Of the 16 players on the Nets roster right now, nine of them have less than two years experience at the pro level. Of the eight that have played significantly at the pro level, only Darrell Armstrong [a free agent who's chances of sticking with the team look very doubtful] and Vince Carter have ten years or more experience. Then you have a guy like Keith Van Horn, who is on the roster because he forgot to sign his retirement papers.

So considering all of this, what can Nets fans expect from this team this season?

As I’ve said in previous posts, Vince Carter is going to have to be a leader. He’s going to be asked to do everything he does on the court and them some, in addition to helping these kids, guys like Brook Lopez, Ryan Anderson and Chris Douglas-Roberts get their feet wet and get them to produce very quickly. If they don’t then they’ll get less time on the court and guys like Yi Jianlian, Josh Boone and Sean Williams will have to take center stage.

For a guy like Jianlian, who Nets GM Kiki Vandeweghe has compared to Dirk Nowitzki, it’s time to prove the Nets got their monies worth when they dealt away their leading scorer Richard Jefferson a few months ago.

The same thing goes for Devin Harris, who now has an opportunity to be a leader and convince the pundits in the NBA that he’s more than a secondary scorer who doesn’t have the consistency to be a legitimate threat on both sides of the ball.

Josh Boone can continue to develop as a center and a guy who has become a much better shooter and rebounder since entering the league. Sean Williams can get back to the play he exhibited during the first half last season and be more than a guy who can stuff the ball down your throat if you give him an opportunity.

And if these guys manage to falter down the stretch, Keyon Dooling, Eduardo Najera and Jarvis Hayes will get opportunities to get the playing time they haven’t gotten in other organizations.

Will it all work out in the Nets favor? It’s too early to tell to be honest, but it’s obvious that for the first time in a very long time, the Nets have options up and down the roster, instead of relying on the “big three.”

It’s going to be a different feeling for Nets fans this season, but it should be interesting to say the very least.

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.