Abdur-Rahim Retires, Proving Nets Right

I really dont believe he wouldnt help in any way possible still if he was healthy he was never a good defender.

You know I have to admit Rod may miss the mark sometimes but when hes right we have to give him some credit as well. In the day of the guaranteed contract you have to error on the side of caution. KMart we all loved him and havent been the same since he left but Kmart hasnt been the same since he left either. Scalabrene, Brian was my man but Rod dint think he was worth the money Boston gave him and he was right. Brian may have a ring but I dont rememeber the last time I didnt see him on the Boston bench in street clothes they hate him in Boston and resent the money hes making. Hummmmmmmmmmm……. Where Rod may have had some bad luck was in trying to appease Jay Kidd and get a big man in here i.e. Mourning and Mutombo Hummmm….

Wow. Great job for the Nets doctors for catching this.

“ABDUR-RAHIM RETIRES, PROVING NETS RIGHT”

huh???

How does that prove the nets right?

After the x-rays revealed rahim’s knee problem, thorn rescinded his initial offer, BUT CAME BACK WITH A 2ND OFFER … a lesser offer … but one that was still very substantial.

Thorn even had jason kidd call rahim to try to talk him into accepting the 2nd offer.

If rahim had accepted the 2nd offer, the nets would have been royally screwed.

By the grace of god, rahim rejected the 2nd nets offer and signed with the kings instead.

Thorn lucked out bigtime with rahim, the same way he lucked out when k-mart rejected his $60 million contract offer in 2003. If k-mart had accepted that offer, the nets would have been doomed to salary cap hell for the length of the contract.

Let’s face it … thorn has been pretty lucky during his tenure as nets president. But lately it appears that his luck is starting to run out.

All credit goes to Rod Thorn and the physicians that told Thorn that this guy was damaged goods.

Lets hope Rod’s luck continues with Yi.

Brooklyn Bob as usual shows he is not much of a Nets fan. Of course this proved the Nets right. The Nets determined he would not be able to fulfill the terms of the contract. It may also have been a way for the Nets to save face with SAR’s very powerful agent.

After the Nets rescinded the offer, the Nets immediately picked up Marc Jackson. I don’t think they ever made a 2nd offer to SAR and if they did I’m sure there was plenty of injury and insurance protection in it.

08-09-2005, 08:48 PM
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2129971

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.— The New Jersey Nets on Tuesday rescinded their trade with the Portland Trail Blazers for forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim and acquired forward Marc Jackson from Philadelphia.

The Abdur-Rahim trade was put on hold last week after the nine-year veteran failed a physical. The Nets didn’t disclose the nature of the medical problem, but team president Rod Thorn said it was something neither Abdur-Rahim nor the Trail Blazers knew about.

“Obviously we weren’t aware of it, and after all the conversations back and forth, I don’t think the player was aware there was any problem,” Thorn said. “He hadn’t missed any games regarding this. To my knowledge, [Portland] wasn’t aware of it.”

The Nets had planned to use their trade exception to acquire the 29-year-old Abdur-Rahim, who has averaged 19.9 points and 8.1 rebounds in nine years with Vancouver, Atlanta and Portland. With the trade exception scheduled to expire at midnight Tuesday, New Jersey was forced to scramble to make a deal.

“We had a list of guys we had interest in, and he was at the top of our list,” Thorn said. “We thought he would fit in very well with us.”

New Jersey quickly set its sights on the 30-year-old Jackson, acquiring him from the 76ers for cash and future considerations. The 6-foot-10 center-forward averaged 12 points and five rebounds in 81 games for Philadelphia last season. He has averaged nine points and 4.7 rebounds in five NBA seasons with Golden State, Minnesota and the 76ers.

“He’s a good shooter, he’s a force down low and draws a lot of fouls,” Thorn said. “We feel he’s a player who can play in our rotation and help us.”

New Jersey had agreed to a six-year deal with Abdur-Rahim, who was acquired earlier this month for a 2006 first-round pick and the Nets’ trade exception.

“After consulting with several noted specialists, we felt that rescinding the trade is our best course of action,” Thorn said.

Abdur-Rahim missed 22 games with the Blazers last season after undergoing surgery in mid-January to remove loose particles in his right elbow. Thorn said that the Nets tried negotiating a different deal with Abdur-Rahim in recent days, but that he didn’t want to change the agreement that was in place.

“We were notified by New Jersey this afternoon that they were rescinding the sign and trade for Shareef Abdur-Rahim,” Trail Blazers general manager John Nash said Tuesday. “They cited some concerns after a physical examination and believe that rescinding the trade is in their best interest. The contract that was agreed to with Shareef becomes null and void and he is now a free agent.”

By all accounts, SAR is a very decent guy and we should all wish him the best. It was a gutty and unusual move that Rod made to rescind this trade when the player had a good record of durability and production in the league. Given that this episode damaged SAR’s market value, it could lead to players questioning the team’s fairness and make free agents less likely to sign with the Nets. His premature retirement supports the Nets’ contention that it wasn’t a case of buyers remorse or a negotiating ploy; they were acting in good faith and rescinded solely on medical grounds.

@ Brooklyn Bob
Yes, the Nets were still proven right. The Nets DID make a second offer to SAR but it was for THREE guaranteed years and team options for the next year and i believe a player option for the last one. Even if SAR had signed the contract the Nets would only have paid him 2005-2006,2006-2007 and 2007-2008. 2005-2006 he played 72 games, 2006-2007 he played 80 games and 2007-2008 he only played 6 games so the Nets would have eaten that 1 year of salary but thats pretty much it. So Yes, even with the 2nd deal it STILL would have been a good move on Rod Thorn’s part.

If this is what it has come down to, giving Thorn credit for not signing Rahim, who almost anyone who watches the NBA had major questions about anyway, we are in even bigger trouble than out forthcoming 25-57 season with the biggest blowhard announcing team in the league (Marv and Fratello) behind it might suggest.

4 years ago at this time we were finally legit, now we are once again the laughingstock of the NBA.

Isaac that’s hilarious, we haven’t even played one game yet and you’re already crying. Maybe you should root for a sure bet like san antonio or l.a.

Issac ,Every team faces a period of rebuiliding. It’s the only way to get better, a natural progression. Every team that was in the playoffs was terrible in the last 12 years. Spurs, Lakers, Celts, Suns, etc.
Embrace it, hope it doesn’t last that long, and that the lottery balls are kind. Go Nets.

I hope the Nets suck this season, so we can lose all these bandwagoners for good who clutters forums and message boards.
But I’m a fan, so I hope the Nets the best (whatever that’ll be).

Go Nets!

@ Isaac

Is this what it has come down to—dissing Marv Albert? The man’s an icon, but I suppose you are entitled to your taste. In any case, you make an interesting point about SAR. The other free agent options at forward at the time that we were looking at were Donyell Marshall and Stromile Swift, so perhaps doing nothing (which is how I would categorize Marc Jackson even if he did get us Boki) was the best option. I bet we both would have signed Kenyon to a mega deal, and we had, we would now be in a much worse position now.

I meant “if we had” in the last sentence.

when this happened i got pissed but now i have to give thorn credit because we would be screwed now if we got SAR…………i don’t get why everyone thinks the nets will be horrible we have a great backcourt and if simmons plays like he did 3 years ago 16 ppg and yi lopez and boone play well we can be a good team/ our defense got better this year we lost nachbar who was horrible at defense krstic who was a disaster jefferson played terrible defense last year and diop who we replaced with lopez. i think we can win most of our home games this year and we will win at least 30 or more games

@ jabez

first of all – Marv WAS an icon – for the Knicks. He stole Ian Eagle’s (a TRUE net) job and has been awful from the day he started on YES- he took this job solely to fulfill his own ego and stick it to the Knicks (who he clearly still worships) and bringing in Fratello will make the games that much more unwatchable. The fact that Fratello is an average NBA coach but still infinite times better than our coach will make it that much more frustrating. I’ve said it before- Eagle and Bill Raftery were and always will be the TRUE Nets announcing team.

And no I would not have signed kenyon to a MAX contract and that is before I knew he would be this injury prone. he did some great things for this team but coming off a 3 for 23 outing in the biggest game in frnachise history in the ‘03 Finals vs the Spurs, there is NO WAY I would have given him 90 million dollars. he proved competent against scrub 4’s and held his own against the likes of Jermaine O’’Neal but never could stand up to the true mnax players at his position, namely Duncan and KG.

If you want to be optimistic about this train wreck thats fine but the reality is we have one of the bottom five coaches in the NBA (thats being generous), no defensive identity to speak of, and a # 1 scoring option that will either doze his way through this miserable season or demand a trade (and likely get one) by February. If this team scrapes up more than 30 wins, it would be a minor miracle. It’s quite obvious that management either gets its wish of Brooklyn and Lebron (neither of which I welcome) or the franchise is essentially totaled.

i remember when we took the deal off the table because of the scar tissue that fans on almost every message board was trashing the nets and especially rod for being picky and blowing a chance to put SAR on a team with Kidd & company. well now those haters can see that the nets medical staff was right.

sar would have had no impact, positive, on us and we woulda been stuck with his deal. thankfully we are currently in a good position where we have youth and flexibility going forward.

i feel bad for SAR. he was one of the good guys who just couldnt get in the playoffs, therefore i dont think fans really knew how good he was. he wasn’t great, but he was probably the best player who wasn’t really noticed. best of luck to him in his kings job

fyi xcalibur: Shareef did actually make the playoffs once under the radar with the ’05-06 Kings. He averaged 9.2 PPG in a 6-game opening round loss to the Spurs.

@ Isaac

I’m sorry you have so much negativity. Read what I wrote more carefully next time and stop blaming Marv for taking a job that was offered him.

actually Jabez I read what you wrote very carefully, what points exactly did I miss?

And how about actually responding to my post- what do you disagree with in regards to my assessment of this team?

or are you another one of these guys on this site on Ratner’s payroll?