BROOKLYN – Mikhail Prokhorov once vowed to take over New York as owner of the Brooklyn Nets and turn Knicks fans into Nets fans. But on Thursday night in front of a national TV audience, it was the Knicks who took over Brooklyn and Barclays Center. It was so bad, Brooklyn’s introductory video malfunctioned before loud boos for Kevin Garnett and Jason Kidd filled the arena during the starting lineup introductions. Chants of “Let’s go Knicks” began as New York pulled away
The dust has settled and the NBA offseason has officially hit its conclusion when it comes to the futures market. [Read more…]
Get your MetroCards ready. NBA All-Star Weekend 2015 will be in New York, with the marquee events split between Madison Square Garden in Manhattan and the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The league made the announcement Wednesday with most of the bigwigs on hand. In attendance at the Industria Superstudio in Manhattan were New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Commissioner David Stern, Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver, Knicks owner James Dolan and Barclays Center owner Bruce Ratner. “New York City is the basketball capital of the
When the Brooklyn Nets somehow acquired Andrei Kirilenko for the low, low price of $3.18 million for next season (and a player option for roughly the same amount the following season) it was reported that executives around the league were furious, due to what they believed to be foul play, behind the scenes. Owner Mikhail Prokhorov and Kirilenko have ties in Russia, and it was under the assumption that the forward was accommodated in ways that don’t necessarily show in
This summer, the Brooklyn Nets transformed themselves from pretenders to contenders. However, the transformation came at a steep price. Owner Mikhail Prokhorov has the NBA’s only nine-figure team payroll, which translates to an $87 million luxury tax bill. (He can afford it. He is the NBA’s George Steinbrenner). Nets GM Billy King also mortgaged the future by trading first-round draft picks in 2014, 2016 and 2018 with the right to swap first-round picks in 2017 as part of a trade with Boston
Former player and coach Kurt Rambis has long been known for being the main assistant to Phil Jackson for a better part of the Zen Master’s tenure as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers in the ’00s. The two are very close, and Rambis openly slammed Jim Buss back in November for the way he mistreated Jackson during the hiring process. Knowing these things, it was quite a surprise to hear that Rambis would be a real candidate to
Before we get to today’s news, a hearty congratulations to our senior columnist, Moke Hamilton, on joining the staff at HoopsWorld. Moke has treated me as his mentor, and I am happy to see him graduate to become a part of the USA Today Sports group. He is a terrific writer, a fast learner, MENSA material (even though he had never heard of MENSA when he joined SheridanHoops), and a wonderful storyteller who covered Game 5 of the 2012 NBA Finals and
BROOKLYN — Two significant things about today’s Brooklyn Nets news conference — what was said, and what wasn’t said. First, the latter: The word “Knicks” was not mentioned one single time. It would have been like being at a wine-tasting, and uttering the word “Thunderbird.” No bigger sign of disrespect than treating an adversary as though it does not exist. Because in the new world of the Nets, the only other team that merits mention, the only other team that is in