Nets Are Scorching

In the dozens of articles that have been written about Avery Johnson since he was first announced as a candidate for the head coaching vacancy on the Nets, one theme that has been discussed extensively is his past and current relationship with Devin Harris, who was Johnson’s main point guard during the Mavs’ NBA Finals run in 2006 and for their first round collapse against the Warriors in 2007. From point guard to point guard, there was reportedly some tough love doled out by Johnson to Harris during their Dallas years together. Still, Johnson saw stardom in Harris, something Devin did accomplish in his first full year in New Jersey when he was one of the top scoring point guards in the league and made his first all-star game.
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New Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov and new Nets coach Avery Johnson had their first meet-up during the NBA Finals last night, where Mikhail Prokhorov continued to say awesome things to the media (per Julian Garcia’s report):

The 6-9 Russian billionaire also joked about how much he has in common with Johnson, the 5-11 former player.

“We are both gym rats,” Prokhorov said. “We spend hours in the gym and we are hungry to win. He was nicknamed ‘The Little General’ and my nickname is ‘The General.’ It’s a match made in heaven.”

Yep, I love this guy. We’ll obviously see if his vision has a reality, but I love hearing this guy talk.

Meanwhile, Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that DeMarcus Cousins and Derrick Favors are set to face-off one-on-one on June 21 in New Jersey as part of a pre-draft workout. Rod Thorn reportedly still favors Favors, but this face-off could be an interesting event in determining how the Nets eventually go in the draft.