Andrei Kirilenko knows all too well how tricky back injuries can be after he missed a significant portion of last season because of them.
So despite going through the non-contact portion of Thursday’s Nets practice without incident, he knows there’s still a long way to go before he’s fully recovered.
“I’m feeling better,” Kirilenko said. “I’m looking forward to getting back and today was the day with some action finally on the floor. Still no contact, but I’m feeling way better.”
Kirilenko missed most of training camp and 25 of the first 29 games a year ago because of back spasms, something he has dealt with throughout the latter part of his career. After feeling his back tighten up following Saturday’s opening practice of training camp, Kirilenko sat out each of the last four days in order to try to assure he only misses a few days instead of a few weeks.
The Nets will have the day off Friday before returning to practice Saturday, but Kirilenko said he isn’t sure if he’ll do any more than he did Thursday, when he participated in all non-contact portions of practice, but sat out of the five-on-five drills and scrimmage.
“We’ll see how it goes,” he said. “So far, I’m feeling pretty good. I know I’m trying to get very excited, but I have to be very careful right now. It’s an important moment.”
Rookie guard Markel Brown impressed both his coaches and teammates with his shooting during Thursday’s practice, and capped the scrimmage with a massive two-handed slam over Mason Plumlee.
“Markel shot the lights out of the ball today,” Deron Williams said. “That’s the only way to put it.”
Nets coach Lionel Hollins was equally impressed.
“I said to myself, ‘Man, I want to see him in a game now,’ ” Hollins said. “I’ve seen him make shots every day in practice, so I want to see him in games make shots.”
In other injury news, Sergey Karasev (sore right foot) sat out of a second straight day of practice, as did Alan Anderson (sore right abdominal muscle).