Former Brooklyn Nets forwards Richard Jefferson and Paul Pierce think Tyronn Lue would have success in Brooklyn as head coach.
Paul Pierce is convinced Ty Lue is a “great fit” at head coach for any team in the NBA, including Brooklyn.
On Tuesday, the former Nets forward made his case for Lue, who is “well-liked around the league, a guy who relates to the players,” according to Pierce.
As for how things would work if the former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach took over as Nets head coach, Pierce said the combination of Lue, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving would make the Nets a “championship-caliber team” while on ESPN’s “The Jump”:
Can they do it? We have yet to see. Or it has yet to happen. But [Lue is] a great fit all across the board, I believe.
Former Nets forward Richard Jefferson thinks is the “No. 1 young coach,” adding:
Do I think he can be successful [in Brooklyn]? Yes.
But Jefferson made it clear; he does no know if Irving wants to reunite with Lue.
Three Basketball Hall of Famers have played the small forward position for the Nets. But are any of them the best in franchise history?
Kevin Durant has the length of a power forward to go with the skillset of a small forward. By the time his Nets career comes to a close, it wouldn’t be stunning if Brooklyn’s new superstar was considered among the best at either forward position.
But Durant has yet to play one minute in a Brooklyn uniform, so he cannot be in the conversation for either best Nets power or small forward of all time. Though, even without Durant, the Nets have had some impressive forwards through the years.
After looking through all the small forwards to wears a Nets uniform — having already examined Nets point guards and shooting guards, as well — Nets Wire selected the five best in franchise history:
5. Albert King
Malcolm Emmons – USA TODAY Sports
Nets Stats: 13.6 PPG | 47.1 FG% | 4.6 RPG
King was a consistently solid player for the Nets throughout his seven-year Nets career. New Jersey clinched five consecutive playoff berths with him at the three.
He posted a career-high in points (17) and rebounds (5.8) per game in his second year in the league.
BrooklynNets.com ranks King No. 24 among the 25 best players in franchise history.
Ian Eagle, Sarah Kustok and the rest of YES Network’s team for Brooklyn Nets games have been ranked the No. 1 local NBA broadcast.
While it’s always a big deal for any team to have a nationally televised game, Brooklyn Nets fans don’t need their team to be on ESPN or TNT to get a top-flight broadcast.
Whether it’s Ian Eagle or Ryan Ruocco on play-by-play, YES Network always has a compelling voice to take fans through the big moments.
Then there’s Sarah Kustok and Richard Jefferson, who provide great insight and offer additional entertainment as solo analysts, but also manage to kick things up a notch when they’re working side-by-side as part of a three-announcer show.
Of course, Michael Grady is courtside, as well. But for the sake of Awful Announcing’s 2019-20 local NBA announcer rankings, courtside reporters were not factored in.
After tallying the votes from readers, Awful Announcing listed the team of announcers on YES’s broadcast of Nets games as the top NBA local broadcast.
Voters were able to give letter grades from A to F. The YES team’s most popular grade was an A (72.73%), edging out the New York Knicks’ broadcast team by 2.58%.
Vince Carter had some impressive days in a New Jersey Nets uniform, one of which came on April 2, 2006.
With the NBA on hiatus — which NBA commissioner Adam Silver set at 30 days — and New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, placing a ban on gatherings of more than 500 people for the foreseeable future due to the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, no Brooklyn Nets games will be played for the time being.
For the Nets, as much as any team, this comes at an odd time — Brooklyn was battling the Orlando Magic for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference standings. At the stoppage of play, the Nets had a half-game advantage over the Magic.
Since there aren’t any games, each day Nets Wire will highlight major individual performances and key developments throughout Nets history:
Entering play on April 2, 2006, the New Jersey Nets were the hottest team in the NBA. They were riding an 11-game winning streak, had the third-best record in the Eastern Conference and set to take on the Miami Heat — who also happened to be the No. 2 team in the East.
But overall season records didn’t matter this day, especially not to Vince Carter.
The Nets star went off for 43 points on 16-for-27 shooting. He also had six assists, three rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot in New Jersey’s 90-78 win over the Heat (full box score).
“He’s one of the best, and when you’re one of the best, you get up for games like this,” said Jason Kidd said of Carter after the 2006 win. “When he came here, people talked about how he was soft, how he was a guy who didn’t want to compete when things got tough. But we haven’t seen that. This is just like last year when he carried us on his back in the second half of the season.”
Kidd had nine points, nine assists, seven rebounds and three steals in the win. Richard Jefferson also had seven rebounds and finished second in scoring (16 points) for the Nets. Nenad Krstic scored 11 points and grabbed eight boards.
For the Heat, Dwyane Wade scored 32 points and also finished with six rebounds, five assists and two steals. Shaquille O’Neal finished with 18 points and nine rebounds. Udonis Haslem had 11 boards and Antoine Walker scored 11 points off the bench.
Richard Jefferson interviewed Eric Paschall on Instagram Live and tried to set up the Warriors rookie.
With seemingly everyone in the NBA possessing free time these days, Golden State Warriors rookie Eric Paschall jumped on Instagram Live with Richard Jefferson on Tuesday afternoon.
Jefferson took over the SportsCenter Instagram page and talked to the Warriors rookie for a period of time. Since retiring from the NBA, Jefferson has picked up quite a few media jobs and has emerged as an entertaining figure given his outgoing personality.
He dug deep into his bag of tricks on Tuesday and tried to set Paschall up into badmouthing Warriors head coach Steve Kerr but the rookie wasn’t falling for it, which made for a hilarious exchange between the two.
Though Paschall is in just his first season in the NBA, he wasn’t going to take the bait from Jefferson regarding his head coach. Instead, Paschall “passed the test” as Jefferson said.
Paschall emerged as one of the top rookies this season, averaging 14 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 60 games played. He ranks fourth in scoring among all first-year players.
ESPN is releasing “The Last Dance” early after many fans, LeBron James and Richard Jefferson called for an early showing of the documentary.
It may feel like weeks ago, but it was just Thursday that Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James appeared on Richard Jefferson’s and Channing Frye’s Road Trippin’ and suggested ESPN move up the release date of the Michael Jordan “The Last Dance” documentary.
“I’m telling you, if they released that thing right now, the views?” Jamessaid. “Listen, if I’m Michael Jordan, I’m going in there and I’m making a conference call and I’m like, ‘OK, what’s the reason we gonna hold onto it until June now? Compared to now, when everybody is at home.'”
When the King speaks, the networks listen.
There may be no NBA this April, but fans will get to relive the Chicago Bulls dynasty and the 1997-98 season.
ESPN announced Tuesday it is moving up the release date of “The Last Dance” documentary from June to April.
“As society navigates this time without live sports, viewers are still looking to the sports world to escape and enjoy a collective experience,” ESPN said in a statement.
“We’ve heard the calls from fans asking us to move up the release date for this series, and we’re happy to announce that we’ve been able to accelerate the production schedule to do just that. This project celebrates one of the greatest players and dynasties ever, and we hope it can serve as a unifying entertainment experience to fill the role that sports often play in our lives, telling a story that will captivate everyone, not just sports fans.”
On Twitter, SportsCenter posted a video with fans calling for an early release — and it opened with an edited version of the Road Trippin’ clip with James and Jefferson talking about the idea.
On March, 31, 2003, Richard Jefferson had a memorable performance against the Houston Rockets.
With the NBA on hiatus — which NBA commissioner Adam Silver set at 30 days — and New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, placing a ban on gatherings of more than 500 people for the foreseeable future due to the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, no Brooklyn Nets games will be played for the time being.
For the Nets, as much as any team, this comes at an odd time — Brooklyn was battling the Orlando Magic for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference standings. At the stoppage of play, the Nets had a half-game advantage over the Magic.
Since there aren’t any games, each day Nets Wire will highlight major individual performances and key developments throughout Nets history:
March 31, 2003 was a special night for Richard Jefferson at Continental Airlines Arena.
With Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets in town, the second-year New Jersey forward put on one of his best performances in a Nets uniform. Jefferson reached the 30-point mark for the second time in three games (39 on 3/28 against the New York Knicks) — also the second time in his NBA career, for that matter.
He finished with 11 assists, marking the first time he ever logged double-digit assists in an NBA game. And, to round things out, Jefferson had 10 boards — marking the forward’s first career triple-double.
Jason Kidd had himself a double-double in the 110-86 win (full box score). Like Jefferson, Kidd scored 30 points. The Nets point guard also had 12 rebounds.
Richard Jefferson made his mark in the NBA as a slasher who could shoot from the perimeter.
Richard Jefferson made a career out of cutting through the lane and finishing at the rim, whether that meant dunking on people or scoring layups.
An NBA champion, Jefferson played his first seven NBA seasons with the New Jersey Nets. He had his best years in New Jersey, making a name for himself as an athletic forward who could also shoot from the perimeter.
According to Basketball Reference, Jefferson ranks fourth in Nets history for points (8,507). During his time with the Nets, he averaged 17.4 points per game and shot 33.8% from the 3-point line. He has career averages of 12.6 points per game on 46.4% shooting from the field.
For clarification purposes, the New Jersey Nets Trio of Jason Kidd, Vince Carter & Richard Jefferson was fun to watch! @Rjeff24pic.twitter.com/14yqVqxcFG
Jefferson walked into the best of circumstances when he started his career with the Nets in 2001.
Jason Kidd had been traded to the Nets during the summer of 2001. As one of the best passers ever, Kidd had the perfect complement in Jefferson, the epitome of a slasher. According to Basketball Reference, Jefferson shot 61.6% on shots 0-3 feet from the hoop during his tenure with the Nets.
During their first season together, Jefferson and Kidd took the Nets to the NBA Finals. They lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in a sweep. The following season, the Nets went back to the Finals and lost to the San Antonio Spurs in six games.
Jefferson and Kidd never went to the Finals again, but in December 2004 they gained a valuable teammate in Vince Carter. Carter was traded from the Toronto Raptors to New Jersey. Once Carter came on, the Nets boasted one of the most entertaining teams in the league.
Carter already had a reputation as an elite dunker and quality scorer, and with Jefferson at the other wing, the Nets could play a quick pace.
Jefferson’s last season in New Jersey was the 2007-08 campaign. That same season was also perhaps the best of his career. He led the Nets in scoring, and he averaged a career-high 22.6 points per game. He also shot 36.2% from the 3-point line, which was his second-best 3-point percentage while with the franchise.
During the rest of his career, Jefferson played for the Milwaukee Bucks, Spurs, Golden State Warriors, Utah Jazz, Cleveland Cavaliers and Denver Nuggets. He won his lone NBA title with the Cavs in 2016.
Now an analyst with the YES Network, Jefferson commentates on the Nets’ games. A budding media personality, Jefferson also appears on ESPN and is a host on the Road Trippin’ podcast. Though he isn’t hooping anymore, Jefferson had a career that was filled with hard cuts to the rim.
A solid shooter, Jefferson was an offensive threat who could score and regularly be one of the best players on the floor.
On March 29, 2003, Jason Kidd had one of his many statistically impressive performances, this time against Gilbert Arenas’ Warriors.
With the NBA on hiatus — which NBA commissioner Adam Silver set at 30 days — and New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, placing a ban on gatherings of more than 500 people for the foreseeable future due to the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, no Brooklyn Nets games will be played for the time being.
For the Nets, as much as any team, this comes at an odd time — Brooklyn was battling the Orlando Magic for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference standings. At the stoppage of play, the Nets had a half-game advantage over the Magic.
Since there aren’t any games, each day Nets Wire will highlight major individual performances and key developments throughout Nets history:
Jason Kidd never has a problem filling up the stat sheet during his Nets career. So, even though the numbers he put up in New Jersey’s March 29, 2003 matchup with the Golden State were impressive, some might say it was just another night for the Hall of Fame point guard.
Kidd finished with 22 points, 13 assists, seven rebounds and five steals.
Richard Jefferson also scored 22 points in the Nets’ 109-97 win (full box score). Kenyon Martin — who suffered an injury in this game — and Jason Collins each scored 13 apiece, and Kerry Kittles had 10.
Aaron Williams scored 14 points off the bench for the Nets and Rodney Rogers added 11.
The Warriors were led by quite the cast: Antawn Jamison (28 points), Jason Richardson (20) and Gilbert Arenas (19).
On March 28, 2003, Richard Jefferson ran wild in the New Jersey Nets’ win over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
With the NBA on hiatus — which NBA commissioner Adam Silver set at 30 days — and New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, placing a ban on gatherings of more than 500 people for the foreseeable future due to the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, no Brooklyn Nets games will be played for the time being.
For the Nets, as much as any team, this comes at an odd time — Brooklyn was battling the Orlando Magic for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference standings. At the stoppage of play, the Nets had a half-game advantage over the Magic.
Since there aren’t any games, each day Nets Wire will highlight major individual performances and key developments throughout Nets history:
Richard Jefferson threw down plenty of big dunks throughout his seven-year Nets career. During New Jersey’s March 28, 2003 visit to Madison Square Garden, it seemed like the forward wanted to get as many dunks out of his system as possible.
Jefferson finished with 39 points on 16-for-22 shooting. He also went 7-for-7 at the free-throw line, grabbed six rebounds and dished out four assists in the Nets’ 122-101 win over the New York Knicks (full box score).
“The ballboy asked me for my shoes at halftime, which they’ll do sometimes, and I said: ‘No, I’ve got another half to play. I can’t give these up. I’m feeling it tonight,”’ Jefferson said after the win.
Kenyon Martin scored 25 points for New Jersey and Jason Kidd had a whopping 16 assists.
