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It was a fan friendly day at All-Star weekend, with players who'll participate in the RIsing Stars Challenge and Slam Dunk contest mingling with those who came to Brooklyn's LIU campus seeking autographs and selifies.
Bojan Bogdanovic joked that as the oldest "rising star" at 25, he's a role model.
"I mean, I am one of the oldest guys so they have to learn from me," Bogdanovic said. "No, I'm joking. There are so many good players. We can all learn something from each other."
Mason Plumlee talked about having only 20 minutes --so far-- to practice dunks as speculation increased that he would try the three-ball dunk. He spoke as well about how he wanted to be MVP of the Challenge.
"I was going for it last year [in New Orleans]," Plumlee said with a smile. "I just didn't come up with it."
Then, there was the trade talk. Plumlee once again put in another pitch for Lance Stephenson, his second in two days.
"I've known Lance since high school," Plumlee said during a break in practice for the Rising Stars Challenge at LIU on Thursday. "I know he's a competitor. He plays hungry and I always respected that about him ... I could go through a lot of guys in the league you would love to play with but he gets brought up because he's a Brooklyn guy. I'm sure the city would love to have him. But he's not helping us right now. I respect him as a player."
Meanwhile, Chris Mannix of SI once again suggested that Brook Lopez could be traded between now and next Thursday.
"The one big name that's out there at the trade deadline is Brooklyn's Brook Lopez. It feels you like we talk about him every week but he is the target of a lot of teams who are out there looking to upgrade the center position. He's been pretty over the last several weeks for Brooklyn, but there are going to be teams coming at him up to the deadline.
"Keep a strong eye on the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets are trying to reinvent themselves under Brian Shaw and GM Tim connolly as more of a halcourt-based team. They don't have the personnel to do that right now, but Lopez because of his ability to play through the low post and shoot jump shots from the outside would seem to be a pretty good fit."
On the corporate side of things, it appeared that neither owner of the two sponsoring teams --Mikhail Prokhorov and James Dolan-- would make an appearance this weekend. Prokhorov, it appears, will be staying home in freezing Moscow rather than flying into freezing New York.
- Who Wins Dunk Competition? (Video) - ESPN
- NBA: Double duty for Mason Plumlee - Andy Vasquez - The Record
- Starry Hoop for a Sobbing Hoops Town - Jason Gay - Wall Street Journal
- Plumlee hopes Nets can make Stephenson trade happen - Mitch Abramson - New York Daily News
- Knicks and Nets owners not worthy of Star turn - Filip Bondy - New York Daily News
- Prokhorov closer to selling Nets than title dream - Stefan Bondy - New York Daily News
- Knicks owner Dolan can't easily delete email flap - Bob Raissman - New York Daily News
- Dr. J, Jason Kidd and the all-time Nets team - Fred Kerber - New York Post
- How dunk star Mason — not Jason! — Plumlee took NYC by storm - Tim Bontemps - New York Post
- Owners of Host Teams Can Skip the All-Star Festivities - Richard Sandomir- New York Times
- N.B.A. Is Having an All-Star Party (and You’re Not Invited to the Main Event) - Zach Schonbrun - New York Times
- Watch: Mason Plumlee talks Dunk Contest (Video) - SNY Nets
- NBA's young stars rising to the challenge - Laura Albanese - Newsday
- Mason Plumlee savoring home-court advantage for Slam Dunk Contest (Video) - Newsday
- Q+A with Bojan Bogdanovic at ASW 2015 - Brooklyn's Finest
- Mannix Mailbag: How much is Ricky Rubio really worth? (Video) - Chris Mannix - Sports Illustrated
- NBA trade deadline: Five players who should want to find new teams - Will Law - Sports Illustrated
- Around the city with Mason Plumlee (Video) - Brooklyn Nets
- Mason Plumlee, Zach Lavine sign autographs (Video) - Brooklyn Nets
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Brooklyn's Rising Stars (Video) - Brooklyn Nets