Deadlines and Commitments - No. 64

Billy King and Lionel Hollins should be in Johannesburg, South Africa, by now, preparing for the first NBA game on the African continent next week.  So it appears they are done. A couple of players will likely be added to the training camp roster, but those rosters aren't official until Media Day, the day before game opens.

In the meantime, we will have a lot of European action, with at least Bojan Bogdanovic and Andrea Bargnani playing in Eurobasket, the FIBA championship.  The Nets will have a lot of contract decisions to make between now and the first regular season game. Five players have some guarantees on their deals.

Here's the calendar through the middle of January...

July 24 - European national teams will gather at training camps for Eurobasket 2015. Bojan Bogdanovic will play for Croatia and Andrea Bargnani for Italy, depending on the status of his NBA contract.. Sergey Karasev is unlikely to join Team Russia, as several Russian hoops officials admitted this week. He is in full rehab now from his March knee surgery. He expects to resume contact basketball in August.

The actual games start September 5 after a round of exhibition ("friendly") games --12 for Team Italia, nine for Team Croatia-- and run through the championship game on September 20 in Lille, France,  The final game is 10 days before the opening of NBA training camps. Croatia and Italy are expected to be title contenders. Russia is rebuilding. Two years ago, Bogdanovic made the first team All-Eurobasket.  Will 19-year-old Juan Pablo Vaulet play for Team Argentina in the FIBA Americas championship in Mexico City starting August 31? Highly doubtful. He underwent surgery on his troublesome ankle this week.

August 1 - King and Hollins will be on hand for the first NBA game to be played on the continent of Africa. There are hints as well that a few Nets players could play in the game co-sponsored by the NBA and the players' union, the NBPA. It will be an all-star event, with Team Africa vs Team World, two teams made up of NBA players. Hollins is coaching Team World vs. Gregg Popovich, who's got Team Africa. King is GM for Team Africa.

First week of August -- NBA schedule released. Will Nets wear their neat new cream-colored, "Christmas Card" uniforms on December 25?

September 1 - Brown gets another $200,000 on his guarantee, bringing his total to $350,000.

September 29 - Brown's salary is fully guaranteed for the season at $845,000.

September 30 - Likely date for Media Day, the first official gathering for the new roster.

October 1 -- Training camp opens, but not at the new $45 million HSS Training facility on 39th Street in the Industry City section of Brooklyn. It won't be ready until February around the time of the All-Star Break. So the team's 38-year tenure in New Jersey continues.  Teams can bring as many as 20 players to camp. The last two years, the Nets have invited 19 and 17 players.

October 24 -- The Nets have a trade exception for $1,120,920 they received for sending Marquis Teague to the 76ers on October 25 of last year.  The trade exception will expire if it isn’t used before Oct. 24, 2015.

October 26 -- Roster cutdown day. If Earl Clark is still on the roster, he gets $200,000 partial guarantee. Willie Reed will be fully guaranteed if still on the roster.

October 31 - Nets must decide on Sergey Karasev's fourth year option, at $2.5 million.

November 1 -- Assumed date for first regular season game. If he's still on the roster, Quincy Miller receives a guaranteed $100,000 bringing his total to $150,000; Ryan Boatright receives $125,000, bringing his total to $200,000; and Willie Reed's deal becomes fully guaranteed at $947,000.

November 15 -- Quincy Miller gets an additional $125,000 guarantee, giving him a grand total of $275,000.

December 12 -- Two trade exceptions, including the Nets biggest one expire. They are the $3,326,235 TE acquired in the Andrei Kirilenko trade and the $816,482 TE acquired in the Jorge Gutierrez trade.  For trade purposes, another $100,000 can be added to any TE's value.

December 15 -- All free agents signed during the off-season other than Brook Lopez can be traded.

January 10 -- All partially guaranteed contracts get fully guaranteed.

January 15 -- Brook Lopez can be traded.

(Special thanks to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders for contract information.)