Category: Brooklyn Nets Blog

The Brooklyn Nets 2014-15 roster looks weaker than last year’s edition. They need everybody healthy, and that includes Andrei Kirilenko, who may play an increased role from now on. But he’s not ready to go just yet, reports ESPN New York:

Brooklyn Nets small forward Andrei Kirilenko, who was working with the starters on the first day of training camp, has tightness in his lower back, which he believes could keep him out for the next 7-10 days.

Kirilenko missed 25 straight games early last season due to back spasms. Overall, he missed 37 games in 2013-14 due to injury.

“I mean I’m trying to be positive,” Kirilenko, who worked with the training staff to strengthen his back in the offseason, said Sunday.

Here’s ESPN New York with a Nets update:

Brooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez said Tuesday he participated in his first few games of five-on-five over the past two days and felt just fine afterward. It’s yet another encouraging step for Lopez, who is coming back from offseason foot and ankle surgeries.

“It was great,” Lopez said Tuesday at a community event in Harlem. “I got my second day of five-on-five in today. It’s been going well. It feels good to be back out there with the guys. Everyone’s been out there, and everyone looks good. It’s been good seeing Mase [Mason Plumlee] out there being vocal, doing his thing and seeing how much he learned over the summer [playing with Team USA].”

As Lopez eases his way back into playing form, patience is going to be important. Nets GM Billy King told reporters Monday that the 26-year-old All-Star would likely not be participating in both sessions of two-a-day practices at the start of training camp (Day 1 is Saturday).

Here’s the New York Post with an update on Nets point guard Deron Williams:

Three months after undergoing surgery on both ankles, Deron Williams feels like a new man.

“[Before the surgery], I was just walking around and my ankles would swell up,” Williams said Monday at his charity dodgeball tournament in Manhattan, which benefited his Point of Hope Foundation. “Any time that happens, that’s bad.

“[Now] they feel good. I’ve been working out hard every day, getting ready to go.”

Williams, sporting a tan and a relaxed demeanor, was excited to be able to participate in the fifth annual version of his tournament, which he couldn’t do last year because of a sprained ankle. He was in a walking boot, kept out of all of training camp and for all but nine minutes in the final one of the Nets’ seven preseason games.

Here’s the New York Post with an update on the Nets:

Throughout the offseason, there has been plenty of speculation about Kevin Garnett’s status for the upcoming season.

But not only is Garnett going to be back — something the Nets have expected for months, and which was confirmed by multiple players saying Monday he has been working out at the team’s practice facility for the past couple weeks — new coach Lionel Hollins said Garnett will be the team’s starting power forward when the season begins next month.

“There is nobody in the gym that I would put in his place,” Hollins said. “He has earned the right to have that opportunity, to be the starter from Day 1.

“Somebody has got to knock him out. … It’s got to be like a heavyweight fight. I don’t see that really happening, but if it happens then I will deal with that decision when it comes. But I think when we start playing, [Garnett] will be the starting power forward.”

Here’s the New York Post reporting on the Nets:

Nets coach Lionel Hollins has heard all the dire predictions for his team, but doesn’t care. He said Brook Lopez is recovering well and is expected to be ready for the start of the season, and he also said he plans to put the ball in Deron Williams’ hands and let the All-Star point guard do what he does best.

“He’s a point guard,’’ Hollins said. “He’s our point guard. Will we play Jarrett Jack and Deron together? I’m sure we will. But that doesn’t mean Deron has to be off the ball. When you have two guys who can handle the ball, it doesn’t matter who handles it, but he’s going to be the primary ballhandler.’’

Williams, 30, played off the ball frequently last year with the emergence of Shaun Livingston, but this season Hollins said Williams will be the primary playmaker. Either way, Williams has to be better than his last two seasons, when — beset by ankle woes — he shot 44.4 percent and wasn’t his old attacking self.

Here’s the New York Daily News reporting on Nets point guard Deron Williams:

Deron Williams says he still loves New York, but sometimes it’s good to get away.

In an article published in Resident Magazine, the Nets point guard detailed his difficulties adjusting to living in the city — specifically the issues with raising children while declaring “I don’t really feel like a New Yorker.”

“I grew up in an apartment in Texas where you could send your kids outside like, ‘Yeah, go play in the sun.’ Here it’s more challenging,” said Williams, who lives in Tribeca during the season but kept his home in Utah for the summer. “The process of getting them into school (in New York) is a nightmare. Even private schools where you pay are an ordeal. In Utah, you just send your kids to the first public school in the area because they’re all great. Truth is, we enjoy getting away from the hustle and bustle and going back to Utah every summer. It’s a relief to take that timeout. No traffic. No crowds. My daughters still have their friends there. There’s a big backyard. They go to the pool; the playground and they jump on the trampoline. Kids running wild and free here…? I don’t think so.”