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The NBA’s opening day rosters are official, and now posted on InsideHoops.com.
This evening was the deadline for NBA teams to trim their rosters down to 15 players or less.
The 2008-09 regular season starts Tuesday, October 28. InsideHoops is your online basketball home. We’re pumping out more content this season than ever.
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The New York Post (Mike Puma) reports: The Nets’ opening night starting lineup could include a little rookie flavoring. Though coach Lawrence Frank wasn’t ready yesterday to reveal his plans for Wednesday’s opener at Washington, it’s a safe bet that rookie Brook Lopez will get the nod at center, with Josh Boone and Sean Williams coming off the bench. Boone, who missed the Nets’ final four preseason games after he was diagnosed with a rapid heartbeat, practiced on a limited basis yesterday, sitting out the 5-on-5 drills. He might have to win back his starting job from Lopez, the 7-footer from Stanford who impressed the Nets with a strong preseason. “Coach has said a lot of times this preseason that after Vince [Carter] and Devin [Harris], three through 12 is wide open and everybody has a shot at the starting lineup,” Lopez said. “[The rookies] are all getting a little experience this preseason and we’re all really learning. We just have to be prepared when he calls on us.”
The New York Post (Fred Kerber) reports (via blog): Lawrence Frank won’t announce his starting five for Wednesday but if you were to flip a coin for the center spot it would likely go, “Heads, Boone; tails, probably Boone.” Figure an edge defensively and a little experience gives Boone the edge over Brook Lopez at this point. Josh Boone, who went out Oct. 17 when he experienced a rapid heartbeat – a condition that doctors were unable to duplicate or pinpoint and have since issued a clearance to continue – went through practice today. He said it went well and he felt far better than he expected.
The AP reports: Vince Carter scored 20 points for the Nets, who avenged a loss in New Jersey earlier this week. Devin Harris and Bobby Simmons each added 16… Jamal Crawford had his best game of a poor preseason with 30 points for the Knicks, who may have been distracted after having to answer questions about Thomas from an unusually large media contingent for a preseason game… Down by 18 points with 10 1/2 minutes left, the Knicks cut it to 111-110 on Crawford’s layup with 28 seconds left. New York got the ball back with 4 seconds left, but Crawford’s jumper from the corner was short.
The New Jersey Nets have requested waivers on Eddie Gill, Brian Hamilton, Julius Hodge and Keith Van Horn, Nets President Rod Thorn announced Thursday. Gill, Hamilton and Hodge each signed as free agents with the Nets on September 27, 2008, while Van Horn was obtained on February 19, 2008 in a trade with the Dallas Mavericks.
Gill appeared in six games for the Nets during the preseason, averaging 4.5 points and 1.0 assists in 13.7 minutes per game. The five-year NBA veteran has averaged 3.1 points and 1.1 assists in 181 career games with New Jersey, Memphis, Portland and Indiana.
Hamilton played in three preseason contests, totaling one point and five rebounds in 21 minutes of action.
Hodge posted averages of 3.0 points and 3.0 rebounds in four preseason games with the Nets. In two NBA seasons with Denver and Milwaukee, Hodge has appeared in 23 games, averaging 1.2 points and 0.7 rebounds in 4.2 minutes per game.
Van Horn, who was acquired by New Jersey as part of an eight player trade with the Dallas Mavericks on February 19, 2008, has not appeared in an NBA game since the 2005-06 season.
The Nets roster now stands at 15 players.
The AP reports: Lou Williams scored 18 points and hit five of the 76ers’ 14 3-pointers in a 118-100 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Wednesday night… The Nets were no match for the 76ers, who also got 18 points from rookie Marreese Speights and 16 from Thaddeus Young… Yi Jianlian and rookie Brook Lopez had 16 points apiece for the Nets, who lost their fourth straight after opening the exhibition season with two wins over Miami in Europe… Devin Harris had 13 points and Vince Carter and Maurice Ager added 12 apiece for New Jersey, which trailed by double digits almost the entire second half. Bobby Simmons and rookie Ryan Anderson had 11 points apiece.
The AP reports: Wilson Chandler scored 22 points in his first start of the preseason, and New York got strong play from its reserve guards in a 114-106 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Monday night. Nate Robinson led the Knicks with 26 points, including a floater with 1:46 remaining after the Nets had trimmed New York’s huge lead to four. Stephon Marbury had nine points on 3-of-3 shooting and six assists in just 16 minutes… Devin Harris scored 21 points for New Jersey, still winless this preseason in North America… Top draft pick Brook Lopez, playing extra minutes with fellow center Josh Boone out, had 19 points and nine rebounds, and Vince Carter scored 13 points… Chris Duhon had 10 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
The New York Daily News (Julian Garcia) reports on Nets forward Yi Jianlian’s preseason play so far: Yi has been pretty good offensively (14 ppg) but has struggled to grab rebounds (five in three games) and on the defensive end. Yi admitted he had a hard time with defending the pick-and-roll in his first two preseason games, but Frank said “it’ll happen” as long as Yi continues to work at it and learn how to play aggressively on that end “without committing needless fouls.” Frank added this, too: “I think the thing you can’t discount too is there’s a little bit – not much – but a little bit of a language barrier. So he’s got to do a little bit more thinking initially until he gets comfortable with voice recognition. He’ll get it. It’s just going to take some time.” As for rebounding, Frank said, “In the Olympics he was one of the leading rebounders, so I think he has it in him.”
The AP reports: Given the need for a point guard, Doc Rivers decided to start Gabe Pruitt so he could have a chance to work with the starters. Pruitt scored 11 points with 12 rebounds, adding seven assists with six turnovers… Kevin Garnett, who scored eight points with eight rebounds while playing sparingly in the first and third quarters, said Pruitt has had plenty of time to learn in practice while guarding Rondo, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen… Ryan Anderson scored 20 for the Nets, who lost to the Celtics 111-108 on Thursday without any of the Big Three playing.
The AP reports: The AP reports: Tony Allen scored 32 points, 22 in the first half, to lead the NBA champion Boston Celtics to an 111-108 victory over the New Jersey Nets in an exhibition game Thursday night. The Celtics (4-1) played without Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, all kept out of action by Doc Rivers as a coach’s decision and not because of injury. Former Nets guard Sam Cassell also sat out… Former Nets guard Eddie House added 21 points for the Celtics… Vince Carter scored 19 points to pace the Nets. Yi Jianlian had 15 points before fouling out in the third quarter, and Keyon Dooling, who had been battling a leg injury, scored 14 points in his first action with the Nets.
I’m sure you’ve heard by now about the Devin Harris streetball incident in the UK where a pretty harmless-looking dude had about 60 seconds of success against Devin in a little mini-game of one-on-one. The first shot was a simple but decent close-range jumper, but the second move involved putting the ball through Devin’s legs for a pretty sweet reverse layup.
Thursday night I was with Devin in New Jersey and a full explanation from him as to what happened is here in this Harris interview. Read it and post the link in any discussion you’ve seen about what went down.
–Jeff