Category: Brooklyn Nets Blog

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Stephon Marbury about to begin new season playing basketball in China

Stephon Marbury

China’s most beloved New Yorker, Stephon Marbury, arrived for his third season in the Chinese Basketball Association at Beijing Capital Airport on October 6th with a bunch of bags, a lot of smiles and two big band-aids on his head. (And as always, a lot of people with cameras taking his photos.) After playing one and a half seasons Taiyuan, Shanxi province, and Foshan, Guangdong, two Chinese cities not exactly known as foreign hotspots, Marbury has finally made it to his Chinese professional basketball mecca, Beijing.

This season, Steph will play for the Beijing Shougang Ducks. Last season, led by former New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks center, Randolph Morris, the Ducks finished in eighth place, which gave them the right to be swept out of the first round of the playoffs by eventual league runners-up, Xinjiang Guanghui. Aiming to build off that success, the Ducks brought back Morris for another year and signed Marbury, who interestingly enough was close to signing with the team last year before team management ultimately decided to go with Steve Francis instead. (We don’t need to remind you how that ended up.) Although the team will be weakened with the departure of Jordanian national teammer, Zaid Abbas, who moved on to Fujian SBS this season to act as their Asian import, teaming up with Morris and Taiwanese national team point guard/CBA heartthrob, Lee Hsueh-lin, will give Marbury by far his best chance to make it to the post-season for the first time in his Chinese career.

— Reported by NIUBBall.com

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Lockout affects NBA front office access to college players

Saturday is when college practices begin, and when NBA types would have been in attendance. With the players locked out and the first two weeks of the season canceled — and more games threatened — all routines are in turmoil.

“The next big thing we’ll miss are the college practices. That is something you always do,” said one NBA general manager who speculated there would be “some sort of season, but I have no idea [in terms of] length.”

Since the lockout took effect July 1, teams have not been allowed contact with their players “so you don’t know what they’re doing,” a different GM said, noting, “Young players will be hurt by this because they won’t have the normal break-in time. Teams with veteran guys should have an advantage when — if — we get back.”

Execs and scouts obviously still can attend college games — as long as they pay their own way.

“Not going to practices hurts,” another team executive said. “Sometimes, you can get more out of a practice than a game. From solely the basketball side, I would say we’re out of 80 percent of what we would normally be doing.”

— Reported by Fred Kerber of the New York Post

Nets forward Travis Outlaw knows he can play better than he did last season

Travis Outlaw

“I know I’m way better than what I showed last season,” he said. “I just have to come in there to prove a point and make my team better.”

So what does that mean for Outlaw? He’s working with a conditioning coach and said he’s in better shape than he was at this point last year, when coach Avery Johnson felt compelled to enlist the small forward in his Breakfast Club.

He also is playing in local tournaments, under the radar compared to his teammates competing in New York and overseas.

“A lot of running,” Outlaw said of his offseason training. “I’m putting myself in the best position possible.”

— Reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News

Two stars from Psych on USA network give InsideHoops shoutouts

The show Psych on USA Network is an InsideHoops.com favorite. I watch it, and tons of our message board members love it as well. Several pro-Psych forum discussions exist and it’s almost all positive. The general consensus is that it’s an extremely fun show.

So it was cool when InsideHoops.com was recently invited to cover a USA network event called “Psych Fan Appreciation Day,” celebrating the upcoming new Psych season with dedicated fans of the show. We were treated to an advance preview of the season premiere, and met virtually the entire cast.

We’ll post some interview quotes in the next day or two, but right now we’ll jump right to the extra good stuff and present video clips  of two Psych stars welcoming you to InsideHoops.com:

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Deron Williams not playing well overseas yet

deron williams

As N.B.A. players and owners struggled to prevent a labor dispute from disrupting the regular season, one star player did something novel: he played in a basketball game that mattered.

Deron Williams, the Nets’ point guard, was here Tuesday night with his teammates on Besiktas Milangaz, a professional team from Istanbul playing a game in the Eurocup, a second-tier intercontinental competition.

Perhaps Williams wished he had been back at the negotiating table. In a 74-63 loss to host Dexia Mons-Hainaut, he finished with 7 points, 7 assists and 6 turnovers. He shot 3 of 13 from the floor. The loss eliminated Besiktas from the tournament.

“Didn’t give my team much of a chance,” he said…

Asked if he was still adjusting to the European game, Williams said: “I mean, I’ve played in a lot of European basketball. I’ve played in the Olympics. But this is definitely different. The way the reffing has been going has been different for me, but I’ve got to adjust.”

— Reported by Jake Appleman, contributing to the New York Times

Steve Lavin to have cancer surgery Thursday

St. John’s men’s basketball coach Steve Lavin will undergo surgery Thursday to treat his prostate cancer, the school announced Wednesday.

Lavin, 47, was diagnosed with the disease in fall 2010, right before his first season at St. John’s. Until last month, he and his doctors had chosen to closely monitor his condition without undergoing further treatment. But in late September, Lavin revealed that he would begin more aggressive treatment, either via surgery or radiation treatments.

“The advantage of early detection is that we were afforded the time to research all options,” Lavin said in a statement released by the school.

— Reported by Kieran Darcy of ESPN New York

Deron Williams 15 points, 9 assists in win for team in Turkey

FIBA.com reports:

Deron Williams

Deron Williams captured a gold medal with Team USA at the Beijing Games and no doubt will want to be with the Americans when they try to defend their title next year in London.

A 27-year-old in the prime of his career, Williams is an NBA superstar and one of the best guards in the game.

Unlike his previous seasons as a professional, though, Williams is not in the United States getting ready for the new season.

Instead, he’s in Turkey.

Because of the NBA lockout and the uncertainty of the 2011-12 NBA season, Williams has signed for Besiktas and on Tuesday night, he helped the club move a step closer to playing in the Eurocup.

In the first leg of their Qualifying Round tie with Dexia Mons Hainaut in Istanbul, Williams made just three of his 15 shots from the floor but ended up with 15 points as Besiktas won 78-70.

He also handed out nine assists.

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Brooklyn Barclays Center to host A-10 Basketball Tournament starting in 2013

brooklyn nets

The Atlantic 10 Conference announced that it has formed a five-year partnership with the Barclays Center to bring the A-10 men’s basketball tournament to Brooklyn and the new arena, beginning in 2013.  The joint announcement was made Wednesday afternoon at the Barclays Center Showroom in Manhattan, N.Y.

It will mark the first time the A-10 Championship, which sends its champion to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, will be held in metropolitan New York City and the first time it will be played in a state-of-the-art new facility.

“The opportunity to partner with the Barclays Center and bring the Atlantic 10 Basketball Championship to New York has unlimited possibilities. Our teams will compete in the newest, state-of-the-art facility within the Atlantic 10 footprint and the number-one media market in the country,” stated Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade.

Currently under construction, the Barclays Center will be a state-of-the-art sports and entertainment venue and the future home of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets. The Barclays Center will offer approximately 18,000 seats for basketball and will have one of the most intimate seating configurations ever designed into a modern multi-purpose arena. The last time the Atlantic 10 Tournament was in an NBA building was in 2002 at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.

“We are thrilled for the Barclays Center to play host to one of men’s basketball’s most prestigious conference tournaments,” Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormark said. “We appreciate our alliance with the Atlantic 10 as we position the Barclays Center as a significant national collegiate sports venue.”

The highest concentration of Atlantic 10 alumni of any region in the county live and work in the New York metro area. There are 2.5 million people total in Brooklyn and 8.1 million total people in New York, an opportunity for the A-10’s premier event to be played on the biggest stage in the nation.

“Brooklyn and the surrounding metropolitan New York area is home to over 100,000 Atlantic 10 alumni; this combined with the eight-million plus population will give the Atlantic 10 an opportunity to grow the Championship to new heights,” said McGlade.

The move also places the championship into the largest media market in the nation and home to CBS Sports, the Atlantic 10’s television partner for the men’s basketball championship.  CBS Sports carries several regular season A-10 games and the league’s championship title game is aired on CBS as part of the network’s Selection Sunday package.

The Atlantic 10 is one of the most successful and well-respected leagues for basketball. The A-10 has averaged more than three teams per year in the top 50 of the RPI, equal to the Southeastern Conference. For the last four years, the Atlantic 10 earned three bids into the NCAA Tournament, one of only six Division I conferences to do so. Over the last six years, the league has had 10 at-large selections – the seventh most in Division I – behind only the big six BCS leagues.

Jay-Z show will open Barclays Center of Brooklyn in September of 2012

Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter announced today that he will be the first performer to play the Barclays Center of Brooklyn when the venue opens in September 2012.

Speaking at a major press event on the plaza at Atlantic Terminal, overlooking the under-construction Barclays Center, JAY-Z also revealed that ownership of Brooklyn’s future NBA franchise has chosen Brooklyn Nets as the team’s name.

JAY-Z was joined on the dais by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Forest City Ratner Companies Chairman and CEO Bruce Ratner, and Barclays Center and Nets CEO Brett Yormark.

“From the moment the Barclays Center became a reality, I knew this meant something significant for Brooklyn,” said JAY-Z. “This is where I’m from, I’ll always be Brooklyn, and opening this arena will mean more to me than anywhere else. I also look forward to opening night for the Brooklyn Nets. We’re going to create an atmosphere like only Brooklyn can.”

“Brooklyn is where legends are made and dreams come true—and no one proves it more than our very own JAY-Z, a dedicated philanthropist, innovative artist, entrepreneur and cultural icon who, as a Nets investor, helped take my vision of bringing a professional basketball team to the ‘center court’ of Brooklyn and drove it in for the layup,” said Borough President Markowitz. “I am thrilled to join Bruce Ratner, FCRC, Brett Yormark, and the Nets organization today in announcing that JAY-Z will perform at the opening of the Barclays Center. As for the selection of the Brooklyn team name, was there ever any doubt? It’s ‘nothing but Nets!’”

“Who else but JAY-Z could open the Barclays Center?” said Bruce Ratner, the developer of the Barclays Center. “JAY-Z is a world icon, but more importantly, he’s Brooklyn’s icon. For the past seven years, Jay has been a great partner of mine and a true friend. It’s going to be an incredible experience next year when JAY-Z, Brooklyn’s own, takes the stage to open the Barclays Center and our vision becomes a reality.”

“We are proud to announce this highly anticipated decision to name the team the Brooklyn Nets, a choice which reflects the decades-long tradition of our team and fans, as well as the dynamic new place that will be our home,” Nets Chairman Chris Charlier said. “JAY-Z embodies the spirit of Brooklyn – its energy, guts and spirit.  We are delighted our friend and partner will be opening the Barclays Center.”

“JAY-Z is truly the face of the Barclays Center and of the Brooklyn Nets,” Brett Yormark said. “There’s no better alignment than to have a world-class venue and team with a world-class entertainer.”