With a 2-5 record through seven games, it’s fair to say I’m not talking about the Los Angeles Lakers. For all it’s worth though, in the two wins this team has this season, they’ve looked like a completely different team out there. They rebound better, they play much better defense, and they hustle. In their losses though, they get destroyed on the perimeter and have no jump to their game.

Take the recent loss to the Pacers as a perfect example of that. After battling back from 16 points down, this team just comes up lame and forgets about doing the little things on the court that got them back into the game in the first place. I know with Devin Harris out, the Nets are running a little thin in the energy department, but where are the rest of these guys? Vince Carter can only score 20 points a game and aside from Keyon Dooling, who has been solid in place of Harris, the rest of these guys look a bit out of place.

Nets coach Lawrence Frank sees this as a potential problem as well.

“We’re putting a lot of stress and strain on Keyon and Vince,” Frank told the AP “You’re asking both those guys to play basically 39 minutes a night at both ends. You’re asking a lot of them, and it changes your rotation a little bit. Pus, Devin is one of our best paint attackers, so we have to get enough paint penetration using Vince and Keyon as hubs.”

One guy that has to step up is Bobby Simmons. 26 minutes a game and he’s only pulling down seven points a game? Start taking more three’s buddy; that’s about the only thing you’re hitting right now. In order for this team to break out of this funk a guy like Simmons, has got to step up and score 1,000 points this season. Otherwise, the Nets bench will have to come up with someone else that can produce.

In other news, AP round ball writer Tom Canavan wrote an interesting piece yesterday, detailing a plan for the Nets to give away 1,500 tickets to unemployed fans that submit resumes to them.

Talk about taking the recession by the horns.

“Our belief right now is let’s invest in people who might invest in us later,” Nets chief executive Brett Yormark told the AP. “In doing so, we can help people who need it most.”

Even the Nets themselves think it’s a good idea.

“I think it’s great,” forward Jarvis Hayes, told the AP. “Everybody knows the economy is struggling right now and if people can turn in their resumes to our sponsors and get jobs, I think it is wonderful. Hopefully, when the economy turns around we’ll have more fans.”