Nets Notes: Lin, Booker, Kilpatrick, Dinwiddie
The Nets are hoping their problems on offense will be solved when Jeremy Lin‘s minutes restriction is lifted, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Lin, who joined the team on a three-year, $36MM contract over the summer, missed 17 games with a severe hamstring strain he suffered in early November. He returned for a game Monday in Houston, but was held out of the next contest with a sore back. When he has played, Lin has made an impact on Brooklyn’s offense. The Nets have outscored teams by an average of 6.1 points per 100 possessions with Lin on the court, but are minus 9.3 without him. “We’re really going to look at it from a performance standpoint, from medical, what is the best thing for Jeremy at this point,” coach Kenny Atkinson said of the minutes restriction. “I’ll talk with everybody, talk with the doctors, talk with the medical team, and figure that out. Obviously our wish is — as a coaching staff — to get him into his normal role.”
There’s more this morning out of Brooklyn:
- Power forward Trevor Booker has done his part to help fill the point guard void with Lin missing, Lewis notes in a separate story. Booker, who signed with the Nets for $18MM over two years this summer, played the position in junior high school and still retains his point guard instincts. He frequently leads the fast break after grabbing a rebound. “It’s become this monster now and we like it,” Atkinson said. “We like what he’s doing, we like when he attacks the basket, we like his assists off it. And it’s incentive [for] him to rebound.”
- Nets shooting guard Sean Kilpatrick represents a missed opportunity for the Sixers, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Kilpatrick has been a nice find for Brooklyn, averaging 16.3 points per game, which is tops in the league among undrafted players. He spent most of last season playing for Philadelphia’s D-League affiliate before being signed by the Nets in late February. “I think [former GM] Sam [Hinkie] with the [front office] group felt like with Isaiah [Canaan] here and other people here … I don’t really remember how it really played out,” said Sixers coach Brett Brown. “I do know that Sam thought highly of him, but obviously not highly enough to bring him in.”
- Spencer Dinwiddie, who signed with the Nets on December 8th, has $100K of his deal guaranteed, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The rest of Dinwiddie’s three-year, minimum salary contract is non-guaranteed.
Nets Still Not Able To Sign Donatas Motiejunas
The team that made the most serious effort to sign Donatas Motiejunas this offseason is now the one team that can’t sign him in unrestricted free agency. According to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today (via Twitter), the Nets still won’t be permitted to sign Motiejunas, whose rights were renounced on Thursday by the Rockets, making him an unrestricted free agent.
The NBA’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement prohibits a team that signs a restricted free agent to an offer sheet from acquiring that player for one year if the player’s original team matches the offer sheet. The Rockets initially matched the Nets’ four-year offer sheet for Motiejunas, at which point the 26-year-old failed to report to Houston within the required two-day window.
Eventually, the Rockets withdrew their first refusal notice and worked out a new arrangement with Motiejunas, but that deal was scuttled as well, following a discussion involving the team, Motiejunas’ camp, and the NBA. On Thursday, Houston renounced its free agent rights to the big man, making him an unrestricted free agent — able to sign with any team except for the Nets, who can’t acquire him until next December, per league rules. Zillgitt initially reported on Thursday that the situation could change as the NBA reviews the situation, but it sounds like the league will stick to the rule as written in the CBA.
It’s an unfortunate outcome for the Nets, the one team this year that seemed genuinely interested in adding Motiejunas. The Pistons voided a trade for D-Mo back in February after getting a closer look at the medicals on his back, and the Rockets were unable to agree to terms with the former first-rounder for months due to concerns about his long-term health. At this point, there should be no reason for the NBA or the Rockets to mind if Motiejunas lands on the Nets’ roster, but based on Zillgitt’s latest report, it sounds like the league won’t make an exception.
With the Nets apparently out of the mix, that leaves 29 other teams that could sign Motiejunas. However, most of those teams are over the cap, and the power forward had been seeking a multiyear deal worth at least $7-8MM annually, which will limit his opportunities. Still, now that he’s no longer restricted, he’ll have a few more options. For instance, if he’s unable to find a suitable NBA offer, Motiejunas could decide to play overseas for the rest of the 2016/17 season before returning to the NBA’s free agent market in 2017.
Although it doesn’t look like the CBA rules will be tweaked at all in this case to give the Nets another shot at Motiejunas, it will be interesting to see whether the new agreement between the NBA and NBPA – which is expected to be officially ratified soon – will change this aspect of the CBA at all.
Marks: Nets Can Be Patient With Brook Lopez Decision
- Marks believes that if the Nets decide to move Brook Lopez, they can wait until the last year of his contract to do so. Marks, who previously worked for the franchise, calls Lopez a “creature a habit,” suggesting the veteran center is more likely than most players to re-up with his current team instead of actively exploring the free agent market. Lopez’s deal expires in 2018, but Wojnarowski notes that Brooklyn values him and won’t move him just to move him.
[SOURCE LINK]
Jeremy Lin Ready To Return
The Nets‘ top offseason signee, Jeremy Lin, is finally ready to return to the court on Monday night after missing five weeks with a hamstring injury, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. While Lin should be good to go tonight, it doesn’t sound as if he’ll start, as the club will likely ease him back into action.
“Jeremy is back and will play some minutes,” said Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson. “I think it’s the same strategy we’ve used with other guys, where we’re going to progress. He’s not going to play 40 minutes. It’s going to be a slow progression getting back. So I’ll listen to the medical team.”
Lin Hoping To Return Soon
- Nets coach Kenny Atkinson doesn’t plan to grant Jeremy Lin‘s wish to play 40 minutes in his first game back from a hamstring injury, relays Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Lin returned to practice Friday and hopes to be ready for game action soon. Brooklyn has gone 4-13 without him and has sunk near the bottom of the East. “I’d be expecting a minute restriction,’’ Lin said. “We just wanted to make sure everything is strengthened, not just to back where it was but above and beyond where it was, so I don’t ever have to deal with it again.”
- Nets GM Sean Marks is leaning heavily on his background with the Spurs as he tries to build the organization, according to NetsDaily. About a quarter of the staffers the former San Antonio GM has hired since taking over in Brooklyn previously worked for the Spurs.
Ferrell Clears Waivers, Returns To D-League
Rookie point guard Yogi Ferrell, who was released by the Nets on Thursday, has cleared waivers and rejoined the team’s D-League affiliate in Long Island, tweets Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders.
The Nets also waived Ferrell during the preseason, but re-signed him November 9th after a rash of injuries at point guard. He appeared in 10 games during his month in Brooklyn, all as a reserve, and averaged 5.4 points and 1.7 assists in 15.1 minutes per night. He played two games for Long Island earlier this season.
Ferrell’s contract with the Nets was a two-year deal at minimum salary with just $100K guaranteed before January 10th. The second season was non-guaranteed.
Nets Notes: Lin, Player Development, Dinwiddie
Heading into the 2016/17 season, the Nets were widely expected to be the NBA’s worst team. As our recap of the preseason’s over/under lines shows, only three teams were projected for below 30 wins, and no club had a lower over/under line than the Nets, at 20.5. Still, in the early going this season, Brooklyn has managed to scratch out a few victories, and while the Nets’ 6-15 record is hardly impressive, it puts them on track to go over 20.5 wins. It also has them fourth in our Reverse Standings, as they “trail” the Sixers (5-18), Mavericks (5-17), and Timberwolves (6-17).
Let’s check in on a few Nets notes as they prepare to face the Spurs in San Antonio…
- Jeremy Lin, who returned to practice this week, is on the verge of getting back on the court for the Nets, and his return won’t come a moment too soon, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. After Brooklyn’s two big summer offer sheets for RFA targets were matched, Lin ended up being the team’s marquee signing, and he looked good in the early going before he was sidelined by a hamstring injury.
- The “youth movement” vision of Nets general manager Sean Marks is starting to pay dividends for the franchise, Lewis writes in a separate piece for The Post. While former GM Billy King never attended a single D-League game, the Nets under Marks are serious about player development, according to Lewis, who points to Sean Kilpatrick as a nice find, and suggests that Chris McCullough and Anthony Bennett are benefiting from D-League stints.
- The Nets have had their eye on Spencer Dinwiddie for some time, and brought him into the fold this week. As Bryan Fonseca of Nets Daily writes, Dinwiddie is grateful for the chance to return to the NBA. “This is a team that said they’ve liked me from the draft process, from my first couple of years in the league, it’s just amazing to be here honestly,” Dinwiddie said. “I’m very blessed for the opportunity. I don’t know what the immediate future holds for me as far as ‘role,’ or playing time or anything like that. I’m just here to get to work and obviously I want to earn time on the floor, for sure.”
NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 12/9/16
Here are Friday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
10:30pm:
- The Nuggets assigned guard Malik Beasley to the Sioux Falls SkyForce of the NBA D-League, the team announced via press release. The rookie has appeared in in nine games this season for Denver, averaging 2.9 points in 6.0 minutes per outing.
- The Hawks confirmed via press release that Scott was recalled from Delaware. The forward was there on a rehab assignment as he continues to make his way back from a knee injury.
1:26pm:
- The Nets have assigned Chris McCullough to their D-League affiliate, the Long Island Nets, according to a team press release. McCullough is averaging 19.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game for Long Island this season.
- The Bulls have assigned Jerian Grant, R.J. Hunter and Paul Zipser to the Windy City Bulls, according to a team press release.
- The Hawks have recalled Mike Scott from the D-League, Chris Vivlamore of Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets. Atlanta doesn’t have its own affiliate, so Scott played his two games for the Delaware 87ers, the affiliate of the Sixers.
- The Jazz have assigned Joel Bolomboy to their D-League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars, according to the team’s website. This will be Bolomboy’s third assignment of the season.
- The Lakers have recalled Ivica Zubac from the Los Angeles D-Fenders, according to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (Twitter link).
GM Gave Kilpatrick Confidence Boost
- Nets shooting guard Sean Kilpatrick credits GM Sean Marks for his emergence from an unheralded D-League addition to a high-scoring starter, Chris Mannix of The Vertical writes. Marks told Kilpatrick to be aggressive offensively and he’s developed into Brooklyn’s second-leading scorer after signing a multi-year deal in March, Mannix adds. “As soon as I came to the team, he told me, flat out, just to play my game, just to continue to do the things I’d been doing the last couple of months in the D-League,’ Kilpatrick told Mannix. “I think when you have that type of confidence in a player, coming from your GM, it’s a big boost, at least it was to me.”
Nets Sign Spencer Dinwiddie
After waiving Yogi Ferrell earlier today, the Nets have signed Spencer Dinwiddie, the team announces via press release. The agreement is for three years and it is partially guaranteed, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (Twitter link).
Brooklyn’s roster now stands at 15 players after adding the point guard. The 23-year-old should have an opportunity to see significant playing time, as the team remains without Jeremy Lin because of a hamstring injury.
Dinwiddie most recently played for the Windy City Bulls of the D-League. He last played in the NBA for the Pistons, where he appeared in 46 games over the course of the 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons. He has career averages of 4.4 points, 2.7 assists and 1.4 rebounds per game.