Avery Johnson and Sam Mitchell seem ready to watch some Nets’ Summer League Basketball. NBATV has been hyping up this game all day, and if you have NBATV or Summer League Broadband, you are going to be able to see Derrick Favors matched up against Evan Turner. Honestly though, I am excited to see Terrence Williams play. Most guys who have NBA experience tend to do much better in Summer League games because they are used to NBA-speed. If Williams has a good game, we don’t want to make too much of it, but if he struggles, it might be a little bit worrying.
The third quarter of game 3 is finishing up as I type this. So we are probably about 20-30 minutes away from tipoff. Use this as your open thread, but I am going to have to ask that you guys don’t post links to illegal streams. It just makes more work for me because I have to delete them.
Lost in all of the free agency craziness is the fact that the Orlando Summer League starts today, and the Nets are one of the eight teams participating. The Nets are ready, as they made final cuts yesterday to get the roster down to 11 players. The Nets have three guys who are guaranteed to be on their opening day roster (barring any trades). Derrick Favors, Damion James, and Terrence Williams all will be starting, with Williams playing shooting guard (my guess is that the Nets want to start him at SG, while bringing Courtney Lee off the bench). Rounding out the starting lineup are the two players with make-good contracts (guaranteeing that they will be in camp, with a chance to make the final roster), Ben Uzoh and Brian Zoubek. Ben Couch has the rest of the roster on the Nets summer league homepage.
I am really exciting about watching summer league, especially after last year’s fiasco. Unfortunately, they won’t be streaming the games free this year, but you can watch them online (if you don’t have NBATV) by ordering the Summer League Broadband package from NBA.com.
The Nets game vs. Evan Turner and the Sixers starts today at 7, and their schedule the rest of the way looks like this:
- 7/6 – 7:00 vs. Indiana
- 7/7 – 5:00 vs. Orlando
- 7/8 – 5:00 vs. Utah
- 7/9 – 12:00 vs. Boston
For a change of pace, let’s start with the vacant GM spot and some interesting candidates the Nets have been speaking with. Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski says the Nets have spoken to Hornets GM Jeff Bower about their opening. With the Hornets ownership situation in flux, Bower could look to bolt NOLA. Al Iannazzone is reporting that the Nets also spoke to Pistons GM Joe Dumars, in addition to Bower.
With Bower one of the candidates, Dave D’Alessandro brings up some potential controversy with him and new coach Avery Johnson. Johnson felt a bit slandered when there were reports out of NOLA that Johnson was “power hungry” and “money hungry” in his interview with Bower – reports that Johnson believes the organization spread. Considering the bass-ackwards nature of what’s going with the Nets right now – usually the GM is in place before the head coach is, this could get interesting, and messy, quickly.
As for the LeBron James saga, all reports are pointing to a decision on Thursday, when a salary cap is set for the season and players can officially sign with new teams. Ianazzone, quoting league sources puts the Nets in the “final three” with the Cavs and Bulls. The Knicks, in all of their infinite wisdom, apparently scheduled a second meeting this past weekend with LeBron’s folks, though it doesn’t appear that James, or anyone significant from the Knicks side attended. I guess they just wanted to give commenters over at TheKnicksBlog something to get excited about… which if you’re in the mood for some crazy talk, is a recommended place to cruise these days. Meanwhile, the Nets are still in contact with David Lee, according to Fred Kerber.
