With the Nets middling most of the season, I figured I’d give some thoughts on what needs to be done for the team to start to thrive.

1- Trade Sean Williams- The guy proved on several occasions last season that he has legitimate talent. However, with guys like Josh Boone and Brook Lopez around, Williams has become lost in the shuffle. With an obvious weakness at the small forward position, the Nets would benefit extremely from dealing Williams. At the very least, they could get a pick for the future that they’ll spend a bit smarter.

2- Move Bobby Simmons to the bench- There has to be someone on the Nets bench that can help out more at small forward. Personally, I like Jarvis Hayes a lot more there and given his more explosive offensive ability, I think this is a move the Nest have to make. Simmons isn’t a terrible player, but I think his skills are better suited for the bench, especially with the Nets looking for a third real option on offense.

3- Give Ryan Anderson more minutes- It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that Yi Jianlian needs a wakeup call. A disaster on defense and way too inconsistent on offense, a nice reduction in minutes should get the point across to him that he’s far from untouchable. As a result of this, a much better offensive player in my opinion, Ryan Anderson, should get a shot at that position. Averaging 6.5 points a game with under 20 minutes of playing time every night, I think Anderson could be much more productive than the floundering Yi.

4- Start winning at home- I don’t think anyone has any idea why this team is playing badly at home this season. If they are to make the playoffs and keep those fans happy, that obviously has to change. I wish I had an answer for this question as well, but I don’t

5- Give Brook Lopez an even bigger push- Nothing against the steady Josh Boone, but at times this season, Lopez has proven he has the ability to be a more than adequate center in this league. Simply put, he needs to be able to make mistakes and earn his bumps and bruises. Currently averaging 28 minutes a game, I’d like to see that up by 30 by the end of the season. If that is the case, I truly feel that he is a guy that can average 15 points and 10 boards a game.

The shooting was so bad last night that I felt like Sam Cassell was back with the team. I remember one night on the news when I was a young kid journeyman center Joe Klein was complaining about how busy he was under the boards due to Cassell’s “chucking.”

Scary kind of flashback to say the very least, but that’s the kind of feeling I had.

However, this time around, it was everyone shooting blanks.

Seriously, when guys like Devin Harris and Vince Carter are that bad, you know you’re in trouble. On top of that, Yi Jianlian was flat out horrible. I’m not just talking about his offense either. The guy’s defense is horrible and every game he gets exploited.

For the Chinese media to even think that he and Yao Ming are in the same category is a bit absurd if you ask me. Here we have a player in Yao that is polish personified. He knows what he’s capable of doing and does everything from rebound and hit 17 footers with confidence. Yi, on the other hand, looks like the big goofy kid in junior high school that’s still growing into his body [If all the accounts are true, he may still be in JHS, who knows how old he is at this point.] You know, the guy I’m talking about. The one with all the natural talent in the world, but no polish and no smarts. Sometimes, when he has the ball and has no one around him, I think he’s just going to sit and cry in the middle of the court. He looks that confused.

About a decade ago, former New York Islanders coach Mike Milbury told one of his prized prospects, Eric Brewer that he looked so bad on the ice that he felt like he was sniffing glue out there. That’s where it’s gotten with me and Yi. You watch the guys form when he takes jumpers and it’s a thing of beauty and when he hustles, he can be a presence in the post. Most of the time though, this guy is a pillar of inconsistency. Something needs to change with this guy soon. Otherwise, Laurence Frank is going to have to get under his nose and see if there is any Elmer’s under there.

On another note, can Mike Fratello and Marv Albert please get along on the air? It feels like these two guys hate each other or they have some sick big brother relationship of some sort. The constant bickering makes them really annoying to listen to and makes me want to put the television on mute. Give me Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel any day. As a matter of fact, just give me Michelle Beadle; she flat out rocks.

Just when you thought this team learned their lesson and was focused on playing solid basketball at both ends, they forget to come back in the second half.

Simply put, this team is just going through growing pains. There are a lot of youngsters here that are developing and as much as Devin Harris and Vince Carter are capable of, they cannot lead this team to victory all by themselves every single night.

It’s not going to happen.

Especially when you take into consideration the fact that Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons are so inconsistent. Neither one of them can be counted on to produce and can go from legitimate to ghosts in a matter of minutes. As far as being a coach in a situation like that, it must be downright scary. With Jarvis Hayes out and Eduardo Najera still injured, the Nets are missing guys that can be plugged in and provide a jolt if they have to.

These guys also give players like Jianlian and Simmons the marbles they need to get out on the court every night. The way Simmons has played this season, he’s lucky he’s not on the bottom of the depth chart. How he got to the top, I have no idea.

The same thing goes for Jianlian, whose defense has been spotty all season. I know Nets GM Kiki Vandeweghe likes his offensive ability, going as far to compare him to Dirk Nowitzki, but as far as I’m concerned, the guy has looked extremely tentative out there and has shown a total lack of poise, especially down-low where you’d expect him to naturally take advantage of his size and strength. Instead, he looks like a small forward trying to play power forward.

However, one guy who is playing well off the bench right now is Trenton Hassell, who is hauling his rump on the boards and shooting pretty well as well. His stats may not be amazing, but the effort, combined with the results he’s gotten in limited time, have quickly made him one of my favorites off the Nets bench.

The same goes for Ryan Anderson and Josh Boone, even though they seem to always be battling some kind of consistency problems. When they show up however, these guys are solid bench players and guys I’d keep around for the long push. When they don’t show up like they did tonight and Jianlian and Simmons are virtually useless though, this team doesn’t win.

So what can be done?

Over the last three games, things have not been pretty for the Nets, as the defense, bench and even Vince Carter have been inconsistent at best.

Just when you thought they were due, against a team that has had struggles as well this season in the Toronto Raptors, the Nets continue to leave the rest of the NBA up in the air when it comes to understanding what this team is capable of this season.

Even in winning, this team is still in a funny place if you ask me.

After the first few minutes, it looked like the Nets were dead in the water. They had no passion, no intensity and no energy. The Raptors were passing, shooting and running all over them. Guys like Brook Lopez and Yi Jianlian especially looked flat and Carter and Devin Harris looked like they weren’t going to be on their usually 20-point pace.

Then something happened.

The way the Nets bench is structured, anyone and everyone can come up big on any given night. At the same time, we’ve already seen at times that they can all come up flat at once as well.

Tonight, without Jarvis Hayes, the Nets got a good defensive effort from Josh Boone, who had a pair of steals in the first that played a key role in the team’s turnaround in the first. Working his way up the depth chart after coming back from an injury, this was exactly the type of game he needed to have early on.

The same thing goes for Ryan Anderson, who scored eight points in his first ten games and got the Nets back in the game. Sure, he cooled off as the game went on, but off the bench, he did exactly what they team needed him to do.

The same thing goes for Trenton Hassell, who proved he could hit a jump shot and rebound on multiple occasions.

The Nets did make some key mistakes though, things like taking shots with no one under to get the offensive board, but a key three-pointer from Yi and a pretty dunk by Lopez got New Jersey within four with just three minutes left in the half. Then, they even found a way to get it tied and it was obvious they were beginning to get Chris Bosh and the Raptors pissed off.

Not too bad considering how they started.

But 25 points from the bench will do that sort of thing.

The third quarter was a sluggish one, but in spite of guys like Yi looking completely out of place, Bobby Simmons and Harris were starting to make themselves useful and because of that, the Nets got their first lead of the night.

Jason Kapono and Jose Calderon can shoot though, can’t they? The Nets too didn’t help matters either, as they couldn’t rebound on either end through the second half of the third quarter. With the bench playing as well as they did, it all went to waste in a matter of minutes.

Harris showed some light in the fourth, going on an 8-0 run by himself and playing pinball with the big boys of the Raptors; that’s when the Nets decided to take the game back. Taking over, Harris scored 15 points after a horrible start, the Nets played the kind of fourth quarter they had to and came out victorious because of it.

Then it was obvious who the better team was, as the Nets began to rebound on both ends and take advantage of second chance opportunities in addition to playing more than solid defense.

Now if they can only do that for 48 minutes, then they’d be cooking, eh?

Before tonight’s game with the Knicks, the Nets had a record of 11-3 against them when Vince Carter was in the lineup. Carter also averaged 25.7 points in those 14 games. Not too shabby, eh?

However, it wasn’t Carter who started tonight’s game on fire, scoring 14 points in 8:46 in the first quarter against the Knicks; it was Devin Harris.

Obviously taking a hint from the Knicks up-tempo game, the Nets were running around like maniacs early on, hitting three pointers left and right. Seven for 13 through the first 14 minutes of the game from beyond the arc, it’s fair to say that the Nets were teaching the Knicks how to play their own style.

It was a bit concerning at first, since the Nets were so out of their element, waiting until almost the nine minute mark to get to the free throw line for the first time and giving up way more points off the fast break than they usually do, but early on, they were holding their own, making you think they could survive the night running around like crazed children at recess.

Leading by 15 points at one time in the first half, the Nets went into the half up by six and still looked as if they were in control despite the Knicks ability to never get themselves completely out of the game.

Things started to fall apart a bit in the third, when the Knicks got their first lead of the night and started hitting their three-pointers. Luckily for the Nets, Bobby Simmons and Jarvis Hayes hit key shots to keep them ahead. Tim Thomas had other things on his mind though, hitting a crucial three that put the Knicks ahead by four with four minutes left.

After that the Knicks never looked back.

If you’re a Nets fan, this was a damn ugly one to watch.

Wow, what a car crash. The Nets just completely ran astray while the Knicks and Al Harrington started shooting their tails off. It was like watching a snowball roll down a mountain, slowly picking up steam and getting to the point where it was so big that nothing could stop it. It was extremely Nostradamian of Nets Head Coach Laurence Frank before the game as well, when he said that the Knicks never find themselves completely in a game, but at the same time, are never completely out of it.

Did the Nets find that out tonight or what?

Well, I said after the team’s last game that the Nets had to get more production from anyone not named Devin Harris or Vince Carter and that’s exactly what happened tonight.

Almost prophetic, Carter told the media after team got blowout against Washington that the Nets were going to have to take out their frustration on Minnesota, “plain and simple.”

Again that’s exactly what happened.

However, in the least likely of ways, it wasn’t the combo of Harris and Carter, which combined for 34 points by the way, that frustrated the crap out of Al Jefferson and Craig Smith for 48 minutes.

In the end, when seven guys hit three-pointer’s and get to double figures, you know you did something right as a team.

However, that wasn’t the only thing that went right for the Nets tonight.

Yi Jianlian played extremely well, notching 16 points and five rebounds, but didn’t get much playing time after the first half. Even Bobby Simmons was a factor, hitting three of four from beyond the arc, scoring 12 points for the first time this season. Nonetheless, in addition to Simmons and Yi, I loved the way Brook “Big Show” Lopez played tonight. Active on the boards on both ends of the floor all night, Lopez was a force, drawing fouls like a shifty point guard. Hitting his free throws as well, I think this is was a turning point for the youngster and a game he should watch if he hits a rut during the course of the season.

That wasn’t all though.

Simply put, the bench was uber solid. Keyon Dooling was sharp on both ends, and was shooting his heart out. Ryan Anderson and Stromile Swift didn’t get much playing time, and were still factors on both ends combining for 13 points and eight rebounds. Jarvis Hayes was also doing his thing, hitting three points at will [where was this guy when I was playing NBA Jam in arcades 10 years ago?].

When the bench plays this well, no team in the league has a chance. Yes, I said it. Want to fight about it? [sorry bad “Family Guy” reference] The only question is, can they keep it up?

Guess we’ll just have to wait and see about that.

On another note, I just want to say that the Yes Network broadcast of tonight’s game was utterly hilarious, in the best way possible, that is. From Ian Eagle’s and Jim Spanarkel’s two or three minute mention of their favorite weathermen and the supreme focus on Eagle’s jump shot [not bad if you ask me]to the endearingly charming Michele Beadle’s make-out session with the Phoenix Sun’s mascot, these guys were enjoyable and at their best.

Keep it up guys.

Well, after the way the Nets played on the road last week, I was really expecting this team to start to understand what they had to do on the court in order to be in the win column on a consistent basis.

I don’t know why I felt that way, especially considering that it’s been the Nets back court of Vince Carter and Devin Harris that’s been playing their tails off, while the rest of the team [wait, let's be fair here. Keyon Dooling has been pretty damn good off the bench this season. The other night against Washington, he was rock solid as well. Too bad no one else off the pine was.] has reveled in mediocrity.

But rather than discuss the guys that haven’t been producing, cough, Bobby Simmons, cough, I figured I’d discuss how solid Carter and Harris have been and how they, more than anyone else, know that they are carrying the team on their backs right now.

“It’s up to Devin (Harris) and myself to really set the bar and set the tone for the next game now,” Carter told the Associated Press after the team’s loss against Washington. “That’s what I feel is needed, so I refuse to let us take a step back.”

That’s exactly what I want to hear from Carter if I’m a fan of this team.

Anyone that watches the games on TV probably heard the quick interview done with Harris before the game against Washington where he said something along the lines of “We’re not letting this success go to our heads. We [He and Carter] aren’t going to be able to score 30 points a night, every night and defenses are going to start preparing for us. We have to start getting more from everybody if we’re going to keep this thing going.”

That right there my friends is class.

The way this guy is playing, he could have easily been the Stephon Marbury type and ask for more from his teammates by talking about himself in the third person [remember those days?] or even by simply naming names. That’s the difference between Harris and the rest of the players in this league, though. That’s not his style.

However, I can tell you this much, if someone on this team doesn’t call somebody out soon, this team is going to be in the same situation they were in last season, scratching and clawing for a playoff spot they know isn’t coming.