Over the past few years, NBA pundits and analysts alike referred to Richard Jefferson, Jason Kidd and Vince Carter as the New Jersey Nets’ “Big Three.” With two-thirds of the trio now gone, I take a look at the players that have the biggest opportunity to become the driving force in the team’s rebuilding process and become members of the “New Big Three.”

Devin Harris- I think this is the obvious choice for the second member of the “New Big Three.” Finally establishing himself away from the likes of Dirk Nowitzki in Dallas, Harris proved that he could lead an offense if he had to. Now with a cup of a coffee under his belt and more than enough time to get adjusted in New Jersey, Harris should have the best season of his young career this season.

The rest of these aren’t so easy to assess however. Nevertheless, here are my choices for those who may eventually take up the final spot:

Ryan Anderson- I really like his shooting ability and while I wasn’t originally thrilled that the Nets got rid of Boki Nachbar, I see Anderson filling in just fine for him and providing plenty of depth in a sixth man type role. With Josh Boone stepping up his play last season and guys like Sean Williams needing time on the court, I think it’s fair to say that Anderson will be playing 20-25 minutes a game at power forward.

Brook Lopez- While Boone played well at center last season, I see him moving over to power forward and splitting time with a host of other players. Lopez, however, I see being the team’s go to guy at center, playing about 25-30 minutes a game. Chances are, if his defense can be solid enough, he could turn into a solid center that can score 10-13 PPG and nab about six to eight rebounds.

Yi Jianlian- Billed as an international star on the team’s official website, Yi will have the same opportunity as Harris this season. Can he live up to the hype and be what the Nets need? Let me just say this, Yi will not be able to replace Jefferson, but I do think he’s another guy that can and will score 10-13 points a game this season.

Chris Douglas-Roberts- Because of his ability to play both guard and forward, I think DR may get more playing time than Yi and Anderson. His offensive ability combined with that versatility make him an interesting guy to watch as well.

Final Verdict:

The days of the big three are over.

They never nabbed the Nets a championship and now it’s time to move forward with young players. These guys may not have the star power of Kidd and Jefferson, but they’ll be fun to watch. That combined with the other pickups the team has made will give the team more depth than they had last season and will make the season an interesting one.

Photo from BrookLopez.info

After parting ways with Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson, the already mediocre Nets could have done one of two things: make a splash in a relatively stale free agent class or begin to build the future. Bringing in a stable core of veterans, noted for their character and work ethic, along with drafting three quality players who provide depth and some missing dynamism, the Nets are hopefully building what will be a team that can eventually make the playoffs and thrive on a consistent basis.

With players the likes of Eduardo Najera, Jarvis Hayes, Keyon Dooling and Bobby Simmons on the bench, the Nets will have plenty of depth, especially at the guard and forward positions. Add in rookies Brook Lopez, Ryan Anderson and Chris Douglas-Harris with an already young group of guys such as Sean Williams, Josh Boone and Yi Jianlian and it’s easy to see how much potential the Nets have.

However with such potential, there lies a problem. How do all of these players get the necessary playing time they need to be effective? Much like the Jamaal Magloire situation last season, just because you’ve had success playing in other cities, doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily be successful in New Jersey. Nets coach Laurence Frank is known to play favorites [can anyone remember why Jason Collins was even allowed on the floor last season?], so with that being said, who will suffer because of it? Everyone knows that Vince Carter and Devin Harris are locks in the starting lineup, but after that it’s pretty much a crap shoot.

So how exactly does this benefit the team? What I believe is simple: Someone is going to have t step up and take a starting spot. Much like Boone established himself last season after Nenad Krstic couldn’t get it done, someone off the bench needs to make it undeniably clear that they want to be a starter in this league. Otherwise, the mixing and matching will start and the Nets won’t be able to gel.

Simply put, many of the players on this team are used to playing at least 20 minutes a game. How Frank gets everyone the playing time they need to thrive is going to be very tough. Nevertheless, that kind of pressure is nothing uncommon for an NBA coach. In spite of that though, it should be interesting to see who is one the court for the opening tip-off.

Photo by FanNation.com

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.