Okay, so Anthony Morrow didn’t win the three-point contest. He was eliminated in the first round after only scoring 14 out of a possible 30. Kevin Love is your official winner.
But Anthony Morrow won in my heart because of this:
It was reported earlier this week that Morrow would wear the Petrovic jersey, but it’s still nice to see him follow through with it. Plus, it’s such a good-looking jersey.
In a season where the Nets just hadn’t had enough season-ending surgeries, Shawne Williams adds one more name to that list. Drs. Martin O’Malley and Nets team orthopedist Riley Williams III performed a surgery to insert three screws into Extra E’s left foot to repair a fracture and remove bone fragments.
Extra E is the third Nets player to go down with season-ending surgery, after Damion James and Keith Bogans. James and Bogans’s surgeries were on the foot and ankle, respectively. Brook Lopez also underwent surgery on his foot at the beginning of the year, but returns for his second game back tonight against Orlando.
There’s not a lot to be excited about for Nets fans and admirers, or even the Nets themselves. Outside of taking down the cross-state rival Knicks on Monday, they’ve been terrible this season, and beat up to boot. Deron Williams is grudgingly stoic, trying to carry the franchise even while he has made mention that it is not his preferred role. Well, what better way to take your mind off of being a loser than to dress like a winner?!
Seen here is Williams modeling the new Nike Hyper Elite uniform to be worn by the 2012 Men’s Olympic Team for the United States. You can jump to Sole Collector for details, but basically, the uniform is environmentally friendly, cool-feeling, and cool-looking; also, Williams looks significantly more content (if expressing any kind of tangible form of emotion is “content” in this context) in the uniform.
For the first time this season, Nets center Brook Lopez’s game status has been upgraded to questionable. If you’re reading this and you’re Brook Lopez, foot was like “lol!” but now is all “idk?” The game in question: Saturday’s 4:00 PM start against Chicago, the team boasting the best won-loss record in the National Basketball Association and the reigning “MVP.”
The Nets will be without Shawne Williams tonight, who’s sidelined with a mild sprain in his left shoulder. Extra E skipped shootaround this morning to have the shoulder looked at by a doctor, and there’s currently no timetable for his return.
Shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson, who’s missed the last eight games with knee issues, upgraded from “questionable” to “starting” after news of Williams’ injury.
The Nets play the Memphis Grizzlies tonight, who boast the 18.7 points-per-game Rudy Gay at small forward, the position the Nets now have zero active players at.
To distract you from the fact that the Nets quite literally have zero active small forwards, here’s a quote from Deron Williams on Linsanity:
“Why would we get excited about the Knicks?” Nets point guard Deron Williams replied when asked about Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin on Wednesday morning. “We’re 8-21. I’m worried about us, not what the Knicks are doing.” So, does all the attention the Knicks are getting bother him? “They’re the Knicks,” Williams replied. And the fact that Lin’s rise to prominence began against the Nets? “Ya’ll got anything about [our game]?” Williams asked. “Anything that’s relevant with us?”
Brook Lopez made his return to Nets practice today, for the first time since breaking his fifth metatarsal in December. Lopez played through the full practice, including full contact in the short practice, and didn’t feel any discomfort. “If I’m babying the foot, I haven’t noticed it,” though Tim Walsh wants to keep him out a little longer.
After lifting and working out his non-broken foot for the past few months, Brook says he’s gained ten pounds of “mostly muscle” and that he weighed in today at 275.
He listed no specific game as far as a comeback date, saying “I feel that I could (make it back before the All-Star break),” but that it’s not his decision. He did note that Avery and Tim Walsh have a date, just that they have “told (him) nothing.”
The Nets’ official injury report says he’ll be out until at least Thursday, which pits his first potential comeback game against Chicago on Saturday.
Deron Williams can’t wait to have him back, presumably so he can pass to someone within ten feet of the basket who’s able to catch the ball consistently. “We need him in the worst way… that inside presence that we haven’t had through 30 games.”
Andre Emmett also practiced for the first time today, and somehow didn’t blow out either knee.
Injury (AKA “Team”) updates: The team’s only small forward Shawne Williams has a mild sprain of his left shoulder and didn’t practice with the team. He’s questionable for tomorrow night’s game. DeShawn Stevenson is also questionable for tomorrow.
The NBA and New Jersey Nets announced that MarShon Brooks joins Kyrie Irving, Ricky Rubio, and six other rookies in the game before the All-Star game that used to pit the best rookies against the best sophomores.
This year, the teams will have some cross-pollination, with Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal acting as captains making selections for what’s now known as the “Rising Stars Challenge.”
Brooks is the lowest draft selection of any rookie invited and the only one selected outside of the top 15. (Kawhi Leonard, drafted 15th, is the only other non-lottery pick.) Brooks is 2nd among qualifying rookies in points per game, 3rd in PER, and 3rd in estimated wins added, despite missing nine games (eight with a broken toe). It’s unclear whether he’ll be healthy enough to play, as the team won’t have any further information on his progress until Sunday.
Other than getting waffle-stomped[1] by the Chicago Bulls on January 6 (predictably and unfortunately), the New Jersey Nets decided to get nostalgic and adopt the look of their ABA predecessors, the New York Nets.
Marked by true red, white, and true blue, the Nets wore their away versions of the uniforms, characterized by the player’s left-side uni-body stripes and stars. Last worn in the 1989-1990 season, the only difference between the ABA and NBA Nets uniforms of the same template was the name of the team on the away jersey; ABA and the early NBA version had “NEW YORK”, and the later NBA version had “NETS” with “NEW JERSEY” moving down the red stripe vertically).
This particular uniform is not the best of the Nets’ looks over the years. I actually favor the 1990-1997 set over these, and I like the original version of the current set that New Jersey currently wears, only I prefer the scoopneck collar, the argyle-hole mesh, and I wish they’d adopted the true blue over instead of the dark navy.
The retro unis are somewhat meaningful because of their history, if you’re sourcing Julius Erving and Buck Williams as the Nets’ history. (Though if you like reminiscing on the losers, Chris Morris and Roy Hinson will provide great memories of career underachievers!)
If nothing else, this temporary “new” look will offer something for fans to look forward to, considering the franchise’s current troubled state.
Footnotes (↵ returns to text)
Editor’s note: please don’t look this up on Urban Dictionary↵
