From my thumbnails of photos, I thought this was a picture of AK walking out of the locker room. I should have realized that because the hair wasn't halfway down his back that it wasn't him.
Make sure to get all of yesterday's audio from the locker room cleanout at KFAN and ESPN700 and read moni's key quotes from each (young guys and old guys).
Let's certainly hope this is the case. From @jashin_mizuho,
I hope the Jazz send Bear to the lottery selection next month. KOC just hasn't had any luck at all the past couple of trips.
If Deron ends up signing an extension with the Nets, as it appears he's been amicable to, that's not necessarily a gauge of whether The Trade was a failure. First, I don't think New Jersey was ever at the top of his list as a possible destination once he became a free agent. Now that's he's been in the grasp of the Prok, he's been "persuaded" to see how things could be. Deron stated that he likes how the "organization" has taken care of him and his family. Has anyone ever seen/read The Firm? Same thing here.
Of course that's in jest, but I can see how the Nets have influenced Deron. He has all of the backing of a billionaire owner, he's practically been given the keys to the franchise, and can recruit a lot better to Brooklyn with all of that. He may also have his name dropped in Jay Z's next album. Had he just been courted when he became a free agent, New Jersey may not have had long to persuade him.
For the Nets, they have to make this work. You can be sure they're doing everything they can to accommodate Deron and his family. So if he does end up re-signing there, that's not necessarily an indicator that he was going to leave Utah anyway.
This is one of the rare times you will ever see something of mine in print. Of course it came as a random tweet. This ran in the New York Times on Sunday (.pdf) (upper-right hand corner) in the print edition.
Friday poll...