The Nets’ record is well south of .500 — 8-22 to be exact, and yet they will have ample representation at All-Star weekend with reserve All-Star Deron Williams, 3-point shootout contestant Anthony Morrow and rising stars participant MarShon Brooks.
Morrow made it a threesome when he was officially named to the shooting contest yesterday.
“It’s really exciting to have a third guy representing us at All-Star weekend,” coach Avery Johnson said. “We think he is arguably the best 3-point shooter in the league.”
Morrow had openly lobbied for the contest last year and made known his desire to compete this year.
“It’s an honor and a blessing just to be in this situation, to have a place in a competition that has so many great shooters in it,” said Morrow, who was 3-of-8 on 3-pointers in Wednesday night’s 105-100 loss to the Grizzlies and is now at 42.9 percent on the season. “To have an opportunity to win it, you can’t ask for a better situation than that,”
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Nets rookie MarShon Brooks has not lacked confidence in his brief NBA career. But in his three games back from a broken toe, Brooks has struggled — to the point where last night Johnson sat him because of rotten “body language.”
And the mistakes have piled up – 12 turnovers in his last two games.
“I was confident,” Brooks said. “I felt like I played with confidence today. It was just, I don’t know. … I guess it’s timing. I wasn’t making the right plays, missed a couple guys. I was seeing some things, some guys that were open, thought a second and then tried to make the play: turnover.”
Early in the third quarter when Johnson pulled Brooks (12 points), the rookie said the coach “just wasn’t happy with my body language, so he just told me about myself, sat me down for a little bit, just told me to play a little harder.”
Johnson said he was just trying to get his rookie to keep it simple.
“Just take care of the basketball, take what’s there, don’t try to always go for a grand slam,” he said. “He was just getting a little too frustrated, and I was just telling him this is a process of being a rookie in this league — you’re not going to be an All-Star automatically, and sometimes people aren’t going to give you as much respect as you think you deserve, because you’ve got to prove yourself,” Johnson said.
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DeShawn Stevenson missing eight straight games with a sore knee, not playing since Jan. 29. But he promptly was inserted into the starting lineup last night. And that is the recent state of the injury-riddled New Jersey Nets who trotted out their 15th different starting lineup in their 30th game.
To Stevenson, who went for PRP (blood spinning) treatments, the starting assignment was welcomed, but he also said any role is fine. After last season in Dallas, last night’s somewhat surprising start didn’t bother him at all.
“I got to thank [Mavericks coach] Rick Carlisle for that,” said Stevenson said, who was scoreless (0-for-5 from the field) last night in 18 minutes. “Last year, I sat the first five games and then started 30 games, then I came back and the day before the playoffs, he throws me in the starting lineup. This is the NBA. You’ve got to be ready for it. I’m a 12-year vet. I’m ready for that.
“Personally, I’d take starting,” he added. “I wouldn’t like to start on [Memphis star] Rudy Gay coming out obviously, but that’s my job. Just got to go out there and get warm. I like getting warm first and see what I got. I like to start and get a rhythm before he takes me out.”
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The injury avalanche continued for the Nets. Small forward Shawne Williams, sometimes a starter, was out with a mild sprain of the left shoulder, and then Jordan Farmar was scratched with a strained right groin.
“[Tuesday] I was going real hard at practice and I felt a tweak and tried to stop it as soon as possible. Had treatment, just digging in and it got real sore before the game,” Farmar said.
So the Nets used their newest member, Andre Emmett called up from the D-League on a 10-day contract on Tuesday. Emmett played 15 minutes and scored a career-high four points.
“It’s been non-stop since I got here,” Emmett said, gratefully noting he had “coach in my ear” the whole night. “I was surprised when I first got ion but once I got in, I wanted to stay in.”
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Memphis’ O.J. Mayo was the object of trade talks involving the Nets earlier, but he seemed unfazed.
“I’ve got no thoughts at all. I’m still playing for Memphis so there really isn’t too much to think about,” Mayo said . “You hear about trade rumors every day so if I got caught up in that I wouldn’t be able to focus on my game, focus on my team.”
Mayo was the latest to heap praise on Jeremy Lin.
“I’m really happy for him because he could have gotten down on himself, the last guy on the bench not getting playing time,” he said. “You can’t even hate because he was a guy at the end of the bench, got an opportunity and made the most of it. If you’re a fan of basketball, you have no choice but to be a fan of Jeremy Lin right now.”
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Johnson reiterated that Brook Lopez could return before the All-Star Game.
“There’s a chance but we want to just keep working him out,” Johnson said.
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The Nets are in Indiana tonight. The Pacers were without Danny Granger last night. He sat with a sprained ankle.
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Mike Conley (16 points, 10 assists) had a double-double for Memphis, along with Marreese Speights (20 points, career-high 18 rebounds). … Shelden Williams tied his career high in blocks with three to go with his first double-double of the season (10 points, 12 rebounds). … Sundiata Gaines had 11 points and a season-high seven assists.
fred.kerber@nypost.com