Brooklyn Nets Blog – Page 60 – NBA Blog

Multiple Nets players gather for summer workouts

Even with the addition of two future Hall of Famers, the Nets are still Deron Williams’ team.

The captain is doing his best to lead in the summer, as well.

Williams organized players-only workouts this week in Southern California, with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in attendance. Williams told the Daily News that 10 of Brooklyn’s 15 players will participate in the workouts that started Sunday and runs until Friday.

The entire starting lineup, including Brook Lopez, is expected in SoCal. Lopez only recently shed his walking boot after offseason surgery to replace a screw in his right foot. He also spent a large portion of the summer on a goodwill tour of the world, while Pierce has been winning over the Nets’ fan base by persistently bashing the Knicks.

Reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News

Kevin Garnett may not play back-to-back games for Nets

Jason Kidd has ideas to keep Kevin Garnett healthy

The preseason is more than a month away, but Jason Kidd is already thinking about the playoffs.

The new Nets coach enters his first year on the sidelines with a championship contender whose success hinges on the health of the veteran core. Kidd already is considering minutes restrictions for his players, starting with the likelihood the 40-year-old coach will rest 37-year-old forward Kevin Garnett for one-half of back-to-back sets this season.

“When you look at KG, probably no back-to-backs for him,” Kidd said yesterday at Nassau Coliseum, where renovation plans for the aging arena were announced. “But those are just topics right now that we’re throwing around to try and keep these guys’ minutes down because we are deep.”

Since joining the Celtics in 2007, Garnett has not surpassed 33 minutes per game in a season. This past season, the former MVP played in 68 games and averaged fewer than 30 minutes per game, his lowest total since his rookie season.

Reported by Howie Kussoy of the New York Post

Indiana Pacers hire Popeye Jones as assistant coach

The Indiana Pacers announced Wednesday that Popeye Jones has been hired as an assistant coach to complete the Pacers’ coaching staff.

The 43-year-old Jones comes to the Pacers after spending the last three years with the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets, one season in player development, the last two as an assistant coach. Prior to that, he was with Dallas for three years in player development. Jones played collegiately at Murray State and was a 1992 second-round pick of the Houston Rockets, who traded his rights to Dallas. He played one season in Italy before joining the Mavericks in 1993 and ended up playing with Toronto, Boston, Denver, Washington and Golden State before retiring in 2004.

“Popeye brings a wealth of experience, both as a player and coach,” said Pacers head coach Frank Vogel. “He comes in as a player development coach focusing on the big men, but he has become a complete coach, great with Xs and Os and game strategy. He will be a great asset to our staff.”

Jones joins long-time assistant Dan Burke and associate head coach Nate McMillan, who was hired in July, on the Pacers’ staff.

Brook Lopez, in a walking boot, has done plenty of summer traveling

Being in a walking boot for the past couple of months did not deter Lopez from a busy travel schedule. After going on a cruise with his family around Europe, he headed to Africa this month on a trip organized by the Clinton Foundation. He visited Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania and Rwanda and spent time with former President Clinton. Lopez, an avid traveler, said he had never been to Africa, but had always hoped to go.

“I had a connection with our agency who previously worked with the White House and with the foundation, so they asked if I wanted to go and I jumped at the chance,” Lopez said. “It was a huge honor to be considered for it.”

Out of everything he experienced on the trip, Lopez said one charitable moment stood out.

“It’s tough to choose, but I think when we were in Zambia, we were outfitting kids with hearing aids, or just people in general with hearing aids,” he said. “And just seeing when the hearing aids finally worked for them, and their eyes lit up when they could hear for the first time, it was really incredible to see.”

Reported by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post

Jason Terry excited to play for Nets coach Jason Kidd

The player with perhaps the most interesting perspective on Jason Kidd as an NBA coach is new Nets guard Jason Terry, who just two years ago won a championship with Kidd as a backcourt mate with the Mavericks. Kidd will take over the Nets just months after being an active player with the Knicks, and there are concerns about whether he can lead a veteran team with championship aspirations.

Terry does not have those concerns.

“We were in about a two-hour film session in the playoffs in Portland and we couldn’t figure out one coverage in the zone,” Terry recalls. “J-Kidd was finally like, ‘We’re going to figure it out. Let me handle it. Coach [Rick] Carlisle, trust me, we’re going to get it done.’ That game we used a zone and ended up winning and that was an example right there that he was a coach and ready for the moment.”

Terry said the first thing he did when the trade was consummated was send a text to Kidd, requesting he eventually save a spot on his staff for Terry, who has coaching aspirations.

Reported by Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe

2015 NBA All-Star weekend location may be New York City

The 2015 NBA All-Star Game almost certainly will be played in New York. The only question remaining for the Knicks, Nets and the league is in which arena the game will be played.

Despite the sometimes rocky relationship between the two franchises, they are working with the league to jointly host All-Star Weekend, which would mark the first time the event would be held in the metropolitan area since it was played at Madison Square Garden in 1998…

The key stumbling block will be which state-of-the-art arena — the Nets’ new Barclays Center or the Knicks’ refurbished Madison Square Garden — will host the game.

It’s likely the solution will feature one building playing host to the Saturday night festivities, including the 3-point and Slam Dunk contests, while the other will host the game Sunday night.

Reported by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post

Paul Pierce dislikes the Knicks even more now

If you think Paul Pierce had no use for the Knicks when he played in Boston, just wait till he puts on his Brooklyn Nets uniform.

Actually, Pierce admitted in his media tour of New York on Thursday that he’s already working up a fresh dose of hate for Carmelo Anthony and Co., well in advance of their first meeting of the season, on Dec. 5 in Brooklyn.

“My dislike for the Knicks is more now because it’s right across the river,” Pierce said during an interview on the Michael Kay Show on ESPN Radio. “The rivalry is going to go to a new level.”

Just to make sure the Knicks heard him, Pierce added, “It’s time for the Nets to start running this city.”

Reported by Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News

Paul Pierce hopes to create new legacy for Nets

The franchise, basically forgotten by the NBA during its final few seasons in New Jersey, suddenly has become a force — something new Net Paul Pierce, is still trying to come to grips with.

“You’re definitely surprised, because since I’ve been in the NBA, when you’ve looked at the Nets, you always looked at them as bottom-dwellers,” Pierce said Thursday. “They have only put a couple of winning teams out in the last 10-15 years since I’ve been in the league, [and] nobody really respected them.

“Now they’ve got new owners, now they’ve got a new building, now they’ve got a new attitude. … You can definitely see a change in what’s going on, and I can see this organization really rising to the ranks of the respectability of the Lakers, of the Knicks, of the Celtics. That’s what they’re trying to build, but in order to do that you have to have the players, you have to have great management and you have to have great owners, and that’s what I see in place here in Brooklyn.”

Reported by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post

J.R. Smith says the Knicks are still the marquee team in New York

J.R. Smith isn’t too worried about his knee, but he might be a bit concerned about the Nets.

The Knicks shooting guard addressed the media at a charity golf tournament in Lakewood, NJ on Thursday, seeming pleased with his progress since his knee surgery and eager to get back on the court, especially after Brooklyn’s offseason push to win the battle for New York.

“It’s an unbelievable move for J Kidd to have a team like that to start off with in his first year. I think they’ve got a great chance to compete for a title, but I think we’re still the marquee team in New York,” Smith said. “A lot of people are counting us out just like they did last year. We’ve got a lot to prove. I think we’re going to come out with a lot of edge and hopefully put it to positive use on the court.”

Reported by Stephen Lorenzo of the New York Daily News

Brooklyn Nets are spending big money to compete in 2013-14

During negotiations to create its current collective bargaining agreement, the NBA did its best to limit the amount of money its teams would be able and willing to spend on their rosters by implementing a much more punitive luxury tax system, one that officially goes into effect this season.

But that more punitive system wasn’t enough to prevent the Nets from shelling out millions of billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov’s personal fortune this offseason.

Between completing their blockbuster draft night trade with the Celtics, re-signing Andray Blatche and signing Andrei Kirilenko, Shaun Livingston and Alan Anderson, the Nets sent their payroll soaring to more than $100 million for the coming season, which means they’ve also committed to paying a massive luxury tax bill of roughly $87 million next year.

“I would say it’s no secret that we went into collective bargaining seeking a hard cap,” NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver — one of the main architects of the current CBA and who will replace David Stern as commissioner when Stern steps down Feb. 1 — told The Post Wednesday after speaking at the league’s Rookie Transition Program in Florham Park.

Reported by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post