New York Post, Tuesday, December 1, 2020nypost.comTHE NETS
Brian Lewis’ training camp roster breakdown
Pos. Player Age Ht. Wt.
C Jarrett Allen 22 6-11 243
A great pick-and-roll man and rim protector, Allen
was a reve lation in the bubble when DeAndre
Jordan didn’t take part. Can Allen build on it— if
he isn’t tradedaway in pursuit of another star?G Jordan Bowden 23 6-5 193
Handed an Exhibit 10 deal aftera four-year
career atTennessee, his modest 13.7 ppg
and four rpg asa Vols senior belie impressive
physical gifts.G Bruce Brown 24 6-4 202
He’s given some of the league’s top scorers fits
in his first two years with Detroit. Now the Nets’
only elite perimeter defender, they’ll need him
on that end of the floor.F/C Nicolas Claxton 21 6-11 220
Got limited minutes asa rookie and this season
is behind Allen, Jordan and Durant. But he’sa
near 7-footer who can dribble; he just has to
bulk up and hone his jumper to make an impact.G Spencer Dinwiddie 27 6-6 215
A Sixth Man of theYear candidate, if he’s around.
Able to opt out after the season— he’s found his
name in trade rumors, not just for James Harden
but to teams such as the Clippers and Magic.F Kevin Durant 32 6-10 240
Back froma rupturedAchilles suffered in
June 2019, Durant will play his first game in
a year-and-a-half. The Nets’ championship
hopes ride on arguably the NBA’ s most
gifted scorer.F Jeff Green 34 6-8 235
A more cost-effective alternative to Serge
Ibaka, Green had his best offensive season
last year asa small-ball stretch5 in Houston
under now-Nets assistant Mike D’Antoni.G/F Joe Harris 29 6-6 220
Second in the league in open 3s(53.9pct.),
he’ll get even more playing with Durant and
Kyrie Irving. His new four-year, $72 million deal
wasn’t cheap, butwas moneywell-spent.G Kyrie Irving 28 6-3 195
With his season cut short to just 20 games
(shoulder surgery) last season, the Nets’ title
dreams could hinge onkeeping the mercurial
and oft-injured Irving healthy and focused.G Tyler Johnson 28 6-4 190
His 13.8 ppg on 39.8 pct. from deep in the
playoffs show what he can do on offense, but
his minus-73 shows what he still needs to fix on
defense. But ona minimum deal, he’sa barg ain.C DeAndre Jordan 32 6-11 265
Briefly seized the starting center job before
the shutdown. Not as mobile as Allen(or as he
himself used to be), Jordan still givesa physical
presence and eliterebounding.F Rodions Kurucs 22 6-9 228
He’spacked on muscle; now he needs
consistency. His ongoing legal issues impacted
his headspace last season, but there’sa chance
to seize minutes as Durant’sbackup.G/F CarisLeVert 26 6-7 205
Was outstanding in the seeding games and even
better in the playoffs (20.3 ppg, 9.5 rpg,6 rpg).
Could be on theverg e of a breakout— and would
be wanted in any potential James Harden deal.G/F T. Luwawu-Cabarrot 25 6-7 220
Following in the footsteps of Harris and
Dinwiddie, TLC could be the Nets’ latest
development success story. After averaging 16
ppg in the playoffs, his $1.6 million salary looks
like a steal.G Jeremiah Martin 24 6-3 185
Occupies one of the two two- wayspots. The
Nets are deep on guards, but Martin showed
defensive acumen in the bubble— and some
offensive potential.G Elie Okobo 23 6-3 190
The Nets liked the lefty point guard in the
draft two years ago, and handed the 23-year-
old their last camp spot Monday after hewas
waivedby Phoenix.PF Reggie Pe rry 20 6-9 250
Co-SEC Player of theYear fell to the Nets at No.
57 inthe draft. Heaveraged 17.4 points and 10.1
boards last season and adds physicality, but
must learn NBA defense.F TaureanPrince 26 6-8 220
His 37.6 pct. shooting and 0.6 Win Shareswere
both career-worsts. ButPrince and Kurucs
are the only Nets(o ther than Durant) who can
guard both forward spots.PF Nate Sestina 23 6-9 230
After fouryears at Bucknell anda grad season
coming offKentucky’s bench, the Nets handed
the stretch4 an Exhibit 10 deal— essentially an
invitation to camp.G LandryShamet 23 6-4 190
Still just 23 but he brings playoff experience (19
games) anda sweet 3-point stroke (career 40.2
pct., top 15 among active players) to Brooklyn’s
bench.Caris
LeVertN
o one roots for injuries, but
you can envision the rest of
the NFC East taking a look at
the Giants and thinking, “Well,
how do you like it now?’’
Eleven games into their season,
the Giants are 4-7 and in first place
in the division, by virtue of a tie-
breaker over Washington, staying
ahead of the Eagles, who fell to 3-7-1
with Monday night’s 23-17 loss to
the Seahawks. The attempt to stay
ahead of the pack must go on with-
out Daniel Jones, for at least one
week, and if that is all Jones misses,
the Giants should thank whoever is
in charge of karma and kismet that
their young quarterback avoided
more serious injury.
Missing Sunday’s game in Seattle
with a strained
right hamstring
— that is the
highly likely sce-
nario — is a
bummer for
Jones and com-
promises the Gi-
ants’ chances of
pulling off an up-
set on the road. But, given the car-
nage that has gone on around
them, the Giants cannot curse
their fate or bemoan the tempo-
rary loss of their No. 1 quarter-
back.
Heck, the Giants thrusting them-
selves in contention for anything
other than avoidance of last place is
a symptom of one of the worst divi-
sion races ever. They enter a mine-
field final stretch — the next four
games are against winning teams
currently qualifying for the playoffs
or in the hunt — and the Giants do
not need to run the table to stay in
first place. They turn to backup
Colt McCoy, who has won games
(seven) in the NFL. But he has lost a
whole lot more (21) of them.
“He’s gonna step in. He’s gonna
do his thing,’’ receiver Sterling
Shepard said of McCoy. “That’s
the world we’re living in right now,
and I feel like he’ll execute and
step up and make plays.’’
All things considered, this is not
a terrible game for the Giants to be
without Jones. At full strength,
could he outduel Russell Wilson?
“I don’t think you want to look at
it in terms of ‘This game’s not as
important as maybe another game
coming up,’ ’’ Judge said. “To me,
it’s always that one-game season.
You don’t want to do anything stu-
pid that’s going to risk the player
and lose him long term. I’ll let the
doctors determine what the short-
term risk is.’’
The short term is this: Just like
that, he Giants are mired in the
quarterback slop where the Cow-
boys and Washington reside. TheGiants certainly know something
about how these scenarios un-
folded.
In Week 5, the Giants knocked
Dak Prescott out for the season
when a routine tackle by safety Lo-
gan Ryan turned into a disaster for
Prescott as he suffered a com-
pound fracture and dislocation of
his right ankle. The Cowboys held
on to beat the Giants that day to
move to 2-3. Since then, using
Andy Dalton, Ben DiNucci, Garrett
Gilbert and then Dalton again at
quarterback, the Cowboys are 1-5.
In Week 8, an inadvertent trip by
Giants safety Jabrill Peppers ended
Kyle Allen’s season to a gruesome
dislocated ankle. Washington was
already in flux at quarterback,
benching
Dwayne Haskins
for Allen, and
now must rely on
veteran Alex
Smith, with his
own grisly injury
history.
Losing Allen is
not the same at
losing Prescott, but the Giants did
end the seasons of two quarter-
backs in their division. As for the
Eagles, Carson Wentz is healthy
but playing so poorly that reports
are rampant rookie Jalen Hurts
will receive increased snaps.
Through the first 10 games,
Jones played 100 percent of the
snaps on offense, as the Giants
were always embroiled in close af-
fairs, other than their Week 3
blowout loss to the 49ers. Six of
their last seven games were de-
cided by three points or less, not
allowing for any garbage-time mo-
ments for McCoy.
Everything was trending upward
for the Giants on offense. They
gained a season-high 386 yards in
Cincinnati after totaling what was
a season-high 382 yards in their
previous game, two weeks earlier
against the Eagles. It was the fifth
straight game with more than 300
total yards on offense, a sharp in-
crease in production over the first
portion of the season. The 142
rushing yards marked the sixth
consecutive game with more than
100 yards on the ground, another
sign the offensive line is stabiliz-
ing — and that Wayne Gallman
has found his NFL legs.
When Jones gets to add to his
snap total and rejoin what was a
surging offense remains to be
seen. The Giants will learn what
most of the NFC East already
knows all too well: Life after the
starting quarterback is rarely
pleasant. If it is merely a one-week
walk on the wild side, the Giants
should count their blessings.Jones’ diagnosis
makes Giants more
fortunate than rivals
Paul SchwartzPlSh t