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SAN DIEGO — The Nets are taking advantage of a road training camp to do some team bonding, from the typical dinners and golf outings, to Steve Nash getting in some tennis and even having the rookies sing happy birthday to Kevin Durant.

Apparently multiple versions. None of them any good.

“I think there was, yeah they might have done both versions,” Nash said. “There was a version before practice and the cake version. We definitely made him feel special on his big day.”

Durant turned 33 on Wednesday. Nash for his part was still amazed at how mobile and explosive the star forward looked at this age.

And apparently Durant’s practice performance was far more impressive than the rookie’s singing.

“We had the rookies sing Happy Birthday. He got a cake. I don’t think he wants to do much more. He’ll probably tell me ‘OK, that’s enough’ if I add something else to the mix,” said Nash, adding, “It was pretty bad. It was not memorable.”


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Rookie first-round pick Cam Thomas admitted “It was bad. But you know, it is what it is. I mean, he probably had 33 of those songs, so no matter.”

The Nets had a golf outing to Torrey Pines. Several players went, although Joe Harris begged off. Ex-Net Garrett Temple had tried to get him into golf during the Orlando bubble two seasons ago, but Harris knows his limitations.

“Yeah, it pretty it much ended there,” Harris said. “That was my first real kind of attempt at playing golf. And I know myself well enough, I’m not quite ready to socially play.”

Even though there would be a couple of foursomes of coaches, Nash didn’t join them. He was busy taking part in a celebrity tennis tournament at the San Diego Open. Nash — an avid fan of both soccer and tennis — got to play with former Team USA and L.A. Galaxy star Landon Donovan. Then he stuck around to watch Andy Murray’s first-round win.

“Yeah we played doubles. It was great,” said Nash. “It’s fun. James Blake played with us, so I was thrilled to play with him. To get to watch the match afterwards was [fun].”

The Nets knew they were getting a scrappy defender in Jevon Carter, but he’s proved more skilled and a better shooter than Nash expected.

Thomas continues to impress with his scoring prowess. Nash said the key to his development will be not “giving away days” even if he’s not in the rotation or playing on a given night.

Harris has won two of the last three 3-point crowns, but has been picking up things from development coach Kyle Korver in terms of “just being a more of an efficient mover into my shots. … I didn’t really think that much of it, but especially now as I’m getting older, just being a more efficient mover to the shots will help.”

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