I think VC was a good scorer but there was no future with him, now we have cap space and an ability in the next 3 years to be a championship contendor. Sure we will be worse this year but VC didnt want to win for us anyway so there is no real difference.

I WOULD HAVE DONE A PORTLAND DEAL IF WE GOT RUDY FERNANDEZ ,EVEN GIVEN UP THE 2 PICKS, DALLAS AND GOLDEN STAT ,DALLAS WILL BE A TOP 5 TEAM,
wouldnt do the lebron one cause with vince lebron wins a ring,
i would have jumped on the houston deal, becuase insurancew pays his deal,amd that is valubable and it would have cleared the same cap room and we wouldnt be stuck with alsoton and battie, and i liked ryan,, i feel ryan will win a 6th man of the yr competition and will be a eleite 3 point shooter, he is 50 pct for the preseason,, i see lee on a championchip team as your 4 th best player, maybe like rip hamiolton.

Lee shooting 50% from deep as well in preseason.

I think under the circumstances Thorn did a good job. We got our cap space for 2010 and we get a very good young player in Courtney Lee. The feeling is that Lee could potentially be an all star, but even if that does not come to fruition, we know Lee is a solid starter on a championship level team and that he is an upper echelon defender that will do a good job in pestering elite wing players. He i s also an intense player and he fits in perfectly with the new identity we are trying to create – a young team that will play an up temp game and will pride itself on defense. It is too bad that we had to give up on Anderson who should be a good player in the league for a long time. Of all the discussed deals for VC, the only one I like better than the one that actually happenned was the one with the Spurs for Hill, Mason, Bowen, and Oberto. Hill is also a very good young player who can do a lot of the things Lee can, and Mason is a good role player who can really rain the 3’s. Plus in that one we get to keep Anderson. However, I dont think Hill was ever really on the table. The Spurs may have discusses parting with him, but they would not have actually done so IMO. They value him too much.

On the other hand, what if Thorn had done less and agreed to give Kidd his extension? This very easily could be our team:
Lopez/Boone
Krstic/Glen Davis
RJ/Hayes
VC/CDR
Kidd/Dooling
plus lower 2009 pick

We would have given up the 2010 cap space and the Mavs pick which will probably be a +20 pick. The Nets finally could have had the big men and the bench missing during the “big 3” days.

Sorry to kill your fantasy lineup but trust if we still had kidd in our linup lopez would not be on our team right now neither would davis nor CDR idk how you thought that up but you should join the fantasy league you’ll do real well.

I still think that it was a bad trade. When VC played on the Nets, he hardly showed any age. I highly doubt that cap space would guarantee getting somone real. If they were to come to the Nets, it would have been regaurdless of cap space.

we wouldnt pick 10 with kidd carter jererson, and tell u the truth that team doesnt get past orlando the celts or magic we would be fighting the hawks for the 4 th seed for the next 4 yrs

I really miss Ryan Anderson though. =/

Lopez / Boone
Krstic / Anderson
Jefferson / Hayes
Carter / CDR
Harris / Dooling

could still be a contender in the East. Kidd was great, but he was really aging now.

I don’t get it, Thorn should slap on his own face. This could still be a good lineup. If we can get LeBron, we should have not traded RJ and VC.

“If we can get LeBron, we should have not traded RJ and VC.”

should be "if we can’t get LeBron … "

Mikee21…very easily could have happened, Davis was available when the Nets drafted Swat, the Nets were struggling badly in 07-08 without a legit big and probably would have finished about the same with or without the Kidd trade, so Lopez and CDR would have been available unless you think Davis would have made a difference..the pieces that would be missing? Simmons, Najera, Hassel, Battie

There is no way to predict what would have happened. We got what we got.

@Chris2
Trust me…Hill was definitely part of the first deal. It’s the big reason TD vetoed it. He said some things publicly and some things privately to Spurs management.

Would I be sitting here watching the Yankees in the second round if they traded Jeter, Rivera and Posada over the past two years? I doubt it.

@Tal
Nets have never attracted a top notch free agent in New Jersey. No one wants to play in an empty building.

So move them out of New Jersey thank you.

I am having a hard time remembering any top notch free agents signing in New York either, I am not sure if Allen Houston qualifies as “top notch”

Two quick points:

First, anyone who went to the game(s) at the Prudential Center can support that the Nets playing in New Jersey is not necessarily the worst thing. It sure was not an empty building – the place was rocking. I’m not mentioning this to get into a back and forth about New Jersey vs. Brooklyn because quite frankly I am looking at Brooklyn now as the less of potentially infinite evils because if Brooklyn doesn’t happen Ratner could sell the team far away. I’d rather have them in Jersey than Brooklyn but I’d rather have them in Brooklyn than across the US. I just want to see them play.

Second, I like what Courtney Lee brings to the table after the VC trade BUT someone made a very good point shortly after the trade as made (I think it was Net Income). Since Ryan Anderson and Courtney Lee were so close to each other in the draft, you could look at the draft night deal as two separate trades – VC for Battie and Alston and Lee for Anderson. I HATE looking at the deal like that because VC for Battie and Alston is garbage. I’d at least like to pretend that Courtney Lee was the steal of that trade and that we couldn’t get him without giving up VC…

On paper, I am not unhappy about the trade. But I might have second thoughts, if Anderson REALLY reaches his potential as a solid 7th or 8th man on a deep in the playoffs team, like ORLANDO. I just never thought that Anderson was a starting 4 in this league, just too slow on foot to defend 35 minutes a game against the top PFs. I do think that Lee is a starter on a deep into the playoffs team. He will play well this season. I am particularly happy that CDR will not be taking a lot of Lee’s playing time at the 2. CDR & TWILL at the 3 is a little lite on experience, but when Hayes returns, I think the three of them is enough, for now. Back to the trade…like oatmeal, it was the right thing to do. GO NETS!

I didn’t like losing Anderson. He should not have been included in the trade. I would have been comfortable with a draft pick instead of lee.
The starting line up could be
DH
TWill or CDR
Anderson
Yi
Lopez

That is a tall athletic team with decent shooting and rebounding.
The VC trade gave orlando too much.
NJ was desperate
I think the backcourt is clogged but
If NJ is really going to pursue Lebron
At least 1 young player will have to go to cle for a sign and trade along with a draft pick.
Lebron/BOSH IN 2010

If only Thorn had builded Carter a better team instead of developing rookies another tale would have been.

sugestions on my part: get David Lee for 1st round pick (twill) bobby simmons and cash.

Amar’e stoudamire for Yi head for head (its true, if you dont believe it investigate it. it was a few weeks before the last year all-star break)

Signed Shawn Marion from the Free agency

starting unit:

Brook Lopez
Amar’e Stoudamire
Shawn Marion
Vince Carter
Devin Harris

Bench:

Josh Boone
Ryan Anderson (if we had stayed with VC)
Jarvis Hayes
CDR
Dooling

Players ill get rid off:

Sean Williams
Eduardo Najera
Trenton Hassell

It might not seem as the 200-2010 NBA champion team but at least a conference final team.

And who knows we could win with this guys. Proven vets

Nice rebounding from C-PF-SF, Fast players and PF-SG-PG are good scorers.

lol i forgot to mention David Lee at the 4 along with Amare but since they both are good players we might have got only 1 of them. Better Lee than Amar’e

:D

Trading Ryan Anderson will prove to be a mistake. He has an instinct for the game that can’t be taught. Nets players thought of him as the teams best rebounder. He is a legit 21 not the fake 21 like Yi. He truly has room for development. As for Lee, guys like him are a dime a dozen.

Agree we should have kept anderson… this team is desparate for a power forward. Also,it is playing with Devin that is killing Yi’s development at this point its pretty obvious

I 2nd that notion tom! here here!

NI, Its admirable that you continually bash the team given that you are a self-proclaimed “fan”, BUT, its not accurate to say that we are “unable” to attract FAs to play in NJ. a.) we’ve never had cap space of magnitude to attract a legit PF/C, b.) our owner has been too much of a…well I can’t say that here…and hasn’t been willing to spend on FAs, and c.) the position that we have been weak at for the past few years BB (before Brook) were PF and C—-both being the MOST difficult positions to sign FAs with because teams end up keeping the best. KG, Chris Bosh, Josh Smith, Dwight Howard, LMA, Gasol, Bynum, Milsap, Boozer, Big Al, TD…the list goes on and on…POINT: you can’t get a good big w/o drafting one (unless you can find a team like Memphis to trade with), they are not available via FA. Period. Stop saying we cannot attract FAs. Because people who play here really seem to like it—-Kidd was interested in re-siging, RJ was INCREDIBLY happy here—-he would go on and on about living in the NY/NJ area in every talk show interview. Heck, even Boozer sniffed around here last summer, so NI you are wrong. If there is anyone to blame for us not being able to attract FAs, blame the Rat. When Alonzo wanted out of NJ, he gave NO mention of the arena, the fans, the state—-just hatred for the Rat. I’m sure others caught on…it makes a statement to the LEAGUE when your new owner doesn’t say one word about winning in his opening presser and trades your up and coming PF.

Why doesn’t anyone suggest that the Magic trading Lee will turn out to be the mistake? Anderson would not have started this season. And for those praising Anderson’s preseason, why not a comparison of his preseason with Yi’s? Their numbers are pretty much identical…considering Yi sat out half a game with an injury.

The Nets went out this off season and made two moves. Certainly, they dumped salary in the Carter trade. But in both Lee and TWill they got what they wanted: solid defenders.

Trading Anderson was the single dumbest thing Thorn has done in years. There must have been another way to make the deal work. And what are Nets going to do with Alston and Battie? Orlando unloaded mostly junk on the Nets in return for a legit superstar and a rookie with great potential.

Thorn now has a bench with Alston, Battie, Simmons, Hassel and Najera – all a result of his maneuvers. Truth is you could release all of them without affecting the team. Yi has yet to prove his worth. In my opinion, Thorn has made exactly one good trade – Harris for Kidd.

They must have had an idea about this Prokhorov deal. What was the big rush?

Frank’s contract is up. He’s not thinking about the future. He has to win THIS year in order to survive. Result – the old guys get minutes at the expense of Sean Williams and the other kids that need to develop.

" in both Lee and TWill they got what they wanted: solid defenders." -NI

“We’re trying, but we’ve got a long way to go defensively,” – Rod Thorn

We had to give up Anderson to get Lee in return. Thorn definitely got taken to the woodshed by Otis in that deal and everyone knew it except for the blind VC haters on this site.

We should have kept Anderson, and Lee should have been included in the deal for VC initially. We could use Anderson badly right now.

we shouldn’t have given Ryan Anderson…

Did anyone watch the Finals? Courtney Lee (a rookie!) did a phenomenal job. I was very excited when I learned we would get him in this trade.

To me we traded Anderson for Lee and VC for cap space. Imo while Ryan has more upside than Yi he likely won’t pan out any better. A career backup cuz he is not athletic enough for the PF position. We’re out to be bad this year otherwise the Nets easily could have replace Anderson with our draft pick. If we were out to win this year we were better off with Blair or Hansbrough and Hayes than Yi and TWill.

Great commentary by Brett.

For the record, I am glad that we have Courtney Lee here. I’ve seen enough to know that the kid can play. I just wish that we could have held on to Ryan.

It’d be better have Yi and Ryan as the PF rotation instead of Yi and absolute garbage

I have been against giving up VC every since the idea of it started. I used to remember hearing how much he was considered being untradable unless giving him up would land them someone real good such as Kobe Bryant or Lebron James in that he was very essential. It’s not that I have anything against players such as Harris, Lopez, or even CDR, but they are still young and pretty much need someone like VC to help them. As for getting a 2010 free agent, the Nets have to be very lucky, because most of them act like narcissists and put themselves up for auction for the highest bidder, while some of them make threats just be given more to resign them and meet their ridiculous demands.

I really don’t think Anderson will be that good of a pro, and would much rather have Courtney Lee. Anderson is too much of a tweener. I don’t think he’ll ever be strong enough to be a true a PF, and he’s definitely too slow to play the SF. Anderson should be a decent role player, but i’m not sure if he’ll ever be a legit starter. I actually think Yi has more potential than Ryan, mainly because of his size.

Ryan Anderson had his chance to impress the Nets last year and failed. Case closed.

It was the right deal getting Lee for for Vince. Vince is just a scorer and no defense ability to say the least. Remember we had a great two way at the two we all forget about on the championship teams. Do I say Kerry Kittles. C. Lee will be this guy soon and maybe even better then Kerry Kittles.