Around the Nets Tuesday: Bring On The No-Fees

This video is a week old, but I’m posting it anyway: Deron Williams schooling his own game and then Bruce Beck on the microphone.

The Atlanta Hawks, curiously, waive Jordan Williams. The Brooklyn Nets can’t re-acquire him for a year per league rules, and he’s not much more than a fifth big man, but seems odd nonetheless. Williams did suffer with dehydration and conditioning issues last season, but the Hawks had until the beginning of the season if they wanted to waive him. I wonder why they chose to now.

The Nets announced three camp invitees: 6’6″ guard Stephen Dennis, 6’8″ forward James Mays, and 6’8″ forward Carleton Scott. Scott and Mays most recently played overseas, Dennis with the Bakersfield Jam of the NBA D-League. The Nets can invite up to 20 players to camp (they currently have 18), and will need to trim the roster to 15 before opening night.

Mikhail Prokhorov‘s Onexim Group may be $4 billion richer soon. Good, I was just thinking Mickey P didn’t have enough money.

Remember that wonderfully written article in the New York Times about Brooklyn hoops? Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report notes one glaring omission: the writer is the founder of Forest City Ratner‘s PR firm.

The Barclays Center will have seven no-fee ATM’s, thanks to FreeATM Inc., supported by advertising. As someone who hates ATM fees, bring it on.

John Schuhmann, in his Atlanta Hawks preview: “The Hawks’ offense fell off dramatically when Joe Johnson stepped off the floor last season. They scored a rather efficient 105.1 points per 100 possessions with Johnson on the court, but just 97.3 with him on the bench. Of course, most of last season was played without Al Horford. So while the Hawks are losing one All-Star, they’re also getting one back. And if you look back over the last two seasons, the Hawks’ offense didn’t suffer much when Johnson went to the bench, as long as Horford and Josh Smith were still on the floor. Replacing Johnson with Devin Harris and Lou Williams could help the Hawks in one offensive category. As talented as he is, Johnson doesn’t get to the free throw line very often, and he attempted just 20 free throws per 100 field goal attempts last season. As a team, the Hawks ranked 21st in free throw rate.”