On an interesting news day mainstream press wise for the Nets, here are a few extra links:
More on the ESDC’s approval of Atlantic Yards today from Crain’s.
Whispers inside the Nets gym is that rookie Terrence Williams may be the best player on the court, Dave D’Alessandro writes in the Star-Ledger.
Charley Rosen of FoxSports talks about the lack of quality big men in the NBA and reviews some of the top centers under the age of 30. Brook Lopez may benefit from playing on the “woeful Nets” because it will give him a no-pressure environment to develop, Rosen said.
Dime lists Yi Jianlian as one of five candidates for the Most Improved Player award, citing his great play in the FIBA Asia Championship.
Marc Spears at Yahoo is reporting that Yi Jianlian may miss a number of preseason games and the season opener October 28 against Minnesota because of committments to play for his native uandong in the National Games of the People’s Republic of China.
The Nets are reportedly backing Yi’s decision to play in the China games from October 16-28 and are working with Yi’s agent Dan Fegan, about determining an appropriate timetable for his absence.
Nets GM Kiki Vandeweghe said, “We’re trying to make a good decision, make sure we abide by the rules and make sure we are always accommodating in supporting our players and their home countries.”
This has always been the dual-edge sword of having Yi in the NBA. Yes, he brings with him the attention of a basketball-crazy nation with more than 1 billion people, but his native country also seems to maintain a high level of control over him.
Personally, I would be incredibly disappoitned if Yi did not start the season on the team, even if it’s just one game. After two struggling seasons, he seemed to bring a level of excitement to his game this summer when he bulked up and averaged a double-double in the FIBA Asia Championship. Granted, it was not high-competition, but it was still a positive step. To miss two weeks before the season starts for this tournament, with a young team that is going to need all the time they can muster to gel and mature together, just seems detrimental to the team. If he ends up missing all this time, it just drives home exactly who is pulling the strings behind Yi and it’s not the New Jersey Nets.
The Empire State Development Corporate, the lead agency for the Brooklyn Atlantic Yards Development proposal, formally approved the Modified General Project Plan today. Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, the lead grouping opposing the development and the new Nets arena in Brooklyn has issued a statement saying they are considering new litigation in opposition to this decision.
For weeks, opponents of the Atlantic Yards plan have expected the ESDC to “rubber stamp” the project, despite the fact that the public comments period ended at the end of August without updated renderings being released and once renderings were released last week, they still lacked details of other aspects of the development outside of the Barclays Arena, where the Nets would play.
In their statement, DDDB claims the ESDC needs to undertake a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement before a modified plan can be approved.
“It is unfortunate for the ESDC and Forest City Ratner. Had they done things by the book, by the letter of the law, the project wouldn’t be in such substantial trouble. But they haven’t. And with today’s actions, and no Supplemental EIS, the ESDC is taking irreversible steps that will send Atlantic Yards further into community litigation,” DDDB spokesman Daniel Goldstein said. “The likely outcome of today’s actions by the Empire State Development Corporation is that they will be sued.”
A hearing before New York state’s highest court is scheduled for October 14 where development opponents will challenge the state’s use of eminent domain for the project.
Update:
Reuters is reporting that Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia’s richest man, is preparing an offer to help the Nets build the Barclays arena while possibly taking “a large stake” in the team. Prokhorov is considering issuing a bond worth about $700 million to help fund the project, according to the report.
Name: Bobby Simmons
Position: SF
Height: 6’7″
Weight: 210
Birth Date: June 2, 1980 (age 29)
Birth Place: Chicago, IL
Number: 21
College: DePaul University
Drafted: 2000, 2nd round, 41st overall by Seattle
Experience: 8 seasons
Contract: $11.2 million in 2009-10
On offense:
The Nets most expensive player was also their deadliest from three-point range last season. Simmons shot 45 percent from beyond the arc last year, good for 5th overall in the league. And Simmons is not afraid to shoot either. More than half of his field goals attempted (441) were threes (262) and 84 percent of all of his shots were jumpers according to 82games. That’s on par with his career numbers where 82 percent and 78 percent of his shots were jumpers his past two seasons. Simmons doesn’t do a whole lot to create his own shots either. By lining up in the corner, where Simmons launched 152 of his total threes (good for a 46 percent accuracy), Simmons generally got most of his shots off via the assist. About 87 percent of all of his jumpers were assisted to last season.
So as a good three-point shooter whose bulk of his shots were treys, Simmons also had a great True Shooting (TS) percentage. His 60 percent TS was good for 2nd among small forwards with at least 500 minutes of playing time last year, according to ESPN’s John Hollinger. His TS was ranked 27th league-wide.
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