MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: This has to be broken down by halves. For the first half of the season, Devin Harris was a revelation. Given freedom he never knew in Dallas, Harris led the Nets to playoff position. But Harris stumbled in January, then fought injuries. So Vince Carter continued the leadership he showed all season and helped keep the Nets in the playoff hunt up to the final week and a day.
MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYER: Yi Jianlian takes this category, hands down. The season was supposed to be about developing the young players of which Yi was a big part. He was starting to show the promise that made him the No. 6 pick by Milwaukee in 2007. He had back-to-back 20-point games. Next, he had 16 by the third quarter Jan. 9 when he broke his right pinkie. He returned after the All-Star Game and was a bust, losing his starting job and his rotation spot. FREE AGENT FOCUS: Maurice Ager is the Nets' lone unrestricted free agent. He will not be back. Trenton Hassell could opt out of his $4.3 million deal. He won't. The Nets hope to be players on the free agent market, not for the elite types, but for second-tier defenders and rebounders.
PLAYER NEWS:
--F Yi Jianlian, who completed a disappointing second season, will play for the Chinese National Team this summer. And while some suggest the 7-footer might need rest, coach Lawrence Frank is of the belief Yi needs to play simply for game experience.
"As much as he works, it's playing, just getting out there and playing, so he can read and react, be in instinctive situations, make basketball plays. That will help him most," Frank said. "That and added strength."
Yi began the season as a starter, ended it out of the rotation.
--F Jarvis Hayes has one year remaining at a team option for $2.06 million and he could be one of the league's top bargains. Hayes was one of the most consistent bench players all season, and he played with a partially torn ligament in his left thumb since Feb. 18. Hayes considered shutting it down but felt he owed it to the young guys to keep playing.
"A lot of people take this game for granted. If nothing on me is broken or something like that, I'm going to play," Hayes said. "Now I can rest it."
--C Brook Lopez had to be the biggest -- literally -- and most pleasant surprise of the Nets' season. Selected No. 10 in the draft, Lopez posted a team best 18 double-doubles after moving into the starting lineup in November. He supplied a true post presence offensively and was the Nets' most improved defensive player, start to finish. And he was the only Net to play all 82 games.
"We knew what kind of player he was going to be," Devin Harris endorsed, "as fast as he got it was probably a surprise more than anything."
MEDICAL WATCH:
--F Eduardo Najera underwent successful sports hernia surgery Mar. 13, ending his season. He is expected to start his rehab shortly after the season.
--G Devin Harris missed two of the final three games, including the season finale, with a sore left shoulder. It is something he said simply needs rest and to be strengthened.
--G/F Vince Carter sat the final game of the season with a sprained right big toe. It was only the second game he missed all season.
