Obviously cap space wasn’t worth trading either Harris or Lopez but I’m not so sure about Lee. I like Lee and think he can be a really good role player on a good team but if the nets had the ability to open more cap space by trading him it was something they probably should have done.

Wait, so now Rod is saying we might not be able to sign anyone?

Illusion of regret indeed!

That’s all the closure I needed Amen to that Thorn. He said nothing wrong in that article he is 100% correct.

I Hate Kiki!

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ycq53l9

(What Lakers offered Nets)

The Nets have a much greater chance than the Knicks of signing an impact player simply because they will have a high draft choice. Not saying the high pick will lure LeBron or Dwyane, etc. Saying the pick itself could produce an impact player.

The Knicks are no competition to the Nets at all this summer.

I Hate Kiki!

You know what when you really look at it with Brook Lopez we have that 2nd or third star that other teams are trying to get. Thats why we don’t need two max contracts, Lopez has already distinguished himself from other players in the league. Everybody thinks he’s going to be great some better than Howard, he’s only 21. Imagine him playing with more talent with single coverage all day. He’s going to get bigger stronger, more post moves etc. I honestly wouldn’t trade him for Joe Johnson right now or Chris Bosh because of his age and upside, and the fact that he can contribute on both sides of the ball better I feel than either player, Bosh is just too soft for me. Remember he’s going to be playing in front of a lot of free agents in the Olympic tryouts, I think did last year to, so players know what we have in him.

@ NI also that big man players want to play with.

@Atronic

The best post I read today I agree on that.

I think the Knicks will be a player during this offseason, and can compete with the Nets in signing FA’s.

It’s true that the Knicks basically have no core whatsoever except for Gallinari and Eddie House, and they basically have no picks.

But they do have T-Mac, and a lot of cap space. I saw the game that T-Mac played in, and he is still a pretty good player. New York City is a big city and all players dream of playing at the Garden. If the Knicks can get one of the big names to sign with them, I’m pretty sure a lot of other players will sign with them too.

Meanwhile even though the Nets do have a ton of picks during the next 3 years, a top 3pick this year; and a decent core in Lopez and Harris with some role players… Not to mention a new billionaire owner, and Arena.

But the thing is we have the worst record in the league, maybe in the history of the NBA, and every player in the league knows about it.

I am just afraid that our record will deter FA’s away from us even though we have all of these assets.

Why would our record affect the recruiting???it’s 0-0 at the beggining of next season again :) with the right pieces we can easily become significant again

We need just One good FA, not two.

T-mac is still a pretty good player for about 20 games a season before his body breaksdown and he’s injured or virtually useless again. Even if they add two max players it would have to be like Bosh/Amare and Lebron/Wade for it to make them competitive. If they end up signing like Bosh and Joe Johnson or Rudy Gay I don’t they’ll be better than good enough to slip into a bottom spot in the play-offs.

First question, team’s actually think they could pry Brook Lopez away from us? That’s comical at this stage of his career.

And this record thing, are players really as stupid as the general public makes them out to be? They’ve seen Brook Lopez countless times along with our other pieces. If we were to get one of the big guys the franchise would dramatically change right there and then. Does Dwyane Wade think Beasley is a better number two than Lopez for example?

Oh yea, and the draft pick which NI stated. I don’t care what Bosh said, we shouldn’t even be going after him with Brook around.

it depends on the draft on how many good FAs to get. If we wind up picking 4h id bet u would change your tone.

We got our big guy… Now we need a superstar wing and we should be good

Thorn def took a shot at the knicks and i think he believes there is still a rivalry. I hate the knicks with a huge amount of passion and i hope he does also. Nothing satisfies me like seeing the Nets beat the knicks in everyway possible.

the nets have potential

this is what we have to do: first we need to really hope to get the first pick in the draft. we have to use it to draft John Wall, he clearly is the best player in the draft and is projected to be like a combination of derek rose and chris paul. with him, we should be able to lure a free agent like either joe johnson or chris bosh, regardless of what he said. maybe even both. then we should trade devin harris and acquire a SF. 2 ideas include gerald wallace of the bobcats with felton becoming a FA or lamar odom, with fisher getting old. both of these teams could use devin and we can afford to trade him once we have wall. then we just need to sign a few more pieces because we still have keyon, lee, terrence and jianlian next year. i say we definitely bring back CDR and then try to sign one more key piece like nate robinson, marcus camby (back up lopez) or maybe even rudy gay. this is what we need to do… we have the cap space plus prokorov who has the money. also, once in brooklyn, we will become much more popular and get much more fans

I am glad that Thorn did not give way any of them. I wouldn’t have been saddened if Yi were not longer with us (lol), but I would have died if we traded Brook. Plus, I think that Lee is going to be a solid player on a good team (as we saw last year). If the Nets get Wall in the draft and just maybe get 1 great FA or 2 really good ones, I think we’re in great shape.

I actually think that having a guy like David Lee would be better for the Nets than a guy like Boozer, Bosh, or Amar’e because I want Brook to dominate the paint. Lee would be a nice complementary player, whereas Bosh and Amar’e would take Brook’s touches. I truly believe that Brook Lopez is the next version of Tim Duncan, and he deserves the ball!

I think the following is a realistic, functional, and winning lineup for 2010-2011:

PG – John Wall
SG – Devin Harris
SF – Rudy Gay
PF – David Lee
C – Brook Lopez.

I think that team could make it to the playoffs and be very good. What do you guys think?

@ALEX F

agreed! thats a lineup i would be happy with but i rather have turner at the sg. hoping we get the #2 pick.

We need a Lee type at the 4. no plays needed to be run for him and he loves to rebound.

get a decent backup center in FA and some filler pieces for the bench.

The Nets record is certainly an object, unless we overpay a FA, it will be hard to loore anyone, I don’t think Wade or Lebron would want to go to a team that’s clearly in full rebuilding mode and has the worst record in the history of the NBA, those guys are looking to win a championship first, they will get the contract they want anywhere and they have all the indorsments already, so the Clevland roster or Miami’s has to be worse then the Nets roster for them to see a chance here, the Arena is not a factor at all.
Now guys like Stadoumire and Rudy Gay are clearly looking for the money first and honestly they will make the team better but never a championship caliber and the record don’t matter for them for that reason.
Unfortunately and I hope I am wrong, trashing this season is not going to be worth it, because we may only get a high draft pick and that’s all, we are not going to watch a contender next year.

I don’t have an issue of not signing anyone when no one knows what will happen with players salaries in the new CBA, if you can get someone like Rudy Gay or David Lee without overpaying them sign them, but breaking the bank for Gay, or Bosh, or Stoudemire or Johnson would just be stupid.

@ Alex F, I completely agree, Lee is the kind of big man we need cause he can impact games without having to have offensive sets run through him. He’s like the golden standard of a garbage man he grabs rebounds and scores off second chance points and somehow turns them into 20-10.

@ zack, why would we want to trade for two small forwards almost in their 30s? Those are the type of players you trade youth for when you’re one piece away, trading Harris for them on this team would just be a waste. If we’re going to trade him it should be for a relatively young player of similar value/cost.

@ Jim – that trade would be logistically impossible for the Nets, as it would result in them having (-) wins right now.

@ Gina, i agree with you in that they are both old but i feel like next year were going to have so many young players like Wall/Turner, Lopez, courtney, terrence, it wouldnt hurt to have a veteran forward to help the team. plus if we have wall at pg we can trade devin to fill a different position instead of 2 pgs because im not sure how well that would work. also a team with Wall, Lopez and one of those guys could lure a FA better than just Harris and Lopez. however i do agree with you in a way. what would your ideal lineup for next year be?

Solution –
Starting Five:
PG: John Wall
SG: Devin Harris
SF: Paul George
PF: Amare Stoudemire
C: Brook Lopez

Bench:
(in order of importance) Terrence Williams, Courtney Lee, Udonis Haslem, Sherron Collins, Roger Mason, Brad Miller, Yi Jianlian, Jarvis Hayes

Head Coach- Jeff Van Gundy

I usually find it amateurish to post a future line-up, but I would love this one (because I find it realistic)

@ Sean – why would you resign Jarvis and not resign CDR if i were to sign one of those two it would be CDR in a second, also you have no backup point guard they’re all SGs. plus a lot of the guys u wanna sign on the bench are old. if you had to pick for PF would you rather Bosh, Amare, or Boozer, and who do u think we have the best chance at

@ Sean – I agree with your lineup, but Mike Brown >>>>>>>>> Jeff Van Gundy.

@ zack buda –
a. sherron collins is a back-up PG (terrence williams would be a 3rd string PG, while also being a 2nd string SF)
b. the reason for many of our team’s faults is leadership. Haslem, Mason have been to the Finals, while Brad Miller has playoff experience, played with a young Bulls team, and is looking for a championship team in his 1-2 years left (which is as long as we need to sign him for and for the vets min; see link below)
c. I personally don’t mind CDR, but I believe the organization has problems with his maturity level, and would thus not want to re-sign him. Also JVG would probably not want to deal with that as he already has an experiment in terrence williams.

I could care less who it was if we signed Bosh or Amare, but Amare’s intrest level is higher in my opinion: “There are some teams you may say no way (to),” Stoudemire said. “But I don’t think the Nets are one of them.”

Amare Quote: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/2010/01/21/2010-01-21_on_nets_amare_sees_sunny_side.html#ixzz0ghuQyBYU

Brad Miller:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/rumors/post/Bulls-Miller-not-retiring?urn=nba,224424

He’s got sherron Collins as backup pg. I think we get sherron with 31st pick. That would be a very smart move for us. And I’m starting to hope for 2nd pick and turner.

I’d like to see us get David lee but obviously dependent on who we add in the draft. If we fail to get lee in free agency though, haslem would be an interesting signing. Guy is a beast on the boards. Offer him 3 years although I think Miami resigns him. Kenny fareid from morehead state is a Jr haslem. And a Newark native. Could be interesting free agent signing if he goes undrafted.

Our record is the reason why we’re talking about David Lee instead of Chris Bosh.

Heck no to David Lee and Jeff Van Gundy. NO, NO, NO!

We need a real coach to show that we can take all the pieces and assets and translate it all into a winning system on the floor.

@Mr DB
You are right about DLee vs. Bosh, but then the Knicks greed hopefully will be the reason they renounce DLee’s rights and give the Nets the opportunity to sign him.

I doubt Bosh would go to Knicks anyway, unless the also got DWade (unlikely). Bosh doesn’t want a high pressure situation. He is Okay with being #2 dog.
I am hoping Knicks fans will pressure team to re-sign McGrady. Gina is right. He will break down. Knicks are abusing his minutes at this time.

The most important point to this story was that there is interest in CLee despite all the bashing he received by Nets fans at various time.

That interest could be meaningful if Nets draft Turner, making CLee (not Harris) a trading piece. He isn’t worthless as some said.

That’s not the most importnat point…at all. Of course, there’s interest in Lee. He was never worthless.

He was a major piece in the Magic’s drive to the Finals. He was hurt at the beginning of the year and he is playing for one of the worst teams in NBA history. GM’s understand that.

The most important point in the story is that the Nets took a risk in not dumping Harris or Lee for expiring contracts while other teams, highly competitive teams, added to their cap space. The Nets saw the deadline as a bad night for their summer plans.

I think that it’s safe to say that the Nets weren’t offered anything of value for Courtney Lee aside from an expiring deal or something that the Nets have no use for at the present time or would improve the present roster.

I don’t understand why they would have moved Lee regardless, what deal could they possibly have been offered where it would have made sense to trade a cheap young valuable player who you just traded an all-star for?

@ Mr. DB, that and the fact D. Lee makes more sense with our front court, Bosh will take touches away from Lopez where as Lee can score without having an offense run through him, and Bosh will be asking for a max deal which he just isn’t worth. Also Bosh is forever getting injured and we don’t need a star pf with Lopez, if we’re going to give a max contract to anyone it should be a game changing sg/sf. Though unless Lebron/Wade opt out, which I don’t think they will I don’t think anyone in the upcoming FA class will be worth a max contract.

@Mr DB
What expiring deal are you referring to that would have cleared cap space?
The only player would be to take Yi off the Nets roster, which would save 4 million + CLee’s salary.
Yi’s name wasn’t mentioned as of yet.

Regarding the new “post up” story by Ken Berger, he is falling into the same trap that most of the media says.

Assuming LeBron stays another year and DWade is truthful in that he will accept a contract with Miami as long as they get someone, then Nets won’t be negatively impacted.

Depending on draft, Nets should have DLee as their target. When Knicks renounce DLee, Nets will have best shot at signing him, if that is their plan. DLee wants to stay in New York (area). Knicks will have false hope of getting DWade and Bosh, but would end up settling for Amare, Jo Johnson and maybe McGrady. When figuring the Knicks core, they rarely consider that DLee, Harrington (and now McGrady) are part of the Core that is producing any wins the Knicks have.

Knicks may have to spend well over $22 million just to bring back the miserable team they showcase this year.
Nets might only have to re-negotiate Dooling contract to bring back similar team, not considering draft picks.

Chicago could be a factor into driving up price for other free agents and could hurt the Knicks chances to get their backup choices, not to mention Miami getting Bosh.

Knicks will be rolling the dice on their chances to do well.

“jerry25 Says:
February 27th, 2010 at 12:25 pm

@Mr DB
What expiring deal are you referring to that would have cleared cap space?"

None in particular, I’m just openly wondering about what was actually offered? It couldn’t have been anything substantial. Lee doesn’t make much and it really wouldn’t make any sense to trade him unless what we were getting back would have been an improvement. I think he’ll be a decent roleplayer for us so why trade him. Had we traded Yi for an expiring, i would have been thrilled.

Gina,

I’m not really a big fan of Bosh either, after watching Collins shut him down a few years back. I was just saying that because our record is really a hindrance when it comes to signing any of the big names

I don’t think Lee is the answer either because we need solid defense to go alongside lopez but we’d be foolish not to offer a double double player who doesn’t need plays called for him at his age a solid deal.

I think after you have the ability to offer one max contract with the current FA list you have enough. After Lebron and Wade no other FA is worth a max contract and between Lopez, Harris, our 1st round pick and a FA or 2 we easily could put together a team that could contend next year without having the most cap space currently. Really as noted earlier all we need are new forwards who could play D. For that reason I’m not sold on D. Lee. Imo our first pick should be a PF. Unless we sign Lebron, no other FA will be a better fit for us than a guy like Cousins. People like to look at the offensive stats to determine a guy’s value but to me a guy like Taj Gibson has as much to do with the Bulls doing well as Rose does. Look at Portland. They are young and have over come as many injuries as anyone but the one constant has been Aldridge. Roy gets most of the credit but imo Aldridge is the key. You take away the defensive aspect of the team and all you got left are scorers who can’t win. That’s what Wall and Turner would be at best.

Um Turner is a pretty awesome defender. And Cousins has no post moves and lacks athleticism. How well have guys who simply overpowered smaller players in college translated to the NBA in recent years? Off the top of my head I can think of guys like Sean May, and Eddy Curry and neither has been particularly effective. He’s also had problems staying in game shape, been a so-so rebounder, and hasn’t been that strong defensively, so I’m not sure why you’re bringing him up with a defensive argument.

@ Gina
I agree, which means we need to get the best available talent regardless of what position we need, and we defeated the Celtics, can anyone believe this?
Congrats everyone, great all around game.

Turner might be a good defender for a small. I like Cousins for his size and mobility. Curry never played college ball.

His mobility? He’s not very mobile at all. Have you seen him trying to play defense? And yeah replace Curry with Zach Randolph then, Randolph is a decent enough player, but with his lack of defense and his poor rebounding that’s not the type of player you’d want to spend a top 4 pick on. Especially when you already have an offensive first center.

c lee for cap space? what cap space? lee only makes $1.3M! and he just scored 28 and 21 the last 2 games!

brook, devin and courtney scored 20 or more pts the last 2 games. we got the 1,2 and 5 set. after the draft, then the nets will know which marquee FA to go after…not making a move was the right move…

…even if we don’t get 2 superstars…we can get at least 1 then have enough money for complimentary pieces…plus rich owner proky will not flinch at using the midlevel and other exceptions we have…add to that the steady infusion of youth with our multiple picks the coming years…we will also now be playing at the rock with the new arena in brooklyn coming up…it will be hard for the nets to mess this up…

after kiki is gone, we also have cdr, twill, hump who can come off the bench and after we get a stud 4, yi will be used best as the stretch 4 off the bench to punish teams trying to clog the lane for devin and overloading on brook. it would be nice to have mike miller, too.