They are not Kidd-ing

I wrote this when the report initially came out. And now it has been made official.

Jason Kidd comes back home. It ain't New Jersey, but it is still the Nets. Will be interesting what will his philosophy going to be, as well as who he will be naming as his assistants.

He did say this: 

Championship teams are built on being prepared, playing unselfishly and being held accountable, and that's how I expect to coach this basketball team.

The press conference is to take place later at the Brooklyn Nets offices.

The Conflict of Spike

Brooklyn native and Manhattan New York Knicks super fan Spike Lee with this interesting discussion about the dynamic of his psyche.


Love the color interplay, too. The NBA is awesome in doing promo, this way.

The Atlantic Division NBA Preview

Boston Celtics  - 39-27 last season. Division Champions. 4th seed in playoffs. Lost to the Miami Heat in Eastern Conference Finals.

Ideal Rotation: Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Brandon Bass / Jason Terry, Courtney Lee, Leandrinho Barbosa, Jeff Green, Jared Sullinger, Darko Milicic

Storyline/s: They were that close to winning the East. In fact, they were one game away. But can Doc Rivers and the C's do it again? They'll do it without Jesus Shuttlesworth, who departed to the dark side, so to speak. Danny Ainge decided to plug in a set of swingmen + Jet swag to replace the minutes. The Big Ticket was revitalized by the move as the main slotman, but given the age, hopefully, he does not have to bear the brunt of the minutes *looks at Brandon, Darko and Jared* excessively

X-Factor/s: Jeff Green missed last season due to his heart issues. He's the tweener forward tasked to provide relief for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett

Prognosis: Division Champs. Exiting the Conference Finals.

Brooklyn Nets - 22-44 last season. Missed playoffs altogether.

Ideal Rotation: Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries, Brook Lopez / C.J. Watson, MarShon Brooks, Mirza Teletovic, Reggie Evans, Andray Blatche, Josh Childress

Storylines: They got Prokhorov. They got Jay-Z. They got some new digs and a new image to boot. They tried to get Dwight, pulling off the deal to get Joe Johnson as a bargaining chip, while keeping Deron and Crash. But fate would have it that the proposed megadeal won't push through.

X-Factor/s: The Nets decided to reward Brook Lopez after deciding to nix dealing for Dwight. Time for him to earn that keep.

Prognosis: Exiting 1st round of playoffs.

New York Knicks - 36-30 last season. 7th seed in playoffs. Lost to the Miami Heat in the 1st Round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs

Ideal Rotation: Jason Kidd, J.R. Smith, Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler / Raymond Felton, Pablo Prignoni, Ronnie Brewer, Steve Novak, Rasheed Wallace, Marcus Camby

Storyline/s: Linsanity lasted 35 games (25 of those he started) and Knicks management felt it was not worth it to match the offer sheet he received. They turned over the keys to old point guards (Kidd, Prignoni) and a returnee (Felton). But this is still Carmelo's team (especially since STAT is having his knee checked again) and Mike Woodson authored the Iso-Joe offense in Atlanta.

X-Factor/s: Deron Williams says Raymond Felton is a better point guard than Lin. The North Carolina alum played his worst season last year in Portland, admitting he was out of shape.

Prognosis: Exiting 1st round of playoffs.

Philadelphia 76ers - 35-31 last season. 8th seed in Playoffs. Lost to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Ideal Rotation: Jrue Holliday, Jason Richardson, Dorell Wright, Lavoy Allen, Andrew Bynum / Evan Turner, Nick Young, Thaddeus Young, Spencer Hawes

Storyline/s: Did the Sixers luck out on making it to the next round thanks to Derrick Rose's injury? Can they convince Andrew Bynum to stay in Philly after trading Iguodala and other assets to be involved in this megadeal?

X-Factor/s: Lavoy Allen proved to a serviceable asset enough for Philly to amnesty Elton Brand. Can Evan Turner mimic the contributions Andre Iguodala made for Doug Collins?

Prognosis: Exiting the Conference Semifinals.

Toronto Raptors - 23-43 last season. Missed playoffs altogether.

Ideal Rotation: Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Linas Kleiza, Andrea Bargnani, Jonas Valanciunas / Jose Calderon, Landry Fields, Terrence Ross, Ed Davis, Aaron Gray, Amir Johnson

Storyline/s: Their attempted dalliance with Steve Nash (and to some extent, Jeremy Lin) netted them Kyle Lowry, in exchange for a 1st round pick that has some novel protection quirks on it. Can they figure in the chase for the last few playoff seats?

X-Factor/s: DeMar DeRozan worked on improving his game in the offseason. How that can be translated into the upcoming season will determine if he will still be a viable member of the franchise next season.

Prognosis: Missing the playoffs.

Brook Lopez is coming to the Philippines

Fresh from the homecoming of Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, the Philippines will once again be the host of a NBA guest in a few days.

To commemorate NBA 3X Philippines 2012 presented by Sprite, Brooklyn Nets big man Brook Lopez will be visiting and partaking of the activities, scheduled from August 17-19 at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall and the SM by the Bay,

Joining the seven-foot Stanford alum will be the Charlotte Lady Cats Dancers as well as Stuff, the Magic Dragon, a.k.a. the mascot of the Orlando Magic.

Brook, who recently signed an extension with the Nets, is very excited to visit the country, adding that, "I know some of the NBA’s most avid fans are in the Philippines and I look forward to bringing a taste of the league to their home country and seeing a great display of basketball talent.”

Alongside the 3x3 event will be a slam dunk contest as well as a skills challenge, both of which will be sponsored by Sprite, as well as a three-point shootout sponsored by KFC. In addition, there will also be try-outs for the Sprite Uncontainable Game, a basketball match centered around Lebron James' Team Sudden facing off against Kobe Bryant's Team Intense. Both players will assemble their roster from a global pool of players, which will include a couple from the Philippines. Those selected to participate gets to go to the 2013 NBA All-Star Game. Check out Sprite's ad for this event.



Those who are not participating in the event can still enjoy the experience, as live bands and DJs will provide some entertainment. There will also be NBA merchandise giveaways. Ballers from the different basketball leagues as well as local celebrities will also grace the event, which has Sprite and KFC as its main partners. The event also has the following partners: SOLARtv Network Inc., Studio 23, X-Play, Philippine Star, PhilStar.com and SLAM Philippines (for media), Marriott Manila, Spalding and Monster Cable (for support) and SM Mall of Asia and SM Cinemas (for venue).

For more details, check out NBA Philippines, either on the web, on Facebook, or on Twitter.

DeShawn and the ATM

That is Nets shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson in his home kitchen. He posted that on his Instagram account. You'll see a lot of things that you would normally see, except for that one little thing to his right.

That one little thing is an ATM machine.

Now why would someone have such an item installed in his house? According to SB Nation's Andrew Sharp, he views it as an alternative means of avoiding surcharges. Someone also thought of this from one of the commenters of SB Nation:

Here’s a different perspective. Say Stevenson is the type of person who needs large amounts of cash on hand at any given time (and can’t make it to a bank when he needs it). If so, then that money is sitting dead in his house, not gathering interest. But if he has it in the bank, and can pull it out at any time with the ATM, it’s gathering interest AND he has the same access as if the money were sitting under his mattress. Not to mention the protection from robbery, FDIC insurance, and other intangible benefits.

If this is the case, then the proper cost-benefit analysis compares the ATM rental to the interest earned on the maximum amount of money the ATM can hold.

$65 * 12months is $780. So it costs him $780/year to keep the ATM. Using the simple interest formula (for simplicity!) I=Prt, t=1 and I = 780. You can then plug in different interest rates to see how much money the ATM needs to hold for it to be better than keeping money in a safe.

For example:
2.5% interest = $31,200
5% interest = $15,600
7.5% interest = $10,400
10% interest = $7,800

Etc.

Maybe he’s just a man who needs cash handy, but hates losing money. Maybe DeShawn Stevenson is the wisest of us all.

Considering how NBA players need to have cash on hand at the ready given their spending habits, it makes sense in Deshawn's thinking to have an ATM at home. It is also important to note that this is also the same guy who has Abe Lincoln tattooed on his neck.

DeShawn, who was an integral part of the Mavericks' run for the championship last season, averaged 2.9 points in 51 games for the New Jersey Nets, making 30 starts. He made $2.5 million last season.