Brooklyn Nets Blog – Page 132 – NBA Blog

Pregame from first Iverson Pistons game

Raw and unedited notes from New Jersey where the Nets are hosting the Detroit Pistons. It’s the first game for Allen Iverson since being traded to Detroit from the Denver Nuggets.

The Pistons pregame locker room scene was the usual for Detroit: loose and loudly filled with rap music (old Redman songs) and random entertaining remarks from Rasheed Wallace.

I asked Sheed, who was playing the music from a speaker-connected ipod, if he was playing Redman, who is from Jersey, because they were here, or if it was just a coincidence. It was the latter, Sheed informed me.

Iverson, in the corner, had about 17 reporters circling nearby. ‘Go ask him a question’ yelled Rasheed at us after we stood waiting in silence for a long time. ‘They know no questions before the game’ said Iverson. (Note: those two quotes are paraphrases.)

It is now tipoff. Iverson got a great cheer from Nets fans when introduced.

Talk to you after the game.

–Jeff

Kenyon Martin foundation forms

NBA Star Kenyon Martin announced today the establishment of The Kenyon Martin Foundation at The Giving Back Fund.

The Foundation will focus on providing life-changing opportunities to underserved youth throughout the country, with an emphasis on assisting families without father figures in Denver, Dallas, and Cincinnati.

Martin has a long history of distinguished charitable involvement. He has served as an honorary Ambassador for the March of Dimes’ Colorado Chapter and is currently a Board Member of the American Institute for Stuttering. He has also lent his support to the numerous charitable endeavors of his teammates and other notable figures both here and abroad.

“I was given an opportunity to earn a wonderful living doing what I love, playing basketball,” Martin observed “I hope to give other children opportunities to do what they love as well. My goal is to do what I can to help them realize their dreams and let them know that no matter where you come from you can always succeed.”

“I applaud Kenyon’s sense of responsibility and obligation to others, in using the hard-earned lessons he learned during his own difficult childhood to help a new generation of kids,” commented Marc Pollick, President of The Giving Back Fund. “He exemplifies the maxim ‘to whom much is given, much is expected…’“

The Denver Nuggets’ power forward Kenyon Martin was raised in Oak Cliff, Texas, attended college in Cincinnati, and currently resides in Dallas during the off-season.

Nets need defense

The young Nets have some growing pains, especially on the defensive side of the floor. The Newark Star-Ledger reports: If you ask Lawrence Frank where his team is going wrong, he’ll pull out a list. The majority of the Nets’ problems pertain to their youth — lacking an understanding of positioning and tendencies, leading to game plan mistakes and bad technique and despair — and he is convinced they’ll solve them in time. But aggressiveness is also an issue. Fact: In their first three games, Nets defenders have drawn a total of five charging fouls, even though they’ve had roughly 40 chances to draw one.

Nov 4: Suns 114, Nets 86

The AP reports: Raja Bell hit all six of his 3-pointers and scored 22 points, and the Phoenix Suns shot 63 percent from the field in beating the 114-86 on Tuesday night… Nash added 12 points and 11 assists, O’Neal had 18 points and six rebounds, and Stoudemire added 14 points as the Suns won for the third time in four games… Vince Carter had 19 points and Yi Jianlian added 15 and eight rebounds for the Nets, who lost their second straight game… For the game, the Suns were 43-of-68 from the field, and 12-of-18 from 3-point range. The Nets shot 34 percent, hitting 28 of 83 shots.

Nov 1: Warriors 105, Nets 97

The Warriors had three players score 20 or more points and got to the free throw line 52 times in beating the Nets. For Golden State, Stephen Jackson had 23 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists. Andris Biedrins (8-of-11) had 23 points, 11 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Corey Maggette (just 3-of-13) had 20 points, 10 rebounds and 2 steals. The Warriors hit just 34 of their 52 free throws. The Nets went 21-of-28 from the line. For New Jersey, Vince Carter had 20 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists. Starting center Josh Boone had 17 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks. Devin Harris (just 3-of-12) had 13 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists. Ryan Anderson scored 12 off the bench. Brook Lopez had 10 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks off the bench.

Sean Williams asked Nets to skip option

The New York Post (Fred Kerber) reports: The Nets’ Sean Williams admitted yesterday he asked team president Rod Thorn not to pick up his option, which would have helped him get a new contract quicker and become a free agent. But he insisted he still wants to be a Net. “I told Rod I didn’t want him to pick up my option,” said Williams, whose third year – 2009-2010 at $1.629 million – was picked up on Thursday. “It had nothing to do with me not wanting to be here as part of this team because I love this team. “It’s part of the business. I want to get to my second deal as fast as possible.”

InsideHoops.com editor (Jeff) says: Williams is super-athletic and can apply it in ways that can help a team, but for the next few seasons will have to keep refining his game. Right now he’s more of a good 8th-10th man who can show flashes of being a good 6th man.

Marcus Williams reflects on Nets

Marcus Williams was a backup point guard on the Nets and didn’t play tons of minutes because extremely good players were always ahead of him. Now he’s barely playing for the Warriors and the point guards ahead of him are lucky to even be in the league. Here’s the New York Daily News (Julian Garcia):

As for what went wrong in Jersey, Williams said playing behind a legend after being drafted in the first round of the ‘06 draft made it tough for him to get anything going personally. “I played behind Jason,” Williams said. “Obviously that prevented me from playing as much as I wanted to. And then they brought in Devin, and Devin was having a career year. You can’t really stop a guy from playing who’s having a career year. So I think situations and opportunities weren’t here.” Williams had a reputation for being out of shape while with the Nets, and not necessarily working hard enough to get into shape. He also suffered several injuries along the way that prevented him from earning steady playing time.

I don’t see Williams falling out of the league anytime soon. He’ll have a few more seasons to prove himself worthy of a job before that would happen.

Nets exercise 3 player options but decline Mo Ager option

The New Jersey Nets have exercised a fourth year contract option on Josh Boone and third year contract options on Sean Williams and Yi Jianlian while declining to pick up the fourth year contract option on Maurice Ager, Nets President Rod Thorn announced today. Boone, Williams and Yi are now signed through the 2009-10 season. Per team policy, terms of the agreements were not released.

Boone was selected by New Jersey with the 23rd pick in the first round of the 2006 NBA Draft. The third year center has appeared in 131 games in his first two seasons with the Nets, averaging 6.3 points and 5.2 rebounds while shooting .557 (337-of-605) from the field in 18.6 minutes.

Sean Williams, drafted 17th overall in the first round of the 2007 NBA Draft by New Jersey, appeared in 73 games as a rookie. He tallied 5.6 points on .538 (164-305) shooting, 4.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 17.5 minutes. His 106 blocks on the season marked the second highest block total for a Nets rookie in team history, trailing only Kenyon Martin’s 113 blocks during the 2000-01 season. Williams was selected to the 2008 Rookie All-Star team and recorded eight points and 10 rebounds in the Rookie-Sophomore Challenge at NBA All-Star Weekend in New Orleans.

Yi was selected with the sixth pick in the first round of the 2007 NBA Draft by Milwaukee. He was traded to New Jersey, along with Bobby Simmons, for Richard Jefferson on June 26, 2008. In 66 games with Milwaukee, Yi averaged of 8.6 points and 5.2 rebounds in 25 minutes. Yi is a member of the Chinese National Team which competed in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and 2004 games in Athens.

Ager was selected by the Dallas Mavericks in the first round, 28th overall, of the 2006 NBA Draft. He was acquired by the Nets along with Devin Harris, Trenton Hassell, DeSagana Diop and Keith Van Horn, along with Dallas’ first round draft picks in 2008 and 2010 and cash considerations from the Mavericks in exchange for Jason Kidd, Antoine Wright and Malik Allen on February 19, 2008. In his first two NBA season, Ager played in 58 games with Dallas and New Jersey, averaging 2.1 points and 0.6 rebounds in 6.5 minutes.

Oct 29: Nets 95, Wizards 85

The AP reports: After his New Jersey Nets opened the season by beating the Washington Wizards 95-85 behind Vince Carter’s 21 points, coach Lawrence Frank praised all of his players and talked about how guys who didn’t even get in helped by being “supportive.” … Newcomer Yi Jianlian scored 17 points, and former Wizards player Jarvis Hayes added 14. They went a combined 13-for-20. Three draft picks made NBA debuts: Brook Lopez (eight points, eight rebounds), Ryan Anderson (five points, three rebounds, two assists) and Chris Douglas-Roberts (two assists)… Six Wizards scored in double-figures, but Jordan wasn’t pleased by what he called a lack of energy from his players. Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler shot 9-for-29 and totaled 27 points.

Nets team captain is Vince

The New York Post (Fred Kerber) reports: The Nets have a different team captain for the first time since Jason Kidd was elevated to the honor in 2001. And, as expected, it’s Vince Carter. Hardly a shock, but coach Lawrence Frank kept it a guarded secret in the a.m. so he told the results of the voting before the Nets opened their season here against the Wizards.