Nets Are Scorching

Nets PR man Gary Sussman is back in town and is checking out who from the team is practicing in the gym in East Rutherford. The Star-Ledger, New York Post, and Daily News also chime in with some stories and quotes from practice. Guess which former Orlando Magic player was asked a few more times about whether or not he was happy to be here?

Over at ESPN, a poll looks at Lebron’s possible destinations next summer. The Nets get a paltry two votes from the panel with most predicting he’ll stay in Cleveland. The panel also looks at Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and Amare Stoudamire. The Nets don’t fare too well in those polls either.

Terrence Williams gives an interview with ESPN radio in his hometown Seattle.

Brook Lopez (and twin Robin) are two of 12 players suing Topps, claiming the trading card company hasn’t honored an agreement to pay them for a  number of autographs they signed last year.

On the last day for the public to provide comments to the Empire State Development Corporation for the Atlantic Yards development, Atlantic Yards Report says it’s doubtful any comments will have an impact on the ESDC’s final decision.

Continuing with the D-League theme today, NetsAreScorching was able to get in touch with Springfield Armor’s GM Alex Schwerin.  Mr. Schwerin comes from a Minor League Baseball background where he spent five years in Minor League Baseball working for the Modesto Nuts, the Class-A California League affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. His tenure in Modesto began in February of 2004 as the Director of Operations, and he was promoted to Assistant General Manager in 2005 and to General Manager in 2008.

Mr. Schwerin was kind enough to answer a few questions:

NAS:  What are some of your business goals of running a new NBDL franchise and how do you plan on accomplishing them? Will you be able to apply any of your strategies from from running the Modesto Nuts to the Armors?

Alex Schwerin:  Our goals for the franchise are to provide the best and most affordable family entertainment to Springfield and the surrounding community as well as help support the league’s goals of developing the best basketball players we can to prepare them for taking the next step to the NBA. We would also like to put together a winning team on the court and give back and support the community as much as possible.

In terms of carryover from the Modesto Nuts I think there can be a lot of things that were successful in Modesto that can work well in Springfield. In the end, the success of the franchise is determined by putting fans in the stands and selling tickets. If we provide great customer service, foster strong relationships with the local community and provide over the top entertainment at every game we will be successful. That was the same formula in Modesto.

NAS:  I assume that the responsibilities of running a minor league basketball team would be similiar to running a minor league baseball team in terms of acquiring young talent that can hopefully be grooming to help major league teams.  Am I correct in that assumption?

Alex Schwerin:  Actually the basketball side of this operation on my end of things is a little different in basketball than it was in baseball. In general the theme of the league is similar (to develop young players and get them to the next level). But in baseball many of the Baseball operations decisions, programs and implementation are handled by your affiliate (i.e. in Modesto the Colorado Rockies hired the coaches, trainer, etc and they did all the scouting and player decisions). However, in basketball, I am in charge of hiring the coaches and trainer and those guys that I hire are in charge of all the basketball operations decisions.

NAS:  What are the challenges associated with running a franchise that is affiliated with three different NBA teams?

Alex Schwerin:  Most of the challenges will fall in Dee’s lap as he will have to make sure that all 3 organizations are happy with what their players are doing when they are assigned down to Springfield. In general having 3 affiliates is a good thing. It is 3 NBA teams that we can interact with and collaborate with to improve the success of our franchise and the 3 NBA affiliates to help everyone reach their goals.

NAS:  Since you worked in both sports – the concept of advanced statistics has been increasingly embraced by MLB GMs like Billy Beane and Theo Epstein and are far more accepted now than they were 5-10 years ago. With basketball writers like John Hollinger preaching advanced stats in the NBA, what do you think the acceptance level of these metrics is in basketball and where do you figure they’ll fit in in the future?

Alex Schwerin:  I don’t work on the player evaluation side of things too much so it is hard to answer that question. I would say that I don’t think the NBA or it’s leagues are anywhere close to the types of statistical analysis that is taking place in baseball, but basketball is speeding up in that category pretty quickly it seems.

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Considering his schedule, and how busy he is (The Expansion Draft is tomorrow), Mark and I wanted to thank Mr. Schwerin for taking the time to answer our questions.

Update: Joe Barbieri, the PR man from the Armor sent me a quick correction:

The expansion draft is actually Wednesday, September 2nd and I don’t think the bulk of our players will come from that.  The purpose of the expansion draft is to provide us with “returning players,” which then have to sign.  I would say the bulk of our roster will come from the NBA D-League draft, which will take place in October or November.

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Let’s face it, most casual NBA fans don’t really give the NBA Development League too much thought.  That’s really a shame, because there is a lot of great basketball going on in the D-League, and if you sit down and watch a game you are going to see some guys who could be (and in some cases soon will be) on a NBA roster.

I am writing this to try and help inform Nets fans about the D-League and how it operates.  Since this is a Nets’ blog though, I will be concentrating on the Nets’ new affiliate, how the Nets’ could use the Development League, and a little Nets-related D-League history.

Read more…

Vincent M. Mallozzi of the New York Times wrote an interesting piece on promotions NBA teams are working on to get fans in the seats.  It is no surprise the Nets’ reversible jersey promotion was talked about.  The article contains a few quotes from NBA players including Dwyane Wade and Brook Lopez.  Dwyane Wade had this to say about the promotion:

Wade, the Heat’s star guard, called the concept “totally awesome.”

Wade added: “It’s a very unique idea. It takes a confident organization to give their fans merchandise associated with players from other teams. I look forward to the day when we’re in town and I get to see all those Wade reversibles out there.”

Brook Lopez also talked about it:

Nets center Brook Lopez was asked if the reversible-jersey promotion was a blow to the egos of him or his teammates.

“Not at all,” he said, laughing. “I can speak for most of the guys who think this is a very cool promotion. I think it will actually help all the teams involved, and it’s a great way to bring enthusiastic fans to the games and raise the energy level in our arena.”

Wade’s reaction should be no surprise.  You are the away team and you are getting more of your fans into the arena.  Back when Mark and I talked about this at length, I mentioned that I thought it was a good idea, because most of the fans coming for the promotion wouldn’t be there any other way.  However, nobody was sure how the players felt about it, and these comments from Brook prove that this is a good idea.  Listen, when the Nets are on the road, they play in front of crowds larger than they see at home, so I the Nets need to do anything they can to get the stadium as full as it can be.  Brook sounds genuinely excited about playing in front of a larger crowd, and if that helps him play better, it could be an added bonus to this promotion.  I am guessing that I am in the minority here though…

Catching up with your Nets-related news and musings from the weekend.

• In a Hoopsworld chat, Yannis Koutroupis said despite the fact that the Miami Heat are seeking a PG, he’s doubtful the Nets will trade Rafer Alston. In a separate post on Hoopsworld,, Luke Byrnes said the Nets season should be considered a “bust” if they’re not in contention for a playoff spot by the end of the year.
• In a Steve Politi report for the Star-Ledger, Barclay’s president Bob Diamond says the Bank remains committed to the Atlantic Yards development its naming rights deal for the new Brooklyn arena.
• Madison Magazine, which follows all things relevant to the Madison, WI region, has a feel-good story about Devin Harris (University of Wisconsin-Madison player) regarding his off-the-court charity work with children.
• NetIncome, over at the always reliable Nets blog NetsDaily, gives a weekly update of the Nets, talking about where the players are getting in shape for the off-season, some musings on the 2010 free agent class, and a score of other Nets tidbits.
• Liam Martin at NESN has a preview of the Nets saying the Nets will probably not win the Atlantic Division this season, but they may be in playoff contention.
• We also found a little Brook Lopez highlight reel. Some good stuff though because of my own personal musical tastes, I’m watching on mute.

With the addition of this site to the Truehoop Network, and more recently with the addition of Mark, this site has grown to an extent I could have never imagined it would.  In fact, just recently we surpassed 50,000 hits, and while that may not seem like a ton, we are only 4 months old, and we know this site is only going to get bigger.

With that being said, discussions are growing on the site as well, and that lead Mark and I to implement a commenting constitution.  So whenever you have a chance, click the link up top and give it a read.  Also, here at NetsAreScorching we are trying to become the one-stop shop for everything Nets related.  This is why we instituted a salaries and stats section.

Lastly, I just wanted to thank you guys, the readers, for coming over every day, reading the blog, and adding your opinions to the discussions.  That makes all of the work Mark and I put it worth it.

Anyone looking to find out how Devin Harris is doing over in China can find a great photo gallery of Devin and some Shaolin Monks over at Sports.163.com.

Today’s wrap-up of Nets-relevant web content.

• Page 6 of the New York Post reports that News owner Bruce Ratner has sold his Montauk estate and is now seeking cheaper digs in Brooklyn Quogue. Oh the horror!
• David Thiessen at Project Spurs makes me and other Nets fans relive the pain of the 2003 NBA Finals by ranking Tim Duncan’s top 5 playoff games with game 1 in the at #3 and the clincher, game 6 at #1.
• China Basketball Association vice director Hu Jiashi said the national team lacked a leader without Yao Ming at the FIBA Asia Championship earlier this month, and some of the criticism may fall on Yi Jianlian’s shoulders.
• Speaking of Yi, Aron Phillips of Dime lists him on his “10 Guys that Need to Break Out This Season.”