Who wants Johnson, anyway?

It’s not about wanting Johnson specifically but hearing what free agents think of w/re to joining the what could be the worst team of all time.

If the wins aren’t going to come, let’s at least see what our first round pick can do.

Harris-CDR-Twill-Yikes-B-Lo makes them younger and bigger.

Joe Johnson should be looked at because Wade and Bosh aint coming. If it aint LeBron then Joe Johnson, Rudy Gay, and David Lee should be a option. And he’s right..wins matter to some guys but to most money and fans come first..we have money but no fans and 3 wins lol we should focus on the draft pick

JJ aint worth a max deal, and thats the kind of money he would command. Plus, he’ll be 30 next summer, it’d be moronic to throw all that money at an aging 2nd tier FA who wont lead you anywere close to a championship.

Lets get real here people, Rudy Gay, David Lee, Tyrus Thomas, those are realistic targets. I laugh everytime I read names like James, Wade, Stoudemire or Bosh being linked to the Nets.

JJ even rejected a contract extension the Hawks offered him worth $60M over 4 years. Thats $15 per. You can assume he’ll be seeking a max deal- which he aint worth by any means. He’ll probably get one from a sucker that though could sign LBJ or Wade, and that will overpay a 2nd tier FA like him or Boozer just to not come out with their hands empty after selling this 2010 pipe dreaming plan. Hopefully NJ wont be that sucker.

forget JJ. i hope the nets don’t panic. if they can’t get a lebron or wade, save the cap space until brooklyn happens.

durant should be the real target when he becomes a free agent.

subtext: I’m staying with the Hawks unless San Antonio or the Celtics come callin.

I would be very happy if we could get Gay. He’s a very decent player, still young and with an incredible upside. All the Nets need, to be a 25 team win is a player that can score 25 points every night, no matter what. Carter was that. On his bad days, he would get fouled and score 25 just by going to the freethrow line. Gay will be a 25ppg guy next year, and with him, and possibly few other expiring deals, the Nets can be a playoff team and have enough space to sign Durant in 2011.

I personally prefer that than actually giving max contracts to guys like Joe Johnson. Give all our young players another year to improve, and you’ll have it. At Brooklyn at the start of the 2011-2012 season:

Harris
Gay
Durant
Yi
Lopez

CDR, Lee, TWill …

@ Carlos:

I agree, Joe Johnson isn’t a max player (who will soon be on the wrong side of 30) but, a player with his skill-set and approach to the game is actually a better fit to play with Durant than Rudy Gay.

I think your proposed 2012 line-up is flawed because Gay and Durant duplicate each other. Obviously, Durant is the superior player but, they essentially do the same things. Gay is a small forward. He would need to know how to be effective without the basketball (in the mold of JJ) in order to be a “2” playing with Durant. I don’t believe he’s that type of player.

LMAO @ Durant coming here

What would be so bad about somehow working a trade with GS in efforts of obtaining Randolph and Maggete. I think they would fit perfectly into our starting lineup. Maggete is only making 10 million a year and he is quite productive. We will not be able to recruit any better players in FA, so why not bite the bullet and obtain a stud like Randolph?

Boozer
Gay

Free agents will go to the team that pays them the most money and where their agents and sponsors think more money can be made, off the court.

I.E. Jason Bay (NY METS)

Our record won’t matter come July…

I still think we got as good a shot as any other NBA team, and a better shot then most when the FA’s come a knocking.

Lets go Nets…

Said it many times in the past. J.Johnson will be a Knick next year.
Everybody stop thinking R.Gay. The person I keep on telling everybody to watch for is W.Johnson of Syracuse. This is the guy in the draft that we should consider for the Nets. His talent level along with being a pretty good character guy resembles S.Pippen. Yes just like S.Pippen with a far better jump shot. His jump shot is so good that he would be the best pure shooter on the Nets team next year. It is so important for the Nets to line up more draft picks and be greedy to get some more young talent through this years draft. Carpe Diem!

Thank God he doesnt want to come here. We would have to outbid ATL and other teams to get him. Kiki isnt the best person to be in charge in those situations.

I say dont sign any FAs this year. Wait and see what Hornets, Thunder, Kings and etc… get hit financially and hope for Fire Sales.

I should have added unless Lebron or Wade say they want to be A Net.

I agree with Andres. We should not throw out max contracts to 2nd tier FA’s.

The Joe Johnsons, Boozers, David Lees etc. are not worth over paying for.

I would rather wait till 2011 then bet the ranch on anybody but LeBron, Wade and maybe Bosh.

There will still be some good useful players in the FA class of 2010, who will be available at reasonable if not bargain basement prices.

Should be a very interesting summer… Can’t wait…

We might have to go thru another losing season next year.

Hopefully not as bad as this one.

Didn’t Proky, Thorn and Kiki all mention 2011. They probably see the same scenario being played out. LeBron, Wade and Bosh off the board, then panic sets in. You then start chasing and over paying for players like Johnson. Bad move, but you see it happen all the time in sports.

I believe Proky is smart enough to have patience.
It will be hard on us fans, but unless we have the “perfect storm”, 35 wins next season. Sounds like a lot to me. LOL

Superstar FA’s rarely leave their teams…and if they do it’s not going to be the Nets. So the best they should hope for is a 2nd tier FA

They won’t really be going to the NJ Nets.

They will be “wined and dined” and told about this new team, owner, and arena, in Brooklyn NYC.

The “Brooklyn Nets” have not lost a game yet. You can look it up. LOL

They will even be given a whole season 2010-2011, to practice “off Broadway”, before they open in the Big Apple.

The money and draft choices will be there and they will be consulted on any player moves.

What more can you ask for?

I’m beening serious. I still think LeBron will end of in Brooklyn, and this is coming from a fan who rather he not.

Call me crazy, but I like to see “home grown” teams develope, instead of “buying” championships thru free agency superstars…

“The Nets have a talented young core…”

Huh? Which “Nets” are you talking about? The New Jersey Nets of the NBA?

In basketball one player can make a big difference.

I believe the Nets are 1 or 2 players away from being “good”.

And those 1 or 2 players don’t have to be “superstars”.

One solid PF/C and one play making PG.

You have to remember most teams in the NBA don’t have a LeBron, Wade, Kobe, Garnett, Duncan, Howard and they will not have them next year either…

You can still compete without a superstar.

If we get a superstar, fine. But if we don’t I won’t be crying the blues…

I’m pretty sure Joe went from a great phoenix team to a horrible atlanta team so?

Didn’t JJ go to Atlanta in the first place for a bunch of money?

The Nets are like that movie the “Dirty Dozen” or “Stripes”. A bunch of talented misfits, who need a Lee Marvin type or Sgt. Hulka type, to come in and give them focus and direction.

In other words a “leader”.

I believe Proky will be that “big toe” every team, family and company needs to be respectful and successful.

Good luck Sgt.Proky…

@Mike Says:
Your correct the team needs are Power Forward & Backup Center.
The draft is the way to go for these needs. C.Aldrich can play both backup center and Power Forward. G.Monroe would be perfect at power forward to compliment Lopez with his ability to run the floor, rebound and pass the ball to make players have easy shots at the basket.

@Ben – He got paid a lot of money to do so. You want to pay him a lot of money? You will have to outbid a few other teams especially since he is saying he doesnt want to be here.

I agree with mike. This team needs a leader. When we were successful we had a PG that was the leader. He worked hard on both ends of the court until the very end. Harris is talented but he isnt that leader. Wall seems to have some of the quality. Lets hope that there are some fire sales before the trade deadline.

Why is David Lee’s name being uttered in the same breath as these other high profile FAs? David Lee is a MLE or slightly above quality player. I’d keep Yi over Lee any day.

After what Chris Bosh said kinda figured we’d be seeing more of this. Though the Nets have a lot of things going for them going into the off-season in certain aspects (players, cap space, Draft picks), but there’s still a lot of uncertainty with the front office and ownership that might keep FA’s away. Players aren’t always about the money, it’s about the stability of the organization.
1. In order to get our 20 $mil in cap space, our young core, and draft picks we had to trade away Kidd, RJ, and Vince(I’ll even throw K-Mart in there) to get there because that Nets were bleeding financially.
2. Ownership: With Prokhorov coming are there going to be changes? (Coaches, GM, etc.)
3. Newark or the IZOD in 2010-11? Brooklyn in 2012-13?

Even John Wall isn’t a lock. The Nets are certainly playing their way into the #1 pick, but the lottery can certainly screw us over if the balls don’t fall in our favor

I don’t think Proky is buying the Nets to make money in the real estate market or for his “trophy” case.

He has money to burn, and he will, on the Nets…

That means the best of everything, players, coaches, front office, fans…

If he can’t turn this team around, nobody can.

And he’s coming into the game with a nice pile of chips…

Two nice young players. Lopez and Yi. No bloated Eddie Curry contracts to deal with. Draft picks up the gazoo…
Young players like Lee, CDR, and T-Will who may blossom on a stronger team. Harris who can’t be as bad as he’s been playing lately.

I like his cards, and if the cards don’t work out he has enough money and flexibilty to go out and buy a whole new deck. LMAO

Time Time Time Time…

Unfortunataly you can’t deny time, and you have to have SOME doubts about how talented the Nets young core really is as TIME passes.

Right now, there are 2 starting caliber players for sure, Harris is one of them and OH MAN has he stunk it up big time and has displayed very bad unwinning (otherwise known as losing) .

Lopez is the other, and while he is not as established as Harris (meaning Harris is probably not getting any better than he is), he has starting to show some weakeness in gut-check type characteristics that you need. So…

CDR, Lee, Yi, Twill…alot to prove. CDR and Yi have shown in a short time thsi year that they are rotation worthy – not great though. Good bench players to me, or 3rd, 4th and 5th options. Lee has shown me that he stinks somewhat; he is so gone first chance he gets. TWill has shown me that he is extraordinarily immature and foolish. He needs more time,like until next year.

The troubling thing about this, along trying to separate emotion from being objectionable, is that we are shaping up to be in good position for what? First off the FA class. I don’t care who you are, if someone offers you $5mil more to come play on an inferior team you’re not going to do it. Our team is extremely terrible right now. It’s not even a team. Just a bunch of bodies. We’re hoping for Lebron or Wade to come in and save us. Not going to happen. I’ll eat crow if either one signs with the nets. Second….the draft. Not only are we putting a lot of credence on John Wall, even if we finish dead last in the league, which it seems we will, that gives us a 25% of the first pick. Not saying the 1st pick is the end all of be all, but i hope people realize its less than a quarter chance we land him. I guess my point is, when you tell a team full of young men, indirectly, “we don’t really care what you do or if you get used to losing, it’s all about next season” it’s going to cause damage. The psyche of a player, especially a young one, is a fragile thing. I know these guys don’t like to lose, but when you get used to losing, and accept losing at the outcome before any effort, then that’s when it ends.
So, if you want to plan for next year, go ahead, but understand, you will have a team full of losers, that don’t know how to win, because you let it happen. If we got Lebron today. With the pieces we have, that would give us what, 7 more wins on the season?

Look to recent league history to predict the Net’s free agent success.

The Chicago Bulls after Jordan managed to get way under the salary cap with a roster of high draft picks and could not attract free agents to Chicago, one of the major markets in the USA.

The Boston Celtics, after a horrible year with remaining star Paul Pierce, managed to trade their high draft pick for Ray Allen, and were then able to convince Minnesota and Kevin Garnett to accept a trade. This model is one the Nets might use, but unfortunately there is no Paul Pierce level star in place. It is unclear that even a Ray Allen type would accept a trade to the Nets.

Get D. Lee and Rudy Gay!

Wow, it’s almost a game to try and see how many categories of team stats the Nets are at the bottom of.

Nets are at the bottom of the league in:

Points per game
Field goal %
3 point %
Assists per game

Second to the last in rebounds per game

At least we’re in the middle of the pack in blocks and top 10 in steals and free throw %

We’ve only cracked the 100 point plateau 5 times going 2-3 in those games. By contrast, we’ve allowed our opponents have cracked the 100 point mark 17 times going 1-16 in those games.

I wonder if Proky made all his billions by sitting around and telling himself, “no way, impossible, who me?, it can’t be done”? LMAO

He even eluded to this in an interview when the question came up on how bad the team was.

He said something to the effect of “Don’t you think I know what I’m getting into”. LMAO

He even admitted that he has watched some Nets games this year.

The man knows basketball. He has had experience with running a team. He is not a Ratner type.

I think Proky is going to blow the roof off this “house”.

Can’t wait…

What was the teams record the year before Kidd came here? It just takes one domino to fall.

“Second to the last in rebounds per game”

Hard to believe there is another team that rebounds worse than the Nets when the Nets have been outrebounded for 185 straight games.

Im starting to consider this season an inditement of Harris’ skills or lack there of. Take over a game once, ONCE! Good news is I think he still has good value.

If any of these free agents has a brain, it should tell them “A 1-2 punch with Brook lopez can be pretty good”

Forget Devin Harris because he’s playing his way out of NJ

The Warriors are at the bottom of the league in rebounding

@Mike

I agree to some extent. I think if a team finishes in the bottom 3rd a FA will focus more on the overall talent of the roster a la Jason Bay. But if a team finishes dead last in the standings and pretty much all the most important statistical categories all the while shattering records of failure, everyone notices. When all is said and done I dont think that Rudy Gay for expample will be able to tell you how many games the Bobcats lost but everyone will know how bad the Nets were.

I doubt JJ is coming but what I find ironic is that he chose to play for Atlanta, who were coming off a 13 win season the year before, over Phoenix, who was coming off a trip to the WC finals.

As for the Nets, I found it ironic that he complained about the lack of passion from Hawk fans. If that plays a role in where he plays, he won’t want to play at IZOD or even Newark. OTOH, the Knicks would seem to have a shot.

any1 has interest in von wafer coming in nxt season?
i noe he’s not a big name player but he can score.

Let’s also not forget about the various circumstances these FA’s come from.

For instance, Gay will be restricted. That limits our chances as even if we offer the max, Memphis will be in position to match the offer.

The reason that Lee and Boozer are legit possibilities is because their respective teams may be in no position to offer them anything or in Boozer’s case, may just want to let him walk to avoid the lux tax.

With Lee, the Knicks may have to renounce his rights in order to make room for other free agents. Therefore, the Knicks could swoop in and get him for cheaper than he and his agent think he’s worth. That also makes someone like Al Harrington a possibility if they get desperate and need to sign a small forward on the cheap.

With Boozer, the Jazz are up against the lux tax and have 2 first round with which 2 replace him with so he’s another guy who won’t have the advantage of leverage as he won’t have bird rights. He’ll need to go where the cap money is and that could wind up being the Nets if high profile FA’s eat up FA space with big name teams.

No top tier FA is coming here in 2010. Love Joe Johnson’s game but he is too old for a max contract. Nets should focus on trading expiring contracts for talent now, particularly at the 2 or 4, even if contracts run past 2010. Add John Wall or some other top rookie. Make a respectable 2010-11 record and then go after KD or Melo.

So what happens when we get the #1 pick, John Wall stays in school, all the big time free agents laugh in our face and Yi is our go to player? Do we draft Favors? That makes the future of our big man rotation a little murky doesn’t it?

@ Dirt
 I’ve been thinking about that too. Outside of the possibility of the lottery screwing us over. There’s also the possibility of Wall staying in school another year if the doesn’t feel like he wants to go to the Nets @ 1#

Favors is the guy is they are drafting #2. That eliminates Lee and Boozer as FA targets. They can try for Gay and hope Memphis doesn’t match or trade for a player that another team is trying to dump from it’s payroll to avoid the lux tax. Mike Dunleavy, Andre Igoudola and Marvin Williams all come to mind.

Harrington is a cheaper, short term solution.

Or they could go for Dzeidic’s idea and get Wesley Johnson instead of Favors. That would make Lee and Boozer the targets. Maybe even try for Bosh although that’s a long shot.

No way Wall stays in school to avoid playing for the Nets.

Re waiting for 2011… I don’t think it’d be a bad idea if our options are overpaying guys like Gay or Lee (which I think it may be the case)…

OK, so we’ll have $26M in cap space next summer… Let’s say you can use that money to give guys like Lee and Gay the bigs bucks… you can sign Gay at $13-14M per, and Lee at $12M per… would that be the answer?

I personally believe the answer to that question is NO.

Both Lee and Gay are good players in their prime, BUT I’d rather use that cap space in a different way.

Lee IMO will get a contract in the $12M per range, and I dont think he’s worth it. Sure, we could use him, BUT he plays NO D, we don’t need to give that much money to another big who cant guard a folding chair. Id rather have someone like Tyrus Thomas or Udonis Haslem, who could be had at a cheaper price. Thomas could bring us some of the things we lost when we traded KMart away. And Haslem has already proved he can play key minutes next to a star C in a championship team.

As for Gay, I like him, and think that a young, athletic player like him could be a nice fit here… I also believe we need a star wing who can put the ball on the basket the way he does, but he is a little of a ball hog… we need someone who can pass the basketball better, IMO. And if we land Wall in the draft, then there’d be no need to sign someone like Gay, IMO.

Let’s say Nets come to the conclusion it’s better to wait until 2011. How could they use that cap space? One option could be trading for someone like AK, who like Diaw, is the kind of SF this team needs, IMO, a big SF with good ball handling and playmaking abiliities… this team needs people who can pass the ball, period… plus someone like that gives you the flexibility to play both forward spots, so if we need to adjust to a small lineup we dont have to play a guard at the 4 like we have done this year.

We could trade for him in the offseason without having to send players who match his salary, but Utah should eat Najera’s contract… we would still have $9-11M to sign a FA like Thomas or Haslem, and would keep some cap space for 2011, when Melo becomes available (Durant is a pipe dream, OKC will match any offer).

Harris/TWill/Dooling
Wall/Lee
AK/CDR/Hassell
Yi/ FA (Thomas or Haslem)
Lopez/Boone/Mavs pick

We would have a decent team and our kids would develop better in an environment like that, and we wouldn’t be killing our long term flexibility.

I see no scenario under which Wall stays in school. Why would he, even if he would prefer not to play in NJ or whoever else might win the lottery? Guaranteed number one pick. Locked in salary scale. Risk of injury by returning to college. Gets him one year closer to FA if he really wants to leave. It would defy logic for him to stay at UK after the Wildcats’ last game in the tournament.

Plus, Wall would make more with the Nets than he is getting paid at Kentucky lol.

People need to understand that even though we are in great shape this summer, its not always about how much you have, it is also about how you spend it. If we pay someone too much, it will be hard to ever get rid of that contract especially if that player gets injured. Yes we have a lot of money directed for the summer of 2010, but it is also vital to know how to use it too.

Now I’m not saying we should buy cheap players all around like we did in the past. Such as when we signed Padgett, Murray and others. But what I am saying is that James, Wade or Bosh may not be the best players for OUR team. If we could get one of them, sure it would be nice, but when it comes down to it, it only matters about winning. If they can’t get our team over the hump, I will go out on a limp and say pass.

Only problems being:

1. Dooling is leaving more than likely (Harris remains injury-prone). PG depth

2. Wall and Harris are redundant.

3. AK is a shadow of his former self but can be a decent role-player. His man to man defense has regressed in a big way.

4. Tyrus Thomas makes Sean Williams look smart on the floor and is every bit as erratic. He also adds more fragility to the roster.

5. Need I say it?

6. Yi is going to have to learn how to play with Lopez and pass the ball to be on the floor at the same time with him.

translation: Joe Johnson is coming.

Actually, it ALL depends on who we draft and how we trade which happens BEFORE free agent signing. i.e. IF we land wall, and Thorn is able to pull off a draft day trade…for argument sake, Harris, plus parts in a trade for a young PF or SF such as Anthony Randolph, or Rudy Gay, and we have a great draft, and we’re looking something like

Wall/Dooling
CDR/Lee
Lopez/Dallas Pick
Yi/Boone
Randolph or Gay/Hayes

NOW add Joe Johnson, or Boozer, or Stoudamire, to that picture. We’d still be 15 million under the cap. We don’t need LBJ, Bosh or Wade to turn around in one year.

Lmao at the idea of wanting AK on this team.I guarantee if Ak is on this team it would be a terrible move by nets mgmt.

Andres and Trueblood are on target as to where this discussion should be going. Nets probably have to gamble that LeBron (or any top FA) is staying in Cleveland for another year and make their decisions based on that.

Boozer is probably out because of Yi’s improvement (on offense only).

Whatever you think about DLee, he is Knicks best player and if he was playing for Nets instead of Knicks this year, then Knicks would have about 1-2 wins and Nets would have more than 10 wins. DLee solves backup Center problem at same time.

Regarding AK47, once again the alternative proposal is get him before Feb 19 to salvage this season (and make team more attractive) but in addition to including Najera’s contract, I would expect swap of Dallas and Knicks pick as they are getting closer in draft order. Coach Sloan could be overruled by Utah ownership because Jazz are fading.
AK would fit in with adding a FA in 2011.

NI: could we continue this more focused discussion as separate topics and stop with the rubbish of trading our young and inexpensive players who are undervalued right now?

Johnson isnt the Go-to, buzzer beater, last minute, decisive man!!!

he is not the answer (neither iverson is) we need wade at the SG position.

@ Dziedzic – Joe Johnson couldn’t get away from Mike D’Antoni fast enough 4 (or it is 5?) years ago because he felt he wasn’t being used properly. And now you think he’s going to go to the Knicks? REALLY?