HOUSTON -- Of all the players on the New Jersey Nets roster, reserve guard Chris Quinn has a unique perspective when it comes to the team's current fate.He's been there before.
Quinn, who was traded with a future second round pick to the Nets for Rafer Alston on Jan. 5, was a member of the 2007-08 Miami Heat. That team featured Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade to start the season. But by the end Shaq had been shipped to Phoenix to clog up the Suns' seven-seconds-or-less offense and Wade was on the shelf with a knee injury.
When their season mercifully limped to a close, the Heat found themselves with a starting lineup which featured Stephane Lasme, a D-League call-up, and Quinn, who started 25 games that season and hasn't started one since. They finished 15-67, having lost 17 of their last 20 games. Pat Riley, who coached the Los Angeles Lakers and Heat to five NBA titles, put that Heat team together. That team was also the last one he coached. It is a fate which will more than likely befall Nets GM and interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe.
"In Miami, there were different circumstances," Quinn noted. "We had a lot of injuries. And the Nets had a lot of injuries at the beginning of the year, and it looks like it snowballed, but there were different circumstances in Miami where you're missing those main pieces.
"It was definitely tough."
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Full story at http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/03/13/following-the-nets-from-the-bottom-up/
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