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April 14, 2009
Nets News
Hopes for the Nets' 2009-2010 season seem to rest on their securing the #1 pick in the NBA draft lottery, which, based on their record, they have a 1.7% chance of winning. Good luck.
Bleacher Report, New Jersey Nets' Offseason Scenarios
This year the Nets will only have one pick and they need to make it work. They need rebounding and defensive presence. What they really need is Blake Griffin—he would fit in perfectly.
There is a problem, though. Griffin is undoubtedly going No. 1 overall, no matter which team drafts first. But hey, New Jersey may actually get really lucky and win the lottery just like the Chicago Bulls did last year. One can dream, right?
The more likely scenario will have the Nets trying desperately to move up, offering packages of young players, coupled with expiring contracts, and their pick.
NorthJersey.com, Nets have no money to burn
Missing the playoffs for two straight years means the Nets have more work to do and less money to do it.
Playoff games would have added more zeroes to ownership's bottom line, lowering their losses for the year and perhaps loosening the purse strings a little bit.
A recent story in Sports Business Journal reported that principal owner Bruce Ratner and his investors lost $27.8 million for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31. That figure includes the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn.
NoLandGrab: We're not sure what Atlantic Yards costs are included in that loss figure; we suspect some marketing costs, perhaps, like those for the mock suite in the Times Tower.
TheNetsInsider.com, And the blame game begins...
Coach Lawrence Frank has received the blame for this team not making the playoffs this season for the most part. It hasn't been determined if he will take the fall because of it, although owner Bruce Ratner endorsed him during the Nets' 91-87 win in their home finale against the Bobcats last night.
The Nets' failings are not all on Frank anyway. Everyone shares in the blame for the Nets 34-47 record.
People are quick to point to the coach or to the players not playing hard enough, and both are legitimate. But you have to start at the top -- at ownership, then management -- then coaches and then players.
NBA Fanhouse, New Jersey Civil War Erupts Around Nets
As doubts continue to shroud the Atlantic Yards project that would send the Nets to Brooklyn, two cities in New Jersey have begun a public war of words over where the team should play if the New York City plan falls through.
The folks running IZOD Center, the current arena in East Rutherford -- an awful place in a frankly awful location -- have quietly applied for upgrade funds. Officials from Newark, where a new arena has recently opened, think the IZOD ploy [is a] backdoor effort to keep the Nets in East Rutherford if the Brooklyn arena isn't built. And those Newark folks -- they are mad.
NLG: We hear that's not the only civil war in New Jersey these days — the other involves a rift between the Nets' front office, led by team president Rod Thorn, and the sales-and-marketing staff, headed up by CEO Brett Yormark.
HoopsWorld, Ratner Gives Support To Frank
No coach has been under fire more than Nets coach Lawrence Frank, and for the first time in weeks, Frank got some support from within his own team, that support came from his owner Bruce Ratner.
Posted by eric at April 14, 2009 11:54 AM