NETS INSIDER

Dennis Schröder is a man of many talents. From the German National basketball team to the Brooklyn Nets and now the German Sixth division of FIBA. Schröder clearly has the fitness level and footwork required to play at a competitive international level of soccer. Dennis Schröder officially debuted in football in the German sixth division (Via @FIBA ) pic.twitter.com/MDoTu1aDmU — NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) May 31, 2024        Former Nets coach and two-time MVP, Steve Nash, tried his luck on the pitch, but not in this kind of professional sense.  It goes to show that the cardiovascular training and endurance that basketball and soccer players show his second to none.  As of right now, Schröder is slated as the Nets starting point guard with what is anticipated to be a busy off season ahead.  It's unclear whether the possibility of either Donovan Mitchell or Trae Young stepping into that starting role this summer via trade.  Schröder will hav...

  Even mention the name Kyrie Irving in the city of Boston and you'll likely get a few disgusted glances if not worse. While Irving wore out his welcome in Brooklyn with management and ownership, there is still a contingent of the fans that doesn't blame him for how things ended up.  Boston fans on the other hand, put the entire situation on Irving's shoulders.  Now, Irving travels to TD Garden next Thursday night, June 6, with the Celtics standing between him and a second ring.  It's an incredible storyline that even the NBA scriptwriters may not have come up with.  Irving is locked in and Luka Doncic looks like a man on a mission. Jason Kidd has an opportunity to win his first ring as a coach and join elite company as one of the few to win a ring as a player and coach.  The emergence of rookie Dereck Lively and additions of Kyrie Irving at last year's deadline along with Daniel Gafford and Derrick Jones Jr. at this year's deadline may have been the exact ...

  Jason Kidd took his lumps as a head coach with the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks.  Even his first few seasons in Dallas were mired with disappointment. It now seems that everything is clicking for the former New Jersey Net. While many Nets fans can't help but root against a Maverick squad with Kyrie Irving, Kidd's presence and leadership has as much to do with Dallas' championship chase as anything.  Getting Irving focused on basketball and content is a Herculean task. Just ask all his former coaches including: Byron Scott, Mike Brown, Ty Lue, David Blatt, Brad Stevens, Steve Nash, and Jacque Vaughn.  Irving has always had a contentious relationship with many coaches, but Kidd seems to be the magic elixir to get the most out of the talented guard.  The kinship that both share during their separate playing careers with the Nets  inextricably links them.  Irving and Luka Doncic are jiving like coffee and creamer right now.  On the doorstep of ...

  Jason Kidd and Kyrie Irving have quite a bit in common. Kidd is and was a Nets franchise legend, while Irving wore out his welcome with ownership and the fan base before he even came close to reaching that stature. Kidd spearheaded a run to consecutive NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003. His best chance came in 2003 facing the San Antonio Spurs. The Nets went back home to New Jersey with the series tied 1-1 and three straight games at the Meadowlands.  The Nets were only able to win one out of three and went back to San Antonio for Game 6 with a thirteen point third quarter lead.  That game slipped out of their grasp with San Antonio's bench, led by Speedy Claxton, pulling the Spurs to the finish line.  Kidd tried to gut things out in the 2004 season despite requiring microfracture surgery. Kidd essentially played through the injury and push surgery off until the offseason.  The Nets were dethroned as the two-time reigning Eastern Conference champions by the eventual...

 Kenny Atkinson is a hell of a coach. Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant drove him out of town, but the well respected veteran earned himself a ring on Golden State's 2022 Championship team as an assistant.  Atkinson turned down a job offer from the Charlotte Hornets in 2022 as he's been a little more selective of what kind of roster, front office set up and franchise he's taking over.  It now appears that Atkinson is in the running for the Cleveland Cavaliers job with JB Bickerstaff handed his walking papers, according to Shams Charania. The Cleveland Cavaliers parted ways with head coach JB Bickerstaff, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium . Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson and Pelicans associate James Borrego are expected to be among candidates for the job. pic.twitter.com/PVU0ZUcRGb — Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 23, 2024   If Atkinson ultimately becomes the choice, he'll coach two former players that were with him in Brooklyn: Caris LeVert and Jarr...

  The Brooklyn Nets don't have a dog in the fight.  They snapped a playoff streak of four consecutive seasons this year.  That doesn't mean that Nets fans don't have a rooting interest.  It looks like Brooklyn fans will have to root for the lesser of two evils. If things continue down this path in the Conference Finals, the nightmare matchup of Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks against the Boston Celtics will be a reality.  You couldn't cherry pick two teams that Nets fans would want to see in the finals less. Perhaps Kevin Durant with the Phoenix Suns or James Harden with the Los Angeles Clippers would be the only exceptions.  So the question becomes if a Boston- Dallas final is in the offing, who should Nets fans root for. Irving recruited superstar talent to Brooklyn, only to burn down the house a few seasons later. The Celtics used the unprotected picks the Nets sent them in the Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry trade to draft Jaylen Brown ...

 The New York Knicks have not made the Eastern Conference Finals since the 1999-2000 season when they reached the NBA finals and lost in five games to the San Antonio Spurs. The better part of the first two decades of this millennium was littered with four seasons and playoff less campaigns for the Knicks.  Meanwhile, the Nets went to back-to-back NBA finals in 2002 and 2003. They made the playoffs every year from 2002 to 2007. The then New Jersey Nets had some lean years in their final seasons at the IZOD Center at the Meadowlands and the two-year interim stop the Prudential Center in Newark.  Upon the Nets moved to Brooklyn, they made the playoffs for three consecutive years,  followed by a rebuild and three-year dry spell. The Nets enjoyed a great run of five consecutive playoff berths that was snapped this year.  The Nets may not have enjoyed much playoff success, in fact, only two series wins since moving to Brooklyn.  But since 2001, the Nets have won...

  Injuries stink. They're also part of the game. The New York Knicks have tried to grind and battle their way through a whole host of injuries.  Between Julius Randle announcing before the playoffs he was lost for the year,  Bojan Bogdanović shutting it down after the first round series win over Philly, Mitchell Robinson going on the shelf after Game 1 against the Pacers, and  OG Anunoby's hamstring injury in Game 2 of the semi-finals series, it's been almost too much to take for Knicks fans.  Now, the team's emotional leader, Josh Hart, suffered a strained abdominal muscle on his left side. Hart tried to exit and re-enter two separate times during Friday night's Game 6, but he was unable to continue.  His status for Game 7 is uncertain. Even if Hart gives it a go, he'll likely be compromised and not the same hustle player fans have seen this entire tenure as a Knick.  So now the Knicks are staring at a Game 7 at home leaning heavily on their leader, J...

   The talk of the NBA world is the future of Donovan Mitchell in Cleveland. Reports have began to surface about Mitchell's rocky relationship with guard Darius Garland.  According to many media reports, if Mitchell is to consider signing a long-term extension with the Cavaliers, Garland would have to be moved.  It's unclear Mitchell's intentions at this point and whether the Nets would even be atop his list of trade destinations.  Clearly, if Mitchell has no intentions of signing long-term in Cleveland, his list of suitors will be long.  Expect the Lakers, Bulls, Nets and Knicks to be chasing his services among many others. Mitchell will be a free agent after the 2024-25 season and instead of losing him for nothing, Cleveland would opt to move him now for a combination of future draft picks and rotation players.  While Sean Marks can't get fixated on one player, the move that perhaps makes the most sense for the Nets is trading for a player like Garla...

  Donte DiVincenzo didn't pull any punches in Game 5 and he is not pulling any punches in his meme game.  Following the 121-91 win in Game 5 over Indiana at MSG, DiVincenzo took to Instagram to caught a stray via Instagram.  Donte DiVincenzo taking shots at Haliburton 👀😳 (Via @Divincenzo IG) pic.twitter.com/on7WR1qzLP — NBACentel (@TheNBACentel) May 15, 2024 New York can close out the series on Friday in Indiana. Haliburton had a down game with just 13 points and five rebounds.  Clearly, the Pacers star has bulletin board material that he'll need to use as inspiration when he returns to Gainbridge Fieldhouse.   

  The New York Knicks defeated the Indiana Pacers 121-91 to take a 3-2 edge in the Eastern Conference semi-finals on Tuesday night.  The series will turn back to Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indiana for Game 6 with the Knicks looking to close it out.  The Knicks have not been to the Eastern Conference Finals since 1999.  In that lockout shortened 50 game regular season, the Knicks advanced as the number 8th seed all the way to the NBA finals.   They eventually fell in five games to the San Antonio Spurs.  That feels like a lifetime ago, but the Nets best chance at a championship feels like yesterday.  Even with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden, the Brooklyn Nets never even reached an Eastern Conference Finals.  In fact, the last time the Nets were in the Eastern Conference Finals was in 2003 when they were making their second of consecutive runs to the NBA Finals. Not since the team relocated to Brooklyn to start the 2012-13 season hav...

  It's almost indisputable that Jason Kidd's most productive years were with the New Jersey Nets. The same can be said for Vince Carter.  When Kidd was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018, he was  enshrined as a Maverick. Yes, the team that drafted him and he won a championship with as a secondary star. Carter will also be going into the Hall with the team that drafted him, the Toronto Raptors. When Air Canada left Toronto, there was much vitriol from the Raptors fan base. So why is it that two all-time Nets will be memorialized in Springfield, Massachusetts, with another franchise?  It likely has a lot to do with the Nets running away from their history. Upon the move to New Jersey, the Nets did a terrible job of honoring the Long Island era of basketball. The same can be said upon the move to Brooklyn, when the Nets tried to treat the relocation as a rebranding of a new franchise.  As the years go on, and the Nets are further and further...

  It's about damn time. The Brooklyn Nets are late to the party, better late than never. Soon to be Hall of famer Vince Carter will have his name enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame this summer.  Carter is an all-time legend, but somehow the Nets organization has waited all this time to lift his No. 15 into the rafters.  This latest tweet by the Brooklyn Nets indicates that a retirement ceremony could be in the offing.  Carter has already announced, despite his unceremonious departure from Toronto, that he will go into the Hall of Fame as a Raptor. 🎵 Hey Mr. Carter… pic.twitter.com/2qPq1DYvto — Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) May 13, 2024 Perhaps if the Nets were a little more proactive and retired his number and honored one of the franchise's greats sooner, he may have gone in as in New Jersey Net. While this will be a bittersweet moment for the part-time YES analyst, many Nets fans have been hoping for this day for many years. As has been the case t...

  Kevin Durant is not a leader. Plain and simple: when things get tough, there's zero accountability from him.  That's why when he formed a big three in Brooklyn alongside Kyrie Irving and James Harden, things fell apart. Both Irving and Harden accept zero responsibility when things go sideways.  It's either changing area codes or changing coaches, not looking in the mirror for these mercurial stars.  It makes sense why Durant would want to play with two players with similar characteristics to his own. Devin Booker and Bradley Beal fit that mold as well.  Now in his second not even full season in Phoenix, the Suns just hired their third coach,  championship winning one at that, and dismissed him after only one season. Monty Williams was fired after a very successful run with the Suns including an NBA finals appearance in 2021. They are now rumblings that Durant has not exactly ingratiated himself to teammates in Phoenix. Stephen A. Smith: "Here's wher...

  The Brooklyn Nets fanbase is in a tough spot. If it roots for the Boston Celtics to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are one step closer to winning a championship.  Both players were selected with the draft picks that the Nets sent out to Boston in the trade for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry.  So that's not an ideal outcome for Brooklyn. The only good byproduct of that, is that Cleveland would face another early playoff round exit and Donovan Mitchell could grow impatient with his lack of supporting cast with the Cavs.  Mitchell has been a name that has been linked to both the Nets and the Knicks. Mitchell's father was a long-time public relations staffer with the New York Mets and his son still wears his Amazin's fandom on his sleeve.  A New York homecoming for Mitchell would be a great narrative. However, the logic in joining a rudderless team in a Brooklyn Nets squad after either an Eastern Conference Championship ber...

  When the Brooklyn Nets traded a boatload of draft picks to the Houston Rockets in January of 2021 for James Harden, they thought it would be a finishing piece to a championship team.  Nearly 3 and 1/2 years later, the Nets are without a championship, without their own draft picks for the 2024 NBA Draft, and Houston was awarded with the number three overall pick, via Brooklyn. The Nets took a gamble but it did not pay off. Harden played 80 games in Nets uniform, and his tenure was marred by injury and locker room dysfunction.  While most pro scouts believe this is a particularly weak draft class, the Nets not holding a single pick is less than ideal for a club that is looking to build for the future.  Representing the Rockets at the 2024 NBA Draft Lottery was none other than Ime Udoka, a former assistant with the Nets under Steve Nash, and a coach that was finalizing a deal to become Brooklyn's next head coach in 2022. After Kyrie Irving promoted a film with anti-se...

 The Brooklyn Nets are a big market team and were a free agent and trade destination going back only a couple of seasons. Sean Marks opened up the checkbook to sign both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant to max deals and he emptied the draft cupboard to acquire James Harden.  Marks, at the request of both of his stars, fired multiple coaches, eating dead salary in all instances.  Joe Tsai and the Nets hiked season ticket prices by an average of $144 per ticket in the 2022 season, even after trading away James Harden.  Reportedly, 30 percent of season ticket holders walked away the following season. Then, both Irving and Durant skipped town.  Barclays Center attendance figures have been rock solid, but one look around the arena and it's clear it's filled with more tourists, casual NBA fans and opposing fans, than Nets fans. This was the same criticism the Nets faced when playing at the Meadowlands without any mass transit options and outside of New York City. The Bro...

  When you think about the most uncoachable players in the NBA, there are a few names that come to mind. These players specifically have a penchant for getting coaches fired.  Lebron James and Kyrie Irving are among the first to be considered as difficult to manage and easy to place the blame on others.  But there is in fact one player that actually takes the cake when it comes to uncoachability. Surprising or not, that man is Kevin Durant.  Since arriving in Brooklyn in 2019, Durant briefly played for Kenny Atkinson before he was ousted out of Brooklyn and the Nets hired Steve Nash. Durant quickly grew tired of Nash and issued the Nets an ultimatum during his first trade request: 'fire Nash and Sean Marks or trade me'.  Durant rescinded his first trade request, and Nash was only back for the first handful of games to start the 2022 season before Brooklyn pulled the plug and anointed Jacque Vaughn as the new full-time head coach with an extension.  Then Dur...

  Jason Kidd is synonymous with greatness. He is among the top 75 players to ever touch an NBA basketball. He is in the pantheon of great NBA players and arguably the top Nets player of all time.  So why would it be so difficult for a Nets fan base to root for the Mavericks head coach and his pursuit of a title? It has nothing to do with Kidd's unceremonious ending in 2008 as a player in New Jersey or as a head coach with Brooklyn in 2014.  In fact, Kidd's contributions to the franchise will always be remembered more for the good times than the challenging ones. The reason why it's impossible for the Nets faithful to pull for the former face of the franchise is that he hitched his wagon to Kyrie Irving.  Irving made big promises upon signing with Brooklyn, including finishing the job that Kidd had started in New Jersey, by winning a championship.  Brooklyn fell laughably short with Irving missing the playoffs during the bubble year with an injured shoulder that ...

 When the Brooklyn Nets hired former Kings assistant Jordi Fernandez to take over their head coaching duties, I'm not sure even they knew history was being made.  As a respected coach across the league, Fernandez was voted the best assistant coach in a league GM survey. He's also the fifth ever European-born coach and the fifth youngest NBA coach ever to be hired.  But all those facts pale in comparison to the fact that Fernandez is the first Spanish-born coach in NBA History. There are only three Spanish-born players currently in the NBA and eleven total from Spanish speaking countries.  Fernandez is adored and praised by his peers in the NBA and from Team Canada. The Nets are hoping that his worldly experience will help develop a roster that vastly underachieved in 2023-24. Only time will tell, but Brooklyn can hold claim to setting league history by appointing Fernandez as the main man in charge.

  In the history of the Brooklyn Nets, New Jersey Nets, New York Nets and one year as the New Jersey Americans, the franchise has never had an NBA MVP award winner. Even with all the marquee names to don a Nets uniform in Buck Williams, Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden, not one has earned that honor while playing with the club.  There is one player that is a reigning MVP winner still in his prime listed as a potential Brooklyn Net if things continue to go South in his current city.  The 2023 NBA MVP, Joel Embiid, is favored to land with the Nets as +300, according to Betonline.com , if he wants out of Philly. Embiid just turned 30 and with a history of injuries along with a big lumbering 7-foot frame, the Sixers center is starting to get antsy in his chase for a championship.  It's curious that the Nets are even on this list, nevertheless, at the top of it, because Brooklyn is several pieces away from even being considered a champ...

  There's one player on the Nets roster who Is a pending free agent and the most polarizing figure on the roster within the team's fan base.  He's averaging a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds along with two blocks on 62.9% from the field. At 25 years of age, the fan base is hoping the best is yet to come from him.  Unfortunately, for Nets general manager Sean Marks, resigning this player at the wrong price could be a death wish.  Center Nic Claxton, who is reportedly might command a contract extension in the neighborhood of a $25 million of average annual value (AAV), would be a major mistake for Brooklyn. Claxton has been a solid player for the Nets, but in the same mold as a Clint Capela, paying him as a top center would not make much sense for the future of the franchise. Many within the Nets fan base and Twitter base have grossly overestimated Claxton's value and what he deserves on the open market.  Claxton's free agent market isn't exactly as r...

The Brooklyn Nets had an opportunity this off-season to bring in a head coach with C championship winning experience. In fact, a coach that perhaps took a ring away from the 2020-21 Nets squad. That man, Mike Budenholzer, was ultimately not hired and remains a head coaching free agent.  According to Shams Charania, Budenholzer, Phoenix assistant Kevin Young, and Kings assistant Jordi Fernandez were among the finalists for Brooklyn's head coaching gig.  It's unclear why this Nets regime opted for a neophyte head coach in Fernandez as opposed to a well-respected veteran in Budenholzer. It's likely that Budenholzer commanded a longer term and more lucrative contract that Joe Tsai and Sean Marks were willing to dole out.  The Nets were actually paying three head coaches this year in Jacque Vaughn, Steve Nash and then ultimately hiring a new candidate to replace the interim Kevin Ollie. Budenholzer is clearly the ready made option for a roster that has immediate pressure to wi...

The writing was on the wall for Kyrie Irving heading up to the 2022 trade deadline. The Brooklyn Nets had grown tired of his act and there was a strained relationship between Irving, the front office and ownership.  Meanwhile, in Dallas, a potential Jalen Brunson extension fell through the cracks and it became imminent that the Maverick point guard was going to hit free agency in the summer.  As the Nets had an untenable situation with Irving and Mark Cuban dealing with a strong likelihood of losing his starting point guard, swapping Irving for Brunson would have made the most sense for both teams at the 2022 deadline deal  Brunson has evolved into a superstar player with the Knicks, but pairing him with Kevin Durant would have formed a terrific Duo in Brooklyn.  Ironically, the Nets would trade Irving to Dallas and pair him with Luka Doncic in 2023 In exchange for Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith and picks.  Had Sean Marks pulled the plug on Irving earlie...

 The Brooklyn Nets are in NBA purgatory. They're not in a full rebuild, but they're not that far outside the playoff chase, either. A few roster tweaks and additions, and there's no reason to think the Nets can't be in competition for a play –in spot next season.  With former Kings highly regarded assistant coach joining in Jordi Fernandez, he's still a neophyte head coach, leaving plenty more questions than answers surrounding this franchise.  So when evaluating all the coaching staff changes already made including the departure of assistants Kevin Ollie, Will Weaver and Ronnie Burrell along with the additions of Juwan Howard and  Steve Hetzel, there will be an entirely new organizational philosophy.  The Nets may be a player in free agency and dip their toe in the trade market, especially monitoring the statuses of Donovan Mitchell, Trae Young, Dejounte Murray and others.  But after it all, the 1,000 pound gorilla in the room is the albatross that is Ben ...

The New York Knicks are playing like superheroes in the 2024 playoffs. After knocking off the 76ers in the opening round, New York will rest upb and prepare to take on Indiana at Madison Square Garden in Game 1 of the semi-finals. While one New York basketball team prepares for a deep playoff run, the other will pick up the broken pieces from its lost season. The Brooklyn Nets are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They don't own a draft pick in 2024 and general manager Sean Marks has reportedly passed on several opportunities to hit the hard reset button by refusing multiple first round draft picks for Mikal Bridges as well as for Dorian Finney-Smith.  So with Brooklyn in a retooling phase, adding a marque player via trade may be the most logical route back to contention. A player often connected to wanting out of his current situation is a noted coach killer and Knicks killer. That player, none other than Trae Young, may be just what the doctor ordered for Brooklyn. While Den...

  On May 3rd, starting at 6:00 p.m., the author of: A History of the Nets- from Teaneck to Brooklyn, Rick Laughland, will be signing copies of his book at the Paramus, NJ Barnes and Noble.  Sometimes you have to root for the lesser of two evils. In this case, Brooklyn Nets fans have to choose between the Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks.  That's a product of the landscape in the East shifting away from Brooklyn as a powerhouse In light of trading away, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden. So when Nets fans look at the clear-cut favor to come out of the East, the Boston Celtics, that is also the least desirable outcome.  Brooklyn will be inextricably linked to Boston following the 2013 trade that sent out unprotected picks for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry.  One of those pics, Jayson Tatum, is evolving into a superstar and face of the league. The last few seasons, the Celtics have been knocking on the door of a championship.  The p...