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If you want to see the Knicks play the Nets on opening night, and you want a ticket through the secondary market, you’re going to have to pay.
The current average price for the Knicks-Nets battle at the Barclays Center on Nov. 1 is $819.89, up 21.39% from the price on Oct. 1 ($675.31), according to TiqIQ, a website that tracks ticket prices on secondary markets.
— Reported by Ian Begley of ESPN New York
The Brooklyn Nets have requested waivers on guard Stephen Dennis, Nets General Manager Billy King announced today. Dennis was signed to the training camp roster on September 17.
In three appearances with the Nets this preseason, Dennis played 21 minutes, scoring two points with a rebound and a steal.
The Nets roster currently stands at 17.
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The Brooklyn Nets have exercised the third-year contract option on MarShon Brooks, Nets General Manager Billy King announced today. Brooks is now signed through the 2013-14 season.
Brooks was selected 25 th overall by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the 2011 NBA Draft, and then traded to the Nets for the rights to the 27 th pick, JuJuan Johnson, and the Nets’ 2014 second round pick. Last season the 6-5 guard appeared in 56 games, with 47 starts, averaging 12.6 points and 3.6 rebounds in 29 minutes per game. Brooks shot .428 (274-640) from the field and .764 (113-148) from the line. The Providence alum scored a career-high 24 points twice last season, vs. Orlando (2/2/12) and Miami (4/16/12). Brooks participated in the Rookie/Sophomore game during All-Star Weekend and was selected to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team.
The Nets are ready to finally take the floor at Barclays Center.
After months of preparations, the team will play its first game inside its new home Monday night against the Wizards.
“Everybody’s super-excited, I think,” said Joe Johnson prior to the team’s shootaround Monday morning. “We all feel as if this is a fresh start, and we want to make the best of it.
“We want to get off to a great start. We’ve had a great training camp, and we want to keep working hard to get better.”
The Nets will have plenty of opportunities to get used to their new home this week, as they’ll play three games here in the next five days. But while that will allow them to feel a little more comfortable in their new digs, coach Avery Johnson admitted it’s going to take awhile before it feels like they belong here.
— Reported by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post
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Q: You were overseas the entire year. What was the calculation behind that decision, considering the labor situation the NBA faced at the time?
Chris Douglas-Roberts: It was actually great for me, because during the lockout — I’m was a fairly young player, I (had just finished) my third year — so it was about basketball for me. It wasn’t about money, I just wanted to play basketball. But I went over there, and made that commitment to stay. It definitely made me a better basketball player, and it made me a better person.
It made me more appreciative, because some days I didn’t have heat. The living conditions were terrible. I had to heat up water to give my daughter a bath, some days. If you had the microwave on and the washer on, the electricity may go out in the whole house. It was very small. The shower at the gym that we practiced at, it was filthy. There was mold everywhere. You couldn’t put your feet on the ground, barefoot. Guys were getting staph infections. It was basically back to when I was growing up in Detroit. But when I look at it, it just made me a better person and a player.
Q: Did you know what you were getting into?
CDR: Not at all. I had no clue. When you think of Italy, you think of beauty. You think of good food, great people. Which was the case, but it’s a different game over there. They look at basketball different, they look at the athlete different. You’re practicing two times a day, regardless. Very hard practices, two hours both sessions, and there aren’t any days off, really. It’s more about the organization, really. It’s not about the athlete, really.
— Reported by Brian Kamenetzky of ESPN Los Angeles
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MarShon Brooks hopes to win the Sixth Man of the Year Award, but the Nets guard won’t be leaving the bench just yet.
Brooks did not participate in practice Thursday, sidelined with tendinitis in his right foot. The second-year guard was sporting a walking boot, having already had an MRI exam, which came back negative, but may not play for seven to 10 days, according to Nets coach Avery Johnson. The coach hopes to have him back for next Thursday or Friday’s preseason games.
“He felt something there maybe a day or two ago,” Johnson said. “He was good for the first 80 percent of practice [Wednesday], then he felt it. The doctor has him in a boot for precautionary [reasons], let the tendinitis just settle down a little bit.”
— Reported by Howard Kussoy of the New York Post
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As for playing in the arena itself, the players were happy with their new surroundings, including Deron Williams. After expressing frustration last season at times with the temporary situation the Nets found themselves in Newark, he is happy to be in Brooklyn and in a basketball-centric arena.
“They did a good job,” Williams said. “It’s built for basketball. It’s not built for hockey, it’s not built for soccer. It’s built for basketball.”
For the other half of the Nets’ All-Star backcourt, the team’s new home has a familiar feeling. Joe Johnson said the sloping of the seats behind the baskets creates a shooting backdrop that reminds him of Philips Arena in Atlanta, where he spent the past seven seasons, something that MarShon Brooks previously had mentioned.
“It is [like Philips],” Johnson said. “It kind of gives you that feeling … I guess that will be a good thing for me.
— Reported by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post
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“Brooklyn’s Backcourt” is so good, Avery Johnson thinks at least half of it always needs to be on the floor.
The Nets coach made sure his All-Star backcourt of Deron Williams and Joe Johnson played together in Friday night’s scrimmage. But he’s also trying to figure out how he’s going to deploy both of them in games this season with the idea of always having at least one of them on the court.
“We’ve made a concerted effort to have them playing together in practice, drills, scrimmages, and then we have to figure out which one of those guys we want to lead our second team — because we’re not going to play a true second team this year,” Johnson said after yesterday’s practice. “We don’t think we can have Deron and Joe out of the game at the same time, so that’s something else we’re trying to develop.”
— Reported by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post
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Basketball fans know him as “Crash,” the small forward willing to give up life and limb for a loose ball — the player the Brooklyn Nets will match up against LeBron James, Paul Pierce, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant. But the Alabama product is so frightened of New York City that he refuses to drive over the Hudson River, let alone live close to the Barclays Center.
Trips into Brooklyn require a chaperone from his home in Fort Lee.
“I have a driver,” Wallace said. “If I’m going to the city, that’s pretty much how I’m getting in.”
Off the court, the Nets have been marketed as the gritty black & white urbanites, the vision of Bed-Stuy-born Jay-Z and Russia’s Mikhail Prokhorov. But there’s an unmistakable southern accent dominating conversations at the practice facility, whether it’s with Avery Johnson from Louisiana, Joe Johnson from Arkansas, Reggie Evans from Florida or Wallace from Childersburg, Ala.
The adjustment is probably most difficult for Wallace, a 30-year-old of few words with a voice so deep it has been mistaken for Barry White’s. While Joe Johnson says he’s “like a chameleon,” able to shift from Little Rock to his Manhattan home with ease, Wallace is more country than most.
“I’m afraid of New York City,” the 6-foot-7 forward said.
— Reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News
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Brooklyn Nets star Deron Williams called the 2011-12 campaign the toughest season he’s endured and called out teammates for not sharing his frustration.
On most nights, Williams was surrounded by an injury-plagued and talent-depleted roster as the Nets stumbled to a 22-44 record. As the losses mounted, his frustration began to show in the form of negative body language, so much so that coach Avery Johnson had to call him out on it.
But Williams believes he had every right to be frustrated because his teammates were joking around after losses. And that didn’t sit well with him.
“It was hard. I’ve never been in that position before,” Williams told reporters Tuesday, following his team’s first day of training camp. “So at times, I’ve showed frustration, but I think anybody would have. I think no matter who it is, if you were there every day and you saw what was going on in the locker room you’d be pissed off too sometimes. You’re getting your asses kicked and then you’re in the locker room laughing about the game afterwards.
“I don’t think that stuff is funny. That’s what we had to deal with last year. But I don’t think we’re going to deal with it this year, because just talking to the guys, that’s not what we’re about. We’re talking about not losing two games in a row. We were just trying to fight to win two games in a row last year.”
— Reported by Mike Mazzeo of ESPN New York