The difficulty of the rest of the schedule the New Jersey Nets have this season can be looked at in two different ways.

With games against Boston, Orlando and the Lakers over the next few weeks, the Nets know they will have to rise to the next level against those teams or lay in the land of mediocrity and play golf in late April and May.

“We’ve been playing against some pretty good teams and they know how to close games,” Nets veteran guard Keyon Dooling told the Associated Press. “When you have experience and you have a team that’s been together, like Cleveland, they know how to close out games.”

On the other hand, with games against Charlotte, Chicago, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and the Knicks, the Nets will be able to make up some ground and if they get hot, they can still sneak into the last spot. Is it plausible? Perhaps. But only if this team gets their act together right now.

With Devin Harris still battling a strained shoulder, the pressure will now rest on the shoulders of Vince Carter. Who after scoring 41 points two weeks ago against the Clippers, seemed primed to lead the team into the post-season.

“Obviously, he’s the best player on our team, the leader on our team,” rookie Brook Lopez told Yahoo Sports after that game. “And as crazy as stuff he does, you kind of come to expect that from him.”

Lately, he hasn’t been as hot though, scoring 45 points over his last two games, which is far from average, but as stated before, the Nets need more if they are going to be one of the top sixteen teams in the NBA by the end of the regular season.

One person who could help out a bit more is Yi Jianlian, who is only averaging six points a game since the All-Star break.

As the Spanish say, basurero.

What’s going on in Brooklyn?- Frank Gehry says one think. Bruce Ratner and Brett Yormark say another. Who do you believe? Will the Nets ever move to Brooklyn?

Still projecting the start of the 2011 season as the time when they should be in Brooklyn, the Nets aren’t convincing anyone of anything anytime soon.

“We will get it done,” Yormark promised in a recent radio interview. “There is no ‘Plan B.’ We are going to Brooklyn.”

Yeah. Whatever you say buddy.

Photo by Bill Menzel.

What is Sean Williams thinking?

Just after getting his act together and finding his way back into the Nets rotation, Williams goes and gets himself in hot water after allegedly throwing a computer monitor and damaging other electronic equipment during a dispute at a cell phone store in Colorado. Damages were estimated at between $1,200 and $1,300.

The rumor now is that the team will be seeking anger management classes for the troubled youngster.

Pretty funny considering the fact that I’ve seen Yi Jianlian show more emotion while in a silent film than Williams has shown most of the season.

Rather than be firm with the kid, he gets a slap on the wrist, two-game suspension and even more coddling from the organization.

“Sean feels horrible. He feels horrible first for letting down the team, letting down his teammates. He feels horrible for making a poor decision. He’s sincerely heartbroken. He feels very, very bad.”—Coach Lawrence Frank told the Associated Press, after meeting with suspended F Sean Williams Wednesday.

You see that? What? This is an article and your incapable of seeing what I’m doing? Well, I’m playing the world’s smallest violin for Williams right now.

He’s heart-broken? He feels very, very bad? For what? Getting caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing in the first place?

Are we at the point in our society where we still have to make excuses for these guys? Charles Barkley had it right when he said these guys aren’t role models and my entire argument has nothing to do with what little kids think of what Williams did, but the fact that he let his teammates down when they needed him the most.

Great job Sean, keep it up. I smell something in your future and it’s not an All-Star appearance. It’s most likely an episode of Pros vs Joes.

However, the Nets, for some reason, still have faith in the kid and are willing to work through these problems.

For what reason, I have no idea.

“He’s got a great heart and he’s made some poor decisions,” Frank told the Associated Press. “But if you were to sit down like we did today and talk to him, he’s a very engaging person and he’s just made some mistakes and he has to take responsibility for them and we just move from there.”

I know exactly where the team should move at this point; somewhere else.

The New Jersey Nets know things are getting down to the wire.

They know that things aren’t in their favor either.

In the middle of a four-game road trip, the Nets have already lost to Golden State a team that by all means they should have been able to defeat, but thanks in part to a horrendous late game display on defense and great individual play by Stephen Jackson.

With the loss to the Warriors, New Jersey now knows that they will have to be on their best behavior if they want to try and secure a playoff spot.

“There’s an opportunity to beat some teams that maybe on paper we shouldn’t beat,” Dooling told the Associated Press a few days ago. “It’s a very important trip, especially with the playoff race getting tighter.”

Tipping off with the Portland Blazers tonight, New Jersey will try and forget the last time they met, when rookie point guard Jerryd Bayless scored 23 points [He hasn't scored more than 19 since that game] to compliment a 29-point performance from Brandon Roy in a 105-99 win. In order for that not to happen tonight, the Nets will have to get more than just solid performances from Vince Carter and Devin Harris and will need someone from the bench to step up and provide a spark.

In that loss to Portland, the Nets bench scored only 24 points, with Dooling scoring 14 and Jarvis Hayes scoring seven. The team also had a huge problem rebounding that night as they were out-boarded 34-45. Portland was also very aggressive on offense that night and forced the Nets to commit 27 personal fouls.

When you add up all of this, it’s obvious why they lost and if they are to win, they’ll have to work hard and get more from their bench. It’s that simple.

One guy that has to continue to play hard is Sean Williams. Simply put, if he can continue to score six points and add four boards in 15 minutes a game, he’ll be one of the best backup centers in the league. After spending time in the D-League this season and almost losing his job, he should be the last person anyone should have to ask to play hard.

Seeing his season transpire the way it has has been rough for the former first rounder, but it looks like he’s discovered the error of his ways and is ready to get back to what he was doing in spurts last season.

“The low point for me was when I left the D-League and I came back to Jersey and I realized that my career was in jeopardy. And I didn’t understand why. I didn’t understand why at the time,” Williams told the AP. “I was really wondering where I was headed, how I got to this state where I was in the D-League and how things transpired in the D-League, (but) it helped me understand everybody has a role and to be successful in this league, you have to fill your role and show that you can come and consistently do what you’re supposed to do.”

If he truly understands that new role, the Nets should be in much better shape and with more consistency from Harris, Carter and Brook Lopez, who knows, the Nets may have what it takes to make the playoffs.

Photo by Bill Menzel.

Lets face it, despite how good the duo of Devin Harris and Vince Carter have been and regardless of how much Brook Lopez has progressed this season, the Nets have been hard-pressed to find a consistent presence from the other two spots in the lineup.

Bobby Simmons showed some flair against the Bulls last week, scoring 18 points, but aside from that, he’s been pretty inconsistent this season. The same goes for Ryan Anderson, who seemed to be picking up the slack for an injured Yi Jianlian last month, to only be benched a few games last week. The only consistent and dependable player this team has coming off the bench this season seems to be Keyon Dooling, who I feel is having one of, if the not the best, season of his NBA career. The same thing goes for Jarvis Hayes, whose play has seemingly gotten better after he injured his hand a few games ago.

Ironic, don’t ya think?

For what it’s worth too, I think Trenton Hassell, despite playing in 39 games, has been solid. It seems that every game I watch this team play that he gets an opportunity in, he does something. Against Boston, he hit all of his shots and didn’t really hurt the team on defense. Now I’m sure you’ll say he’s been starting lately, but he’s playing under 20 minutes which to me puts him in the realm of a bench player. Nevertheless, his hustle and drive is something I’d like to see from more of the players occupying the Nets bench.

Despite the problems from the rest of the bench though, someone always seems to come up big when th team needs them.

“We’ve gotten great contributions from the bench,” Frank explained to the Associated Press a few days ago. “Basically what we told our guys, it’s all hands on deck. You know who’s definitely going to play and based on matchups and the play of the game there are a couple guys who can be in or they can be out. And they’ve got to be ready. It may be your night, it may not be, but you’ve got to be ready.”

Two players that have gotten more playing time as of late are Sean Williams and Chris Douglas-Roberts, who have taken some of the pressure off of guys late Dooling. While they haven’t produced as much offensively as Frank would like, they have given the Nets a different look. At the same time, they may get some of the under-producers to finally get their act together.

At any rate, like I said before, if this team is going to make the playoffs, someone on that bench is going to have to get hot and fast. If not, it’ll be another season watching someone else.

Photo by Bill Menzel.