Offer him that contract Thorn!

One of this team’s biggest problems is that many players look to score. Gay is a talented scorer, but he’s a little of a ball hog too. I wouldn’t mind having him, but he’s not worth spending the big bucks on, IMO. Signing him will command $12m per at least. Pass. I’d rather take on AK’s contract.

He’s got what we lack: he can shoot and seems to be a pressure player who wants the ball in crunch time. But he is not nearly enough.

I forgot to add…….

I Hate Kiki!

He’s also a few years younger than the other big free agents, and still has room for improvement,esp. on Defense. But he has not reached his prime yet and would be a good young piece to grow with a young team. Since we’re probably not getting Lebron, Wade etc. Gay may be our best option. Let’s get Gay!

I’d get him at the right price. But if he keeps an illusion of being paid like a franchise guy, then forget it. He’s no Kobe or LeBron. And I don’t know if you guys watch the Grizzlies, but Mayo is their crunch time guy, not Gay.

Here is where the cap space strategy begs to be questioned. Clearly Gay would be an upgrade for the Nets. But with all the bidders out there, it is likely that a team will have to overpay to sign him. Then how would the team sign enough additional talent to become an elite team?

I will take Gay in a heartbeat. Anything is better than 5 wins man. I still can’t believe that Warriors turned down Mayo and Thabeet for Ellis straight up. Mayo is the man.

Answer: You build through the draft and sign/trade for the right players when the opportunity arises.

Unfortunately, that requires a little thing called patience and i’m not sure anybody who’s watched this team has any left.

And with that impatience, we’re gonna probably gonna overpay guys this summer with contracts they don’t deserve and won’t live up to and destroy our cap space for the next 5-6 years thereby rendering ourselves unable to improve ourselves till then if it all doesn’t pan out

Who’s? That’s EPIC FAIL on my part.

I could see the Nets getting David Lee. He really likes it in the metro area and would probably relish not having to defend centers on a nightly basis.

Is that a bad idea? I guess it depends on the contract, but it’s probably a better idea than signing Gay. We also have to see where the Nets slot in the draft. They would almost certainly take Evan Turner at #2, for instance, and in that scenario, would have no need for a SF.

I dont want james wade or bosh.

pg wall
sg harris
sf gay
pf stoudamire
c lopez

this team is enough for me and cant really make some noise on east

no more than 10 mil for rudy

Gay is younger than Harris, Lee and Humphries, and only slightly older than CDR.

I think I’d rather sign Lee and Gay to mid level contracts and have some money left over to bring in depth at other spots than sign Gay and give a max to amare.

Memphis could match any offer to Gay…\\

""Gay is seeking a five-year deal in the $50-60 million range, league sources say.""

brook is going to get at least $10 million also…when the time comes

@Andy
i agree with u 100% but I’m not so sure that Memphis is going to match anything like a 5year 50million+ they r focused on signing OJ mark and future players. i would love to see Rudy on the nets not just because he’s my favorite player but he can contribute to turn a team around; he’s a well all around player.

i think the grizz offered him 50 million and he rejected…

or if we’re going to offer someone a max I’d rather it be Joe Johnson. Even though I think Amare is clearly the superior player I think Lee is a better compliment in our front court, since we already have an offense heavy so-so rebounding center Lee would add a heavy rebounding and defense present and could score points without having the offense run through him, and this team DESPERATELY needs a shooter which Johnson would be.

the key is that rudy gay is only 23 years old!!!! 12 million a year young talent shouldnt hurt that bad.

Harris or Harris
Turner Lee?
Gay Gay
?? Cousins
Brook Brook

When players are starting to negotiate with their current team they make comments like this.

"Wherever you feel like you’re wanted the most, that’s where you’re going to be."

As if a team can just say “hey Rudy we love you the most”, and he’ll go there.

He’s letting Memphis know they have to show him the money.. I think this is the mentality of all players. That’s why I never believe when players say they won’t play for a certain team. It’s all about the money…

Gay will be one of the top 5 who will leave for another team (DWade and LeBron aren’t going). With more demand that supply, and considering he is so young and entering his prime years, Gay will get close to a MAX contract. It would also tell LeBron to forget about coming in 2011, since they play the same position. Therefore I must say NO.

Bidding on Gay could waste at least 1 week.

Stick with the plan to steal DLee from the Knicks for whatever it takes. That will have multiple advantages of also hurting the Knicks and getting some of their fans.

There isn’t enough money to get 2 quality FAs because they won’t be cheap this year. Wait until 2011 and keep Dooling.

Scenario (if LeBron says no, instead of overpaying for a free agent use cap space to get overpaid veterans to match with young talent:

Nets win draft.

Trade for Harris, Mavs pick to Detroit or Sixers for Brand or Hamilton and higher pick.

Trade G.S. future first and CDR for Brand or Hamilton from team with lower pick.

Pick up option on Dooling and resign Hayes

TEAM

Wall/T. Will/Dooling
Hamilton/Lee/M. Almond (signed this year from Dev. League)
T. Will/Hayes/Second round pick
Brand/Favors/Yi
Lopez/Brand/Russian Center

Real easyto turnthis team around. Boozer at 4, Gay at 3 even 2 sometimes. Get lucky iwth Ping Pong Ball and get Wall. Ship DHarris out for Hamilton.

Lopez solid for next 8 years
Boozer when healthy tougness and defensive integrity
Gay athleticism excellent inside and outside game, slasher
Hamilton spot up shooter will play D. Great midrange
Wall with KDooley as backup.

Problems solved 3best team in the east

trade Harris for a 30 year old pf who can only shoot jumpers now or a early 30s shooting guard? Why? There’s no reason to settle for talent that old when the rest of our team is so young.

Terrence Williams had already commented on the possibility on his Twitter. He said he would haveCDR and Gay on the wings. As for himself? “I’m tryin to play the point”. He means off the bench. Interesting that he’d start CDR over Lee, no?

Thank god some of you guys don’t make the real decisions…

Accelerate is right

“@Ayo242 it would be @cdouglasroberts an rudy on the wings I’m tryin to play the point”

I think Gay would fit this teams Youth Movement whereas they can all grow together he’s not going to ask for a max deal I’m sure of it, we get wall or turner in the Draft, and maybe David Lee and save money for next year. Honestly I have a sneaky suspicion that when we name our coach if we get wall there are going to be a lot of interest in us, because of our future. Brook Lopez is the best young big in the league outside of D-Howard. I’m getting closer to saying we should trade D-harris 100% if we get Wall to get another peace, and I think wall is a better creator than Harris, Pobly T-will could play backup point, if we don’t resighn dooling.

Nets sign Rudy in the off-season! Can’t lose when you have a young talent like that! Win-Win situation…

I Hate Kiki!

Rudy and D. Lee would be good additions if the “Big Splash” plan fails to materialize.
It all depends on the ping pong balls at this point..
ROD, where are the D-League call ups!!

Do not say too loud D HARRIS is not the answer not even as second guerd..when Dooling is in the team seems to have a better flow…We need to trade DHarris even if we do no get wall

It must be real discouraging for these players especially Lopez. To have played your best game of the season 17 in the 1st and y’all still lose! it’s like no matter what he does we still can’t win. I no longer care if we get the 1st pick, sign any of these “Top” whatever free agents. I’m preying Lopez wants to resign with this team when his contracts up because this franchise is one big joke!

I Hate Kiki!

If we do not get the first or second overall pick we then trade the third or fourth pick along with Devin Harris, and some fillers to New Orleans for Chris Paul.We then sign Rudy Gay.

PG: CP3/Dooling
SG: CDR/Lee
SF: GAY
PF: FA?/Yi
C: Lopez/FA

Gay is fine, but then what about Lee and if we get wall, then how play wall and gay and harris? Bigger issue is up front. We cannot go into next year without a quality PF and a decent SF. If Gay could play 3, that solves one problem, but we need a 4. The Yi experiment yields this: he is not a starter.

I’m not a huge fan of Gay but he would work well with Wall…If we get Evan Turner than I say NO…..

Gay is 6"10 I think he’s more then capable of playing the 3. Lets compare to Kevin Durant shall we. Both Slashers, Excellent Mid-Range jumper and behind the arc. Great finishers why not get him.

Way2go Twill for sharin some insight..u have 2 admit.. Twill, Gay, and CDR would make an incredibly Big and Athletic Trio on the court! Wow, can u say run,run,RUN? Add possibly Wall at the point and B Lo…whew..THAT sounds like a Young, exciting, team on the Rise.. Who agrees?

Wojo said he thinks that LeBron may sign a three year extension with Cavs and do this again, if so the Nets would be wise to add some overpaid veterans with three years left on their deals to mentor some of the young guys, so they don’t grow up in a complete mess. I think Brand and Rip would be there for these reasons. Brook has three years left too, so those deals would come off the books and the Nets would have cap room and young players under contract in three years with a history of winning, a rich established owner, and a new home in Brooklyn.

Thats why I would trade Devon for an old player and a high draft pick if I could turn it into Favors who will take a few years but has the work ethic and skill set to be something special.

@JerseyRich that lineup u put 2gether looks good as well..Quite possible also, N.O. Is open 2 moving CP3 (salary)..

Anyone have a link for “league sources say Gay wants only 50-60 million over 5 years?” I don’t believe it would be true at this time. Besides, he will get even more than he expects because demand is greater than supply.

I expect the winner of the Gay sweepstakes to get about 15 million over 5 years and of course Memphis won’t match – which is why they got Brewer and why Utah players and fans are very upset.

Is it possible to offer a smaller 7 year contract? If so, Gay might accept say 12 million x 7 years?

@Mikee21
Gay is 6’8 and already starts at the 3 for Memphis (Conley and Mayo in the backcourt). I wouldn’t say Gay has an excellent mid-range jumper or perimeter shot (31% from 3). Gay makes the occasional bonehead decision, is below average defensively on-ball and on team defense. Strengths are his athleticism and slashing ability. He’s a pretty good rebounder for a guard-forward.

That said, beggars can’t be choosers.

I don’t see why yall make such a big deal about age. Everyone peaks at different points and are in their primes for different periods of time. The question is whether he is a good fit to help us turn this franchise around at whatever price he’s demanding.

People shouldn’t be balking at taking a talented young SF who dropped 29 points and 8 rebs on us yesterday

He’s better than any of our wing players. Or do you like that whopping 2 points that Jarvis Hayes put up yesterday???

Lebron is not coming here. We have to add talent. Getting a 23 year old who is improving every year and is a legit scorer should be a no brainer.

Add Gay, and get a defensive minded PF, possibly a veteran like Scola.

This is the first player that publicly said he’d come to the Nets(because he wants his pay day). We should be thrilled.

Enuff of UConn guys

After further thought, there is a scenario where Gay would work just fine.

If Nets get #3/#4 pick and take Cousins, then offer for Gay as I mentioned above. Take the best shooting/combo guard with the Dallas pick.

Front line is BLopez, Cousins and Gay. That would be one of the best, if not the best starting front line in NBA. It might take a couple of years for Cousins to develop as a PF, so there could be problems with BLopez initially.

In 2011, when LeBron DOES declare for free agency, then he might actually want this young Nets team because he knows he can play all 5 positions. Would Nets refuse LeBron to be the SG on that team?

Summary:
2010: Lopez, Cousins, Gay, Harris, CLee/Dallas pick
Believe me, Harris would be an 11+ assists/game player with that team!!

2011: LeBron takes a smaller pay and move CLee to reserve.
LeBron would make a fortune in new endorsements, as the “King of Brooklyn”. He would also keep Cousins in his place.

Imagine

Harris
Turner
Gay
Scola
Brook

Oh my!

@jerry25
I might add that this the 2010 lineup is the worst case scenario if Nets don’t get top 2 pick.

Yes, beggars can’t be picky, but that is a pretty good worst case scenario.

Anyone know for sure if a 7 year deal is allowed (at say 12 million)? If Nets go for Gay, they might as well keep him for his whole prime and offer a little less per year for cap flexibility.

I say we sign Gay, Lebron, Wade and Bosh. Next year we have those 4 with Lopez. Yeah thats the ticket. Oh and our coach should be coach K.

@ Mike – Gay is no where near to Durant’s talent.

Gay would be a decent addition, but I think this organization has learned from their mistakes of overpaying border line star SFs. IMO you can always find a SF that can do what Gay does. It would be a waste to pay Gay $10+mil a year.

HoopsHype is citing Al’s story of Gay open to NJ offer. It is their Top story.

They also cite DLee saying he wants to stay in New York because he likes it here. “Its been my home for 5 years” (and would continue to be with the Nets). I take that as saying that he would be receptive to the Nets as an alternative.

http://hoopshype.com/

how on earth would we sign dlee and gay???

scola would be much cheaper alternative…both suck at defense though…

@SIC
Durant is now right behind LeBron, Kobe and Howard and may be equal with DWade and above CP3 and Bosh, when you consider age.

That shouldn’t mean Gay isn’t going to get a Huge contract and be worth it.

@Jerry, agreed, Durant is worth a max contract, I don’t think anyone is claiming Gay should get anywhere near that. But a mid-level contract certainly makes sense, the only reason I could think to not offer him a mid level is if you think nba salaries are going to be drastically lowered by the new CBA in 2011 and it would end up being a major overpay. And if the front office chose that route I could certainly understand, regardless I think they definitely need to be willing to offer the mid level to David Lee.

and @ Andy, unless you think one of them is going to get a max contract, which i seriously doubt, combined they would only cost 20 million.

@Jerry25, I wouldn’t be surprised if Gay got less than 50-60 over 5-6, with the new CBA a lot of owners are going to be expecting prices to drop in 2011. They’re not going to want to commit a whole lot of money to a play in 2010 if they expect similar players to be available at much lower cost in the near future.

isnt midlevel 5 million? gay would be getting aroundg 12 million per year.

Gina,

Gay is going to fetch more than the Mid level on the open market. He may not receive the 60 million dollar deal that he’s looking for but he definitely will receive more than 6 mil per.

The nets can’t afford to twiddle their thumbs though, i’ll tell you that much.

If Gay gets $60 million over five, that means a starting salary of around $10 million, maybe a little less. NO ONE is going to give him the max, which this year will be $16 million.

That said, there are ways to manipulate his contract to make it difficult for Memphis to match: like adding a 17.5% signing bonus, a 15% trade bonus and agree to pay his first year salary up front, meaning he would get $20 million plus on the day he signed.

Wow I thought the guy was 6"10 I take back the Durant comparison then. But, still talented 23 yrs old way better then our wings we currently have which is older then this guy. He said we wouldn’t mind playing for us. Lebron, Wade, Boozer them guys not really a reality on this team. Rudy Gay is a reality people need to learn to just settle for what you can get.

i like NI….he has the answers

@Net Income

That’s makes sense and I say we go for it. If I guy at 23 yrs old can score 40+ on any giving night we get him and don’t allow the KNICKS to get him!

@ Mr. Dollar Bill, you’re right I was thinking mid-level=10 million. I meant signing Gay for 10 million.

bring gay, trash yi

fire kiki, re-hire frank

:D :D :D :D

waive simmons, battie

A player’s performance against us is invalid because the nets produce statistical anomalies. Jarrett Jack had 18 and 10 against us, but he’s no Steve Nash.

@Gina

uh no, I do not think Gay could score 40+ on any given night. He couldn’t score 30+ on any given night. Around 22-24 ppg as his peak seams about right.

How do we get Luis Scola ?

lol to the lineup sum1 said:

Harris
Turner
Gay
Lebron
Lopez

hahahaha….. wouldnt that be sumthing
okay bak to reality… if we can steal DLee … that would make me soo happy….Lee and Lopez…that would be an awesome duo….

Gay should be a back-up plan, definitely worth considering. I bet Thorn is pleased to know that.

@NI
1. What if one or two other teams have same idea of the signing bonus. Is it “first come first serve” considering the one week wait for Memphis to respond?
2. Wouldn’t it be wiser to offer Gay a lower price/yr. 7 year deal, given that he would still be in his prime in 7 years. If Nets offered 70 million (or less) over 7 years with signing bonus, would Memphis have to match the full terms?
3. Could a contract be designed that pays less in 2nd year and then increases again?

Nets would benefit if they could keep his 2011-2012 salary lower, to free cap space for another big signing, once they see how good the Nets are in 2010-2011.

Does anyone think that LeBron would be turned off to Nets in 2011 if Gay was the Nets SF? Doesn’t LeBron think he could play any position well?

Then, again if DLee knew that RGay was coming, Nets could potentially get both. Nets probably would have to buyout Dooling for that plan.

With this plan, poor LeBron would be left out in the cold, but if Turner was Nets pick:

Lopez, DLee, Gay, Harris and Turner would be an elite starting team.

Why would they have to buy out Dooling?

@Andy
Isn’t Scola a restricted FA and isn’t he already past his prime?

Everyone not named Kiki and Yormarket would prefer Scola to Yi. But how does he fit in with more than 2 years into the future? I assume he would want a multiyear contract.

Do you think Nets could do a sign and trade for Scola this summer with Houston and send Yi to play alongside Yao?? I would love for that to happen and would sweeten the deal with draft pick(s).

However, don’t you honestly think that Yao would Veto any deal that brought Yi to his team? Yao was upset with Yi when they last played together on Team China!

@Gina:
All the cap space projections for Nets assume that Dooling’s 3.8 million contract for next year is bought out for $500,000.
Otherwise there would only be about 21 million available for next year, which probably wouldn’t be enough, since DLee’s price tag keeps going up.

When Knicks eventually figure out that Wade, LeBron and Bosh aren’t coming, they will up their price to keep DLee.
Fortunately, DLee wants to stay in New York (area?), per his quote.

Knicks residual squad is “loaded” at SF, so hopefully they wouldn’t be competing for Gay.

@ Jerry25, the knicks have to denounce D. Lee’s rights all together to get the full cap space don’t they? So they wouldn’t have an opportunity to match, come over the top of another teams offer, they’d have to hope he doesn’t sign before they realize they can’t get the other max players.

And yeah Scola is like 30 already, he really wouldn’t make much sense long-term.

@Gina
I would like to see a full story from NI about DLee. I’m sure he is saving it for a rainy day. DLee is getting 7 million this year. I understand Knicks could have signed him long term in 2007 for a reasonable amount, but blew it, while DLee kept getting better.

I really haven’t read anything in the media about DLee going to Nets. Seems like a Knicks bias. His quote of wanting to stay in New York (area) should be a free ticket for any columnist to write a story about DLee and Nets.

Don’t forget the added benefit of stealing away Knicks fans, especially if Nets are better than Knicks next year.
Proky would like to gain at Knicks expense, I’m sure.

Knicks can go and keep McGrady and re-sign him at 8-10 million for all I care. He is a back injury waiting to happen.

I have a feeling that our team is going to look completely diff next season and that harris will not be a part of it.

what do you guys think a package of harris and yi could get us back? i would take cp3 or collison. deron williams wants to leave utah now also.

This is the nets guide to sucess:
draft wall. then trade harris for w.e we can get.
sign gay, and lee.
hopefully we can also get a big time scorer in tmac cheap, yes tmac but not for more than a few years so that way we can extend brooks contract.

What are the odds we actually get the #1 or #2 pick, I know it’s only 25% of getting #1, which seems insanely low to me, but what are the odds of 1 or 2? It seems like too many of the franchises plans, or their reported plans rely to heavily on an imperfect draft system that could easily end up screwing us over.

Here is the article with the formulas:
http://www.ajur.uni.edu/v2n3/Florke%20&%20Ecker.pdf

However, don’t waste your time, but look at the probabilities from last year in the 1st table below:
http://www.insidehoops.com/nba_draft_lottery.shtml

It is 21.5% for #2,
17.7 for #3
and since the worst team can do no worse that #4, the remainder is 100-17.7-21.5-25.0 or about 35.8%. That isn’t fair.

They have changed the formulas in the past to make it more difficult to “tank”.

However if the Nets get #3/#4, they may have to change it again next year to have some mercy on a terrible team. Maybe call it a Mercy Rule (<10 wins and 70% chance to get 1st pick)

Yeah it’s almost a 50% chance we don’t end up with the #1 or #2 pick. That’s kind of ridiculous. I mean clearly we’re not tanking when no team is even close to us.

No to Rudy Gay. The team could use a veteran that can do a little of everything. Kirelenko can show the young players how to hustle go all out on the floor if the plan is to keep any of them besides Brook.

@universal

AK47 makes 17 mil next yr

If going for Kirelenko, the Nets should have done it before the trade deadline, so that Nets could have bargained for Utah’s 1st round draft pick (the Knicks traded pick).

Now there wouldn’t be any expirings to trade for his $18 million contract. Prokhorov would be wise to wait until next trade deadline or when he is a free agent in summer of 2011 and try to sign AK47 for Midlevel, assuming he is still good.

If Nets want a veteran now, I like the idea of getting Scola later in summer, if they still don’t have a quality PF.

Yeah but it’s only for one year then they can sign him to a lesser deal.
He’s a good defender, long and block shots from the small forward position. Especially if the team doesn’t get the star free agents he’s part of plan B trading and building through the draft.

@Jerry
The owner wasn’t in place yet they can reunite this summer.
Trade draft picks, whoever and cash Utah should want to get rid of that contract. Proky’s rich!!!!

Scola, Haslem would be ideal they’re both from winning organizations.

As great as Gay is, is he really that player that will bring this team over the top? Of course that’s assuming that he is the only major player we recieve in the off-season and lose the draft.

As long as we get Wall, then there will be nothing but great things to come for the Nets. Anything less, then of course, its gonna be more speculation.

Nets can only offer 5 year contracts. They can’t go 7 years. Knicks have to renounce all bird rights to realize their full cap. Which means they will offer Lebron and bosh day 1. This locks up knicks cap. So knicks basically have no shot at retaining lee. Nets should offer lee day 1 while other teams chase bigger names if we don’t get pf in draft. As u get to mid July 2nd and 3rd tier free agents will command big money as the knicks are forced to overpay to salvage their summer. Knicks end up with tmac and gay at big money. The knicks are screwed

He is my 3rd option… but i’ll know more when the lottery ends.

i think that rod should set up some kind of meeting between gays and lees manager to convinve them to play for nets in 2010-11, and it would be nice if we would also draft wall or turner

Ryan, I agree with you. I always have felt that the Knicks would be the one to set the market and start overpaying like they have no common sense. Their cavalier “plan” of going balls to the wall come July 1st is going to have a domino effect on the rest of the league. Hopefully we have a solid draft, maybe a move or two, and then we can land a decent name out of the bunch. I’ll be fine with Lee or Gay and another FA. But we should definitely aim to land one of the two as both fill needs.

Gay over Johnson in my book. 23 and 29 Rudy wins!

I Hate Kiki!

@ryan243
What happens if LeBron sets to protocol by exercising his $17.2 million player option at the end of June, for next year? JayZ should have a heads up on that decision.
Then what do Knicks do.

DWade and Bosh could do the same, but not likely, as both want Max Contracts while they can get them and preferably together. Everyone knows that DWade won’t be LeBron’s Robin and Miami is his home. Bosh isn’t about winning as much, but he doesn’t want the pressure of being the main man in New York and would be more comfortable in Toronto at Big Contract.
If LeBron stays, are the Knicks too stupid to figure that out and let Lee go across the Hudson?

Yes, I am rooting for TMac to do good this year, so Knicks are pressured by fans to try to sign him at 8-10 million.
(Then he can have back spasms and retire in 2011!)

we dont have to settle for gay ethier though theres a good chance we will be bad next year as well. no one is coming into the franchise and turing it all around quick. we do have those 2011 free agents Carmelo Anthony ! sign D Lee this offseason. draft johm wall and trade harris and yi for a developed shooting guard or small forward

T-Mac looked like an old man last night. I don’t think even the dumbest of Knicks’ fandom would advocate signing him at 8-10 mil after what i saw from him.

I only saw some of Knicks game. They came back to tie. Then as soon as DLee went to bench, Knicks lost.

Knicks have no backup center, now that they traded away their only pseudo-backup center for McGrady.

What would Knicks do for Center next year if they buy out Curry and renounce rights to DLee??

Amare is only name I can think of, yet Knicks made no effort to bid for him at deadline.

@Mr DB:
Knicks fans wanted McGrady to give them hope. They already proved how dumb they were to give up 1 and possibly 2 1st round picks without returning a serviceable Center in return.
Maybe Knicks will be interested in Josh Boone?

McGrady probably thinks he is worth 10 million/yr.

Only fans think that TMac is worth anything more than the minimum. No way, shape, or form is he getting anwhere near 8 million dollars. Not even 5 million. 1-2 million is more like it. He’s Tracy McGrady’s Expiring Contract, not Tracy McGrady. They didn’t get him for hope, they got him for cap space. They’re banking everything on free agency, can’t blame them since they built this up already. But that’s gonna be their disadvantage. Every free agent they talk to know they HAVE to sign someone this summer. They can milk the knicks for all the money they have because the knicks backed themselves into a corner.