Kirilenko to Brooklyn

[hornacek4three]

http://hoopshype.com/twitter/media.html

[FJS]

http://fromrussiawithdunk.com/2012/05/0 ... klyn-nets/

[Millsap24]

The Brooklyn Jazz
Deron Williams, Humphries, Gaines, Stevenson and Kirilenko

[Thats_my_chippy]

Another brilliant move by billy king. Obviously the greatest GM in the game.

[Lava Rock Kid]

This is stupid, Deron hated Ak, and why would New Jersey waste cap space on AK, They will try to make a contract agreement with a top name player or two top players first then round out the team with players like AK.

[Hikari]

I am not saying it wont happen but this is still just a rumor.

[red4hf]

This is stupid, Deron hated Ak, and why would New Jersey waste cap space on AK, They will try to make a contract agreement with a top name player or two top players first then round out the team with players like AK.

I agree with that......

[mjvile]

Who cares I consider AK a deserter. If he was in my country he would be sentence to death.

[The59Sound]

Who cares I consider AK a deserter. If he was in my country he would be sentence to death.

...

[Ugly0598]

How is this constructed Nets team going to be better than ANY of Deron's Jazz teams?

[Jazz_Man_86]

cant find anything at the links about this rumor. Can anyone paste it here?

[Jefff]

did the journalist make some research? According to him, DWill and AK47 were good friends, and andrei is a reliable 3p shooter an less injury prone than Memo; maybe in the jazz year i saw other players........

[Jefff]

It was reported today that forward Andrei Kirilenko, who now plays for CSKA Moscow of the Euroleague, will sign with the Nets once the Euroleague playoffs are finished. Kirilenko went to CSKA Moscow during the lockout and never returned to the NBA last season. He played in the NBA for 10 seasons prior to last year, all of which coming with the Utah Jazz. Over his NBA career he has averaged 12.4 ppg, 2 bpg, 1.4 spg, and 5.6 rpg. He is also a 3-point threat and is an above average foul shooter. Last season for Moscow, he averaged 14 ppg, 1.9 bpg, 1.5 spg, 7.2 rpg, and shot almost 40% from 3. In addition, he was named the Euroleague defensive player of the year this season. Even though AK47 is 31 years old, he seems to still have something left in the tank.
This signing makes sense for the Nets for many reasons. Most importantly, it makes sense for basketball reasons. Kirilenko should vastly improve the Nets defense whether he comes off the bench or starts. The Nets had arguably the worst defense in the NBA last season and were rarely able to defend simple plays like pick-and-rolls. Their 3-point defense was also awful. Hopefully Kirilenko will improve that. He will also give the Nets depth at the small forward position, something they have maybe never had. If they are able to resign both Gerald’s (Wallace and Green) and sign Kirilenko, they would have both an offensive spark (Green) and defensive prowess (Kirilenko and Wallace) at the position.
Kirilenko coming to Brooklyn also makes sense because of the connections he has with the Nets. He was a teammate of Deron Williams throughout D-Will’s time with Utah, and Deron probably likes him. Hopefully this move will work out better for the Nets than it did the last time they got somebody from Utah: Mehmet Okur. Okur and Kirilenko share some similarities, but Kirilenko is definitely more consistent, less injury prone, and can hopefully run at a speed faster than 2 miles per hour. Also, Kirilenko is Russian like Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov. Prokhorov used to own CSKA Moscow and is definitely friendly with Kirilenko. He was probably a big reason why Kirilenko wanted to go to the Nets.

[Rauxcee]

My favorite part:

and Deron probably likes him.

[Jefff]

yeah, pretty laughable

[Trifecta47]

Actually, Deron and AK came to terms after their early rough relationship.

[freestyler34]

I saw Deron in Istanbul/Turkey watching Kirilenkos Euroleague final four game, dunno if he just went there to watch the game or have a talk with Kirilenko