Nets on the Net: 9/2/09
Sep 2, 2009 Brook Lopez, Brooklyn, Nets on the Net
It’s Brook Lopez day over at the Nets practice facility. Julian Garcia at the Daily News quotes Brook saying the team can “definitely make the playoffs. We have enough talent.” Dave D’Alessandro of the Star-Ledger talks about whether or not Brook will be scoring more from the post. The Nets mothership has a post-practice video of Brook where he talks about basketball and comics, specifically the recent Marvel acquisition by Disney (Brook: I hope Disney runs Marvel into the ground. Me: Ouch). Major props to Nets blogger Ben Couch asking Brook on video about the longer-form writing he’s allegedly working on instead of joining Twitter like the rest of the NBA. For the record, it’s been 6 days since NAS demanded Brook join Twitter.
J.E. Skeets at Ball Don’t Lie posts about the Nets launching their “Take a Net to School Sweepstakes.” As part of an American Association and Dairy Council program, the winning child (age 6-13) can select their favorite Net to come to school with them. Giggle inducing line for me from Skeets: “You might think I would jump at the opportunity to take Brook Lopez, but, well, I would hate to sit in class all day worrying about whether those farting noises he was making were going to get us sent to the principal’s office.”
NetIncome over NetsDaily has put together a fantastic FAQ about the Nets financial situation, their pending move to Brooklyn, who might be interested in buying the team, and what might happen if Brooklyn falls through.
New York-based architectural firm, SHoP, has been brought in to assist on the designs for the Barclays Center arena at the Atlantic Yards Development, the New York Observer reports.
The Nets have named John Loyer as an assistant coach. Loyer spent the past four seasons as assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Terrence Williams Post Workout Chats
Sep 2, 2009 Chris Douglas-Roberts, Terrence Williams
Recently Terrence Williams say down with both Dave D and Ben Couch after one of the Nets’ open workouts. Some real interesting stuff came up. First, Terrence has been working out on his own at the Nets’ facility the past two weeks (from Dave):
Just to recap: After summer league in July, he took two weeks off at home in Seattle, went to Grgurich’s camp in early August, took a week off because he tweaked his knee (he’s fine), attended the Rookie Transition program (12th to 14th), and he’s been in the Nets’ gym ever since – every day, seven days a week.
Until this week, all by himself.
It’s been a lonely life.
“At the end of the day, it may be lonely, but you work from 10 to 12:30 with a lift, then from 12:30 to 10 you’re free,” the rook said.
Actually, he’s not entirely free. He also came back at night to shoot.
But no complaints. The kid is used to work.
That right there just shows you what Terrence is about. You got hints of this before the draft (seeing that he was working out daily with Gary Payton), but to see him doing the same thing as a pro, especially when he could be enjoying his new money, well that is awesome. In the video of the interview, he talks about why shooting isn’t really work. “Shooting is shooting. Shooting is like video games, you gotta love to do it.” I have been saying that Terrence Williams already does so many things well that if he can work on his shot, he will be a great player. He is working hard, and hopefully there will be an improvement.
Ben Couch, talking about the same thing mentions how almost everyone has been impressed with T-Will’s passing:
From the sideline, Dooling praised Williams’ passing, and Williams said that general manager Kiki Vandeweghe offered a similar commendation. The GM lauded T-Will for a driving dunk, but expressed interest in seeing it happen more than once. That echoed a sentiment first spoken by Clippers guard Baron Davis at Grgurich’s camp in Las Vegas.
“(Baron) taught me the best lesson because I think sometimes I get too passive with the ball,” Williams recalled. “He taught me when I’m going to the hole to go to the center, draw the foul, try to get the and-one — keep your eyes on the rim. Stuff that you were taught when you were younger, but he reiterated it to me and pounded it in my head. For a guy that’s been in the league this many years to stay after every day of the camp and show me new things – you’re in Vegas, you could go anywhere – it just meant a lot.”
Terrence also talked to Ben Couch about what makes covering CDR so hard:
“The herky-jerky. He’s from Detroit. Most Detroit players are long and lean like that and can handle the ball. It may look like, ‘What is he doing?!’ But he’s getting to the hole and scoring.”
Nets and Heat Talking Trade?
Sep 2, 2009 2009 Offseason, Keyon Dooling, Rafer Alston, Trades
The Miami Herlad is reporting this morning that the Nets and Heat have spoken about a possible trade involving either Rafer Alston or Keyon Dooling. “Nothing materialized, but the door was left open for further talks,” the Herald report said.
As Sebastian broke down last week, I think Rafer Alston is a good fit as backup to Devin Harris and I would hate to see him flipped in a trade so quickly. He could bring a stability to that backup PG spot this team has lacked for years. While Dooling played above and beyond my expectations last year, the Nets appear to have a little more depth on the bench at SG depending on what the team wants to do with Chris Douglas-Roberts. Then, of course, is the issue of what Miami is going t offer back in a trade, which will most certainly need to be some level of salary relief geared towards keeping the Nets well under the cap for next summer.
NetsAreScorching Interview: Armor Coach Dee Brown
Sep 2, 2009 D-League, Dee Brown, Interviews, Springfield Armor
With the D-League expansion draft today, it is the perfect time for us to hit you up with some more D-League knowledge. Yesterday, new Armor Coach and Director of Basketball Operations, Dee Brown was kind enough to take time out from his busy schedule (the expansion draft remember?) to answer some questions we had for him.
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NAS: Along with being the head coach of the Springfield Armor, you are also the Director of Basketball Operations. What are the responsibilities of that role?
Dee Brown: The responsibilities is to oversee the on court and some off court basketball decisions of the franchise. Evaluate talent, personnel decisions including tryouts, drafts and trading players. I will work side by side with our GM Alex Schwerin on making decisions off the court as it pertains to the players and franchise and the marketing of the Armor.
NAS: How can your NBA experience help when dealing with players trying to make the NBA themselves?
Dee Brown: I can speak on 12 years of hands on playing experience in the NBA on the do’s and don’ts of getting to the NBA and most importantly staying when you get there. I’ve played with great players and for great coaches so I’ve got tons experience on how to communicate with all levels. I’ve also been in the front office at different capacities from Director of Player Development to Community Ambassador. So I know what NBA Execs look for and expect from their players on and off the court.
NAS: You are CEO of the EDGE Basketball, LLC, and have shown an interest in developing players. Is that why you have decided to make the transition to the D-League? So you can both coach and help develop young talent?
Dee Brown: I’ve owned EDGE basketball for 4 years and have been training every level of player from talented middle school players to NBA players like Grant Hill, Drew Gooden, Chucky Atkins and Deshawn Stevenson. The most important thing to me is developing young and even experience players. I’ve been doing that since I retired and always felt like a coach on the floor or leader in the locker room when I was a player. That’s why the D-League excites me. My job is to make these players better and put them in a situation on the court to succeed and showcase their respective talents all in the concepts of winning and competing.
NAS: You have mentioned before that this is a unique situation because you are dealing with three different affiliates. Are you going to be running your own offensive stuff or are you going to use a blend of what the three affiliates (Sixers, Knicks, Nets) do offensivly?
Dee Brown: Obviously you can’t put everyone system into place but you can take bits and pieces of what each affiliate runs and incorporate it into your system. Most NBA teams run some similar sets. So you speak with each affiliate coaching staff and get input of key components of their offense and defense philosophies and try to mesh as much as possible into what you want to accomplish as a coach. The names might be different but you want to make sure that the things you are running are NBA sets and consistent on both ends on the court what these player will see if they get called up. Also it gives NBA teams a real look at players in NBA situations so they can get a true evaluation of the players.
NAS: You come from a WNBA background where for the most part offense is based on movement without the ball and quick passes. Are you going to bring that offensive style to the Armor?
Dee Brown: Ball movement and quick passes are always important at any level of basketball. We will push the ball every possession to put pressure on the defense and get the best shot available based on ball movement, screens on and off the ball.
NAS: For the expansion draft, you are selecting players from a pool of two teams that ended up shutting down operations. Do you feel like that puts your team at a disadvantage or do you think there is enough talent in the pool of players to put out a competitive team?
Dee Brown: I think it will help us because there is plenty talent on both teams. You get a chance to choose from the D-League Champions Colorado team. That has to be a good thing for us and Maine. So it will give a good foundation to start with and have some players with D-League and pro experience.
NAS: Is there a max number of players you can have on your roster? If so, how are things handled when a player is sent down from one of your affiliates? Are there roster spots reserved for them? Does the fact that you have three affiliates make roster moves harder to handle?
Dee Brown: The max number is 12 but you will keep 10 because of the players that might be assigned from affiliate teams. Whenever a players is assigned from one of your affiliates you must make room on your roster and since we have 3 affiliates we can have up to 6 assigned players at once but I’m sure that will be unlikely to happen but would be great for a D-league team and a city to have NBA roster players playing in your market. We want our affiliates to trust and believe that we can make their players better if they send them down to Springfield for development and growth.
NAS: Another question about dealing with multiple affiliates. Let’s say that you have guys not on a NBA roster on your team, and more than one player wants to bring them up for a stint on their NBA squad. How is that handled? Which team would get that player?
Dee Brown: Any player on our roster can be called up by ANY of the 30 NBA teams. The first NBA team that contacts the D-league will have the rights to get that player. Our 3 affiliates can assign their 1st or 2nd year players to us in Springfield.
NAS: How are you going to fill your team roster? Strictly through the expansion draft? Try-outs? Invites? Anything else I didn’t mention?
Dee Brown: We will fill our roster with all of those methods. Expansion draft 1st then we will have a local tryout, the D-league draft. So we will always be looking for ways to find talented players.