We assume everyone is breathing again? Good. Because we are only four days into free agency with only six players committed to the Nets next season: Deron Williams, Marshon Brooks, Joe Johnson, Gerald Wallace, Reggie Evans and Mirza Teletovic (although you can probably add Tyshawn Taylor, too). Expect movement in the next few days on Brook Lopez and either Kris Humphries or Ersan Ilyasova. Gerald Green? Back-up center? Back-up point guard?
Three of the seven Nets mentioned above will return to competitive basketball in the next few days. Williams flies to Las Vegas for the Team USA tryouts which begin this weekend while Brooks and Taylor will be part of the Nets entry in the Orlando Summer League, starting 11 a.m. Monday. So is the #54 pick, Toko Shengelia, who just wants a tryout. Tim Bontemps will cover for the Post and we will update the site.
July 6 - July 11 - Team USA will train daily at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. Deron Williams will only go through light workouts and strength and conditioning until July 11. Team USA officials have said D-Will expects to sign his deal as soon as he can on July 11. Since Las Vegas is three hours behind and first signings can take place at midnight Eastern time, he could sign at 9 p.m. Pacific time, over dinner!
July 8 - Final Team USA roster must be set.
July 9 - July 16 - Orlando Summer League. MarShon Brooks and two of the three players drafted on June 28 will be on hand: Tyshawn Taylor and Toko Shengelia. Also three former lottery picks, Adam Morrison, Julian Wright and Al Thornton, are committed, as are Armor center Jeff Foote, D-League Rookie of the Year Edwin Ubiles and a couple of local products, Shawn Dunston of Fordham and Ashton Gibbs of Pitt (and Seton Hall Prep).
July 11 - Teams can begin signing free agents at 12:01 am. Also, at 12:01 a.m., Joe Johnson and Reggie Evans become Nets since their trades will become official.
July 11 - 18 - Teams can waive players under the amnesty clause of the new CBA. Only players signed before July 1, 2011 are eligible but a team can only amnesty one player over the course of the CBA. Seven teams, including the Nets, have waived players under the clause. After a player is waived, teams that are under the cap can bid on the player. That will not include the Nets. The highest bid gets the contract. Among players who could be waived: Elton Brand by the 76ers. If there are no bidders, amnestied players become unrestricted free agents.
July 12 - Team USA plays Dominican Republic (Al Horford and Francisco Garcia) in Las Vegas, then breaks camp. July 13 is a travel day.
July 14 - 16 - Team USA training, moves to Washington, D.C., concluding with an exhibition vs. Brazil (Tiago Splitter, Anderson Varejao). Top free agents an Acela ride away.
July 17- 19 - Team USA moves to Europe where it will stay through August 12. First stop is in Manchester, England, Team USA has an exhibition game July 19 against Team Great Britain (Luol Deng, Ben Gordon) at the Manchester Arena.
July 22 - 24 - Team USA celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Dream Team with exhibition games in Barcelona, site of the 1992 Olympics, against Argentina (Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola, Andres Nocioni) on July 22 and Spain (Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol and Jose Calderon) on July 24.
July 26 - September 11 - Croatia's National Team is not in the Olympics, but it will play 15 games this summer, startgin July 26 vs. the Swiss National Team. Still no word on Bojan Bogdanovic's buyout. One set of games that could be of interest to Nets fans: the Ex-Yugo Tournament starting August 5 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Croatia will play Bosnia: Bogdanovic vs. Mirza Teletovic. Will they play in the cup or be preparing for their season in Brooklyn?
July 27 – August 12 - 2012 Summer Olympics in London. First mens' basketball game is against France at. 9:30 a.m. ET (2:30 p.m. local) on July 29. Deron Williams will be the only Net playing at the Olympics, Bojan Bogdanovic's Croatian team doesn't have an invite. Nor does Mirza Teletovic's Bosnia squad.
Early August - NBA schedule is released. Nets fans will learn who the team will play in its inaugural game at Barclays Center. Will it be the Knicks?
August 15 - September 9 - FIBA European Championship Qualifying Round. Bosnia (Teletovic) faces off against Georgia (Toko Shengelia) on August 21 and September 5. Again, will they be in Ljubljana or East Rutherford?
September 5 - Expected completion date for Barclays Center. Expect a couple of shakeout events in early September. Moved back from August 27.
September 13 -16 - Basketball Without Borders, Russia. Expect some Nets' representation at this first BWB event in Russia.
September (TBD) - Nets new uniform design to be unveiled, just before training camp. Also, like the Nets team identity, expect the design to be leaked.
September 28 - Opening Night, Barclays Center. Jay-Z will open the arena with a concert.
October 1 - Nets training camp opens this week at PNY Center in East Rutherford.
October 2 - First sporting event at Barclays, a preseason NHL game between the Islanders and Devils.
October 17 - Arena construction documents list this date as first preseason game at the arena. It will likely be earlier.
October 31 - Opening Night for the Brooklyn Nets, according to those same documents. Arena officials note that this is simply a target date, not set in stone.