Yormark Says "Brooklyn Nets" Is Working Title For Team, But Not A Done Deal

Nets CEO Brett Yormark yesterday said "Brooklyn Nets" is the "working title" for the team following its move to the Barclays Center for the '12-13 season. Yormark: "Hopefully, sometime in the near future we'll have a formal announcement. I like Brooklyn Nets, but it's not a done deal yet." Yormark added of the team's future home, "Brooklyn is a borough of 2.5 million people and they've been underserved in the area of sports and entertainment since 1957. They want a home team and the Nets will be that home team, and in some respects, we'll be the new Dodgers." Yormark also discussed marketing the team in N.Y. and around the world, saying, "While we aspire to be global ... we must be local at the same time. While we attract global partners, we need local partners, and I think we're doing a good job at both." Meanwhile, when asked if the Nets would bring in a hockey team as another tenant, Yormark said, "We're having a lot of different discussions. It's a multipurpose venue and we're open to any and all possibilities and opportunities. We would love the Islanders to play a couple of games at the Barclays Center" (Fox Business, 4/6).

IS DERON BOUND FOR BROOKLYN? In N.Y., Marc Berman noted Nets G Deron Willliams is "not signed with the Nets past next season but the franchise was bold enough to unveil an 80 foot x 60 foot billboard in Times Square" yesterday with the heading, "Deron Williams & The Nets Bound for Brooklyn." Barclays Center is "not slated to open until the 2012-13 season, when Williams may be gone," and the Knicks are "expected to have major salary-cap space in 2012 and will have Williams as one of their prime targets." Nets Owner Mikhail Prokhorov last summer "put up a billboard of him and minority owner Jay-Z on 33rd Street and 8th Avenue, near Madison Square Garden" (NYPOST.com, 4/6).