Around the Nets: Casual Friday, Starring Deron “2 Chainz” Williams

Taking a break from our regularly scheduled Joe Johnson Week to bring you news and tidbits about the franchise that we talk about on this blog a lot.

Firstly, a New York Times slideshow highlighting the Nets‘ presence in Brooklyn. Some good-looking shirts and advertisements here.

Ben Couch with a nice profile of Gold Medalist Deron Williams. The tagline says it all.

ESPN began its now-annual #NBARank project today, counting down from 500 (Eddy Curry!) to 401 today, then counting all the way up to the #1 player in the NBA, presumably Sundiata Gaines. So far, only one Nets player has been mentioned: rookie forward Tornike Shengelia, coming in at 486. Rookie players (especially international ones) tend not to fare well in these kinds of rankings, for no other reason than the lack of familiarity. I doubt he’s 486 next year.

Participants in #NBARank include Justin DeFeo, Chris Hooker, and this swell guy writing this right now.

MarShon Brooks talks to SLAM for 17 minutes about all things MarShon. There’s a lot of interesting stuff in here, but here’s some factoids: He’s “put on a few pounds” of muscle this offseason, he thinks his passing/playmaking ability is underrated, he understands he has to adjust to playing off Brook Lopez, and he wants to be the Sixth Man of the Year. He also talks positionality a bit — he notes that there might be lineups with him on the floor flanking C.J. Watson and Deron Williams.

Nets Eurostash Ilkan Karaman will join Fenerbahce Ulker, home of the other Nets Eurostash, Bojan Bogdanovic.

Net Income of NetsDaily compiles a few links on Brook Lopez in the Philippines.