Slam looks at the art of the tanking a season, using the Nets and the Minnesota Timberwolves as case studies.
So prospective Nets financier and Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov was arrested in 2007 on suspicion of involvement of a prostitution ring, according to the Daily News.
Could the Nets be sharing the Barclays Arena with the New York Islanders hockey team? One blog is citing NHL sources and says it could be so.
The Times-Picayune in New Orleans talks about the NBA’s efforts to expand its presence and opportunities in China.
Mark and I are trying to add an artwork section to NetsAreScorching, and we are looking to you, the reader, for some help. So if you design stuff like wallpapers or forum signatures, please consider doing some Nets-related stuff for this site. If you do, send the .PSD file (we need to .PSD to add the NAS logo – if you don’t feel comfortable doing this, get in touch with me and we can work something out) over to graphics@netsarescorching.com. We don’t have the funds to provide money for this (we are just poor bloggers living in our parents basements), but we can link to your portfolio/forum that you are a part of if you wish.
Rod Thorn was quick to squash the Yi to China rumors. According to Thorn, he wasn’t familiar with the reports: ”No, no — he’s not going to be away from Oct. 16th to the 28th,” Thorn said dismissively.
According to Andrey Kirilenko, Mikhail Prokhorov is a fantastic choice for owner. “I know him very well. He is a huge fan of basketball. If you take a look at the local level, he turned CSKA into one of the best teams in Europe. I’m pretty sure his goal with the New Jersey Nets is to do the same thing,”
Kiki Vandeweghe told Yahoo! that it is has been hard not making any deals this offseason. ”It was difficult,” admitted general manager Kiki Vandeweghe, who loves utilizing an itchy trade finger. “Both Rod (team president Thorn) and I are used to being very active. We realize the team isn’t built and we’re not a finished product.” It is good to see that the two guys building the team recognize that a quick deal isn’t the way to go here. It is good to see that they have a vision.
A couple weeks back, the Springfield Armor’s Coach and Director of Basketball Operations Dee Brown told us there are many ways that you can fill your D-League roster. These methods included an expansion draft, local try-outs, and a D-League draft.
Well, a few weeks ago the Armor had their expansion draft in hopes to add a few players to their roster. The player pool for the expansion draft consisted of players from the two teams that folded after last season (Anaheim Arsenal and Colorado 14ers). At first glance, that isn’t the best starting point, but when you realize that the 14ers won the D-League title last year, you see that the Armor have a terrific starting pool of talent.
With the first pick in the expansion draft, the Armor took 7-foot center Marcus Campbell. Campbell is a D-League vet (4 years) and he is an intimidating force in the middle. Campbell’s 171 blocks are sixth in D-League history. Last season Campbell averaged 11.0 points and 8.9 rebounds a game for the Arsenal.
According to Dee Brown and the Armor’s strategy was to draft height, and with the selection of Campbell and Kirk Walters (the player pool’s second tallest player). As Dee Brown told reporters:
“We definitely targeted big men in the expansion draft,” Armor Head Coach and Director of Basketball Operations Dee Brown said. “Size is a quality you can’t teach. We also wanted to gain as much NBA D-League experience as possible and felt that the selection of Campbell certainly fulfilled both goals.”
Springfield also got a player with some NBA experience, Cedric Bozeman (23 games for the Atlanta Hawks in 2006-07). Bozeman started all 48 games for the Arsenal last season, averaging 19.4 points per game to rank 21st in the NBA D-League.
The Armor have obtained the rights to each of the 10 players they drafted and will submit their list – in order of preference – to the NBA D-League Office to pursue contracts. The next step for the Springfield Armor is to hold their local try-outs. They are scheduled for October 17th and October 18th.
For the complete list of Armor players drafted, click here.
Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” made headlines this week when he jokingly attempted to bribe free-agent-to-be LeBron James to come to the New York Knicks by offering him a brown bag filled with grub from the famous Manhattan burger-stand Shake Shack. As someone who has frequented Shake Shack at both the Madison Square Park and Citi Field locations, let me just speak for Nets fans everywhere that we can not only offer LeBron a better supporting cast of young talent than the Knicks, but also some better food and fun if he comes to New Jersey, or potentially, Brooklyn. Seriously, why would someone try to lure the greatest basketball player on the planet to their team by selling them on a burger stand where even on a slow day, you’re waiting a good hour just to get a tiny little burger and a shake. Instead, let me try to tempt you with some of these indulgences:
From New Jersey:
- A Hot Dog From Rutts: You like hot dogs LeBron? Do you like deep fried food? Well, at this Clifton eatery you can get a hot dog that’s dropped in a vat of hot oil and deep fried until the casing bursts and crinkles. Top it off with some of Rutt’s spicy-sweet relish.
- A Pork Roll and Egg Sandwich from Mastoris: I don’t know which is better – a good old fashioned pork roll (aka taylor ham) and egg sandwich that’s a Jersey staple or going to this Bordentown diner for their gigantic size version of the sandwich. I mean seriously, it’s the size of a basketball. Everyone says you’re built like a football player LeBron. With a sandwich like that you can eat like one too (and if you can polish of three of them you could eat like Michael Phelps).
- A Deep Fried Calzone from Pizza Town: You might have heard that Jersey has some pretty good Italian food. In fact, you might have seen some show on cable where a bunch of Italian guys went to pork stores to get cappy ham and vinegar peppers on a hero. Well, if you go to Pizza Town in Elmwood Park, you can get one of there ham calzones deep fried. Do they serve calzones in Ohio? Either way, prepare to get your mind blown.
- Sonic: So if you end up going to New York to play on the Knicks and eat Shake Shack, you’re going to notice a lot of commercials for Sonic. They’re going to entice you with their cherry limeades and tater tots and you’re going to be waiting for your burgert in Madison Square Park for 45 minutes and you’re going to be like, “I should just go to Sonic. They’re on TV all the time.” Here’s the problem, there are no Sonics in New York. Seriously. They just like to buy ad time there. Hasbrouck Heights, NJ on the other hand. Sonic.
From Brooklyn:
- A Steak from Peter Lugers: Simply put, it’s the best steakhouse in the area. While the wait staff at this world-famous steakhouse is known for being terse, I gurantee they’ll treat King James with the royalty he deserves. And seriously, why get a hamburger when you can get a giant porterhouse steak for four.
- Pizza at Grimaldi’s: In a city filled with amazing pizza (and Jersey is great too!), one of the region’s most famous is right next door to the Brooklyn Bridge. This isn’t the Domino’s you’re probably used to in Ohio, LeBron. This is a perfectly baked crust with a nice bit of char to get that real coal oven flavor. There’s also a great cheese to sauce ratio.
- Nathan’s Famous: In your travels, you’ve probably seen a number of small Nathan’s franchises. In fact, Penn Station next to MSG probably has about a dozen of them. But why get the red-headed stepchild of an American classic? You and Brook Lopez can go down to Coney Island. Brook can ride the Cyclone a dozen or so times until he gets sick, while you can hit the original Nathan’s for one of their perfect hot dogs.
- Beer and video games at Barcade: Speaking of bonding experiences with Brook Lopez, you could really make his day if you take the L train over to Lorimer Street to hang out at Barcade. There, you will find a ton of beer on tap plus dozens of old school arcade games from yesteryear like Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Q-Bert and more. Sure, when you’re hanging out in your crib in Manhattan you could probably pop in Halo on your Xbox, but why do that when you can hit a nice, dank bar in Brooklyn, grab a pint of Dogfish Head, and play the original Punch Out before Mike Tyson or Mr. Dream were ever created.
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.
