When the Nets acquired D’Angelo Russell from the Lakers last June, veteran center Timofey Mozgov was a piece the team had to accept for salary purposes, rather than a centerpiece of the deal. As such, it’s perhaps not surprising that Mozgov sounds a little frustrated with his role in Brooklyn.
As Net Income of NetsDaily relays, Mozgov expressed that frustration in a print interview with Russian newspaper Izvestia and in a conversation on Russia’s Radio Mayak. According to Mozgov, he’s not sure why he lost his spot in the starting lineup and fell out of the rotation early in the 2017/18 season. The 31-year-old started the first 13 games of the year for the Nets, but appeared in just 18 contests (8.7 MPG) the rest of the way.
While Mozgov didn’t express a desire to leave Brooklyn, he did say he hopes to receive more playing time going forward, either for the Nets or another team. Given where the Nets are in their rebuilding process, that probably isn’t likely — the club prefers to give its younger players those minutes up front, and would be unable to flip Mozgov to another team in a trade without attaching assets.
Here’s more on the Nets:
- Jared Sullinger and Melo Trimble were among the participants at a veteran mini-camp hosted by the Nets this week, tweets Ben Stinar of Hoops Habit. Sullinger was linked to the Nets last summer, while Trimble was in camp with the Timberwolves in the fall.
- In addition to working out some NBA free agents, the Nets are also taking a look at international players, according to a NetsDaily story. Nicolas Brussino, who spent time in the NBA over the last two seasons with the Mavericks and Hawks, is the most notable name on the list.
- Will Weaver, an assistant on Kenny Atkinson‘s staff for the last two years, appears poised to become the head coach of the Long Island Nets, Brooklyn’s G League affiliate, reports Ian Begley of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Weaver and the NBAGL squad are nearing an agreement on a contract, per Begley. Former Long Island coach Ronald Nored joined James Borrego‘s staff in Charlotte last month.
Slow, immobile bigs are going out of style in a hurry. These stories about teams trying to move off of these guys are becoming super common, and nobody wants them.
I can understand why Brooklyn/Mozgov, NY/Noah, Lakers/Deng & others don’t play much. I mean Noah & Deng were/aren’t any more all-stars, well Mozgov was always bad… what I don’t like about this situations is the teams saying they are not good enough with huge contracts, will not play them/try to get rid of them, is not the players fault if useless GM’s give them big fat juicy contracts, you cannot penalize a player for being overpaid, that should be the aim of all the players, the aim of the teams is to get the right players at the right price, so I do hate when I see all of this guys been ostracised & frustrated because they wanna play, regardless of the money they are paid, that is their job, they have the right to play, & also shows they are not in it just for the money, happy to sit it out, shows they wanna play help the team they are paid to play with, which means they are professionals with the right attitude, so I admire that & always makes me annoyed to see the way teams treat them, for no fault of their own, it always is the teams fault… sorry for the rant, really annoys me.
I disagree with the idea of Mozgov being “bad”. He’s an excellent big man. I watched him when he was with the Cavs. He can shoot from 10 ft from the basket, he can move his feet around the basket and he can finish above the rim (obviously he’s tall but he has quick short burst of speed).
I don’t quite agree with this move away from “true” bigs. The game has obviously opened up and is more about stretching the floor. However, 7 ft is 7 ft. If you dump the ball down low to a big and they can score 55% of the time then that’s a big deal. He can also block and shoots FT well for a big.
I really think it takes a coach like Pop to get the most out of guy like Mozzy. It seems like the NBA is a moneky-see-monkey do league. Basketball has always been about exploiting physical matchups. That’s why “bigs” almost always go high in the draft. The league says “bigs are obsolete” but DeAndre Ayton is going to go #1 overall. Not comparing the two, obviously, but you simply can’t teach someone to be 7 ft tall.
If given 30 minutes a game Mozzy is going to reward someone with a 55%/0/70% line with 10 rbdns and at least 1 block a game. Problem is, he isn’t worth what he’s getting paid, especially if you don’t know how to exploit his abilities.
As good of a defensive team the 2014-15 GSW were it’s no coincidence that Mozzy served them served them 15 pts/8 rebounds/1 block per game on 55% shooting from the floor and 75% shooting from the FT line.
I wonder if Brooklyn would take a trade swapping “bad” contracts of players in need of a change?
JR Smith is getting $14.7 mil in 18-19 but for 19-20 his contract is only guaranteed for $3.9 mil if released by June 30, 19. Mozzy is guaranteed $32 mil for the next 2 years. I would make that trade to upgrade and improve our depth at C and open up the SG spot for either Jordan Clarke to start or for Rodney Hood should they extend. Not to mention it’s just time to move on from Smith and his mental lapses. We simply are not getting enough offense from the SG position. Brooklyn does it to simply save money in 2019. In total, Brooklyn would save about $15 mil. Cavs should do it just to move on from Smith and the memories of what happened in game 1 of the Finals.