Brooklyn Nets Morning Dish: That 8th set of shoes was magic for Spencer Dinwiddie

In a victory-hungover Brooklyn Nets Morning Dish, Spencer Dinwiddie has been having some fun with the NBA’s relaxed policy on shoe color restrictions.

Coming off a come-from-behind overtime victory Wednesday night, the Thursday edition of the Brooklyn Nets Morning Dish can be pardoned (we hope) for celebrating rather heartily at the end of a three-game losing skid.

Spencer Dinwiddie played the hero for the Nets, as he has done relatively often in his time in Brooklyn, scoring 25 points, hitting the game-tying 3 in regulation, the go-ahead 3 in overtime and making the saving defensive stop at the end of the game.

Otherwise, dude didn’t do much, though. In all seriousness, it was a huge game for Dinwiddie and a sign that his eighth pair of game-night kicks was a good one.

That’s right, Dinwiddie has been sporting different shoes each game so far as he promotes his own sneaker brand, K8IROS, and boasted on Instagram in mid-October that it would be an 82-game journey for Dinwiddie and the shoe brand.

Dinwiddie’s shoe campaign coincides with a decision by the NBA in late August to loosen its decades-old restrictions on shoe color.

The fact that Dinwiddie, for the second time since joining the Nets, burned the Pistons late was not lost on his former teammate, Andre Drummond.

According to this report from Josh Martin of CloseUp360.com, K8IROS (pronounced KY-ros) will be available for purchase at Nets team stores and from Dinwiddie’s website (projectdream.io) beginning Dec. 8 — the second anniversary of him signing with Brooklyn.

Struggles are real for Crabbe

This is a movie Allen Crabbe has seen before and did not like and you can be sure the sequel has been just as unappealing.

In his first season as a Brooklyn Nets, Crabbe sprained his left ankle in the preseason and then struggled to find his shooting touch when he returned.

This season? Same scenario. Crabbe sprained his left ankle during a preseason game at Detroit on Oct. 8 and returned in time for the regular-season home opener on Oct. 19. But after making his first two shots in that game, it has been a roller-coaster ride for Crabbe and his shooting.

Most of that ride has been steep drops.

Crabbe was 1-for-6 in the win over Detroit Wednesday night, 1-for-4 from 3-point range, leaving his shooting line at .259/.306/12-for-16 in the seven games in which he’s played. He’s averaging 7.3 points and 3.7 rebounds in 22.4 minutes per game, all off the bench thus far.

Last season, Crabbe heated up late, including a 41-point explosion against the Chicago Bulls in the next-to-last game of the year. So it’s been frustrating to endure another slow start, as he told Brian Lewis of the New York Post:

"“The biggest expectation for me coming into the season was [to continue] the way I ended off the season. And I could sit up here and make excuses about the minutes restrictions and all that stuff. But I’m just not making shots right now. So, really, it’s just on me.“So I’ve got to go out there and keep putting extra reps in, come in for shootaround, stay after practice until I get that rhythm again and I feel confident in letting it go, and not second-guessing it, not deferring, but getting back to how I get that rhythm, shot the ball.”“It’s not tinkering with anything, really, it’s moreso just going out there and making a damn shot.”"

Coach Kenny Atkinson sees things improving for Crabbe, however slowly the process has gone.

"“It’s his rhythm. He’s getting a rhythm. You can see it in his hesitation. It’s either hesitating or sometimes rushing a shot, too. When you re-watch the games you see it. But I do see it improving. It’s much like last year. I think it’ll come.“He needs more time, more real NBA game minutes, and he’ll get back to where he should be.”"

Nets CEO in court

Brooklyn Nets CEO Brett Yormark was in federal court in Manhattan Wednesday, testifying against former WFAN radio host Craig Carton, who was charged in September 2017 in an alleged ticket-resale Ponzi scheme.

Carton and Michael Wright are accused of bilking investors out of more than $4 million.

Yormark testified Wednesday that he never signed a contract with Carton to provide concert tickets, per Chris Dolmetsch of Bloomberg.

Instead, Yormark testified, the first time he saw his signature on the deal was when prosecutors showed it to him.

"“I was very angry. I never authorized it.”"

Carton, 48, resigned from his role at WFAN, where he had co-hosted the popular “Boomer and Carton” show with former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason. He pleaded not guilty in November 2017.

Prosecutors claim Carton and Wright used forged contracts to convince investors they had access to blocks of tickets for high-demand events, then diverted the investment funding to pay earlier investors and to pay off Carton’s casino debts.

Earlier Wednesday, a witness for the prosecution testified that Carton regularly borrowed as much as $1 million to play at casinos, with interest rates as high as 15 percent.