The New Jersey Nets have not been known through time of having a lot of big, tough and nasty guys in the paint. But, for 8 years they had one in power forward Buck Williams. Williams owned the paint for the Nets and he was a relentless rebounder. Williams played in 635 games (633 starts) for the Nets and he averaged 36.4 minutes, 16.4 points, 11.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.1 blocked shots per game. He is the Nets’ all-time leader in scoring (10,440), rebounds (7,576) and games played (635). Williams is also #6 in steals (599) and #2 in blocked shots(696) in Nets’ history.

23-year old center Brook Lopez turned soft in 2010-11. He played in 82 games (all starts) for the Nets last year and he averaged 35.2 minutes, 20.4 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.5 blocked shots per game. Lopez has now played in 246 games (239 starts) in his first three years with the Nets and he has averaged 34.2 minutes, 17.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.7 blocked shots per game. He is already tied for 10th in Nets’ history in blocked shots (410 of them) with Shawn Bradley. The Nets need Lopez to get back to playing a big man’s game as they need him to average at least 8 rebounds per night going forward (which he did his first two years).

46-year old head coach Avery Johnson was taking over a basketball team that was 12-70 (14.6%) during the 2009-2010 season. The Nets then missed out on the big time players that the owner wanted to sign, so Johnson’s Nets didn’t have a lot of talent going into the 2010-11 season. Johnson improved the team by 12 games in his first year in charge of the Nets as they finished 24-58 last year. Johnson has a career record of 218-128 (63%) as an NBA head coach during the regular season and he is 23-24 (48.9%) in the playoffs. Johnson is a winner and if the Nets’ front office get him more talent for 2011-12, he might have them competing for a playoff spot.

Head Coach Avery Johnson decided to give 27-year old power forward Kris Humphries his big shot last season and he passed with flying colors. Humphries played in 74 games (44 starts) for the Nets last year and he averaged 27.9 minutes, 10.0 points, 10.4 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.1 blocked shots per game on 52.7% shooting from the floor. The Nets are going to try hard to re-sign Humphries over the summer because he’s a beast in the paint. With Brook Lopez turning softer than a roll of Charmin, they need a tough guy like Humphries. Humphries has now played in 431 games (52 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 15.4 minutes, 5.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game. He is a late bloomer.