what is supposed to be your first appearance with a team that drafted you in the first round, Williams hasn’t exactly started his Nets career on the right foot.

With Darrell Armstrong signing with the team this past week, things have changed a little bit on the Nets front.

Officially ending the discussion as to who would be getting playing time with Marcus Williams out with a broken foot, Armstrong obviously will have the lion share of bench minutes until Williams is back to 100%.

However, more importantly, this may end the discussion on the whole Allan Houston situation as well.

Despite the fact that Armstrong is getting on in age, the guy played in 81 games last season with the Pacers and gives the team options that Houston can’t. The guy plays better defense than Houston and even at 39, you know what you’re going to get from him. Who knows what could have happened with Houston.

Signed to a partially guaranteed one-year, $1.2 million contract, Armstrong may have to fight with Williams for playing time once he returns, but I’m sure the Nets are relishing the fact that they’ll have three competent point guards on their roster. The addition of Armstrong may also force Williams to think a little harder about the shots he takes, which could bring his shooting percentage up a bit and make him a better overall player.

On another note…

Reports from the Daily News on Saturday indicate that Nets first round pick Sean Williams is blocking shots all over the place and is looking great thus far. I don’t know you guys feel about this, but I don’t think I can ever remember the Nets having an extremely aggressive and athletic shot-blocker [I was going to say Shawn Bradley, but he was never really athletic]. If Williams does have the goods, he may get a lot more minutes off the bench than everyone thinks this season.

Finally…

Nets Shopping Robinson and Ilic?

According to the Star-Ledger, not only is Mile Ilic on the bubble right now, but he’s slower than his head coach Lawrence Frank. After losing in a scrimmage game during the week, Ilic couldn’t even keep pace with him. Drafted in the second round in 2005, Ilic hasn’t looked anything like a dominant center so far.

All I can say is thank god for Nenad Krstic [If he stays healthy], who makes the option of trading Ilic an easy one.

As far as Robinson goes, I don’t know if he fits into the team’s plans right now and last season, he didn’t get any playing time at all. Considering the fact that during his career he’s proven he can score points off the bench if he gets 15 minutes a game, the Nets may be able to get something decent back if they trade both of these extra wheels.

The Associated Press reported on September 28 that Marcus Williams broke a bone in his right foot and will miss all of training camp.

Not good.

Really not good if you’re Jason Kidd and you can’t play 38 minutes a game and score 18 points every night anymore.

However, the Nets do have a competent replacement, as they signed Robert Hite this offseason and overall, they’re quite comparable on paper, at least.

Playing in 12 games last season with the Heat, Hite averaged 4.3 points in 11.3 minutes a game. Williams averaged a little over six points a game last year in roughly 15 minutes a game.

Not great numbers by any means, but at 6’2, 184 pounds, Hite should be able to play a speed game that could offset the plodders like Jason Collins and Malik Allen on the Nets bench.

Despite the comparable numbers however, I’m sure that most Nets fans would agree that Williams is a sounder option off the bench and is a better shooter with more upside than Hite. Scoring 27 points in a game against Phoenix last season, Williams has shown the ability to step up off the bench and get baskets when he has to.

The biggest thing I think the Nets will miss if William’s injury takes him out of the lineup during the regular season however is William’s passing ability. Williams is a competent point guard, Hite played five of his 12 games there and isn’t the kind of passer the Nets need off the bench.

Hite also is a guy that is more comfortable playing shooting guard, making his transition to point guard one that may not be as easy as I’m making it out to be.

Again, this may not mean anything once the regular season starts because chances are William’s will be back by then, but if William’s takes his time getting back in a groove, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hite get some playing time.

Then again, the Nets could go pick somebody up to fill in for Williams if the injury is more serious than the organization thinks it is.