"The Association: Brooklyn Nets" is back and in the most intriguing bit, Billy King is seen working the phones at the trade deadline, listening as Danny Ferry, the Hawk GM tells King the Nets proposal for Josh Smith isn't enough.
For Avery Johnson, it was a chance to coach anyone...and he looked thrilled to be doing it. For Mikhail Prokhorov, it was a chance to begin fulfilling his promise to use the Nets expertise to help Russian basketball. Johnson and Popeye Jones spent time Wednesday working with both Russian kids and Russian coaches.
With as many as a third of the first round picks from overseas, the Nets have dispatched their top scout to Italy where he'll meet up with the team's international scout to watch European prospects this weekend at the Adidas Eurocamp outside Venice. Gregg Polinsky and Danko Cvjeticanin are expected to spend two days at the camp.
It's all about the draft now, with the parade of individual tryouts slated to begin this week and the adidas Treviso EuroCamp, the last group workout the week after. Expect mock drafts to become more frequent and more accurate as the month goes on. The Draft itself of course will be held at Prudential Center this June.
