NBA: WHY BROOKLYN BEAT MANHATTAN
Westbrook ready to sacrifice to win title
DeAndre Jordan elaborates on why he, and two other coveted free agents, chose to sign with the Nets rather than the beleaguered New York Knicks.
DeAndre Jordan spent the final three months of last season with the New York Knicks, and then chose the team across the Brooklyn Bridge.
Jordan’s decision perhaps had a significant domino effect beyond his own four-year, $40 million agreement. He’s good friends with Kevin Durant and, according to the New York Times, promoted Barclays Center as “a more hospitable backdrop for Durant and Irving than Madison Square Garden.”
If that’s the case, it’d be a tough pill to swallow for the Knicks after they rolled out the carpet for Jordan last season, believing his good experience and impression would help sway Durant.
Jordan finally — and briefly — explained his free agency decision in a Gothamist article published Friday.
“Not to knock the culture the Knicks are creating,” he said, “but we like what (Nets coach) Kenny (Atkinson)’s doing and (GM) Sean (Marks)’s been awesome and the organization, from top to bottom, has been great. So you want to be a part of something like that, especially when you have a chance to play with other great players and build something.”
Given that answer, it’s relevant to note that the Knicks lost a league-worst 65 games last season, while the Nets made a surprising run to the playoffs. The Nets, under Atkinson, also have a distinct playing style predicated on pace and 3-point shooting, while the Knicks had no identity under coach David Fizdale.
The 31-year-old Houston native is clearly embracing NYC — “I’ve become a huge fan of the subway” — but preferred the direction of the team in the outer borough.
“We’ve got a lot of talent on this team,” he said. “You know obviously Kevin (Durant) had a tough injury, he’s going to be out for a while, but he’s progressing great, he’s recovering fast, we’ll be even better when we get him back and healthy.”
KERR-DAVIS: Steve Kerr’s criticism of Anthony Davis didn’t sit well with ESPN analyst and former NBA player Kendrick Perkins.
The Warriors coach said on an NBC Sports Bay Area podcast that Davis’ efforts to force a trade from the New Orleans Pelicans — he landed with the Los Angeles Lakers last month — were “a real problem that the league has to address and that the players have to be careful with.”
Perkins, who was Davis’ teammate with the Pelicans during the 2015-16 season, called foul.
He said Kerr and the Warriors are in no position to throw stones since they bolstered a championship squad into a super team by adding the likes of sincedeparted Kevin Durant.
Perkins tweeted that Kerr has “got damn nerves to talk about anything that’s going on with any organization, as if he just didn’t have Kevin Durant join a 73-9 team!”
Perkins wasn’t done, suggesting Kerr didn’t mention Paul George’s breakup at Oklahoma City — resulting in a trade to the Clippers — because of his relationship with Alvin Gentry, the Pelicans head coach and former Warriors associate head coach who was spurned by Davis.
Davis sat out 21 of the Pelicans’ final 41 games last season after the sides were unable to strike a deal.
Kerr said his concern is “where a guy is perfectly healthy and has a couple years left on his deal and says, ‘I want to leave.’
“If you come to an agreement with the team that, hey, it’s probably best for us to part ways, that’s one thing,” Kerr said on the podcast. “But the Davis stuff was really kind of groundbreaking — and hopefully not a trend, because it’s bad for the league.”
ROCKETS: Russell Westbrook knows he’s in for a huge change in his move from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Houston Rockets.
And he’s ready to do whatever it takes to make the move work as he prepares to play with James Harden for the first time since 2012.
“To be able to win something you have to be able to sacrifice some parts of your game and we both understand that,” Westbrook said. “We both understand that we have one common goal and that’s to win championships. We understand what we have to do.”
Westbrook was introduced in Houston on Friday after being traded from the Thunder for Chris Paul and draft picks this month. General manager Daryl Morey beamed as he sat next to Westbrook when he made his first appearance as a Rocket.
“Obviously, we’re here for one reason only, to take that next step that we’ve been trying to do for the last few years,” Morey said.
CLIPPERS: The Los Angeles Clippers have unveiled the first visual renderings of the arena complex they’re hoping to build in Inglewood.
The Clippers took the next step Thursday in their plans for an 18,500seat arena and a billion-dollar development project they’re hoping to occupy in 2024.
The team says the complex will be funded entirely by owner Steve Ballmer.