The Nets repeatedly showed just how bad they could be – take a gander at that spiffy record that was worse than anything Butch Beard’s teams managed, worse than Don Casey’s gang authored last year and on a par with the misery of John Calipari’s first season.
But to Byron Scott, the gnawing part was his team never showed how good it could be because his team, simply, never was what he envisioned. So as he entered the finale of a campaign gone so terribly wrong, Scott last night admitted he had ample mixed feelings.
“I’m probably a little relieved and then probably there’s a little sadness because we will never know, with all the injuries and with everybody hurt, we will never know how good the season could have been,” said Scott, whose Nets were 26-55 going against the even-more-woeful 13-victory Bulls. “We know how bad because we had all the injuries but we can only speculate on how good it could have been.”
Way back in October, which now seems like it coincided with the Pilgrims venturing forth on the Mayflower, the season looked bright. Kendall Gill was shooting like never before. Jamie Feick looked trim and fit and ready to clobber inside. Stephon Marbury and Keith Van Horn were both rejuvenated. Stephen Jackson looked like a great summer league find. Kenyon Martin was poised to make a rookie splash.
Then things went, well, sort of wacky. Bones broke, ligaments snapped, tendons stretched, hopes died. And so the dreams of a playoff bid became another lottery exercise, one with 50-plus defeats. Again.
“When you consider all that’s gone wrong, I don’t think it’s as bad as people perceive it,” Scott said. “If people take a close look at what has happened then I don’t think they’ll say, ’55 [defeats] awful, awful season.’
“I think they’ll say 26, 27 wins wasn’t bad considering they had so many guys miss so many games,” said Scott, whose club totaled 345 manpower games lost to injury, illness, apathy, whatever. “To me, it wouldn’t be that disappointing but if you just look at numbers, yeah, 27-55 whatever looks pretty bad.”
One of the major disappointments beyond the record had to be Jackson and how the season went for him. Considered a steal because he showed up in rookie camp with nothing resembling a guarantee, Jackson signed a one-year free-agent deal. At the very outset, he showed a solid offensive game with loads of room for improvement in the little aspects and on defense.
At the end of the season, Jackson showed a solid offensive game with loads of room for improvement in the little aspects and on defense. In Scott’s eyes, Jackson did not fully grasp a marvelous opportunity. Jackson, though, sees it differently.
“I think I’ve shown that I definitely belong in this league. It’s just that I’m a rookie and I still have things to learn. It’s just about me working on those things this summer, getting better, getting stronger and be prepared wherever I get a chance to play next year,” said Jackson.
Jackson acknowledged his biggest fault was turnovers and that he must learn to “take care of the ball. I turned the ball over too much. But that comes with learning, that comes with playing. You stop making those mistakes through repetition in the games. I’m not worried about that. That’s going to come as I play more.”
Jackson wants to return to New Jersey but that’s certainly not a definite. At least not with how Scott views the rookie.
“No he did not [take advantage]. He had, obviously, a golden opportunity and he did not take full advantage of it,” Scott said. “I don’t think we misjudged him.”