Nets Are Scorching

At training camp today, Al Iannazzone looks at Terrence Williams and what position he might play. Lawrence Frank has him playing a little point guard, though that’s a role he’ll likely be eased into when needed. Meanwhile, Dave D. notes what many of us have noted, Yi, after a productive summer, looks more athletic, aggressive, and most importantly, confident. Julian Garcia at the Daily News jokingly compares Yi to Bruce Springsteen, whose performing some shows at Giant Stadium you might have heard about (I’ll be there tomorrow). Fred Kerber talks to CDR about the NBA’s new Twitter policy. Doulgas-Roberts is not concerned by the restrictions.

Ben Couch has some video up with Lawrence Frank.

Tony Battie thinks Brook Lopez could dominate like Dwight Howard.

Al Iannazzone talks with Devin Harris about two pressing issues facing the Nets and the NBA – replacement refs and the sale of the team to Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov. On the ref issue, Harris jokes, “As long as they’re calling fouls, I’m good with that.” As for the prospective Nets owner, “And from what I hear, the way he constructed his Russian team, he spent money to win. And I hope that’s the approach he’ll take here. But it’s not something that’s in stone, so we can’t worry about it.”

Courtney Lee talks with Dave D’Alessandro some more about the initial “shock” of the trade and he understands that the Nets “wanted me.”

Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn is organizing a bus for opponents to attend the eminent domain hearing in Albany on October 14.

Nets players buy 600 tickets for underprivileged youths.

Name: Courtney Lee
Position: SG
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 200
Birth Date: October 3, 1985 (age 23)
Birth Place: Indianapolis, Indiana
Number: 6
College: Western Kentucky
Drafted: 2008, 1st round, 22nd overall by Orlando
Experience: 1 season
Contract: $1.26 million in 2009-10

On offense:

Fair or not, all eyes are going to be on Courtney Lee going into this year because he is the man who is basically replacing Vince Carter.  If Courtney Lee is going to get Nets fans to forget about Vince Carter, he is going to need to improve on his solid rookie season (and his terrific playoff performance).  To Nets fans, on offense Courtney Lee is going to need to match Vince Carter’s production.  Is that even possible?

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With Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokholov on the cusp of taking a controlling stake in the Nets, many analysts have suggested that Prokholov has the drive and the deep pockets to help facilitate the organization’s long-desired move to Brooklyn, while spending on next summer’s crop of quality free agents. If all of these things come to fruition, it is assumed the Nets will become instant rivals with the Knicks, both geographically and fiscally.

Despite being separated by a river, the Knicks and Nets have been true rivals very infrequently in ther collective NBA histories. NetsAreScorching spoke with Mike Kurylo from the TrueHoop Knicks site, Knickerbocker.net to get his take on a future Knicks/Nets rivalry. NAS also weighed in.

1. Do you view the Knicks and the Nets in their current form as natural rivals?

Mike Kurylo: It’s hard to be rivals when both teams aren’t doing well. It’s kinda like the two worst guys on the basketball bench. Although they’re technically fighting each other for playing time, there’s really nothing at stake. Look at some of the rivals in sports and you’ll see two great teams going at it.

Mark Ginocchio: They’re really not rivals, but they should be, regardless of how both teams are currently performing in the standings. At the very least, I would hope more Nets fans and more importantly, Nets players understand that even during their back-to-back Finals appearances, they have always been the red-headed stepchild in this media market, despite literally being a tunnel away.

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