Atlantic Notes: Randle, Dudley, Scott, Nets
The Knicks‘ Julius Randle got a head start on building chemistry with his new teammates during workouts last month in Los Angeles, relays Marc Berman of The New York Post. Randle, who signed a three-year, $63MM contract, is among seven free agent additions in New York, along with rookies RJ Barrett and Ignas Brazdeikis.
“It’s important for us to get to know each other, spend time together on the court before training camp starts,” Randle said. “There’s a lot of new pieces. Everyone’s going to be trying to figure out their role. Coach (David Fizdale) is going to do a great job of helping us through that. If we want to be a good team and have a chance, we have to jump-start that process ourselves.”
From an individual standpoint, Randle is working this summer on becoming a more efficient scorer and is watching a lot of tape to try to improve defensively. He believes people who are expecting another losing season in New York are undervaluing the team.
“It’s easy to do that because the last couple of seasons have been hard,’’ Randle said. “It’s easy to underestimate us. But we’re a deep team. We’re a very deep 1-to-15 with guys who can play. If they underestimate us, I don’t care.”
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Jared Dudley was interested in signing with the Celtics, but the team believed it already had enough wings and wanted to keep a roster spot open, reports Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. The Boston College alum wound up joining the Lakers on a one-year deal.
- Sixers forward Mike Scott is looking forward to having Al Horford as a teammate again, writes Lauren Rosen of NBA.com. Scott broke into the league with the Hawks in 2012/13 when Horford was one of the stars in Atlanta. “Not only is he a great player, he’s a great person,” Scott said. “You love to play with people like that. He’s humble, he’s grateful, he knows his role.”
- The NBA Board of Governors is expected to address Joe Tsai’s purchase of the Nets next month, according to a NetsDaily article. The sale shouldn’t affect any of the basketball operations, but changes may be coming on the business side of the organization.
World Cup Notes: Exhibition, Australia, Free Agency, Clarkson
Team USA got the test it was hoping for in today’s exhibition matchup with Australia, writes Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. Playing before more than 51,000 fans in Melbourne, the Americans trailed briefly in the second and third quarters before pulling away for a 102-86 victory.
“One of our big mantras has been ‘composure and poise,’” coach Gregg Popovich said. “Things are going to go the other way in some games. And the way you respond to that is really the measure of how you’re going to do.”
Popovich put together a challenging exhibition schedule to test his team before World Cup play officially starts at the end of the month. After facing second-ranked Spain last week, Team USA is playing a pair of games against Australia, then taking on Canada.
There’s more World Cup news to pass along:
- Before the game, Popovich told reporters he sees Australia as a legitimate threat for the gold medal, per an Associated Press story. The Boomers feature several NBA players and have a core that has been together for a long time. “They are one of the teams that can win the whole thing, without a doubt,” Popovich said. “I’m not saying that because I’m here. It’s just a fact. They’ve been close for several years, and they are hungry. They are talented. They have the toughness and physicality to go with it. I think they are one of the top contenders.”
- International play has frequently set up future free agent moves, notes Douglas Farmer of Basketball Insiders. He singles out Jayson Tatum and Donovan Mitchell as two players who could work well together, although both are expected to sign rookie scale extensions with their current teams, so that partnership may not be formed until 2027. Among 2020 free agents, Mason Plumlee and Joe Harris are both role players who could be valuable in the right situation. Farmer expects the four Celtics on the World Cup team to talk to Plumlee about coming to Boston, while Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez may sell Harris on the Bucks.
- Cavaliers guard Jordan Clarkson won’t be part of the Philippines team, relays Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. The nation included Clarkson’s name on the 19-man pool it submitted to FIBA just in case he was declared eligible, but head coach Yeng Guiao announced Wednesday that the team is moving on without him.
Community Shootaround: Nets’ Outlook
There’s plenty of excitement in Brooklyn these days after the Nets signed two top free agents, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant (though technically Durant came in a sign-and-trade with the Warriors).
The only thing putting a damper on that excitement is Durant’s Achilles injury. While Durant is making good progress rehabbing the ruptured tendon, it’s unlikely he’ll play in the upcoming season.
The Nets essentially swapped out point guards with the more accomplished Irving replacing D’Angelo Russell, who wound up with Golden State. The team added another veteran free agent, DeAndre Jordan, though the Nets already had a promising young center in Jarrett Allen.
That could lead to some playing time issues for coach Kenny Atkinson. Several other players have blossomed under Atkinson’s tutelage in recent seasons, including Caris LeVert, Joe Harris and Spencer Dinwiddie. Forward Taurean Prince was acquired in a trade with the Hawks, who were a willing partner in a salary dump involving Allen Crabbe in order to acquire other assets. Forward Rodions Kurucs could make a major step forward in his second season if he improves his long-range stroke.
By all accounts, the oft-moody Irving is embracing a leadership role with his new team.
How all those pieces will fit while the franchise waits for the 2020/21 season, when Durant should be back to full strength, remains to be seen. Brooklyn reached the playoffs last season but got knocked out by the more talented Sixers, 4-1, in the opening round. Good chemistry played a role in its regular-season success but this is a different mix.
That leads us to our question of the day: Will the Nets make the playoffs again this upcoming season? If so, how deep of a postseason run can they make?
Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.
Prokhorov Was Interested In Knicks
- Mikhail Prokhorov, who recently sold his interest in the Nets, inquired about other NBA franchises — including the Knicks — before he was approved as the majority owner of the Brooklyn franchise. His top basketball adviser, Sergei Kushchenko, revealed that to TASS in a story relayed by NetsDaily.com. ”We were looking over various options at that time,” Kushchenko said. “Among them were the New York Knicks, who asked for a bizarre sum, the Phoenix Suns and the New Jersey Nets. We decided to focus on the New Jersey Nets since it was a completely different market then in addition to the prospect of the new arena’s construction along with a full-fledged business framework.” Prokhorov was also scared away by the Knicks’ debt load, according to NetsDaily.
Nets Notes: Irving, Prokhorov, Tsai, Levy
Kyrie Irving is already making his presence felt as the leader of the Nets, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes. Irving has helped lead informal team workouts that includes the likes of DeAndre Jordan, Taurean Prince, Caris LeVert, Theo Pinson, David Nwaba and free agent Carmelo Anthony in Los Angeles over the past few weeks, with training camp set to start in less than two months.
“It was basically player-driven,” Pinson said of the workouts, as relayed by Lewis. “Kyrie was out there, and we wanted to get with him, so we just all went out there and just worked out together.”
Brooklyn revamped its roster this offseason, bringing in several new players and moving on from star guard D’Angelo Russell in a sign-and-trade with the Warriors for Kevin Durant. The team’s sudden roster overhaul makes it imperative that players get acclimated to each other before camp begins, with Irving helping lead the way for the franchise this month.
“It’s good. It gives us a little head start going into camp. Just getting not just on the court and [basketball-wise], but off the court also: playing ‘[NBA] 2K’, going to dinner and stuff like that. It’s been fun,” Pinson said.
There’s more out of Brooklyn today:
- Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated examines the complicated legacy left behind by Mikhail Prokhorov, who’s set to officially offload the rest of his ownership in the team to Joe Tsai at the end of August. Prokhorov acquired the Nets for $223 million in 2009, selling the team for $2.35 billion this summer.
- Like Prokhorov, Tsai is confident his purchase in the Nets will prove to be a profitable decision down the road, Josh Kosman and Brian Lewis write for the New York Post. Tsai is banking on the NBA’s international growth — particularly in China — along with the superstar additions of Irving and Durant to help lead the way.
- Former Turner Sports executive David Levy is a serious candidate to replace Brett Yormark as CEO of the franchise, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. Yormark recently announced his departure after spending 14 years with the team, leaving alongside Prokhorov.
Lewis: Expect Tsai To Be More Visible Than Prokhorov
- With the Nets swapping one wealthy foreign owner for another, Brian Lewis of The New York Post suggests that the team’s willingness to spend won’t change much as Joseph Tsai takes the reins from Mikhail Prokhorov. However, Lewis expects Tsai to be far more visible around the Nets and the NBA than Prokhorov had been in recent years.
Joseph Tsai Finalizes Deal To Assume Full Ownership Of Nets, Barclays Center
Nets minority shareholder Joseph Tsai has formally entered into an agreement with majority shareholder Mikhail Prokhorov to purchase full ownership of the franchise, the Nets confirmed today in a press release. As part of the deal, Prokhorov will also sell full ownership of the Barclays Center to Tsai.
The NBA’s Board of Governors still must officially approve the transaction, but that’s considered a mere formality. Tsai has long been expected to assume full ownership of the Nets since he bought a 49% stake in the team in April 2018. According to the press release, the arena and team sales are expected to close by the end of September.
“I’ve had the opportunity to witness up close the Brooklyn Nets rebuild that Mikhail started a few years ago,” Tsai said in a statement. “He hired a front office and coaching staff focused on player development, he supported the organization with all his resources, and he refused to tank. I will be the beneficiary of Mikhail’s vision, which put the Nets in a great position to compete, and for which I am incredibly grateful.”
According to reports from NetsDaily (Twitter link) and Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg, the total valuation for the Nets and the Barclays Center is $3.5 billion. The team – without the arena – was initially valued as $2.35 billion when Tsai bought his 49% stake last year.
Prokhorov will make out particularly well in the deal. When he assumed full ownership of the Nets and their arena in 2015, the team was valued at $875MM and the arena was valued at $825MM, for a total of $1.7 billion. The new total valuation of $3.5 billion is more than double that amount.
As we relayed on Thursday night, Nets CEO Brett Yormark is stepping down as team ownership changes hands. In their press release, the Nets confirmed that Yormark will oversee the transition to new ownership before “departing for a new role.”
Tsai, the co-founder and executive vice chairman of Alibaba Group, who is reportedly worth an estimated $9.9 billion, is expected to help the NBA grow its presence in China. He appears to have invested in the Nets at the right time — when he initially bought his 49% share last April, the team was coming off a 28-54 performance. The club boosted that mark to 42-40 last season, then made a huge splash in free agency by signing Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Nets CEO Brett Yormark Stepping Down
Brett Yormark, the lead executive for both the Nets and Barclays Center, is stepping down as the team’s top executive ahead of an impending ownership change that will see Taiwanese businessman Joseph Tsai become the franchise’s owner, reports Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg.
Workouts Don't Mean Carmelo Anthony Will Join Nets
- Carmelo Anthony‘s presence in summer workouts with Nets players doesn’t mean Brooklyn plans to sign him, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “Nothing to it,” a source close to Anthony said. “There’s several guys (playing) that aren’t Nets, but friends and other NBA players.” Team officials and Anthony’s agent, Leon Rose, refused to comment.
Warriors Notes: Green, Durant, Curry, Russell
Draymond Green still considers Kevin Durant to be a close friend, despite their highly publicized confrontation last November and Durant’s decision to leave Golden State in free agency. In an interview with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols that aired today on “The Jump” (video link), Green talks about the success they had with the Warriors and says he learned that Durant was joining the Nets at the same time everyone else did.
“He don’t owe it to me to tell me before everybody else,” Green said. “We did what we had to do. The thing that people forget about in this league is this is our lives. I’m not about to go to Kevin Durant and say, ‘Hey Kevin, can I get my fiancé pregnant?’ But that’s my life. I’m sorry but that’s my life. Am I supposed to come to you and A) Let you know that that’s what I wanna do? Or B) Ask you for permission? No. So I found out when everybody else found out, which is exactly how it should be.”
Green also said he talked to Durant yesterday and still thinks of him as “my brother.” He’s grateful for what they accomplished as teammates, including two titles and a loss in this year’s Finals, calling it “a major success.”
There’s more Warriors news to pass along:
- Green also touched on the four-year, $99.7MM contract extension he signed last week. Although he might have earned more on the open market, he’s happy to be tied to the Warriors through the end of the 2023/24 season. He also considers it validation for the aggressive way he likes to play the game. “This contract tells you that all the garbage that you tried to say about me — arguing with Kevin or about the things with Steve Kerr or about the suspension (in the 2016 NBA Finals) — it just tells you that there was a method to that madness,” Green said.
- This summer’s roster upheaval has left Stephen Curry as the Warriors’ oldest player for the first time in his career, notes Anthony Slater of The Athletic. A few months ago, Curry was the fifth oldest, but the team parted with five players who were past their 30th birthday.
- With D’Angelo Russell joining the league’s most celebrated backcourt, Curry tells Slater that a three-guard approach can be successful once Klay Thompson returns from a torn ACL. “You get creative on how you mix up matchups, create good offense throughout the entire game,” Curry said. “Even defensively, I know there’s a lot of talk about that, our size, but the competitive fire will come out and find ways to get it done on that end of the floor.”