Gregg Polinsky is a careful man when he talks to the media, particularly at this time of year. The Nets director of player personnel --chief scout-- has been around for a while. So he knows you don't give away the store before the draft.
Mikhail Prokhorov has said he wants the Nets to win a championship by 2015. He's also said he wants his original $223 million investment in the team and Barclays Center to be worth a billion dollars that same year. The first goal seems fleeting.
Here's what one league source says about writers who think they know who the Nets next coach will be: "They are all speculating with no facts." Here's another: "It's still early." Indeed it is.
In the final edition of "Nets Magazine" on YES, Deron Williams talks about how criticism of his first half play hurt but also motivated his post All-Star Break bounce back. "When you hear people talking about it that way...[that] it's all on me..."
Bob Raissman of the Daily News reports that P.J. Carlesimo, late of the Nets, will be joining ESPN soon to handle studio analysis for the rest of the NBA playoffs.
We look at what's going on with the coaching search, post some draft notes, peer into the future of commuting from Manhattan and New Jersey to Brooklyn, examine how the Nets are aggressively marketing the Islanders and review the Emory College thing.
Brook Lopez was the NBA's best offensive center last season and improved his defense and rebounding as well. Is that enough for him to be named All-NBA? We'll find out soon enough. But that aside, Brook dominated in Brooklyn.
Cross Doc Rivers off the list. Danny Ainge told reporters at the Chicago Draft Combine Thursday that Rivers isn't going anywhere. "Yeah (he'll be back), Doc and I are talking about our team next year,," said Ainge.
Jerry Sloan admits to getting a couple of calls about a return to coaching, but the Salt Lake Tribune reports the Nets are not one of them. Stephen A. Smith told SNY Nets that he expects Billy King to make calls about Doc Rivers and Brian Shaw.
Phil Jackson may have sent signals he's not interested in coaching and that he prefers a "visionary" role to that of executive but none of that is the Nets from making him their first choice. "The only one is Phil right now," said a team insider.
