By FRED KERBER
Tomorrow night the Nets finally kick off the season – darn, don’tcha hate seeing pre-season end? But figure you’ll unravel the whole grassy knoll thing before Lawrence Frank gives up his starting lineup.
He said he’d announce it tomorrow but if Josh Boone is not starting at center, then there’s no sense trying to reading into indicators any more. Boone has the experience, which Frank pointed out. Boone was working with the starting unit for the most part today. When he wasn’t Brook Lopez was.
“I was in the starting team today. I guess that pretty much says it,” Boone said. “I feel okay. It was a little rougher practice for me today. I made a few more mistakes.”
And Boone thinks he has earned the honor.
“I would like to think so. If I didn’t earn it I wouldn’t be out there,” he said.
Boone, of course, missed nine days with his rapid heartbeat scare. He certainly looked like the starting five before that. And his edge on defense over a rookie makes him the logical choice to face the Wizards.
“We will announce it officially tomorrow. You can make any assumption you like,” said Frank.
OK, assume Boone starts with Devin Harris, Vince Carter, Bobby Simmons and Yi Jianlian.
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What’s a day without medical news?
Scratch Trenton Hassell. The backup G/F didn’t make the trip to D.C. because of an inner ear infection. Flying with that ailment is roughly equivalent to, basically, shoving a red hot knitting needle into your head.
“Trenton has an inner ear infection. He came in wasn’t feeling well. Timmy (trainer Walsh) Sent him to the doctor. He is not going to travel to Washington,” Frank said.
Eduardo Najera (wrist) will travel to Washington but will not play. Najera was checked by the docs Monday and nothing new was uncovered. He hasn’t practiced with contact in like forever so it will be “a couple days,” Frank said before he’s back.
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A spokesman for owner Bruce Ratner denied a report that said he checked into options to sell the team.
“The story isn’t true. I don’t know what else to say. It’s not true,” the spokesman said.
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Boone, 24, in his third season has been a Net longer than anyone not named Vince Carter.
“It is (strange) going from last year, being one of the youngest to this year where even with guys in the league 10 years, I have the second longest tenure. So I try to use that experience to help (the new guys),” Boone said.
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Speaking of tenure, Lawrence Frank trails only tomorrow night’s opponent, Eddie Jordan, in the East plus Jerry Sloan, Gregg Popovich and Mike Dunleavy in the West for longest tenure with one team.
“Scary,” Frank said. “It makes you appreciate our ownership and Rod and Kiki, how supportive they’ve been
“And the second thing is you realize how fragile our profession is.
I never really looked…You’re so focused on your own thing. (But when it’s mentioned) you’re the second most-tenured coach in the Eastern Conference, it’s crazy because you would think, you’d be here 20 years now.”
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Okay, stop Google-ing “Nets” and “opening night results.” Here are all of their NBA results with the top Nets scorer.
07-08 Chicago W 112-103 OT Jefferson 29
06-07 Toronto W 102-92 Carter 25
05-06 Milwaukee L 110-96 Carter 25
04-05 Miami L 100-71 Jefferson 19
03-04 @Toronto L 90-87 Martin 26
02-03 Atlanta W 105-94 Kidd 16
01-02 Indiana W 103-97 Van Horn 26
00-01 Cleveland L 86-82 A. Williams 20
99-00 Indiana L 119-112 Marbury 39
98-99 @Atlanta L 111-106 Cassell 36
97-98 Indiana W 97-95 Gill 20
96-97 Cleveland L 90-77 Gill 22
95-96 @Toronto L 94-79 Gilliam, Anderson 13
94-95 @Houston L 90-86 Coleman 20
93-94 @Houston L 110-89 Morris 20
92-93 @Philadelphia W 114-111 Morris/Petrovic 27
91-92 @Charlotte W 116-108 Bowie 27
90-91 @Indiana L 100-81 Haley/Coleman 11
89-90 @Miami W 110-90 Hopson 19
88-89 Atlanta L 113-105 Carroll 20
87-88 Cleveland L 114-108 B. Williams 23
86-87 New York W 108-97 Woolridge/B. Williams 20
85-86 Boston W 113-109 (OT) B. Williams 23
84-85 Atlanta L 119-104 B. Williams 18
83-84 Atlanta W 126-108 Birdsong 27
82-83 Chicago W Birdsong 20
81-82 New York L 103-99 Cook 22
80-81 Indiana L 110-91 Gminski/Newlin 15
79-80 Cleveland W 102-95 Williamson 28
78-79 @Detroit W 107-105 Williamson 35
77-78 @Detroit L 110-93 Averitt 23
76-77 @Golden State W 104-103 Archibald 30
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Vince Carter on the outlook, regarding the youth of the team: “We know we’re going to make mistakes. I don’t find myself saying, ‘We’re going to struggle and do this’ and then when we do say, ‘It’s okay.’ It’s not okay. We’re playing to play flawless and make as few mistakes as possible.”
Carter has not officially been voted captain yet. “We’ve got to vote on it.”
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Frank on the Wizards who don’t have Gilbert Arenas or Brendan Haywood but do have Antawn Jamison back from a pre-season knee in jury.
“Watching them…you could see (Caron) Butler, Jamison, (Etan) Thomas, (DeShawn) Stevenson, (Antonio) Daniels, they’re used to playing without Arenas. They played virtually the whole year and had a great year. The young guys are really good. Nick Young can really score. (JaVale) McGee has a lot of talent. Andray Blatche is ready to take that next jump. (Oleksiy) Pecherov looks good and (Darius) Songaila’s a veteran, Juan Dixon too. So they can play 11. Eddie does a great job and I think they’ll be contenders in the Division.”
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Don’t know exactly where Sean Williams fits into the equation. He’s one of three guys Frank still needs to sit down with to discuss roles and assignments.
“Sean, he has to be a high energy guy, a game-changer, a guy who is able to change the momentum of the game by running the floor, dunks at the rim, blocked shots, defensively making his presence felt. That’s what he has to do,” Frank said.
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Useless fact of the day: Ever wonder why you kiss under mistletoe? Goes back to Norse mythology. A young god, Balder, who was extremely popular (the Obama of his time) had a disturbing dream about his demise. So his mother, Frigga, made everything on Earth swear it would never harm her son. But she bypassed mistletoe because it was so small and insignificant. Meanwhile, all the gods got together to party and test Balder’s invincibility and threw rocks, spears, everything at him. All bounced harmlessly away. But Loki (bad guy, probably wore a handlebar moustache) hated the gods and he convinced Balder’s brother, who was blind, to join the party. Loki promised him to guide the throw. So the brother threw a spear with a mistletoe tip and killed Balder. Frigga ordered that whenever anyone, even strangers, met under mistletoe, they would do no harm and kiss as a sign of peace.