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In need of a backup point guard to support starter Deron Williams, the Brooklyn Nets turned to a popular name who showed promise years ago before suffering a brutal injury.
The Brooklyn Nets have agreed to terms with backup point guard Shaun Livingston, a source told ESPNNewYork.com.
ESPN.com’s Marc Stein reported earlier Saturday that the Nets were closing in on a deal with Livingston to add backcourt depth under new coach Jason Kidd.
Reported by Mike Mazzeo of ESPN New York
The Nets came to an agreement last night with 2011 second-round pick Bojan Bogdanovic, according to a league source.
Bogdanovic will sign a three-year deal with the Nets starting at about $2.5 million when the NBA’s moratorium on transactions ends Wednesday. The deal also contains a player option in the third year, the source said. The Nets used most of their taxpayer’s mid-level exception to sign Bogdanovic, the only way they could sign a player for more than the veteran’s minimum, due to the fact they are far over the luxury tax threshold.
By not using all of the mini mid-level exception — which starts at $3.18 million this year — the Nets saved themselves roughly $3 million on what will be a massive luxury tax bill thanks to their massive payroll following the blockbuster deal with the Celtics.
Reported by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post
Although just a backup guard. C.J. Watson has shown plenty of flashes that he’s a legit player, and one that can step up and exceed expectations when a team’s starter is unable to play. So, he keeps geting signed.
C.J. Watson, backup point guard for the Brooklyn Nets, agreed to a two-year contract with the Indiana Pacers, sources confirmed to ESPN The Magazine’s Chris Broussard.
Watson’s agreement was earlier reported by HoopsWorld.
Watson tweeted “keep up with the pace” on Monday, in an apparent nod to his choice of teams.
Watson, 29, had a player option for $1.1 million but opted out to become an unrestricted free agent.
Reported by ESPN.com news services
One of the first agreements in the 2013 NBA free agency period is in Brooklyn, where the Nets will keep a big-man that can score points in a hurry.
The Nets continued their busy offseason on the opening day of free agency, coming to an agreement to re-sign Andray Blatche to a one-year, $1.4 million deal Monday night.
Retaining Blatche, which won’t be official until July 10, was crucial for the Nets, who need to retain as much depth as possible up and down their roster, and particularly behind newly acquired Kevin Garnett.
After the Nets signed Blatche after he’d been amnestied by the Wizards last summer, the 6-foot-11 big man – who is capable of playing both power forward and center – had a terrific season for the Nets, proving to be one of the biggest bargain signings in the entire league last year. Blatche averaged 10.3 points and 5.1 rebounds coming off the bench for much of the season and pairing with Brook Lopez to give the Nets the best 1-2 combination at center in the NBA.”
Reported by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post (Blog)
The Brooklyn Nets have reached an agreement in principle with Lawrence Frank, Roy Rogers and Eric Hughes to serve as assistant coaches on Head Coach Jason Kidd’s staff, General Manager Billy King announced today.
In addition, Doug Overton will remain on the staff as an assistant coach.
“I am very pleased to add Lawrence, Roy, Eric and Doug to my staff,” said Nets Head Coach Jason Kidd. “They collectively bring a wealth of NBA experience to our bench, both from a coach and player perspective. This combination will not only prove beneficial to me, but will be an invaluable asset to our players as well.”
Lawrence Frank, the franchise’s all-time leader in NBA coaching victories, coached the Nets for parts of seven seasons (2004-2009) over which time he amassed a regular season mark of 225-241 (.483). Under Frank’s direction, New Jersey made four consecutive postseason appearances (2004-07) and won two Atlantic Division titles (2004, 2006). Frank holds an 18-20 (.474) record in the playoffs, advancing the Nets to the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 2004, 2006 and 2007. Frank took over the Nets’ head coaching helm midway through the 2003-04 season, where he proceeded to lead the Nets to 13 straight victories, setting the NBA mark for the most consecutive wins by a head coach to begin a career. Frank’s NBA coaching career began in Vancouver, where he spent three seasons as an assistant under Brian Hill. Following his stint with the Grizzlies, Frank joined the Nets as an assistant coach. Serving under Head Coach Byron Scott, Frank helped lead the Nets to two Easter Conference Championships in 2002 and 2003, marking the first NBA Finals appearances in franchise history. After three and a half seasons as an assistant, Frank was named interim head coach of the Nets on Jan. 26, 2004, and took over on a permanent basis on June 21, 2004. Following his term with the Nets, Frank served as an assistant coach in Boston in 2010-11 before being named head coach of the Detroit Pistons on August 3, 2011. In two seasons with Detroit, Frank guided the Pistons to a 54-94 (.365) overall record. In 614 games, Frank holds a career coaching record of 279-335 (.454).
Roy Rogers began his NBA coaching career with the Nets, serving as an assistant coach from 2008-2010. Most recently, Rogers worked as an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons for two seasons (2011-2013) under head coach Lawrence Frank. Rogers also served as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics as part of Doc Rivers’ staff in 2010-11. Prior to his first stint with the Nets, he coached in the NBA Development League with the Austin Toros (2007-08), Tulsa 66ers (2005-07) and Huntsville Flight (2004-05). Selected 22nd overall in the 1996 NBA Draft out of the University of Alabama, Rogers spent three years in the NBA. Rogers averaged 4.8 points and 3.5 rebounds per game in his NBA career split between four teams (Vancouver, Boston, Toronto and Denver). He also played four seasons (2000-04) of professional basketball internationally with stops in Russia, Italy, Greece and Poland.
Eric Hughes joins the Nets after spending the past six seasons with the Toronto Raptors. Originally hired by Toronto in 2007-08 as a basketball development consultant, Hughes was promoted to assistant coach/basketball development on July 1, 2009. Prior to his stint with the Raptors, Hughes worked as the director of summer player development for Goodwin Sports Management in Seattle for five years (2002-2007), creating workout programs and training NBA players Jamal Crawford, Kevin Durant, Al Horford, Dwight Howard, Gary Payton, Nate Robinson and Rodney Stuckey. He had also been the head coach at Spokane Community College in Spokane, Washington during that time. Hughes compiled an 88-61 (.590) mark in his five seasons, leading the Bigfoot’s to the Eastern Region championship in 2005 and 2006, and was named Eastern Region Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2006. Hughes also served as an assistant coach under Bob Bender at the University of Washington from 1993-2002, as an assistant at the University of California from 1991-93, when Jason Kidd played there, and as a graduate assistant at Illinois State from 1989-91.
Doug Overton will enter his sixth season with the Nets and fourth as an assistant coach. Overton began his coaching career as an assistant coach for Phil Martelli at Saint Joseph’s during the 2006-07 and 2007-08 campaigns. Prior to his position at Saint Joseph’s, the Philadelphia native spent the 2005-06 season as the director of player development for the Philadelphia 76ers, where he assisted the coaching and scouting staffs and worked with the team’s community outreach programs. An 11-year NBA veteran, Overton spent three different stints with the Nets (1998-99, 2000-01 and 2003-04), averaging 6.0 points and 2.8 assists in 26 games. In 499 career games with seven teams (Washington, Denver, Orlando, New Jersey, Boston, Charlotte and Philadelphia), the former point guard averaged 4.5 points and 2.1 assists.
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The Brooklyn Nets will acquire Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett from the Boston Celtics in a deal that was still developing as the NBA draft ended, according to a person with knowledge of the details.
The trade can’t be completed until July 10, after next season’s salary cap is set, so pieces were still being discussed early Friday. But the person says the Nets will get the two perennial All-Stars, signaling the breakup of the Celtics’ veteran core…
Yahoo Sports, which first reported the talks, said the Nets would also get veteran Jason Terry from Boston and send Gerald Wallace, Kris Joseph, the expiring deal of Kris Humphries and three future first-round picks to Boston.
On the day they hosted the NBA draft, the Nets were making much bigger noise with the transaction that will send Pierce and Garnett to a new Atlantic Division home.
The Celtics already let Doc Rivers leave after acquiring a draft pick from the Los Angeles Clippers. Ray Allen departed last summer for Miami, and now the other two members of the Big Three that led the Celtics to an NBA title and within a victory of a second will soon be gone as well.
Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press
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The Nets have done what likely every team in the NBA has done this week: Put in a call to the Celtics about the availability of Kevin Garnett.
A league source confirmed the Nets have inquired about whether Garnett would be available in a trade in the wake of the Celtics losing coach Doc Rivers to the Clippers and seemingly heading for a full-on roster rebuild and potentially the end of the Big Three Era in Beantown.
Garnett undoubtedly would fill a hole for the Nets at power forward, as well as providing an intimidating defensive presence alongside All-Star center Brook Lopez and giving Jason Kidd one of the NBA’s most respected locker-room presences to aid him in his first season as a head coach. But it’s unclear whether Garnett would be willing to waive his complete no-trade clause for a trade to the Nets — or whether the Celtics would be willing to deal him to a division rival.
The same likely goes for Paul Pierce, who also is expected to be on the trading block.
Reported by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post
Despite NBA rules that prohibit players from playing in organized street summer leagues prior to July 1, Brooklyn Nets backup point guard Tyshawn Taylor stepped on the Dyckman Park court Monday night for a handful of minutes.
Taylor, who played opposite New York City high school star Isaiah Whitehead, a Lincoln point guard, said he had no knowledge of such rules. The league office recently levied fines on Lance Stephenson and Kemba Walker for playing in the same city basketball courts where they once honed their games.
“I didn’t know that. That’s my story, I’m sticking to it,” Taylor told ESPNDeportes.com after his squad Taylor Made nearly sent the game into overtime after trailing by 10 points with two minutes left.
The Hoboken, N.J., native who just averaged just under six minutes in 38 games could see extensive time in Brooklyn’s backcourt spelling starter Deron Williams if C.J. Watson opts out of his contract and goes elsewhere.
Reported by Adry Torres of ESPN Deportes
The Brooklyn Nets will play against the Atlanta Hawks in London at The O2 on Thursday, January 16, 2014 as part of NBA Global Games London 2014.
This will be the Nets’ third trip to London, which has included a preseason game in 2008 and two regular season games vs. the Toronto Raptors in 2011, the league’s first regular-season games in the UK. The Nets-Hawks game will be the eighth NBA game played at The O2 since 2007.
“We are very excited to once again represent the NBA in London,” said Brooklyn Nets General Manager Billy King. “The fans have always been very supportive, and we look forward to once again entertaining them with Brooklyn Nets basketball.”
“It is always an honor to represent the league overseas,” said Nets guard Deron Williams. “Playing in London has a playoff-like intensity, and the energy in the building is great for the players on both teams. It should be very exciting.”
Since Mikhail Prokhorov’s majority purchase of the team in May 2010, the Brooklyn Nets have continued their commitment to extending their global brand. In addition to their games in London, the Nets played two preseason games in Beijing and Guangzhou in the NBA China Games in 2010.
Globalization extends to the Nets dance team, the Brooklynettes, which has performed in seven different countries in the past year, as well as to the Brooklyn Nets Web site, which has been made available in Russian at www.netsrussia.com.
Reinforcing the global appeal of the team, the Nets home borough of Brooklyn has become a melting pot with more than 150 nationalities. Furthermore, Barclays, the naming rights partner for Barclays Center, the team’s home arena, is based in London.
Tickets for the game in London will go on sale in October.
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Cavaliers star Kyrie Irving did not want to speculate on the future — not a possible future with LeBron James, something that is always fodder for supposition. He didn’t even want to look as far ahead as Thursday and who might be the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, a slot held by Cleveland.
But if you want to hear about Jason Kidd, one of the game’s greatest point guards and a guy who recently turned coach, then Irving went from being Mr. Mum to Chatty Charlie yesterday.
“He’s a tremendous leader. Obviously, Brooklyn sees something in him especially from a leadership standpoint,” Irving said of Kidd going from player to coach after 10 days of retirement. “He’s coming straight off the court, but I feel the last few years he was definitely a coach out there on the court. The transition, I think, will be easy for him. I’m looking forward to see how he does.”
Reported by Fred Kerber of the New York Post