The Nets‘ success in free agency has changed the atmosphere around the organization, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Roughly 200 press members showed up for Friday’s Media Day, accompanied by a throng of fans who waited outside the team’s training center for a glimpse of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
“It’s like Real Madrid. I thought it was funny,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “There’s a different excitement with the fans. I didn’t say they camped out, but there was some kind of tent there. So I drove around the other way and I came the back way and the guy had my picture up. It’s just funny.”
Neither of the newly added stars participated in the first workout Saturday. Durant will likely miss the entire season with a ruptured Achilles tendon and Irving was sidelined by a facial fracture he sustained in an informal scrimmage last week.
“Precautionary, totally. More us just saying, we don’t want you to get another whack,” Atkinson explained.
There’s more Nets news to pass along:
- Spencer Dinwiddie will proceed with a digital investment plan in his new contract even though the league considers it a violation of the collective bargaining agreement, Lewis adds in the same story. “You’ve got to think about it: If I spent just short of a year building it, you really think I didn’t read the CBA?” Dinwiddie said. “You really think I didn’t have lawyers read the CBA? That would be outrageously stupid. … So we constructed it in a way that doesn’t violate the CBA. … It’s very simple. Once the Nets pay me, that’s the end of it. If I wanted to shoot the money into deep space, technically, I could.”
- Forward Dzanan Musa, 20, was one of the top players for the Long Island Nets last season, but he tells Chris Milholen of NetsDaily that he hopes his G League days are finished. Even though he remains the youngest player on Brooklyn’s roster, Musa believes he’s ready for the NBA. “The Long Island experience was just great for me to learn American basketball,” said Musa, who is from Bosnia. “I think that was great for me but I hope I am no more there. I think I am ready for the opportunity in Brooklyn and I am hoping I will take advantage of it.”
- After spending time with the Pistons and Knicks, big man Henry Ellenson, who signed a two-way contract with Brooklyn in July, believes he’s finally with a team that will develop his skills, Milholen writes in a separate story.
