The Dallas Morning News (David Moore) reports: Jason Kidd is in the final year of a contract that pays him $21.3 million. The end of last season does not allow his agent, Jeff Schwartz, to negotiate from a position of strength. The Mavericks’ front office believes former coach Avery Johnson was wrong about Kidd, hence the title former coach. They think Kidd has something left to give. But is owner Mark Cuban confident enough in that assessment to sign the future Hall of Fame guard to an extension? No. The first 3 ½ months of this season are crucial. If Kidd plays well and the team clicks under new coach Rick Carlisle, fears about moving into the future with an AARP point guard will subside.
Category: Brooklyn Nets Blog
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Nets name director of player personnel
The New Jersey Nets have named Gregg Polinsky the team’s director of player personnel, Nets President Rod Thorn announced today. Polinsky had been the team’s director of scouting for the past three seasons.
Polinsky joined the Nets as a scout in 1999 following an extensive collegiate coaching career. A native of St. Louis, Mo., Polinsky played college ball at New Mexico and earned his degree in physical education from Northern Arizona. He began his coaching sojourn in 1981 as an assistant at Howard College (1981-83), and served in a similar capacity at the University of Texas (1983-86) and the University of Alabama (1986-95) before assuming the head coaching post at Georgia Southern, a position he held from 1995-99.
Nets have no need for Julius Hodge
Julius Hodge is a versatile player, but he’s primarily a shooting guard who can’t shoot. This presents a problem and is why he fell out of the league so quickly. His best days were probably his college days.
But, he’s in Nets training camp, and the only real opening the roster has is possibly at the third-string point guard spot, behind Devin Harris and Keyon Dooling. Though, since both of those guys are good players, unless someone gets hurt I can’t imagine the third stringer gets more than a few minutes per game at the most.
So, to try to make the Nets, Hodge may have to pretend to be a point guard. But while he has the ability to pretend to be one, he isn’t one, and isn’t really going to create from that position. And while he can slash, he probably isn’t going to penetrate past other point guards. Plus, he can be left open from outside.
He’s not a fit for the Nets and should find a team that can use a multi-talented shooting guard off the bench. Or, he should just try to star in Europe.
Quick East thoughts
The season is approaching, folks. Training camps open in around one week (I’m in Prague right now, haven’t looked at a calendar in a while. Tuesday I’m off to hang out in Berlin for a week, then about 8 days in Amsterdam. I’ll be back in New York City right around the start of preseason.)
In the east, the Celtics remain the best of the conference, though I wonder if Ray Allen will drop off a bit this season. They also need to improve their bench.
The Pistons bring back last year’s team, with Rasheed Wallace and Chauncey Billups a year older.
The Magic still need to improve their backcourt.
The Cavaliers add scoring punch with the addition of point guard Mo Williams, but it’s still the LeBron James show with a supporting cast that will have to work very hard to carry their weight.
The Wizards must once again play without Gilbert Arenas for a while, though even with him they’re a lower-level playoff team.
The Raptors have to hope Jermaine O’Neal regains former All-Star form; it’ll be tough.
The 76ers added a star by signing power forward Elton Brand, and that should definitely raise them in conference standings.
The Hawks aren’t locks to return to the playoffs, but it’s good they kept Josh Smith.
The Bucks improved on paper, adding a pass-first point guard in Luke Ridnour, but more importantly, a legit good forward in SF Richard Jefferson.
The Knicks have the same talented yet flawed roster, but a new coach. Can Mike D’Antoni work miracles?
The Nets are rebuilding and aside from Vince Carter and young Devin Harris, everyone on the team who matters is young and in development.
The Bulls have the same team as the last few seasons, though Ben Gordon remains unsigned. Will they play like the good Bulls from two years ago, or the disappointing ones from last season? Flip a coin, because they’re capable of going either way.
The Bobcats have nice swingmen in Jason Richardson and Gerald Wallace, plus Emeka Okafor, but everyone else is young and in development.
The Heat could make a leap in the standings now that Dwyane Wade is healthy, plus Shawn Marion needs a new contract, and Michael Beasley doesn’t like losing. The supporting cast is still extremely weak, though.
The Pacers always do a bit better than expected. The bad news is, almost nothing is ever expected. Danny Granger, Mike Dunleavey and TJ Ford are very nice players, though. They may surprise a little, but not a lot.
I’ll share quick West thoughts tomorrow. Right now I’m off to hike up to the Prague castle. I’ll be right here in about an hour.
–Jeff
13 training camp signings reported here
Brad Ames of Priority Sports informs InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner that the following players will be in the following training camps:
Eddie Gill: New Jersey
Trey Johnson: Phoenix
Ronald Dupree: Cleveland
Frank Robinson: Atlanta
Linton Johnson: Washington
Antywane Robinson: Philadelphia
Jared Reiner: Philadelphia.
Britton Johnsen: Utah
Matt Freije: Milwaukee
Luke Jackson: Portland
Rob Kurz: Golden State
Chris Alexander: Oklahoma City
Darryl Watkins: San Antonio
Jason Collins out 8 weeks after elbow surgery
The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced center Jason Collins underwent successful surgery to repair a partial rupture of his triceps tendon in his right elbow. Dr. David Auerbach of the Southern California Orthopedic Institute (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) performed the surgery Monday evening. Collins is expected to be sidelined for the next eight weeks.
Collins was acquired via an eight-player draft night trade with the Memphis Grizzlies on June 26 that also brought Kevin Love, Mike Miller and Brian Cardinal to the Timberwolves. Collins was drafted by the Houston Rockets 18th overall in the first round of the 2001 NBA Draft and was traded to the New Jersey Nets on draft night. The center from Stanford appeared in 74 games for Memphis and New Jersey in 2007-08, posting 1.9 points (.469 FG%) and 2.4 rebounds in 15.8 minutes per game. For his career, Collins holds averages of 4.3 points (.414 FG%), and 4.8 rebounds per game.
Brooklyn Nets arena may break ground in December
After what feels like 4,500 delays, the New Jersey Nets may finally break ground this December in Brooklyn, New York to build their future home arena. And as a New Yorker who would much rather take the subway to Nets games than have to keep going to Manhattan’s Port Authority to wait on giant lines for buses that then sit in traffic jams, I say the sooner the better. Here’s the New York Times (Charles V. Bagli):
The developer Bruce C. Ratner has told state and city officials that he plans to break ground in December on his long-delayed $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, which will feature thousands of apartments and offices in 16 towers built around a glamorous basketball arena for the Nets. But it is unclear whether Mr. Ratner will be able to meet his own deadline to start one of the most ambitious projects in Brooklyn in decades, given the softening economy, the crisis in the debt markets, rising costs and a persistent group of opponents who have filed one lawsuit after another.
This isn’t sure to happen, though. Here’s more from the New York Times:
“There’s no way they’ll get control of the land they need, get the financing, end the litigation and break ground by December,” said Daniel Goldstein, a spokesman for Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, the project’s primary opponent. Andrew DeSouza, a spokesman for the Treasury Department, declined to comment on whether a decision concerning tax-exempt financing for stadiums and arenas was imminent. The Internal Revenue Service issued proposed regulations in 2006 that would make it more difficult, if not impossible, for tax-exempt bonds to be used for private sports teams.
I agree with the guy above that getting this all done by December may be tough. But I disagree with him that this project is “destroying” Brooklyn. Aside from adding what will probably be some insane traffic jams, it makes Brooklyn better.
Fan Poll Results: 8 East playoff teams
InsideHoops.com ran a poll for the last week asking fans to pick the eight Eastern conference teams they feel will make the playoffs in 2008-09.
The voting for the first four teams was pretty close, with the Celtics (592 votes), Cavaliers (588), Pistons (582) and Magic (578) taking the home-court seeds.
The Raptors (504) came in 5th, though from our experience Toronto fans, being very enthusiastic, tend to bump their team up slightly higher than tends to be expected. Though, if new Raptor Jermaine O’Neal can stay healthy and play anything like his old former All-Star self, this is a very reasonable prediction.
One vote later, coming in 6th, was the 76ers (503), who played better than expected last season and now add star power forward Elton Brand, who is returning from injury, to their mix.
The Wizards (459) came in 7th. They welcome a healthy Gilbert Arenas back.
And now, a dropoff.
Fans feel that last year’s #8 seed, the Hawks, won’t do as well in 2008-09. Rather than pick them to return to the playoffs, fans went with the Heat (294 votes). This is reasonable. Miami welcomes a healthy Dwayne Wade back, alongside Shawn Marion, who needs a contract, and superkid rookie Michael Beasley. The supporting cast is still weak, but slightly improved from last year.
The Bulls (195) finished 9th, just outside the playoff seedings. The Hawks (180) were 10th.
Here are the complete final results:
1) Celtics 592 votes
2) Cavs 588 votes
3) Pistons 582 votes
4) Magic 578 votes
5) Raptors 504 votes
6) Sixers 503 votes
7) Wizards 459 votes
8) Heat 294 votes
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9) Bulls 195 votes
10) Hawks 180 votes
11) Bucks 83 votes
12) Nets 68 votes
13) Knicks 53 votes
14) Pacers 53 votes
15) Bobcats 43 votes
Jason Kidd retires from international play
The Dallas Morning News (Brad Townsend) reports: Jason Kidd retired Sunday. From USA Basketball competition, not his job with the Dallas Mavericks, with whom he is entering the final season of his $20 million-a-year contract. There is no better way for Kidd to bow out of international basketball, having earned his second gold medal Sunday while extending his record to 56-0 in Olympics, Olympic qualifying and exhibition games. “I’m undefeated,” Kidd, 35, said. “I told them I can retire now from international ball, but LeBron [James] threw out something I didn’t like. He said he won’t play in 2012 unless I’m there.”
Web viewing of NBA games may soon exist
The Oklahoman (Mel Bracht) reports: Say you’re working late and can’t make it to the Ford Center to watch Oklahoma City’s new NBA team play its game that night. Instead, you log on to your computer and watch streaming video of the team’s game broadcast. Sound far-fetched? Not if the NBA has its way. The league is aggresively promoting three new Internet elements — video streaming in home markets, interactive TV and video-on-demand — for the upcoming season. Ed Desser, a media consultant for Oklahoma City’s team, said many details have yet to be worked out, and didn’t expect the team to offer the Internet elements anytime soon.