NetsDaily

Foote: I Want To Play in This League

2012-05-25T23:30:34Z

Jeff Foote credits the Nets for getting him to where he is today: near his goal of playing in the NBA. After he played in Israel, Spain and Poland, and tried out for the Trail Blazers, Milton Lee offered him a job with the Armor. By season's end, Foote was an all-D-League center and an invitee to the Nets' summer league team.

And he's grateful for the opportunity, saying he's passed up offers from Europe, where he could have made a lot more money. "I like their organization. Milton Lee has been tremendous for me. He’s been a great mentor and friend and really helped me." Foote and Lee attended Ivy League schools (Cornell for Foote, Penn for Lee) and Foote jokes with Alex Raskin that Ivy Leaguers "have got to stick together."

Young center gets Foote in Nets’ door - Alex Raskin - HoopsWorld

No Surprise: Green Dunk of the Year!

2012-05-25T19:25:56Z

The NBA has made it official. Gerald Green's alley-oop dunk off Marshon Brooks feed is the NBA dunk of the year. The NBA posted its "Top 10 Dunks of the NBA 2011-2012 Season" and listed at No. 1, the March 10 windmill against the Rockets that rearranged the cosmos as we know it.

Scenarios Fill Nets' Computers

2012-05-25T14:37:02Z

Starting shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday night, the heat will be on. Not the Miami Heat...they'll be on at 8:30. We're talking about the Draft Lottery and Billy King. As King has said, this is when everyone finds out the draft order, when everyone can finally end speculation and and start making phone calls.

To that point, the Orlando Sentinel's Brian Schmitz tweets Friday that "Magic will be pulling hard for N.J. Nets (he means Brooklyn) in Wednesday's NBA lottery, envisioning a Dwight Howard/Anthony Davis trade scenario." But win or lose the lottery, win a top three or go into June 28 with only the #57 pick, the Nets say they're confident they have enough assets to get things done, starting with Mikhail Prokhorov's money.

In conversations both public and private, the Nets front office points out the team has scenario after scenario worked out for most eventualities and that when they say they plan to be aggressive, they're not just blowing smoke. The Nets recently revamped their scouting database so that everything about draft prospects and NBA players -- contracts, measurements, injuries, salaries, videos, news items -- is online, password-protected, for King and Bobby Marks to access, whether in their office or an Istanbul hotel room. Expect it to get a lot of use.

D-Will in Dallas, Speculation Rises

2012-05-25T10:37:41Z

Deron Williams tweets Friday that he's "Back home in the Big D!" No surprise. Earlier in the week, he told beat writers that he was headed to Dallas to see his mother and celebrate one of his sons' birthday. He said they shouldn't make too much of it. But that's not preventing speculation from rising about the Mavericks' role in his future plans.

Over the past 24 hours, there have been no fewer than thee articles on the Dallas Morning News website on Williams, each updating stories around the web on Williams, with frequently asked questions and links to others' reporting. It's starting in Los Angeles as well, as the Lakers try to fathom why they're not one of the NBA's top four teams. From now through July 1, this is your life, Nets fans.

Trying to make sense out of Deron Williams-Dwight Howard speculation - Dallas Morning News
Writer: Deron Williams still undecided on his future with Nets - Dallas Morning News
Report: Deron Williams prefers Nets, but Mavs, Lakers are in play - Dallas Morning News
Those Deron Williams for Pau Gasol trade rumors? Kill them. - Kurt Helin - NBC Sports

NBA Playoffs - May 24 Open Thread

2012-05-24T23:30:02Z

This thread is for discussion of tonight's game. Keep the playoffs discussion in this thread and the Nets discussion elsewhere.

Thursday's schedule...

Heat (3) @ Pacers (2) - Game 6 - 8 p.m. ET - ESPN

Lottery Countdown 8 PM Wednesday

2012-05-24T19:52:31Z

The teams and times have been set for Wednesday's Draft Lottery, with an ESPN pre-lottery show to begin at 7 p.m. and the actually lottery countdown an hour later. The Lottery is being held at ABC's Times Square Studios.

The Lottery will precede ESPN’s coverage of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game Two at 8:30 p.m. The Lottery will also be available on ESPN Radio, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV and via the WatchESPN app. ESPN also announced that its ESPN U will cover the NBA Pre-Draft Combine June 7-8.

The Nets have about a 25 percent chance at a top three pick. If they don't wind up in the top three, the pick will go to the Trail Blazers as part of the Nets trade of Mehmet Okur and Shawne Williams for Gerald Wallace.

ESPN to Present 2012 NBA Draft Lottery at ABC’s Times Square Studios May 30 - ESPN
With the Lottery Looming, a FAQ for Fans - Brooklyn Nets

Europe's Top Scorer Wants Nets?

2012-05-24T14:59:53Z

Jon de la Presa, a Spanish hoops writer tweets Thursday that Europe's top scorer, Mirza Teletovic, may be interested in joining "Brooklyn." Teletovic, a 6'9" stretch forward plays for Caja Laboral in Spain. In Euroleague games this season, Teletovic averaged 21.7 ppg. He's 26 and Bosnian, born in Mostar, the same town that produced Zoran Planinic and Bojan Bogdanovic. The feeling, says a league source, is mutual.

Teletovic led Europe in minutes, points, field goals, three pointers made and attempted and was second in fouls drawn. He shot 43.6 percent from three with a career average of 40.2 percent. He averaged 6.0 rebounds. Teletovic, who's a free agent and thus has no buyout, is one of Europe's highest paid players, but makes less than $2 million.

King, Johnson Talk Brooklyn Nets

2012-05-24T11:03:40Z

In an interview conducted in April but posted Wednesday by the Nets, Ian Eagle talks Brooklyn with Billy King and Avery Johnson, focusing mostly on Deron Williams and how the Nets plan to improve, starting with power forward.