Justin Bokmeyer Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Nets Promote BJ Johnson To Assistant GM

September 4th, 2024 at 12:57pm CST by Luke Adams

The Nets have formally announced a series of additions and promotions within their basketball operations department. Among those moves, the most notable is the promotion of BJ Johnson to an assistant general manager role.

Johnson, who initially joined the franchise in 2016, had served as Brooklyn’s senior director of college scouting and player evaluation for the past two seasons. General manager Sean Marks suggested in April that Johnson could be in line for a promotion following the departures of assistant GM Jeff Peterson and executive director of basketball and business operations Ryan Gisriel for new jobs in Charlotte.

In his new role, Johnson will lead and oversee all of the Nets’ amateur scouting efforts. Brian Lewis of The New York Post, who first reported the promotion, notes that Johnson has been credited for pushing the Nets to draft players like Nic Claxton (2019) and Jalen Wilson (2023) in the second round of their respective drafts.

Johnson will work directly under Marks and alongside fellow assistant GM Andy Birdsong, Lewis writes.

Here are some of the other additions and promotions announced today by the Nets:

Makar Gevorkian has been promoted to vice president of basketball operations alignment and strategic planning.
Glenn DuPaul has been promoted to VP of basketball analytics.
Former MLS executive Justin Bokmeyer has been hired as the director of basketball operations.
Former Kings assistant coach and director of player development Dutch Gaitley has been hired as an assistant coach.
Jim McDonnell has been promoted to head video coordinator.
Geoff Staton has been hired as head athletic trainer.

The full list of basketball operations moves can be found within the Nets’ press release.

Atlantic Notes: Brown, Bokmeyer, Anunoby, McBride, Hart

May 17th, 2024 at 10:33pm CST by Tristan Tucker

While the Raptors didn’t trade Bruce Brown Jr. again after they acquired him from the Pacers this season, that might change this offseason. The Raptors have until June 29 to exercise Brown’s $23MM team option for next season and, according to Doug Smith of The Toronto Star, a handful of sources think that Toronto will pick up that option and trade Brown quickly, rather than waiting until the 2025 deadline.

Trading Brown would give the Raptors some leeway when it comes to talks with free agent wing Gary Trent Jr. According to Smith, the sentiment is that Toronto won’t start the season with both Brown and Trent on the roster. Trent is still just 25 and his outside shooting ability might make him more appealing in the long run.

The Raptors acquired Brown as part of the trade that sent Pascal Siakam to Indiana. He averaged 9.6 points in 34 games with Toronto after registering 12.1 PPG in 33 games in Indiana. Despite the slight dip in production, Brown is still viewed as a valuable rotation player with defensive prowess and positional versatility.

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

The Nets hired Justin Bokmeyer to their front office as their new director of basketball operations, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic reports. This move is likely related to the Hornets hiring away Ryan Gisriel, Brooklyn’s former executive director of basketball and business operations. Bokmeyer worked in international basketball operations before going to the NBA. He also helped guide the NBA Academy program and assisted in launching the Basketball Africa League.
OG Anunoby, who is dealing with a hamstring injury, has missed the past four games for the Knicks. According to The Athletic’s Fred Katz (Twitter link), head coach Tom Thibodeau said Anunoby’s health is “basically the same.” The forward is doing some light on-court work, but it remains unclear when exactly he will return.
Miles McBride began the season on the bench, but the Knicks are now calling on him to handle the most important defensive assignments, Newsday’s Steve Popper observes. He was inserted into the starting lineup in Game 5 and was the primary defender against the engine of the Pacers’ offense in Tyrese Haliburton, who scored just 13 points on the night. McBride still thinks he has room for improvement. “I think I’ve got to go up a level,” McBride said. “… Obviously he didn’t go scoreless, and he was still impactful in a way, so my goal is for guys to go scoreless and to make as minimum of an impact on the game.” McBride finished Game 6 as the team’s second-highest scorer, with only Jalen Brunson (31 points) exceeding McBride’s 20 points.
Josh Hart exited Game 6 in the fourth quarter with what the team called abdominal soreness and didn’t return, according to the team (Twitter link). Hart left the game a couple times due to injury, going to the locker room after the first quarter and again later in the game. The severity is unclear — considering the Knicks were trailing significantly at the time, it’s possible this was more of a precautionary move in order to preserve an important role player for Game 7 on Sunday.