As Suns Seek Offers for Amar'e, Nets Show Interest

I would not trade Devin to get him. I’d rather do Bobby Simmons + any or all of our young wings or Yi or whatever. I’m assuming the best offer would include young guys for the Suns. CDR, Lee, or Yi I would give in a heartbeat. We don’t really have any other young guys. TWill i’d rather keep a while though and get a better look at.

Yi+Simmons+dallas pick for Amar’e. Or other combinations not including nets pick, harris and Lopez.

do what you have to do nets to get him! might as well trade for him just in case he signs with another team this summer.

I traded for him in 2k10 association thats crazyyyy

Or this one CLee+Yi+Simmons+dallas pick or replace Lee with CDR.

You can be sure that the Nets (or whatever team wants him) will have talked to his agent BEFORE the trade about the possibility of signing him in the summer. I found it interesting that he was so upfront about the Nets Friday and that the Nets reprinted him comments on their website the next day.

Draft picks, cash, expiring contracts, a good young player: that’s what you get for an unhappy star.

Any trade has to start with Yi and Simmons. They could add the Dallas #1 pick while taking back more salary than goes out to save Phoenix some luxury tax money.

Battie, Boone, Cash, 1st round

Suns couldn’t possibly want anything on our current roster, except for BL. They want draft picks. Just don’t give up this year’s #1.

Does Amare solve the Nets problems on defense?

make a trade! lets get amare, this will get james attention

He doesn’t but at least he helps our offense. Some teams are good offensively but horrible defensively. Some are the opposite. We’re the very rare specimen that is horrible at both. I’d rather be a lock down defensive squad that won’t score, but won’t let the opponent score either. But I’ll take any improvement anywhere right now because we aren’t winning another game this season unless something gets shaken up

One of the benefits of a deal like this is the Nets would be getting Amare’s Bird rights and could sign him outside the CBA.

getting Stoudemire before the trade deadline will do little to help the Nets, other than possibly break the 9 win barrier and also diminish his stats a little bit (not playing with Nash and good shooters around him)

But if this is a Lebron recruiting tool, then count me in on it!

LeBron is not coming here! If he doesn’t want to join the dunk contest for fear of hurting his image, what makes you think he’ll risk going to the worst team in NBA history?

Would it be wise to spend big bucks on free agents this summer when we have nothing to build on? Or would it be better to build through the draft, wait a year or two, and then sign guys when we’re ready to contend? I mean look at how Portland and OKC have done it. OKC hasn’t signed a big free agent yet and is looking like a playoff team. Portland made the playoffs last year as well with no free agents signed.

I think Amare will land with the Nets very soon. He’s not a perfect player, but he’s an upgrade, and will signal the Nets’ new dedication to fielding a competitive team. Biggest problem with Amare is that he wants to be “the man.” That is good for this year, where no one on our team is “the man,” (or dare I be snarky and even say, no one even plays like “a man”) but might be a problem next year when we’re trying to land a franchise player and Amare would be 2nd fiddle.

I would trade our entire roster minus Lopez for him. I’d even throw in the Dallas pick and our second roster. (What is Rod Thorn going to do with a 26 and 31 pick anyways???)

Just start improving this disaster

And Oklahoma City had no choice. They didn’t have a lot of money (their big money guy came close to bankruptcy), they play in a small market where few players are going to want to play and where few players are going to want to stay.

The Nets are very close to being a NEW YORK team, with all the positives and negatives that go with it; very close to being owned by one of the richest men in the world; and very close to playing in two of the NBA’s newest arenas.

This isn’t about thinking small anymore…not for the franchise, not for free agents. The world changes when Prokhorov takes over and that looks like it will be this week. You don’t have to make a choice between draft picks and free agents.

Do you guys really think NJ would really give up Yi for Amare?
As a GM I know I would in a heart beat, but we’re not really talking basketball when it comes to Yi.

Also, I think Yi could do well in a 6th man role if we did keep him.

I wouldn’t trade any picks for him, just take him off FA market. I highly doubt any small market team will paid him and give away picks and young guys even cap relief guy.

The knicks are waiting for Lebron, Waye, Bosh. Why should we give away picks, those picks are our future.

Muwu:

Maybe or maybe not. But if Lebron does not want to come to the Nets, it’s not because it would be his joining the worst team of all time. It would be a massive failure of imagination and management if Lebron expresses possible interest in the Nets and the Nets do not upgrade this current shambles of a roster by getting some better defenders and shooters.

In fact, this may reflect a failure of imagination on your part…

Devin Harris and Yi for Amare or DH + Yi + Lpz softee for Amare Frye and Rlpz….

Do it so games could be WATCHABLE again. Do it and Get a New Coach now and FIRE STUPID KIKI.

If Amare is available, we have no choice but to explore trading for him as reality has to set in that we will not attract any other major FAs during the offseason. Here you have a guy who has said the Nets have “promise”, thus giving the inclination that he would be open to playing for the team in the future.

harris n battie with dallas pick 4 stat and dragic

Yi
C.Lee or T.Williams
Battie
Hayes
2010 Dal #1
Future #2
4.5 TPE
$3m

For

Amare
Griffin
Amundson

If we’re going to compete with others and want his bird rights, which will be huge in resigning, him we have to up the ante some.

This deal I think gets Pheonix out of the luxury tax by saving them 4.5m in salary and about the same amount in tax.

They won’t want Harris and his 8M a year contract….they will want TWill, BSimmons, Battie, and Dallas’s 1st Pick.

On one hand the Suns can’t expect equal value for him but on the other hand the Nets have to have the best offer to get him. That’s the problem for me. I’m not sold on an average defensive player at PF long term if I’m paying a big price. I’d take him for the rest of the year to see how he fits but for 30-35 games this year you can’t give up too much and it probably won’t get it done. I say we should build threw the draft and trades and add the final piece with a FA. While a lot of people would be happy with a team like Dallas or the Suns, I want to be like Bos. or LA.

19mil is a lot for this guy
why not go after anthony randolph
or troy murphy?

bye bye cdr and boone.

after his recent comments about the nets this looks like a done deal to me. no other FA was that upfront and coy about it.

if this happens then all this team needs to target is a 3. we can draft wall and play him alongside harris or draft wall and trade harris for some more pieces. interesting stuff going on now!

Well maybe Brook could develop to make up for his defensive shortcomings. The major place where Amare will hurt any team is pick and roll defense. Man, if we could only get a really solid defensive coach like Larry Brown. Have you guys noticed what he’s done with Charlotte? They’re one of the best if not the best defensive teams in the league. They play total team defense.

Right now i’m just willing to settle for not being an AAU team. Let’s be serious, John Wall’s Kentucky team could beat us right now.

We’ll see how/if this works out… but a frontcourt of Amare + Brook makes me warm inside… The defense will still be a problem, but that’s what Humphries is coming off the bench for… I mean, something HAS to change around here. Something — anything — is better than this mess.

How’s this scenario:

We do the trade I suggested earlier.

Yi, C.Lee or T.Williams, Battie, Hayes, 2010 Dal #1
Future #2, 4.5 Traded Player Exception,$3m

For

Amare, T.Griffin, Amundson

Then in the summer we do the following trade, which would be a precurser to a S&T, and a kind of backroom deal where Memphis agrees not to match on R.Gay

Harris, $3m
For
Conley,TPE

S&T
R.Gay 6 years 80m
for
$13m TPE + 2 Future #2 + $3m

 
2010-2011 NJ Nets
Wall / Conley
CDR
Gay / #2
Amare
Lopez / Humphries

That comes to about $46m in sslary so we would still have money to spend on talent and vets to fill out the roster (Hayes + Hassell come to mind)

McBubble,

The NETS need to make a splash….even if it means overpaying for this guy. Bringing in an All Star PF will add at least some respectibility to our team and might just be what’s needed to attract other FAs. Going after Randolph and/or Murphy, while good players, won’t help the team’s image.

After Amare, the NETS should send Dooling/Hayes and Boone to Denver for JR Smith. I know he is a headcase, yet he can be a prime time player if given the minutes. This team needs scoring and hunger……both of which JR will bring to the team as he wants to show he can be a start.

The draft picks are likely to hold the key. The Nets have TEN over the next three years—five firsts, five seconds…only one of them with protections and that protection, on the Warriors’ 2012 pick, is light: 1 through 7.

The Suns will want expiring contracts—the Nets have NINE of them worth $32 million—with values of $1.05 million (Quinn) to $11.24 million (Simmons). Humphries and Quinn can’t be traded unless the deal is broken into multiple pieces.

They will also want a good young player or two. Other than Lopez, the door is wide open, I would assume.

Amare’s an interesting option. Although not noted for his defensive prowess, he’d be a major upgrade from anything we have currently at the power forward position, and would make a formidable duo up front with B Lo. If we were able to get him for expiring contracts(Simmons,Hassell,Battie and one of our young “potential” stars like Yi, CDR, or TWill, I’d do it in a second. As long as we keep DHarris, Lopez, and our #1 pick (hopefully Wall), we’d be set up pretty well to make a big splash this summer in free agency, and would have a promising team next season.

I also don’t know why so many of you are down on Harris. Is he Deron Williams or CP3? No, but when healthy we have all seen what this guy is capable of contributing. His shot is off this year because he is shooting with a broken wrist. I’m sure you wouldn’t be shooting 50% from the field either. His assist total is down because nobody besides Brook can shoot the ball consistantly. Let’s give Harris a break, and see what he can do next year with an upgraded team.

@NI,
Do you think that includes Yi as well?

Go for it

Could Brook and Amare play together and not hurt Brook’s development? He’s had trouble playing together with Yi, and Amare spends more time in the post than Yi does. Sounds like trouble….

@Jack Handy
who knows, but I was at a season ticket holders town hall last February when the possibility of Amar’e arose and Thorn was very careful to note that while he is one of the best offensive talents in the NBA, his rebounding and defense leave a lot to be desired.

Here are my notes from that town hall re Amar’e:

–Thorn did little to encourage the speculation that the Nets are interested in acquiring Amar’e Stoudemire from the Suns. He noted you don’t see "stars like Stoudemire become available…for whatever reason" and added that there is no better offensive player than Stoudemire. "He can score on anybody." He then added a few caveats, suggesting that he "doesn’t defend or rebound as well as you’d hope" and that some people question whether he is "a better center than a power forward". The Nets have a center, who Thorn praised extensively. Hint, hint.

http://www.netsdaily.com/blog/?p=600

Well, meanwhile our team cannot score at all, so I’ll tkae his offense any old time. And regardless of how lacking his defense and rebounding may be, I’d still say it’s light years ahead of Yi.

If the options are Amare, Yi, Boozer (not known for his D), or D.Lee (not known for his D), I take Amare 10 times out of 10. I’d prefer Bosh, but we know that ain’t happening.

If we can get him for some of our “assets” with the agent saying we have a shot to resign him, then we need to do it. He is a solid payer and sends a signal to the FA crop that we can get people here. Anybody but Brook in he deal is fine with me.
 If we are just “renting” him, it’s not worth it.

There are a few issues here. Amare and Shaq didnt work. Besides the fact that Lopez has some range how does two low post options work here.

Second, Amare thrives on the Pick and roll. Harris sucks at the pick and roll. No way harris gets traded before we find out who gets #1 pick. Amare is definitely an upgrade but his attitude and skill is questionable.

That said Yi can go with any of our expiring contracts. CDR and Lee should stay but if one has to go it might be CDR.

“Amare is definitely an upgrade but his attitude and skill is questionable.”

I think Amare’s long-term health is more questionable than his skill. He’s an excellent offensive player.

Correct me if I’m wrong but trading even their biggest expirings for Amare won’t be detrimental to any potential FA pickup this summer, right? Assuming Amare agrees to resign, they’ll hold his Bird rights, sign the to-be-declared free agent using their available cap space first and then have the ability to go over the available capspace to resign Amare because of the team’s right to resign him.

Is this right?

@Accelerate
There is something called a cap hold which makes it difficult to do as you describe.

http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q30

Short answer, the Nets would have a cap hold for the max amount Amare could receive next season on their cap until he signs a contract.

Sorry but no way Yi will be let go by KikiThorn. If Yi goes, so do all those Chinese sponsorships and money. This may sound very bad to many Nets fans, but that’s the reality.

Honestly Yi would be an ideal backup PF. Bringing in Amare would be a great move to play alongside Brook. They would make it work. Think about this….we trade for Amare by giving up a combo of expirings/picks/ maybe a Lee or CDR and still end up hitting the lotto and taking Wall or Turner. You’re telling me a lineup of Harris/Wall/Amare/Brook isn’t enticing for LeBron?

@ken

If the Nets keep losing, then that sponsorship money will go away anyways. Do you really think that Chinese companies want to sponsor a losing team? Especially one where the fans hate the Chinese player, blaming him significantly for the team’s demise?

If the Nets were to get Amare and then win the draft lottery for Wall, I think they would be in play for any free agent out there, including Lebron. With Amare’s cap hold though, the Nets would likely have to jettison Harris in order to make another big offer to a free agent.

can we even offer a better package than the bulls? I think Noah/ Thomas, their #1, and Brad Miller is a better package than we can offer.

Off the topic, I think John Wall and Amare Stoudemire both have the similiar face. They look alike.

I think everyone’s exaggerating the Chinese sponsorships and everything. Just how much are the nets getting? If a team like Milwaukee found it fit to trade him, then it can’t be astronomical. And there has been reports that the nets have shopped Yi as well. I don’t think money is any problem now that Prokhorov is here.

And to asnwer PhilNYC yeah I think the chinese companies would still keep sponsoring. It’s about a fellow country man, not about his team winning or losing. And they really could care less what a bunch of Americans think. Not that any news of that would reach them.

I would be surprised if the Nets are the winner if PHX auctions him off. Other teams can put together expiring contracts and real young talent. The Nets can offer picks, that is their main advantage but young talent? I haven’t seen much. Maybe PHX will put Courtney Lee in that category. Steve Kerr is one of the worst GMs in the league. But Nets have to go for it to get out of the disaster they have fallen into.

get Amare for expiring contracts (Simmons, Battie, Yi)
Get Joe Johnson for nothing….
Trade Harris if we get Wall…

Devin or Wall/Dooling
J Johnson/Lee
player for Harris/CDR
Amare/draft pick
BLo/draft pick

Hassell, TWill, Hump, Quinn, Hayes

Not sure I’d want to lose assets for a guy who’ll be a FA next summer. I assume Phoenix would want Yi at least, along with one of our young wings. If we ship any of them out it should be Lee, no question about it in my mind.

I’d rather hold on our assets and wait and try to get him in the offseason if there’s any chance, but if they can get him and guarantee he’d be back next year, I wouldn’t mind trading for him now.

“Other teams can put together expiring contracts and real young talent.”

J.J. “i’m only decent because I play with LeBron” Hickson is young talent?

i would rather amere, he wants 3 yr 60 mil the guy has 3 career threatening injuries, 2 on his knees one on his eyes, one more injury he becomes 2010 webber and a albotros contract he plays above the rim,
 i take my chance rather on getting boozers rights, he plays 15 ft from basket while amere plays under basket which will hurt brook, also boozer is a beast on the boards amere is not,and boozer will be cheaper he couldnt get 12 mil this yr, so he opted in

Steve Kerr is exactly the kind of general manager Rod Thorn loves to rip off. Rod – resurrect your image and push Steve Kerr back to the broadcast booth!

Trade expiring contracts and our less desirable picks to PHX for Amar’e and Robin Lopez. Then in the summer sign and trade Amar’e to Toronto for Chris Bosh. Then use the rest of our cap space on LeBreezy.

“SIC Says:
January 25th, 2010 at 9:37 am
There are a few issues here. Amare and Shaq didnt work. Besides the fact that Lopez has some range how does two low post options work here.”

Our genius coaching staff doesn’t use Lopez in the low post as it is, so I think it’ll work just fine. Our guards will look for Amare in the post and ignore Lopez as usual, so when they double Amare, he can then dump it to Lopez who’ll be standing by idly.

Ratner had an agenda and winning wasn’t a part of it so he lost and needed the Chinese $. Proky’s agenda will be about winning and promoting Brooklyn. The Chinese $ will not be a priority but still should be desirable and that should make Yi a minor part of his agenda. There is no doubt our owner should prefer to win with Yi with some role than without him. Yi is an asset under any circumstances as long as his popularity is high.

Addictive….

Do you really think Phx would give up all their bigs in order to obtain expirings? Cmon now….

Plus…mark my words, RLopez will be as good as BLopez one day and Phx knows it.

A guy with microfracture surgury is never coming.

The more and more I read about this. I am moving towards saying No. I would rather trade Harris and/or Yi to a team that has a top 10 draft pick and get a younger PF/C in the draft then take on Amare with his cracked knees and his potential hefty new contract demand.

The microfracture surgery doesn’t seem to have had a major impact on him. He’s not the same amare from when he was a rookie, but he’s gotten to be a much improved jump shooter and still can finish

@ Tom F…
Jason Kidd had micro fracture surgery.

We will not trade Harris to land Amare. A core of BH, Amare, DH, Wall would be nice..

@johnny

Who’s BH?

we need amare

bh is brook and harris

I’d love to get Amare and Robin Lopez…..

I’d give up Simmons, Yi, CDR

2009-2010 should
pg harris
sg JJ
sf CDR
pf Amare
c Lopez

2010 east conference champs

i mean 2010-2011 :P

Just some random notes…

—I doubt anything happens much before the trade deadline. This is a buyers market. As things get close to the deadline, the pressure to trade him will grow and Phoenix is likely to take less. Only counter argument could be if trade talk becomes too much of a distraction. Phoenix is not a well run basketball operation…anything can happen, much as it did with Toronto and VC.

—This is deal that Prokhorov would HAVE to approve, HAVE to be in place as owner. It’s too big.

—As noted, teams like the Suns want a combination of things: good young player(s), expiring contracts, draft picks, cash, trade exceptions. The best deals include all those. The Mavs deal had all the above. The RJ and VC deals didn’t have draft picks or cash. And in the RJ deal, the expiring contract (Simmons) had an additional year to run.

—Big contract player deals require multiple players on both sides. Too difficult to work out otherwise. Think the VC deal: similar sized contract…took five players. Kidd deal: similar sized contract…took eight players.

—I really don’t think Thorn is that enamored of Amar’e based on what he said last year. Of course, things have changed…and NO ONE knows what Prokhorov would want to do.

—The Nets biggest advantages are the different sized expiring contracts (all nine of them) and the 10 picks. Of course, the Nets also should have Prokhorov.

What’s lost in all this is that we aren’t the team with the best chance to land big name free agents this summer. Surprisingly dallas is that team. Dallas has a 11.8 million dollar team option on josh howard that they probably won’t exercise and if erick dampier plays less than 2100 minutes this year, they can drop his 13 million dollar salary too. If i’m lebron, just the idea of playing with kidd AND dirk would get me there. How do you guard a lebron dirk pick and roll?

I agree with Netsfan.. That is the same lineup I suggested..Joe Johnson and Amare…..these guys are great….And if we get Wall, trade Devin for a sf…plus, if Amare goes down with a career ending injury, Proky will go over the salary cap to win…..plus they will take out insurance…We are going to be the Yankees of Bball!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No Joe Johnson and Amare… They’ll both want a 5-6 year contract. They’ll both be on the wrong side of 30 in 2-3 years. Which means you’ll all be screaming about overpaying a declining star(s) when that time comes. You all did it before VC was traded, why won’t there be a similar result this time around?

I think Amare is over the hump as far as recovering from microfracture, but its still a big risk. But considering his statements about playing here and him playing a position we havent filled successfully since Kmart left, go get him. Amare + Brook is one hell of a front line and a good start to rebuilding

Trade anyone but Lopez and Harris. Give them anything but our pick this year.

Jack had some really great points. Knee injury, Eye injury, plays near exclusively above the rim. I would also rather have Boozer. Rebounding=extra possessions=extra points. You can easily get a 20+ ppg scorer at 3/5 positions in the NBA, but 10+ rebounds is incredibly hard to come by.

I think Thorn will of course make an offer, but it won’t be what the Suns want. Thorn won’t give up primt assets before the draft, it just doesn’t make sense- especially considering how this season is going.

Stoudemire is a great player, but they have to wait out this season for any deals for bigger name players to make sense.

I think if they can get Amare without trading Harris or Lopez, then do it! Plus, I think Harris will be better because so much attention will be paid to Amare and Brook. Lee will have WIDE OPEN shots and make them, as he did last year. Then we get Wall in the draft, and perhaps sign another player like Gay.

Work your magic Thorn, pull another VC type trade!

Im praying Yi get traded to Phoenix Suns :)..Nice weather…:)

Get this done Rod. Bring Amare now rather than wait for the summer.

simmons, jayes, hassell, quinn, dallas pick for amar`e

go nets go!!!

:D :D :D

Nets suck!

CDR, Simmons,Hayes, Hassell, Dallas pick, for Amare.

The Suns also want youth. My suggestion is we make the move as it will entice Bron to come here even more. Get it done PROKY.

If he’s still available after season’s end, he could be a great addition- however, pretty much need to trade away a bunch to get him. Who knows what will happen this summer, will be exciting!

Bring him in plz

Long term good idea. Short term bad idea. He will not help give this team what it needs now: toughness and defense. So short term bad. But if we had him for a couple of years, yeah, he’d be perfect: an athletic force inside. He solves a glaring need: PF. We have everything they want: but will Kiki give up on his precious Yi?

Get it done!! If we sign him we can entice a big name free agent to sign with us. Who wouldn’t want to play with a front court of Amare and Brook? Throw in a top 5 draft pick. If we don’t pick up wall then we should get Johnson from syracuse

I don’t Want Amare on this team. At the PF we need a “Horse” that can be physical, play D and rebound. He doesn’t have those attributes as his strength. He can b physical but only on the offensive end. He will be 29 and I don’t want to have him, who has injures in both knees and his eye, to be on the Nets at age 34. That is going to be a disaster. I will rather we take our best shot in the draft with Favors. I don’t think we will get J. Wall but IMO we will have a excellent chance to get Favors. It will talk him about 2-3 years to get acclimated to the NBA style of play. Amare will stunt the growth of B.Lopez. If we get a bruiser down low who can rebound it will take the pressure of him.

No to Amare!!!

I would include anyone but brook, harris or our frust round pick for Amare. Not happening though

Evan Turner from Ohio State. The second best pick of the 2010 draft behind wall so actually its a win win situation No wall Turner. No Turner Wall can’t lose both great players.

No doubt… Ima fan if Eva turner

Guys, we should definitely pick up Sean Williams (SWAT) off of waivers. he would be a great addition and he could bring plenty of energy to this team. JK LOL OMG!!!

i still rather have gay n david lee over joe n stat. just because…
1. they’ll b cheaper
2. younger
3. play with alot more heart.

and if for some crazy miracle get john wall. then we can either play wall n harris 2gether at the guards or trade off harris during the offseason 4 a 2guard or a great role player or someone that can make a huge impact on a growing team.

4got something else. marcus camby coming off the bench 4 defense and with energy nxt year??

Remember if you include Yi, you’re saving 4 million off of next years’ salary cap. Besides, Yi wouldn’t get much PT anyway. I would even include CDR or CLee since likely Wall or Turner would make one of them expendable. Keep TWill to see what he can do – That’s what Thorn is up to.

As NI has said before, its not uncommon to buy a high 1st round pick for $3 million. Proky would do that in a heart beat if possible. Get a backup Center/PF type.

With Cleveland’s play and considering their 2 PGs and Leon Powe coming soon, LeBron could easily win championship this season.

Yes, with a championship + Amare and Wall/Turner + a $50,000 dinner with Proky, I would then say 60% chance LeBron would want to comes to Brooklyn, ahead of schedule.
Would they be able to get sign both Amare and LeBron?

Watching Suns vs. Jazz tonight, I would rather have AK-47 than Amar’e.

Kirilenko, who makes around the same as Stoudemire, had 26 points, 6 boards, 3 blocks, 2 assists and a steal. He played solid defense. Stoudemire had 16 point, 8 boards and 2 steals and was horrid on defense. Kirilenko is a much better all around player when he is on. There’s a one year age difference as well. Kirilenko would also play better with Lopez.

Next year, AK-47 has a player option. He is not a free agent unless he chooses to be. He will make $17.7 million if he doesn’t opt out. AK-47 has no options. He will make $17.8 million.

Isn’t it odd for Nets would advertise Amare’s interest?
Do they want to give fans something to hope for? or is there something else they are after – such as get Knicks worried that top FA’s will be gone or not available (Amare/Bosh) so better trade DLee and get something for him while they can?

Hope Rod will be tempting Knicks with Yi (marketing in China) for DLee. Would be cheaper in all ways than going for Amare.

Nets would have good chance to re-sign DLee as he wouldn’t even have to move. I’d bet he would be friends with BLopez and would help resurge Harris.

Knicks could use Nets draft picks. They could always sign Boozer anyway, but who would be Center for Knicks for balance.

How about Yi + Boone + draft picks. I could just see it now – Boone as Knicks center, Yi as PF. I think Nets concern would be finishing ahead of Knicks and Utah getting a better draft pick.

AK-47 would be a last option, though its tempting to save this season.
Earlier it would have been possible to ask Utah take Najera.
Even if Utah would swap Dallas with Knicks pick I’m not sure I would be interested (unless Nets could subsequently get DLee so that Knicks would finish with 3rd worst record!).

After watching Wesley Johnson of Syracuse, he might make top 4 list – and if Nets aren’t going to get LeBron, Johnson could be a starting SF. Wesley is like TWill, but high shooting %, not as strong, but is an animal around both baskets and is obviously a winner.

A few things in response to everyone’s posts:

1) You can’t trade a trade exception along with a player, it can only be used on it’s own

2) We don’t need to have exactly enough cap space to sign Amare and LBJ. We can trade for Amare and then extend him and if we don’t quite have enough money for LBJ and he decides he wants to come here we do a sign-and-trade with the Cavs and give them a few 1st rounders like Denver did when we gave them K-Mart. If the Cavs realize LBJ is leaving anyway they’ll be more than happy to take the few 1st rounders and trade him to us rather than watch him sign with another team and them get nothing.

3) Lopez is on his rookie contract right now. He will be a max or close to max player when that contract is up. Therefore, we need to use our cap space now (and then we can go over the cap to re-sign Lopez). Once we sign Lopez there will be no more cap space (you don’t get to sign a free agent if your under the cap and then resign your guy. There is something called a cap hold and I don’t know the exact formula but I believe it’s equaled to 150% of the expected earnings of the guy and that’s included in your “cap space”.) The Nets have to strike by the summer of 2010 or it will all implode.

4) My thoughts, if Proky takes over and wants to make a big splash immediately then trade for Amare. Amare and Lopez would be the best 4/5 combo in the league. Then we have Harris who is an amazing player. People don’t seem to realize…Harris isn’t a number 1 option and they’re asking him to be…but when he’s the 2 or 3 option he’s at his best. When defenses can’t plan their scheme around stopping him because they’re worried about Amare and then Lopez as he continues ot develop you’ll see the real Harris. Add to Harris, Lopez and Amare a top 4 pick (if they have the worst record they can’t do worse than 4), and they’ll still have cap space to sign another free agent or do a sign-and-trade for one.

pg- Harris
sg- Wall or Turner or Wesley Johnson
sf- LeBron or Gay(via sign-and-trade) or Butler or Iguodala
pf- Amare
c- Lopez

What’s wrong with that? And it’s actually realistic. We have soooo many draft picks (we can trade the Dalls pick, the pick we got from the Warriors, our 1st rounder next yr or in 2012) plus young players (Lee, CDR, T-Will, Yi) to use in the trades for Amare and the sign-and-trade for Gay or LeBron or Butler or Iguodala who are all available.

Thoughts?

Ak47 is putting up crazy numbers lately….eventually he’ll become a nets. It’s only a matter of when….