Hassell the Worst Net Ever...Worst Bull and Fourth Worst T'Wolf Too?
by Net Income on Sep 17, 2010 2:30 PM EDT
69 comments
Trenton Hassell was in Boston Tuesday working out for the Celtics, which feature his good friend Kevin Garnett.
Neither he nor his agent could have been happy Thursday to see ESPN has ranked him the worst Net ever...and the worst Bull ever...and the fourth worst Timberwolf too.
In order to qualify for this list, a player needed to have played at least 10 minutes per contest over the course of at least 100 career games with the franchise. The ranking is based primarily on John Hollinger's Player Efficiency Rating. Of Hassell as a Net, ESPN's Tom Haberstroh writes, "It's fitting that last season's 12-win Nets team started Trenton Hassell 31 games and paid him $4.4 million to be their 12th leading scorer."
Two other ex-Nets made the worst list as well: Brian Scalabrine was listed as the worst Celtic and DeSagana Diop as the worst Cavalier.
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B.S. - Hassel played hard and never complained publicly...
Stats do lie…
He was one of the best Nets last year as far as I’m concerned…
He earned his money.
Misleading analysis
I agree with you Mike that Trent played hard and was a good team guy. There are two misleading parts of the analysis: first, this shows the limits of the PER in that effort guys on bad teams will always be undervalued; and second, anyone who plays at least 100 games and averages 10 minutes a game has to be doing something right to earn those minutes. It’s like the pitcher who loses 20 games—he’s got to be doing something right to get all those starts. That being said, I can’t see myself ever missing him.
I miss him. The problem is, he is a great guy to have on a good team. We obviously weren’t a good team, so he was outside of his element.
He just couldn’t score at will, that doesn’t mean he is a terrible player. He is a specialist. No one could score last year, and everyone wanted scoring, he was lumped into that, though he shouldnt have been.
What exactly was his speciality?
Playing poor defense? He gives effort on that end, but that doesn’t make him good.
He was a replacement level offensive player and a 15th man on a decent team.
But I do want to make it clear he isn’t the worst Net ever… Rafter Alson was more toxic in every way last year.
Bullseye
How could the worst player qualify for the analysis? Basically, it’s the worst player that was good enough to get significant playing time & last more than one season.
This is what happens when writers have nothing real to write about.
I liked Haberstroh’s article about Melo not being an elite player, but he’s way off with this one, IMO.
What Hassell brought to this team doesn’t show up in the box score. Even if he’s a limited player, he finds ways to contribute while playing within his strengths (whatever he has). Dude’s the epitome of a pro and gets mad respect from me.
najera worst net i can remember
"I want to win, I want the team to win and I'm in complete control."
-Coach Avery Johnson.
Definitely
The guy who said ‘I fit in better on a really good team coming off the bench.’ Watching him play was painful.
Najera was also terrible
but he didn’t start 31 games or play nearly as many minutes as Hassell.
There’s a reason we lost 70 games, folks! It’s not all Yi’s fault.
Only in Stint 2
His first tour of duty with the Nets was actually pretty good.
basically
hassel ranked as the worst player in nba history
I understand that there was some certain criteria for this list...
….but it’s insulting for someone to try and tell me that Trenton Hassel was the worst player ever for this franchise when there are names like Tamar Slay, Yinka Dare(RIP), Hassan Adams, Mile Ilic, Ron Mercer, Rodney “Weed” Buford, Gheorge Muresan, Sean Williams, Khalid Reeves, Marcus Williams, Ed O’Bannon, Kaniel Dickens, Bobby Simmons, Billy Thomas, man I’m just pulling these names off of the top of my head. I can probably come up with three teams on paper alone with just some of the bums that have disgraced a Nets uniform during my lifetime.
I mean, Trenton was no Gerald “World Class” Glass but the guy was a professional and at least tried to give us something despite his talent limitations.
"Anthony Randolph has hall of fame skills" - GALLO!
by MrDollarBills on Sep 17, 2010 3:04 PM EDT reply actions 4 recs
100% agree with this
Ridiculous to say this about Hassell. The guy played hard. Poor circumstances. I’m actually surprised he showed up on Wolves list. They had success while he was there. A lot of other players should have beat him to the bottom.
I liked Adams and Marcus wasn't that bad.
Mercer wasn’t around long… go easy on the guy.
But yes, lots guys who were worse.
At least Muresan was tall.
this is a dumb analysis for sure
Hassel played hard when he got his chance..he didnt put up a lot of numbers but he was a defensive hustle kind of guy. That doesnt show up on the stats. I agree Najera was worst for the Nets
Not only is this a bad analysis
But is it necessary? I mean c’mon
I have a vote for Marc Jackson
lol remember him was supposed to be our beast, dude couldn’t catch the flu.
now THAT I agree with!
He was the most inept player I’ve ever seen on a professional basketball court. What was that… 1998 or so? Didn’t we have about 4 guys on 10 day contracts simultaneously… including MLB pitcher Mark Hendrickson? Tough times…. very tough times.
I was going to say this as well
"Anthony Randolph has hall of fame skills" - GALLO!
by MrDollarBills on Sep 18, 2010 3:27 AM EDT up reply actions
For those of you keeping score at home
Quinton Ross was the third worst Clipper of all time.
here...
2 Antoine Wright
3 Jason Collins
4 Joe DePre
5 Chuck Terry
Defense specialists don’t fare well in this.
This is how you know that this is absolute garbage
Twin had a stretch where he was one of the best defensive bigs in the league. Twin shut Chris Bosh down in the playoffs. Whatever with this, the dude’s stats did not tell the entire story.
Wright was a bust but the kid played decent defense. I think he had confidence issues but he is far from the worst Net as well.
"Anthony Randolph has hall of fame skills" - GALLO!
by MrDollarBills on Sep 18, 2010 3:32 AM EDT up reply actions
@ Mr.Dollarbills
Wow! Billy Thomas! Me and my friend joke about him from time to time. Forget what started it but it usually ends with “almost as good as Billy Thomas…almost.” That made my day just reading his name on here today.
By the way, last I heard Rodney Burford was missing according to Wikipedia: “At the start of the 2009-10 season, he moved to Eisbären Bremerhaven of Germany’s highest division Basketball Bundesliga. On 24 December 2009, Buford traveled to the US to attend to family business. He agreed to return in early January, but was not on the plane with which he was scheduled to arrive. All attempts by the team to contact him were unsuccessful and his contract was dissolved on 11 January 2010.”
by Christopher Manchesi on Sep 17, 2010 4:41 PM EDT reply actions
Yi was the worst Net ever by far. He was soft and no more than a bag of useless feathers. Ill never ever regret trading him. yet always regret trading RJ for this scrub and “ride the bench” Bobby.
Ed O’Bannon trumps Yi by far if we’re talking worst Net ever
Yi has no place in this discussion if you ask me.
If you are hard pressed to remember, browse through www.basketball-reference.com and start looking up some of the trash that played for this team. Yi will not make the top 10 list, I’d put money on it.
"Anthony Randolph has hall of fame skills" - GALLO!
by MrDollarBills on Sep 18, 2010 3:38 AM EDT up reply actions
Totally agree with this article
He was one of the worst Nets ever. You want nice guys, be a teacher. This is basketball, there is no time for nice guys. Ill tell you who else was one of the worst nets ever besides Hassel…Simmons, YI, Najera, Quinn, Battie, Alston, and thats why none of them are on the team anymore.
Chris....
….was too busy with a bottle of brown colored liquor in a brown paper bag to worry about playing basketball for the Nets.
"Anthony Randolph has hall of fame skills" - GALLO!
by MrDollarBills on Sep 18, 2010 3:39 AM EDT up reply actions
According to NI
Thats a ridiculous statement. And NI’s opinions are facts so…
by i says on Sep 17, 2010 11:09 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
first class role model, was always put at the end of the bench, and when asked to be ready would always come out of no where and produce, maybe not so much on offense as on defense, but he still had a nice mid range jumper. If there is one veteran i want just as a locker room presence, its Hassell
F%CK ESPN by the way
This analysis is entirely based on playing time and PER.
It wasn’t Haberstroh’s assessment or anything, it’s just what the facts show. You can be mad at the formula, I guess, but it wasn’t like a vote or anything.
Obviously like most of us I disagree since Hassell was a pro’s pro (and he has weirdly effective moves in the post), and as already stated most of what he does doesn’t show up in the box score. He’s one of many examples of the limitations of PER.
http://www.netsarescorching.com
by Newark2Brooklyn on Sep 17, 2010 7:17 PM EDT reply actions
Take Kim Hughes, please.
1976-1977 81 games, 25.7 minutes per game
1977-1978 57 games, 15.3 minutes per game
1977-1978
15.3 minutes per game
2.2 points per game
.356 field goal percentage (miserable for a center who can get at least one dunk)
.310 free throw percentage
CASE CLOSED.
Texas slang in a Big Apple minute, by a friendly OED consultant. http://www.barrypopik.com
Writing a “worst of” article is a very negative way to go. It really should be attempted only when humor is the intent and no one is disrepected. Far better to dwell on what will Carmelo do?
by ispartan on Sep 17, 2010 8:07 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
disagree
Actually, writing about who the worst Net of all time is, is the very essence of being a Nets fan. It can turn a mere mortal into a veritable Charles Dickens (or maybe even Kaniel Dickens).
And, pray tell, how exactly can you write a “worst of…” Nets article with the caveat that “nobody gets disrespected”. Please. That’s like writing a mafia novel with no crime.
Ok, you win, my nominees then are Elden Campbell (emergency pick up who only wanted to be cut) and Shawne Williams, (CDR vouched for him for Thorn to give him a chance but he was arrested within 24 hours of or so becoming a Net). These guys actually deserve to be considered.
by ispartan on Sep 18, 2010 4:34 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I don't know about how Hassell is playing in NJ, but as a Timberwolves fan...
He was definitely not the 4th worst T-Wolf. He’s a very good defender that also has a solid shot.
Hassel was decent from mid range
anything else was a gamble for him
He was a good guy for us. Anyone who had seen Trenton play elsewhere before coming to the Nets knew what type of player he was but he handled himself well here in spite of the fact that the front office during his stay here was an absolute joke.
"Anthony Randolph has hall of fame skills" - GALLO!
by MrDollarBills on Sep 18, 2010 3:42 AM EDT up reply actions
That's nice to hear.
Hassell really shouldn’t be anywhere in a “worst players in the NBA” list. He’s a nice guy and he’s also a good player. Not anywhere near all-star quality of course, but he can be a quality bench player on any team in the NBA.
This is one of the dumbest things I have heard of someone trying to calculate
"Sorry bro, he Jason Bourned me"- Drama
i remember back in 93
i couldn’t pronounce his name properly so i took out the ‘c’ and the ‘n’. It was actually quite fitting
"Anthony Randolph has hall of fame skills" - GALLO!
by MrDollarBills on Sep 18, 2010 3:46 AM EDT up reply actions
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