FanHouse Eduardonajera

PHILADELPHIA -- They just made a stop in Philadelphia, so why not be the first to throw it out. Can the New Jersey Nets make a run at the 1972-73 76ers' all-time futility mark of 9-73?

The Nets are the NBA's only winless team at 0-6 after Friday night's 97-94 loss to the 76ers and every day another player seems to get hurt. Call them the New Jersey Gnats the way they're dropping like flies.

OK, so it's way too early to think these Nets are going to make history for basketball badness. And, besides, Nets guard Rafer Alston gets upset when somebody calls his team the NBA's worse.

"That does (hurt) because you know you have a lot of pride,'' Alston said. "It hurts to be considered the worst ... when you know you have a lot of basketball and life in your game and there's a lot of pride in each man.''

A to Z.

It sounds like the 1952 NBA All-Star Game, which featured Paul Arizin and Max Zaslofsky.

It sounds like the 1971 champion Milwaukee Bucks, who had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Zopf.

It sounds like the history of Lithuanian centers, from Arvydas Sabonis to Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

It also sounds like a good way to take a look at the 2009-10 NBA season:

When Canada and Italy fought during a "friendly" last month, the whole thing was more notable for what didn't happen. (Namely, Raptors Andrea Bargnani and Marco Belinelli stayed out of the fray, and initial aggressor Stefano Mancinelli (miraculously) avoided punishment. The fight was pretty mild, all told.)

Not the case for their South American counterparts. Mexico and Urugay, preparing for FIBA Americas 2009, got into a scuffle Saturday. Well, at least it started as a scuffle. As you'll see after the jump, it quickly evolved into a full-fledged battle royale. (And Romel Beck is the champion, apparently!)

Okay, so it's not Elton Brand's defection or Baron Davis headed home, but there are other free agents floating out there, and they're starting to find new homes. Two signings lead me to a strange conclusion.

The New Jersey Nets are quite possibly the most interesting team in the Eastern Conference.

Hear me out.

A lot of the time, it seems like teams are just trying to keep their heads above water by signing whatever is left. There doesn't seem to be a long term plan in place, and if there is one, it's usually a Grizzlies-like scorched earth policy. The Nets are finding players to fill their roster. They're going to be competitive. They have some nice young pieces, like Devin Harris. They have the superstar, Vince Carter. They're signing some nice role players for next season.

And they're doing all of this while leaving cap space in 2010, reserved for you-know-who.

Now, there's absolutely no guarantee that this plan will bear fruit. There's no way to tell if they'll make the playoffs, or even be competitive (who knows with Vince Carter). And there's no guarantee that New York City will provide enough incentive to leave all the beauty and culture of Cleveland,Ohio. But there's clearly a plan in place.

And that's where Eduardo Najera and Jarvis Hayes come into play.

There will be no Tskitishvili repeats for the Nuggets this year.

Remember all that speculation earlier about what the Nuggets might want to do with their 20th overall pick in the draft? Well, forget it. Because they went ahead and sent that pick to the Charlotte Bobcats for "a future protected first round draft pick."

It appeared to me that the Nuggets could have used some size, and it seemed more than plausible that someone like Roy Hibbert or Marreese Speights would still have been on the board at 20, so why give away the pick? It's possible that the team didn't want to add to the roster with players like J.R. Smith and Eduardo Najera expected to be re-signed later this summer, or maybe they felt that whoever they'd get at 20 wouldn't really solve the team's immediate issues.

As for the Bobcats, they're now sitting pretty with the #9 and #20 picks in the draft. If Kevin Love and Brook Lopez are gone by the time Charlotte's first pick rolls around, they can feel confident in taking the best guard available, knowing that there should still be plenty of serviceable bigs left when they pick again at 20.

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Lakers-Nuggets game tonight.

1. Dear God, Make It End: You know those scenes in The Office, where it's too painful to watch? Yeah, this series has been like that. Yes, watching Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom play keep-away is pretty exciting, and don't get me wrong, Kobe dropping 49 always makes for good television. But having to watch as the Denver Nuggets implode on national television just makes you feel bad for them. Carmelo Anthony admits the entire team quit, and George Karl's already updated his resume at this point. At some point, you just want the misery to end. Yes, a victory would salvage some level of pride, but really, is it worth it to prolong the inevitable?

2. What Does The Future Hold?: This game could tell a lot about where the Nuggets are headed. If they get swept, you have to anticipate a reboot/detonation of the current core. Likewise, if trailing 3-0, at home, trying to avoid a sweep, after that disgusting display in Game 3, if the Nuggets are unable to formulate any sort of passion, pride, or sense of self-dignity, it's curtains for George Karl. There may be no way to avoid that possibility at this point, anyway, but a blowout loss tonight would actually make it difficult not to let Karl go.

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Lakers-Nuggets Game 3 tonight.

1. On The Next Episode of "24": Well, they tried Kenyon Martin. That didn't work. They tried Eduardo Najera (giggle). That didn't work. So now what? Linas Kleiza will stay in the starting rotation, and I'd imagine Karl again goes to Carmelo Anthony to try and stop Kobe Bryant instead of going with Kleiza. Which, of course, will not work. Because it's Kobe. And Melo has trouble on defense. The strategy wasn't terrible, to make Kobe the sole scorer, and if it weren't for Kobe having "one of those nights," it may have worked. Unfortunately odds are about 50/50 on any given night that Kobe is going to have "one of those nights."

2. Melo Might Want To Not Be So: Carmelo Anthony had 30 and 12 in Game 2. But Kobe had 49. If the Nuggets are going to even make it to another game outside of Denver, he's going to need one of those career nights. He needs to be a hero with the homecrowd behind him. Allen Iverson is going to get him points. The other players can produce. But this team is built for him to explode for a huge scoring night. If he doesn't have a huge night, the overall Lakers offense is going to make him a footnote, again.