So as my introductory piece, I’d like to do a re-post. Some of you have likely already seen this on the popular SBNation subsidiary NetsDaily – I originally posted it under my NetsDaily username Newark2Brooklyn. It elicited a fair amount of discussion once it was put on their front page. I wrote this before Thorn said he’d take Wall with the first pick, and it was partly a response to the Wall-Turner debate that was going on there. Some people agreed with my assessment completely, others were the exact opposite. I usually consider that a good sign.
Glad to be writing for NetsAreScorching, and rest assured, mostly everything else I write will be less than half this length.
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Here on NetsAreScorching.com, Mark and I have prided ourselves on getting a high number of quality content up. To be able to continue doing that, we have decided to add two new writers to the team, Dennis Velasco and Devin Kharpertian.
Some more info on Dennis:
Dennis Velasco grew up a New York Knicks fan in Queens, NY. Eventually, DV learned to love the NBA and not just Patrick Ewing and his out-of-control hyperhydrosis. DV figures if he and Jay-Z could both have roots with the Knicks and the latter can own part of the Nets, why can’t he blog about them? And don’t get it twisted, DV knows about the Nets. He’s had his ankles broken by Kenny Anderson in a pick-up game, thought Buck Williams was always underappreciated as a Net, to this day thinks Derrick Coleman’s “Whoop-dee-damn-doo” is one of the best sports quotes of all-time, and knows Drazen Petrovic could have been one of the best foreign players in the NBA ever. DV has written for SI.com, Yahoo!, SLAM, Hoops Hype, and The New York Times amongst many other places he’s fooled into thinking he writes good.
Some more info on Devin:
Devin Kharpertian is a fourth-year Division III student at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, and if you don’t go to Hampshire you probably have no clue what that means. (In short: he’s on track.) Like most college students with no direction, Devin likes basketball and is in a band. They’re okay. Devin has been a die-hard Nets fan since the Knicks let him down in 1999, and despite being let down countless times by the Nets since then has still stuck by the team, watching every game possible (even this past season). A draft fanatic & also a Mets fan, Devin accurately calls himself a “sports masochist.” He welcomes any and all basketball discussion and can be reached at Devin.Kharpertian@netsarescorching.com
These guys are both really good writers, so expect to see their stuff up here soon. You will definitely enjoy it.
Al Iannazzone talks to Rod Thorn, and contrary to popular opinion, the next head coach of the Nets in all likelihood won’t be a sexy name, but rather someone who’s going to help the Nets in the short and long-term:
“I think from my conversations with Mr. Prokhorov, he’s interested in a coach who can move the team in the right direction,” Thorn said. “Not necessarily a big-splash coach, but somebody who can move a team in the right direction.”
I guess you could count me as part of the propaganda machine, as I figured the Nets for sure were going to go for broke here when they reportedly were mulling sending millions of dollars Coach K’s way. But if this is actually true, it’s a good thing. It demonstrates that Prokhorov is committed for the long haul and wants to build something here, rather than just throw money around to make headlines. We’ll start dissecting the Nets coaching options very soon, but knowing that it may not necessarily be a “name” is an interesting twist.
