Given his health issues this summer, not surprised at all by this, but Brook Lopez has withdrawn from Team USA consideration. From Fred Kerber:
(Nets GM Billy) King had said Nets coach Avery Johnson watched Lopez working out in Las Vegas under Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski and felt that though Lopez had regained his weight, he still was lacking in stamina. After the tryouts, Team USA chairman Jerry Colangelo said Lopez needed to have a strong New York showing to make the team that will compete at the World Championships in Turkey.
Personally, I’m relieved. While it’s not for a member of the Nets to gain international exposure, Brook clearly hasn’t looked right in his recovery from mono and he needs all the time he can get to be ready for the regular season.
For a while now, Hornets point guard Chris Paul has reportedly wanted out of New Orleans. There have been at least a half-dozen rumors connecting him to different teams, including the Knicks, Lakers, Magic, Trail Blazers, Mavericks, Bobcats, and the Nets. Ryan Schwan of Hornets 24/7 played GM for a recent article, one in which he took offers from other TrueHoop team writers for Chris Paul and sorted through the potential options from worst to best. I had an opportunity to construct an offer for him, but I decided against it for a reason that may actually shock you: I don’t think the Nets should seriously pursue him.
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The Fab Four of Nets Are Scorching will have a more exhaustive look at the team’s schedule in due time, but Dave D’Alessandro takes a quick overview in his Nets Blast blog yesterday and finds some interesting changes when compared to years prior. Most notably, the Nets, for the first time in as long as I can remember, will be at home around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Also, start times at the Prudential Center will be 7 p.m. and there will be more “kid-friendly” weekend games that start at 1 p.m.
Why, it’s almost as if the Nets are playing in an arena that wants to have them there… go figure.
Dennis kicked things off yesterday with some Danny Granger talk, so today, let’s continue our trading for a core player series by looking at a guy who has seemingly been on the trading block for years: Andre Iguodala.
For starters, I’m sure some of you are going to bristle at the idea that we’re including A.I. in a series about “core players.” By most definitions, Iduodala is not a core player – he’s never made an All-Star team, and despite showing flashes of great talent, he’s never been able to consistently get to that “next level” in the NBA, especially after the other A.I., Allen Iverson, left Philadelphia. But for the sake of argument, let’s consider a couple of things that should at least put Iguodala on our collective radars: with the drafting of Evan Turner, A.I. is certainly expendable for Philadelphia, especially if they can get in return young talent and/or salary cap relief; new Nets GM Billy King, drafted Iguodala, which gives him a peripheral connection to the player that could pique his interest if the stars aligned; despite Iduodala’s shortcomings, if he was added to the Nets roster, he would instantly become their number one offensive option on the wing. He’s demonstrated durability and a versatile offensive game.
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In a little top 10 list action, Dime looks at starters from last season who may not keep their starting jobs in 2010-11. One of those players is Courtney Lee:
Lee improved his numbers from his rookie year in Orlando (12.5 ppg, 1.3 spg), but didn’t quite have the breakout year some expected in his first year with the Nets. Free-agent pickup Anthony Morrow will bye for Lee’s starting job, plus coach Avery Johnson might want to move Terrence Williams to the two.
Can’t argue with the logic here. I don’t think Morrow is versatile enough to get starters minutes and is best used as a zone buster/offensive boost off the bench. But TWill is a different animal who brings more to the table, especially if you have a shooter in Travis Outlaw playing the three, giving Terrence less responsibilities from the outside.
There has been some talk recently of the New Jersey Nets needing a core player in order for them to take “it” to another level. Of course, this all came about because of the likely availability of Chris Paul and no matter what he and the New Orleans Hornets say or don’t say, there are still rumors milling about that Paul can still be traded. Another reason for this talk of a core player for the Nets is Carmelo Anthony, who has until June 30, 2011 to accept a contract extension offered by the Denver Nuggets, which he still hasn’t accepted and hence the possibility that he could be traded at the NBA trade deadline. However, two things should be said: 1) my NAS colleagues will be talking about the aforementioned duo of Paul and Anthony and 2) while Brook Lopez is a core player, like most successful teams, another superstar-type of player/talent is needed to elevate a team. Today, we’ll take a look at Indiana Pacers forward, Danny Granger. Read more…
Hoopsworld does a fairly thorough analysis of the Nets current roster, and at the end concludes something we’ve all discussed around here this summer: the Nets are certainly a much better team going into 2010-11. By how much? Still an unknown. However, there’s a definitely going to be a change in attitude from last year, which is more than half the battle:
The bottom line is players will be held accountable for their effort. No longer will Vandeweghe be around to gloss over the ugly truth in the post game press conference. Johnson won’t be too shy to name names if someone isn’t exerting himself.
