It’s been a while since I checked in on the statuses of Nets currently under contract in ULOAUNBA (un-locked-out alternate universe NBA), so here’s a quick roundup.
Bojan Bogdanvoic: Bojan has heated up after a slow start, scoring in double figures in three of his last four games, including a season-high 19 on 7-13 shooting in just 22 minutes in a 73-70 victory over Bandirma.
MarShon Brooks: Start at :40 here. Hey, it’s not much, but it’s something. Like you, I just want to see that in an arena. Many rookies picked after #20 (and before) are sitting around uninvited to charity games, and Brooks is dropping slams in a game organized by veterans. Just sayin’.
Jordan Farmar: Farmar continues to rip up the Euro basketball circuit, most recently dropping an 18-6-5 on Sasha Vujacic’s Anadolu Efes in a 79-72 victory. Maccabi Electra Tel-Aviv has won nine straight games over its three leagues, and Farmar continues to act as the catalyst.
Sundiata Gaines: Gaines has played surprisingly solid basketball for Georgian team BC Armia. After a double-double (14 points, 12 assists, to go along with 5 rebounds) in a 100-62 rout, Gaines followed up with a 24-4-4 performance and another solid outing (13 points, 5 assists) in two additional victories. I would be 100% okay with Gaines as the backup point guard next season… or this season… or whenever.
Damion James: Along with just getting a twitter account (@KONJames10), DJ will play in a charity game this coming Sunday to benefit The John Lucas Foundation, which provides substance-abuse training and counseling for basketball players.
Avery Johnson: With no team to coach, Avery has taken to visiting high schoolers in Baton Rouge, preaching “effort and excellence.”
Brook Lopez: Brook seems to make it his mantra to stay out of the spotlight, which may aid the idea that he’s not a legitimately great player. His most high-profile picture this summer is a shot of a dog attacking his arm. Since he’s not a particularly public persona, all we know about his whereabouts in the past week are that he attended Stanford football’s 53-30 loss to Oregon on Saturday with twin brother Robin. Other than that… well, I just hope he’s working on defense.
Anthony Morrow: Starred in a charity event benefiting COMP (Children of Murdered Parents). No official stats from the game, and even so, you’d take them with more than a grain of salt, but judging by Morrow’s twitter feed, the event came shortly after a workout and was, by all accounts, a great success.
Travis Outlaw/Johan Petro: I’m far from a native French speaker, but I believe this French website speculates that writers in the US believe Johan Petro is an amnesty option for the Nets. Naturally, those voices are drowned out by the voice of reason, which clearly states that if you’re gifted the opportunity to take $28 million off the cap over four years for a guy that’s struggled with conditioning issues and put up a career-worst 8.8 PER in his first full season since 2009, you do it. With that said, I would not be surprised to see Outlaw have a resurgence wherever he ends up — after all, he can’t get any worse, right?
Deron Williams: The star has been shining. D-Will has followed up his impressive performances by continuing to excel, scoring over 20 points in each of his last three games, capped by a 28-point performance yesterday against Mersin. In five TBL games, Deron is averaging 21.4 points and 6.6 assists per game, shooting over 50% from both inside and outside the arc, and including games prior and concurrent to TBL is leading Besiktas to an 11-game winning streak.
Jordan Williams: As NetsDaily points out, Jordan will be cloned this week so that he can play in two charity games at the same time. No word on if his clone’s name is “Josh Boone.”
Today is day 137 of the NBA Lockout.
