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There was a little bit of news -- Bojan Bogdanovic and Willie Reed practiced and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson was sporting some kinetsic tape (but no walking boot) on his sprained ankle. But the big story was, low expectations or not, thousands of Nets fans showed up at Barclays early Sunday morning filling much of the lower bowl for the team's annual open practice.
Led by the Brooklyn Brigade's chanting, the fans watched as Lionel Hollins put the team through a light practice that went more than a half hour longer than scheduled. Then, afterwards, many of the players drifted over to the stands where they were featured in selfies and agreed to autograph Nets gear. Nets cameras grabbed some of the action.
Incredible day meeting fans at #NetsOpenPractice. Thanks to everyone for coming out! #BrooklynRepresent pic.twitter.com/5cpyYdgF1r
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) October 11, 2015
BROOKLYN chant strong! #Nets pic.twitter.com/Hw50voNNFH
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) October 11, 2015
The Young family getting in on the dance-off action at #NetsOpenPractice! @yungsmoove21 pic.twitter.com/9iCaw1jeBO
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) October 11, 2015
Fan favorites Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson, in particular, were mobbed and some fans got more than one player to pose with them.
Great time @BrooklynNets Open Practice pic.twitter.com/E2wwvb3Kyo
— Anthony Parisi (@RealAnt_Parisi) October 11, 2015
Lopez seemed to enjoy his eighth Nets open practice (and fourth in Brooklyn), blowing air kisses and raising his arms in recognition of fans cheers. He also claimed he's going to play Chewbacca on Halloween. Problem is the team is in Memphis that night so unless Hollins can point him to some good streets, it's going to be tough. RHJ got into it when the Brigade and others started chanting "rookie of the year," revving them on.
One of the high points came when a Knicks fan (!!), apparently lost, began extolling the Knicks championships (1970 and 1973), leading the Brigade to chant, "You weren't even born yet!"
But nothing topped this... The Brigade chanting, "It ain't bad here," conducted by Joe Johnson...
.@TheBklynBrigade chanted "It ain't that bad here!" as @TheJoeJohnson7 conducted. #Nets #NetsOpenPractice pic.twitter.com/qOsSsVUw5x
— Three Cheers (@TheBKN3) October 11, 2015
In other news, Andrea Bargnani, Markel Brown and Thomas Robinson along with RHJ and Chris McCullough didn't participate but were in their practice sweats. No one was in street clothes. The Nets play again Wednesday night at Barclays Center, facing off against the surging (at least vs. European teams) Boston Celtics.