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Posts tagged as “Brooklyn Nets”

Brooklyn Nets Rookie Rondae Hollis-Jefferson Surprises Mother With House For Her Birthday (VIDEO)

By goodblacknews on November 2, 2015

Nets rookie Rondae Hollis-Jefferson recently surprised his mother with the gift of a new house. (photo via nypost.com)
Nets rookie Rondae Hollis-Jefferson recently surprised his mother with the gift of a new house. (photo via nypost.com)

Brooklyn Nets rookie Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is sharing his newfound wealth with one of his biggest supporters — his mother.
In a special feature with the New York Post, Hollis-Jefferson discusses why he decided to buy his mother a house in New Jersey just months after signing his contract with the team. Along with his brother, NBA D-Leaguer Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson, the baller executed the idea just in time for mother Rylanda Hollis’ birthday.
Hollis-Jefferson planned a birthday party in the new home and waited with his family, friends, and a videographer to film the big moment (to the tune of Boyz II Men’s “Mama,” of course).
According to The New York Post:

The realtor opened the door and said, “Oh, who are you looking for?” When my mom said the name, the realtor said, “Oh, OK, come in.” Then everyone popped out and said, “Surprise!” and me and my brother had the cake, and she just started crying. To actually be able to show her the house and stuff on her birthday, it was a dream come true. It was a blessing. Instead of worrying about where your mom is going, what she’s doing, it puts you at ease knowing she has a place of her own, and that she has somewhere to lay her head at night. It’s pretty special.

Hollis-Jefferson signed his contract with the Nets in July for an estimated salary of $1.33 million this season. The Huffington Post reports Hollis-Jefferson also took a stand against New York’s problematic rental increases during a recent interview.
Hollis-Jefferson even explained why he decided to take the frugal route and not purchase a mansion for his first home. Instead, he got a rental with his brother and a friend in Northern New Jersey.
Check out the thoughtful surprise in the video below:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fwuw5nujIY&w=560&h=315]
article by Desire Thompson via newsone.com

Jason Collins Signs with Brooklyn Nets for Remainder of Season

By goodblacknews on March 16, 2014

Jason Collins
AP Photo/David Zalubowski

The Brooklyn Nets signed center Jason Collins for the remainder of the season on Saturday, the team announced.  Sources previously told ESPN.com that the Nets, who feel they’re getting everything they expected from Collins when they signed him for front court depth on Feb. 23, were already operating under the premise that the 34-year-old would finish the season with them even though his second 10-day deal didn’t expire until after Friday.
“It’s cool. Thank you to the Nets organization, coaches and players, the team is playing really well right now, and I’m glad to continue to be here,” Collins said.
Sources said that the internal expectation all along was that Collins would be a Net for the rest of the season, from the moment he signed his first 10-day deal, as long he proved that he could still be an effective defender, which he did immediately.
“We always focused on basketball,” Nets coach Jason Kidd said. “We let you guys do all the other stuff. But having him on the team was always about basketball.”
Collins is averaging 9.8 minutes per game off the bench in eight appearances since his historic debut against the Los Angeles Lakers last month, which made him the first openly gay athlete in North America’s four recognized major team sports.  He most recently provided the Nets with some meaningful minutes defending against DeMarcus Cousins, logging 20 minutes in a 104-89 win over Sacramento last Sunday.

Jason Collins’ Brooklyn Nets Jersey Now the Top Seller on NBA.com

By goodblacknews on February 26, 2014

Jason-Collins-jersey
Jason Collins made history Sunday when he became the NBA’s first openly gay player. On Tuesday, his jersey was the league’s top seller online.  Collins’ No. 98 jersey for the Brooklyn Nets outsold NBA powerhouses like LeBron James and Kevin Durant.  Monday, a league official told the New York Times the demand for merchandise that bore Collins’ name was “unprecedented.” Tuesday’s sales proved it.
Collins plays in his second game Wednesday night after signing a 10-day contract with the Nets. The team beat the Lakers 108-102 in his debut. Collins tallied 10 minutes and, more importantly, 5 personal fouls in the victory. In addition to solid interior defense, giving “hard fouls” has become Collins trademark since entering the league in 2001.  He’s not an All-Star and the Nets don’t need him to be. Ten minutes and five fouls could come again Wednesday night against the Blazers.
The Nets are in the midst of a 6-game road trip.
article via thegrio.com

Jason Collins, 1st Openly Gay NBA Player, Signs With Nets and Appears in Game

By goodblacknews on February 23, 2014
Jason Collins defending Lakers guard MarShon Brooks. Until Sunday night, no NBA game had taken place with an openly gay player on the floor. (Gary A. Vasquez/USA Today Sports, via Reuters)

LOS ANGELES — Jason Collins, a 35-year-old center, signed a 10-day contract with the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday afternoon and played against the Lakers hours later, appearing in an NBA uniform for the first time since last spring, when he announced that he was gay.  The signing represents a significant step toward transforming North American professional sports into a more welcoming environment for gay athletes. Until Sunday night, no NBA game had taken place with an openly gay player on the floor. The NFL, Major League Baseball and the NHL — the continent’s other three traditional major sports leagues — have never had a publicly gay participant.

The very act of Collins’s suiting up and stepping onto the court — he entered the game to warm applause in the second quarter — represented a milestone in the effort to change a sports culture that some feel has lagged far behind society at large in acceptance of gay people. Collins played 11 minutes in the Nets’ 108-102 victory, finishing with no points, two rebounds, a steal and five fouls.

Collins said he had little time to process it all. He awoke Sunday morning to text messages from his agent and Nets Coach Jason Kidd alerting him to the move, and hours later he was signing his contract. A few hours after that, he was taking his physical and preparing to play his first game since April 17.  “Right now, I’m focused on trying to learn the plays, the game plan assignment,” Collins, sitting at a lectern, said less than an hour before the game Sunday night. “I don’t have time to really think about history right now.”

Brooklyn Nets Hire Jason Kidd as Coach

By goodblacknews on June 13, 2013
In this July 12, 2012 file photo, Jason Kidd speaks during a news conference at the New York Knicks training facility in Tarrytown, N.Y. The New York Knicks say Kidd has decided to retire from the NBA after 19 seasons. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
Jason Kidd (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

The Brooklyn Nets have hired Jason Kidd as their coach, bringing the former star back to the franchise. Kidd just retired after his 19th NBA season and the Nets decided to hire him despite his lack of coaching experience.

The move reunites Kidd with the franchise he led to consecutive NBA Finals in 2002-03, when they played in New Jersey. “Welcome home, Jason,” owner Mikhail Prokhorov says Wednesday in a statement.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press; article by Brian Mahoney, AP via thegrio.com

Barclays Center Pays Tribute to Segregated Black Basketball Stars "The Black Fives"

By goodblacknews on February 5, 2013
Smart Set Athletic Club, 1911. Compilation Copyright 2013 Black Fives Foundation, All Rights Reserved
Smart Set Athletic Club, 1911. Compilation Copyright 2013 Black Fives Foundation, All Rights Reserved

The Barclays Center is linking Brooklyn’s African-American basketball history and its present-day team, the Brooklyn Nets, with a new installation of historic photographs of the Black Fives, early-20th century African-American basketball teams, throughout the arena’s main concourse. Before the NBA, there were the Black Fives, segregated basketball teams formed shortly after the game’s invention in 1891.
The Black Fives Era photographs chosen to be displayed include four pictures of Brooklyn’s historic team, the Smart Set Athletic Club, from 1908, 1909, 1911 and 1912.  To celebrate the unveiling of the large-scale photographs for Black History Month, the Barclays Center hosted an event Monday where Claude Johnson, founder and executive director of the Black Fives Foundation, greeted students, members of the local community, and descendants of Black Fives players.

Jay-Z Comes Home to Repay a Debt to Brooklyn, Performs At Newly-Opened Barclays Center

By goodblacknews on September 29, 2012

 

Richard Perry/The New York Times

For many years, Jay-Z closed out his concerts with “Encore,” a soothing, triumphant number from “The Black Album,” which at the time of its release in 2003 was billed as something of a retirement. “From Marcy to Madison Square,” he rapped, sketching an arc that had taken him from a Brooklyn housing project to headlining the most symbolically important arena in the country.

That used to be enough, goal-wise, but no musician has reframed the potential for bucket-list completion and brand extension like Jay-Z, who in the past decade has consistently sought new ceilings to break through. That journey brought him to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Friday night, for the first show of a sold-out eight-night run in this new rusty bunker that will house the Brooklyn Nets, a team that he owns a small piece of, and for which he is the unofficial ambassador.