MIKHAIL PORKOROV! IF YOU SEE THIS, BAIL ME. GET DAVID STERN TO NULL HIS STATEMENT OF A YEAR BAN FROM THE NBA FOR ME. I’M SURE WITH YOUR MONEY, MR. PORKOROV, YOU CAN INFLUENCE DAVID STERN. I WILL SIGN WITH THE NETS. I WILL GIVE THEM A TOP NOTCH PLAYER. HI EVERYBODY!

Moving in the shadows?
Someone is finally realizing that the Nets are on the verge of greatness.
Remember in the 90’s when basketball was king?
That was because the major cities had major stars.
MJ chicago
MJ LA
Ewing in NY.
Since the Jordan and the Knicks left the game, basketall lost its glamour.
I’m sure David Stern would love to have Lebron or Wade in NYC.
The Finals have had bad ratings in recent years and the CBA will expire next year. There have been rumors of refs fixing games and now players are pulling guns out in the locker room.
The NBA needs a big story to get its popularity back.
A new team in Brooklyn full of superstars would put the NBA back on top as the most exciting game on TV.
The Nets could land Lebron and Wall and 1 more all star free agent, its a reality the Cavaliers and the world has to get used to. Add Yi and the chinese basketball fans to the new billionaire owners fans in Russia and the Broolyn Nets could be a worldwide commodity.
I’m sure Nike would love to have Lebron and or Wade in NY also.
Did you know that MJ passed the torch for Jordan brand products to Wade?
Wade in Chi
Lebron in NY
Kobe in LA
The planets are a aligned something big is gonna happen.

This is why it is critical not to take on a boat anchor contract like Kirilenko’s or waste a big contract on a second rate FA like Amare or Gay. We’ve gone this far, let’s see how it plays out. It can’t get any worse.

“reshape basketball”? it’s going to become, what, banana-shaped?

The Nets will need to a lot of luck, timing, expert trade scenarios and Proky willing to go significantly over the cap for this all to happen. Would love to see it, but this team will need to show some fight the last half if they are able to attract anyone. As it stands now, atrocious defense, poor coaching, ineffective playmaking and an enormous amount of malaise permeates the stinkhole.

This is all dependent on the #1 draft pick this year…

People who are banking on the #1 pick, or bust, are driving me crazy. John Wall is a very young, talented player but there is no guarantee that we are going to get him and that he is going to be a superstar.

There are other talented players in the draft and we should be able to get one of them.

With Prokys money we should be able to snare some top talent via free agency and/or trades.

We might be decent next year but I see the Nets seriously contending in two or three years.

People who think we are going to be a championship team next year are living in a fantasy world. I hope I’m wrong but I don’t see it happening that quickly.

Hence, “this is all dependent…”

NOT

“this will happen.”

plus, the draft lottery is rigged by Stern whenever he has an agenda. If the worst team automatically got the first pick, there would no way to hide Stern’s agenda, right?

Kiki will be gone. Billions coming in. China and Russia on our side. LeBron and friends. Groovy.

Interesting article and as a Nets fan it’s fun to dream, but straight up, Yi will never play a significant role on a legit contender, he has the weakest hands in the league! Remember the way KVH played in the Finals against the Lakers? Too Timid.

I would be very happy with Evan Turner instead of John Wall. Watched both of them this weekend. Turner looked like the better pro prospect…a 6’7" point guard with range and very, very good defense.

Wall will be a great player. He is also 19 years old.

“Yi will never play a significant role on a legit contender, he has the weakest hands in the league! Remember the way KVH played in the Finals against the Lakers? Too Timid.”

As sad as it is to say – Yi will never even compare to Keith Van Horn. KVH, for all his many faults was at least a valuable contributor to an NBA Finals team. Yi would barely get off the bench (if at all) for a team of that caliber.

Net Income,

Whose NBA game would u most closely compare Turner’s to??

I can see draft night, in a few months. The Nets can’t decide who to draft and end up going over the time limit. LMAO

We are just about guaranteed to have the worst record in the league so I guess we have about a 46% chance at either Wall or Turner. One great player can turn a franchise around. So I am optimistic.

“Whose NBA game would u most closely compare Turner’s to??”

Brandon Roy/Scottie Pippen. Excellent all-around player.

And I agree with NI. Turner is the only guy i’d think about taking over Wall. It’s not that Turner is ridiculously athletic, but his BBIQ, motor and character are so high, his bust potential is very, very low.

Yi and contender is an oxymoron. Getting a point guard with our pick would be a disaster especially if we don’t get a PF by next year and right now I don’t see any that could solve our problem without costing big $ for 2nd round and out performance at best while strapping us for years. Imo we need forwards on the level of KG & Pierce or Gasol and Artest. If we draft a guard then we have Harris to trade for 1 forward who would never be available for him at the level of the players I just mentioned and cap space to sign another. I think we’re a .500 team with Wade so Wall and Turner are no better without an improvement to our forwards. I’d like to compare our situation to San Antonio when they had Robinson, stunk and drafted Duncan for a great turn around. My guess is if we draft a guard and sign a FA we’ll be out of the lottery but not a title contender and unable to offer a max contract so the player that could make us a title contender will be hard to get.

The Cavs may very well win a title this year with an aging worn down Shaq and a former second rounder in Varaejo as the starting front line. I think we need a great scorer/playmaker at any position and a huge upgrade on defense/rebounding necessary at the PF spot. I don’t necessarily think we need an all star PF but we definitely need someone who can rebound and defend. Some have mentioned Robin Lopez as a target. Point is, don’t reach for a PF in the draft if it means passing on a eliter potential star in the draft.

If we get top pick you have to go john wall. If you want a real shot at lebron. I would love to see us trade for robin by the deadline and look to turn battie into a 2nd rounder. Use Dallas and 2nd round picks as leverage to trade up or to look for rotational depth. I agree with netincome that rarely do you find a star late first early second but that is exactly how good teams build depth.

@ Chris2

Imo you can’t compare us to the Cavs. They have the best player in the league. They can win with the best quality. The Nets have no shot at the quality at that level unless by some miracle we sign Lebron so we need to go with quantity (by that I mean good defensive players at all 3 front court positions). My point was to make us a title contender. Do you think Robin and Wall could do that for us? Even if you add another pick or FA to them, I think we’re good but not good enough. Not only do I think we need 1 all-star we probably need at least two. BTW Shaq starting to play better.

@ Mr. Big

So Chicago shouldn’t have drafted Derrick Rose over Michael Beasley?

Chicago was lacking a big man scorer, they had Hinrich at PG, but they still went with Rose. How’d that work out for em?

Besides the fact that there is no PF in the draft that is nearly as good (Or can be as good) as John Wall (only Evan Turner can come near him), you don’t pass up Jordan because you already have Drexler. I think that’s been repeatedly said over and over again. Just get the player, and find a way to make it work. There are a lot of guys that can be good players, but very few that can be transcendent.

@ muwu

No but I would have taken Lopez over Beasley and as good as Rose is how much of an improvement has he made. Imo when you are in the lottery you’re there cuz you can’t defend and probably need a good defensive big man. Rose and Beasley don’t solve that problem and neither will Wall or Turner. Jordan is the exception not the rule. If trying to get a Jordan in the draft you’re going to be a loser for a long time. To me it’s don’t enhance your strength if your weakness prevents you from winning.

@ muwu

“Besides the fact that there is no PF in the draft that is nearly as good (Or can be as good) as John Wall”
Thats your opinion. Let’s see after the season.

NBATV is running the same announcement that Nets are assuming that Prokhorov would be approved during All Star weekend. Apparently the Nets have released this, and not just some NBA Blog.

@Mr. Big
You are mostly right about assessment.
Except Turner is probably better right now that Wall, and Evan is a legit. 6’7" and can play 1, 2, or 3.

D. Cousins might be Okay with #4 pick, but some people complain about his temperment. I’m not sure I understand the complaints, if his attitude is similar to Kenyon Martin.

I am expecting Rod to try to make a move before Feb. 18, as he should have many options lined up. I do believe getting rid of Yi and possibly CDR/CLee as well as some draft pick(s) are on the table.

If Nets got someone like Iggy, that could mess up the future, especially since Phila would want to unload Dalembert to someone at the same time.

I would settle for bringing back someone like Marcus Camby who could be re-signed at around the same price that Yi would have received. Camby (even at 35) is much better than Yi and can backup Lopez. Yi wouldn’t getting PT next year anyway.

Amare might not be right choice for PF considering his knees and lack of intensity/rebounding.
DLee is best available if Nets could outbid the Knicks. He is playing much better than Amare anyway, for anyone following the Knicks.

Bosh, DWade and Lebron aren’t going anywhere this year.

Lets hope Thorn comes up with something good before the deadline and keeps open options for this summer.

Well Rose has been playing on a bum ankle for the first part of the season, you can clearly see the jump in his play starting January, where he averages 23 ppg 6.4 apg 4.4 rpg as compared to his November where he was at 15.6 ppg 5.2 apg 3 rpg. And the Bulls’ record for January? 10-5. And not to mention that he’s an allstar.

And again, defense is not all on the big men. The bobcats are one of the best defensive teams in the league and they’re doing it with Boris Diaw and Nazr Mohammed at the big men spots. Your big men can be as solid as they wanna be defensively, but if all 5 guys on the floor don’t play defense, it’ll all be for naught.

And the two best big men prospects (probably) Derrick Favors and Ed Davis are both far from instant star material. Both are raw offensively and rely mainly on athleticism to get by.

And Demarcus Cousins? "While Cousins is without a doubt a precocious talent with the type of physical tools and scoring instincts that you rarely see at the college level, there are many question marks revolving around whether he has the intangibles needed to reach his extremely high potential. His body language and overall temperament on the floor is often very poor, looking somewhat lazy and disinterested and at times downright selfish. He’s clearly not the smartest guy you’ll find on or off the court, and he already tends to react very poorly to different situations on the floor and lose his temper in concerning fashion. "

Muwu

If your depending on a guard to lead you imo you’re asking for trouble.
Defense is not all on big men but mostly.
Your “two best big men prospects” are your opinion. Mine is different and Cousins isn’t one of mine either.

Who else is there? Wesley Johnson’s a SF, Al Farouq Aminu? I think he’s closer to a SF playing PF than a PF playing SF, in any case much like the others, long and athletic and that’s mostly it. Cole Aldrich? He’s not gonna be that good in the NBA. Motiejunas? No way. Patrick Patterson? Limited offensively like the rest.

And the athletic guards are the present of the NBA. With handchecking rules and all, you can’t touch guys on the perimeter now. Which makes today’s NBA heavily favored to guys on the perimeter. Which is also why you see the disappearing back to the basket big man now. Out of every position, the position that shoots the most mid range jump shots are surprisingly PF’s; not guards, power forwards.

our future will depend on getting the #1 or #2 picks in the draft…. anything lower will crush our existence

glad to see NBA TV running the following: Nets are operating under premise that nba board of Governors will officially ratify Prokorov’s purchase of the team during all-star weekend

muwu

My line of thinking might be different than most so the players I like would be considered out of the box.

“athletic guards are the present” “Which makes today’s NBA heavily favored to guys on the perimeter.”

Look at the good teams. Bos, LA, Orl, Cle it’s always about interior D. The perimeter is for losers.

From Waiting For Next Year"

“Oh, did I mention, they don’t currently have a Head Coach? Dare I bring up the name John Calipari for the opening?”

Calipari as coach of the Nets… again?!? Not likely. This writer doesn’t remember the 1st go round when Cal was fired in the back of the limo at the Miami game. Although, he did have some success with a Dark Horse Net squad that challenged Chicago in the 1st round. Different ownership now, too.

The Calipari for head coach thing obviously makes no sense…been there, done that (for both parties). However, I do know that when Rod and Kiki sit down with Proky next month, the first thing they say should be “well, sir regarding LeBron, this this guy named Wesley that we want you to sit down to talk to….”

Net Income… Give me a break, John Wall is a superstar in the making. He’ll be the next Chris Paul/Deron Williams/Derek Rose type of point guard. He’s got the hype written all over him and with LBJ showing up to a Kentucky game. The Brooklyn Nets are looking solid with Harris/Lee/James/Yi/Lopez w/ Wall/Dooling/CDR/Williams/Humphries off the bench. That’s a nice little solid team if you ask me. They would make the playoffs for sure.

I don’t think that Net Income was saying that John Wall is NOT going to be a superstar, I think he was just saying that we should not all be devastated if we don’t end up with John Wall (at least that’s what he has said in previous posts). Turner’s a really really good player and looks very NBA-ready…he just does not have Wall’s upside. It’s like Denver or Miami “ending up with” Carmelo and Wade…sure they would have loved Lebron, but the have made out “ok”. I think it will be the same thing this year with Wall, Turner and Johnson (from Syracuse).

Looks like Wall has some character issues, he got into it with Calapari this weekend.

I would prefer Evan Turner. Stuffs the stat sheets and plays defense at all three spots.

The celtics are 6-10 since christmas, the magic are 9-8 for january.

Did Wall get into it with Calipari? I did not see that. I thought that it was Cousins…or did they both get into with Coach Cal?

@mumu
Cole Aldrich looks like he’s made for NBA. He’s a Beast. Just not for Nets top 4 pick, when they already have BLopez.

I can’t see Aldrich playing much at PF, so I would go with DeMarcus Cousins over Cole.

Unfortunately Nets have no pick between #5-#12, or there could be some good talent available.

wow so we are throwing Calipari in the mix?
Lebron, Wall and Calipari to the Nets on draft day!
Maybe the Kentucky PF Cousins will slip in the draft so the Nets can draft him too!

@Corey Martin, I ’m just afraid we end up with the Darko pick of the bunch, look at the Pistons now. they took Milicic over the likes of Carmelo, Wade and Bosh.You just never know with the draft. What if we get the #1 pick and draft Wall,and he turns out to be an ok player, but Turner ,Johnson,Favors end up being franchise superstars. It could definitely happen.You just never know, and hindsite is 20/20.

….of that group Favors seems most likely to be a bust. Also, a lot of people are talking about Cousins as an elite player…I really hope he stays in college at least one more year to mature a bit because right now, while talented, he seems like a total head case.