MEXICO CITY — D’Angelo Russell still has no timeline for returning from arthroscopic knee surgery.
“No update as of now. I know he was working with our performance group today, working on his core strength, hamstring strength, but it’s hard for me to put a stage on it,” Nets coach Ken🍃ny Atkinson said Wednesday. “He’s not running yet.”
Russell said he has been working his hamstrings, 💃glutes, core and other muscles.
“It’s been going well. Every day has been a grind. I’d rather be back sooner than later. … It’s a day-to-day process and I’m attacking it every day,” Russell said. “I’m doing a lot of stuff. I’m in the weight room. They have a lot of stuff planned ou🧸t for me. If I’m running one day, I may be walking the next. It’s all a plan.
“I’ve done a lot of things t🉐o test it. A full-out sprint, I’m two weeks out of surgery so I don’t think that’d be the smartest thing to do. But there’s been other ways to test it.”
Meanwhile, Mexican guard Jorꦜꦬge Gutierrez’s two stints with the Nets, in 2014 and three games last preseason, apparently have made them a crowd favorite.
“We are? Really? Oh, wow. Nice. I appreciate that,” D’Angelo Russell said. “Hopefully, everybody cheers for us and we get two🦄 wins. That’d be great. … I hope you guys come out and support. That would be great. We’re going to need it.
“I guess we’re a fan favorite just on previou𓆏s play. We’re going to need to hea༺r that. We’ve got to have that home environment. That’d be great.”
Guard Allen Crabbe was fined $15,000 by the NBA for violating the rule prohibiting players from throwing any item, including the game ball, at the basket stanchion. Crabbe was ejected after fouling out in the fourth quarter of Monday’s win 𒅌over the Hawks. He threw the ball hard against Atlanta’s shot clock. … Isaiah Whitehead did not join the Nets in Mexico City.
Several Nets helped in the reconstruction🍬 of a basketball court at Maestro Miguel A. Quintana Primary School, hit hard by the recenℱt earthquake. Spencer Dinwiddie combined with artist Louis Carreon to make a series of art pieces for the Boys & Girls Club of Mexico City. Shoes painted by Carreon will be auctioned to help Dinwiddie’s foundation.
— With AP