It's tryout time for the Nets. With the Pre-Draft Combine basically complete, the Nets' front office move on to Minneapolis for the second group workout this weekend, then head back to New Jersey where individual tryouts will begin around Memorial Day Weekend. Then, there is the Adidas Treviso EuroCamp in Italy on June 4-7, and even after the June 23 Draft, there will be a three-day D-League tryout in Louisville on June 24-26. Nets expect to have the Springfield Armor head coach in place by then.
At the end of that, there is the looming threat of a lockout...or whatever the NBA wants to call it.
May 23-24 - Group Workout, Minneapolis. Another group workout. The concept was set up three years back to save money for the teams and time for the prospects.
May 31 - Individual workouts likely to begin in earnest for the Nets.
June 2 - Premium ticket plans for Barclays Center go on sale to general public. (Fall for non premium plans).
June 11 - New York Liberty opens their home season at Prudential Center. The Dolans may own them but they will become New Jersey's team for three years as Madison Square Garden is renovated during the summer. Newark May Cory Booker reports that with the Nets, Liberty, Seton Hall and NCAA Regionals, "The Rock" has become the #3 venue in the US for basketball this year.
June 11-13 - Adidas Treviso EuroCamp. European prospects gather in Treviso, Italy, just outside Venice, to work out in front of NBA scouts and general managers.
June 13 - NBA Early Entrant withdrawal deadline. Primarily applies to international players. Unlike college players, international players can re-sign overseas if there is a lockout. Expect international players to dominate in draft speculation.
June 23 - NBA Draft, Prudential Center, Newark. With the Garden undergoing renovations, the Draft moves across the Hudson to Newark as well. If the draft were held today and no choices are added or subtracted before the deadline or that night, the Nets would have the #27 (Lakers) and the #36 pick. King has said the Nets are likely to be focusing on "wings and bigs" but will take the "best available player".
June 24-26 - D-League National Tryout, HOOPS, Louisville. Participants will be competing for the chance to sign an NBA D-League standard player contract and to be placed in the 2011 NBA D-League Draft, held in November. The Nets have set this week as a deadline for hiring a head coach for the Armor.
June 30 - End of old collective bargaining agreement, possible start of lockout?
July 1 - First day teams can start talking with free agents. Expect deals to be announced but not signed the next day...as long as there's no lockout.
July 5 - Nets must decide whether to keep Stephen Graham for 2011-2012 season. If he is cut by July 5 the Nets owe him nothing. If they keep him, he gets a guaranteed $100,000.
July 18 - Assuming no lockout and no significant changes to the CBA, this is the first day Deron Williams could sign a contract extension with the Nets. Neither of those two assumptions are likely to turn into reality. So the D-Will signing saga is likely to move into the new season whenever and if ever it starts..