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From the moment that Jason Collins' announcement sent shockwaves through the sporting world , the questions hung in the air, unavoidable. Who's going to sign him now? Is anyone going to sign him? What kind of team would sign him?
Nearly 10 months later, we have our answer.
RT to welcome @jasoncollins34 to Brooklyn! #Nets pic.twitter.com/D05R9td9cx — Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) February 23, 2014
As first reported by Yahoo Sports NBA columnists Adrian Wojnarowski and Marc J. Spears , someone will sign Collins, and it's the Brooklyn Nets. It's a team in need of an extra big body on their bench, a team led by a coach, Jason Kidd, who spent 6 1/2 years playing alongside Collins and has supported Collins' revelation since the start. It's a team with a roster chock full of veterans experienced in separating the external and extraneous from what matters on the floor. It's a team of grown-ups. It took us a while to get here, but we're here, and it's just about perfect.
Word that there might be a match between team and player began to circulate last week after the Nets season-ending foot injury , and that has since gotten even smaller by moving little-used reserve rebounder Reggie Evans to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for shooting guard Marcus Thornton.
''We're going to bring in a basketball player,'' King said, according to Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press . ''It's not about marketing or anything like that.''
Whether marketing or public perception had anything to do with Brooklyn's decision-making, it's inevitable that adding Collins will draw an immense amount of media attention, both positive and negative, to a Nets team that has significantly underperformed its nine-figure salary sheet and (admittedly misguided) preseason expectations of title contention en route to a 25-28 record that has them clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference heading into Sunday's action.
In the past — including the very recent past — many have argued that such increased attention could serve as a chaos-inducing distraction that might segment a locker room and derail the focus of a team aiming to make a playoff push. Nets point guard Deron Williams acknowledged that a Collins signing would spark a media frenzy, but suggested that Brooklyn was precisely the sort of team equipped to handle it, according to Newsday's Rod Boone : "I think it's definitely going to be a media circus just because of the situation," Williams said. "It'd be a historic day and so we definitely have to deal with that. But I think with the type of team that we have, veterans who have played with him before and know him, it shouldn't be a problem." [...] "It's not him being a distraction," Williams said. "It's just the media coming along with it, because every city you go to, it's not just like you answer a question once and then it's over with. It's a recurring thing. But like I said, I don't think it would be a problem for us."
The general tenor: No "distraction" is as powerful as an idea whose time has come.
From Tim Bontemps of the New York Post : “It’s 2014,”
Deron Williams said Friday when asked if the NBA was ready for an openly gay player. "Michael Sam just came out, and his teammates welcomed him, and they’re in college. It’s time for the NBA, as well.”
Continue reading...
Nearly 10 months later, we have our answer.
RT to welcome @jasoncollins34 to Brooklyn! #Nets pic.twitter.com/D05R9td9cx — Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) February 23, 2014
As first reported by Yahoo Sports NBA columnists Adrian Wojnarowski and Marc J. Spears , someone will sign Collins, and it's the Brooklyn Nets. It's a team in need of an extra big body on their bench, a team led by a coach, Jason Kidd, who spent 6 1/2 years playing alongside Collins and has supported Collins' revelation since the start. It's a team with a roster chock full of veterans experienced in separating the external and extraneous from what matters on the floor. It's a team of grown-ups. It took us a while to get here, but we're here, and it's just about perfect.
Word that there might be a match between team and player began to circulate last week after the Nets season-ending foot injury , and that has since gotten even smaller by moving little-used reserve rebounder Reggie Evans to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for shooting guard Marcus Thornton.
''We're going to bring in a basketball player,'' King said, according to Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press . ''It's not about marketing or anything like that.''
Whether marketing or public perception had anything to do with Brooklyn's decision-making, it's inevitable that adding Collins will draw an immense amount of media attention, both positive and negative, to a Nets team that has significantly underperformed its nine-figure salary sheet and (admittedly misguided) preseason expectations of title contention en route to a 25-28 record that has them clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference heading into Sunday's action.
In the past — including the very recent past — many have argued that such increased attention could serve as a chaos-inducing distraction that might segment a locker room and derail the focus of a team aiming to make a playoff push. Nets point guard Deron Williams acknowledged that a Collins signing would spark a media frenzy, but suggested that Brooklyn was precisely the sort of team equipped to handle it, according to Newsday's Rod Boone : "I think it's definitely going to be a media circus just because of the situation," Williams said. "It'd be a historic day and so we definitely have to deal with that. But I think with the type of team that we have, veterans who have played with him before and know him, it shouldn't be a problem." [...] "It's not him being a distraction," Williams said. "It's just the media coming along with it, because every city you go to, it's not just like you answer a question once and then it's over with. It's a recurring thing. But like I said, I don't think it would be a problem for us."
The general tenor: No "distraction" is as powerful as an idea whose time has come.
From Tim Bontemps of the New York Post : “It’s 2014,”
Deron Williams said Friday when asked if the NBA was ready for an openly gay player. "Michael Sam just came out, and his teammates welcomed him, and they’re in college. It’s time for the NBA, as well.”
Continue reading...
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