Big Men Playing for Big Contracts - Are the Nets Interested?
by Net Income on Mar 21, 2010 2:19 PM EDT
in 2010 Free Agency
60 comments
Luis Scola is 6'9", 245 pounds and playing the best ball of his career. Over his last 10 games, the 30-year-old Rocket forward has averaged 22.5 points and 11.0 rebounds, including a 44-point outburst against the Nets. That game, writes Sean Deveney of the Sporting News, could help him in the off-season. "The Nets will have ample cap room and have started the likes of Yi Jianlian and Josh Boone at power forward," Deveney writes, suggesting Scola "could put himself out of Houston’s price range".
Carlos Boozer is 6'9", 266, and putting up big numbers for the surprising Jazz. He's missed only three games this season and has an outside shot at his third 20-10 season, averaging 19.4 points and 11.1 rebounds. Last summer, reports Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press, the 28-year-old Boozer "was telling confidants that he was headed either to Detroit or New Jersey." The Pistons, writes Ellis, "say they have options on the table, but let's just say Boozer has a long walk to that table."
David Lee is 6'9", 250 pounds and on his way to his first 20-10 season...for a team who isn't sure they want to keep him. He's averaging 20.1 points, 11.7 rebounds--and 3.6 assists--for the Knicks. As Ian Thomsen of Sports Illustrated writes, "Lee is so good that the Knicks no longer can afford to re-sign him". There's been lots of speculation, which Lee hasn't deterred, that the 26-year-old could wind up as a Net in the off-season. Thomsen writes, "Some team -- likely one that can pair him alongside a longer shot-blocker -- will target Lee as a versatile big man who can pass and move without the ball." Sound familiar?
How much interest do the Nets have in the three players, all free agents? After watching Scola put up 44 and Chris Bosh put up 36, you can think a lot. While it's hard to tell who would be their No. 1 choice, one thing is certain: The Nets have to find another big man somehow, someway, this summer.
- Court Lessons: Luis Scola is making a big pre-free-agency push - Sean Deveney - Sporting News
- Getting Carlos Boozer won't be easy for Pistons - Vince Ellis - Detroit Free Press
- All-Star forward David Lee has priced himself out of New York - Ian Thomsen - Sports Illustrated
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Boozer
Carlos Boozer is the name that interests me the most out of that group, and if you have to overpay, at least overpay for a star player like him, not for someone like David Lee.
But last time we played the Jazz, Boozer didn’t seem too interested in us, and I think he’ll have better options.
I would go after a cheaper, younger PF like Tyrus Thomas rather than overpay for Lee or giving the 30 year old Scola a long deal.
Anyway, we will have to wait until lottery. If we end up with the 3rd or 4th pick, I doubt we spend the big bucks on a starting PF, since we could be getting a stud 4 like Cousins.
Lee
rather have lee. he hustles all game and is 1 of the best rebounders in the game.
and he is the youngest of the 3.
Its unlikely but now that McHale no longer has any ties to Minnesota, Love’s biggest supporter is gone. For some reason, Rambis does not seem sold on Love and Kahn is an unknown quantity in the GM seat, someone perhaps Thorn can take advantage of. I expect that anyone on the Nets outside of Lopez and perhaps TWill will be available this offseason in an attempt to upgrade the roster.
Wishful thinking.
He might not be sold on him but he is still producing. He is going to stay for at lest another yr. I would be ecstatic if we got him but it is not going to happen.
D Lee
would be a great complement to Lopez, and would be playing his natural position at PF. Better passer than the other names mentioned and a hustler, really good offensive rebounder even as undersized center
regardless of what gets done we must remember not to overpay for anyone, I see Melo or Durantula in our future.. lol
Lee or Boozer - both are great choices
but I think I’m leaning toward Lee not because he’s better than Boozer, but because he’s a little younger and hasn’t been hit by the injury bug. Otherwise, it’s a toss-up and either player would be a significant upgrade to our team.
Boozer is a finished product
Lee is still improving. His outside shooting and passing have improved dramatically over the last three years.
Boozer is more interested in the $ figure. Lee is more interested in "the right situation for him".
Once a Net, Lee would be willing to sacrifice his game to help the team. He would be a good teammate. He is well liked by Knicks palyers. He might be named team co-Captain.
Boozer wants to be the center of attention. He has a reputation of doing well when he is in a contract year.
Lee would have no problem filling in at Center, as needed. That would leave many minutes for someone else at PF.
I’ll take Lee and hope the Nets go after him the minute Knicks renounce his rights.
I HOPE Thorn is not here AFTER April 16 or May 4 or whatever day the sale is finalized or ELSE I WILL STOP WATCHING ALTOGETHER!!!!!!!!!!!!
by diehardNFFLbarnone on Mar 21, 2010 4:20 PM EDT reply actions
Luis Scola
Defense wins championships, and its very obvious who the best defender of this group is. Very efficient and we saw first hand, the man can score. Worst rebounder of the bunch, but he’d still be my first choice. I’d probably take Lee 2nd, hes still got room to improve and his defensive woes are at least partially because of him playing out of position.
To me Boozer and Scola
are just too old for it to make since for us to sign them. It’s unlikely we’re going to be real contenders next year regardless of who we sign just because there’s so many young players trying to find their niche, and we’ll be adding young draft picks, and a new coach trying to implement a new system, not to mention basically completing rebuilding the scouting departments and front office. Why would we sign a 30+ year old who’s likely going to command a 10+ million fairly long-term contract to a team that won’t really start contending until that player is well until his decline? Obviously Scola could easily sign for less than that and in that case it might make sense, but I just don’t see any point in signing Boozer.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
also Boozer has been pretty injury prone
and if a player struggles with injuries in his early/mid 20s it’s likely it will only get worse in his late 20s and early 30s.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
Go with David Lee if Bosh won't take our money.
Bosh is the best, but he strikes me as injury-prone for some reason.
Lee is the youngest of the group, a good rebounder, and lives right here.
I’ve got bad vibes on Boozer. I think Boozer will be on the down-side for any contract that he signs. By the end of the contract, I have a feeling he’ll be in overpaid Bobby SImmons-land. Plus, I never liked that Boozer gave his word that he’d re-sign with Cleveland, but then jumped to Utah.
Texas slang in a Big Apple minute, by a friendly OED consultant. http://www.barrypopik.com
If Nets waste time waiting for Bosh to formally reject the Nets, then Knicks might end up re-signing Lee if Knicks find out that Bosh would go to Miami.
The whole hope of signing Lee is for the Knicks to believe that they can sign Bosh. Otherwise Knicks might not renounce Lee’s rights or might offer Lee a near max contract.
Nets have to decide that Lee is their #1 target for early July.
All this can get messed up if Nets have to choose a BIG in Draft, instead of Turner or Wall.
By getting Turner or Wall would also make it easier for Nets to attract Lee.
Bosh/Lee/Stoudemire Not!
C.Bosh will go to Miami if D.Wade stays or to Chicago if D.Wade decides to go back home.
D.Lee will be signed by Knicks to do a sign & trade with Phoenix.
D.Lee/E.Curry for A.Stodemire)
So the Nets should just wait for the draft and get D.Cousins if he comes out.
A ten year top talent at a rookie contract of around $4.5M.
Just ask, isn’t this a better move then getting Lee @ $11M or Stoudemire @ $17M?
Besides Cousins is a far better defensive player then both willever be at PF.
If Nets take Cousins then they might be losing Turner. No practical way to get both. We've been through this before.
DLee is unrestricted FA once Knicks give up his rights.
As explained before It would be retarded for Phoenix to take Curry and Lee from Knicks for Amare, since Lee could then just sign with another team such as Nets. Phoenix would be taking on Curry and 11 million for Nothing. Amare is unrestricted FA if he doesn’t accept player option for 1 year, so Phoenix no longer has control over his future. Phoenix had a chance to trade Amare at deadline, and chose to try to win a championship instead. Knicks also failed to make any attempt to get Amare at deadline because they felt they could get him (in 5 yr. deal) without giving anything in return.
Been they this before?
Yes D.Lee is a F/A.
Yes E.Curry is A P/O of 11m
Yes A.Stoudemire is a P/O of 17m
Now here is how it goes again.
Both Stoudemire & Curry will exercise their P/O rights.
The Knicks will sign D.Lee to a new contract at between 8m to 10m.
Then by doing this they will trade his overrated play and Curry to Phoenix for Stoudemire.
The benefit for the Knicks is they get Stoudemire to start right away at PF.
Then next year when he becomes a F/A they could put together a new contract at less or let him walk.
Don’t forget LeBron will be 28 in three years after he resigns this summer with Cleveland. Knicks then will be ready in 2013 season.
The benefit for the Suns is they D.Lee for the next five years at 8/10 less then Stoudemire and have to just eat E.Curry for one year and out.
The sign and trade is not going to happen unless everybody agrees.
D.Lee will not see it coming nor should he know the business side of it until it happens.
This a good move for both teams.
Don’t ask if A.Stoudemire is not going to exercise his P/O
What NBA clown walks from the money that he is not going to get again?
Please…….
Clarification
Dziedzic, I think you’re confused as to what a sign-and-trade is. It’s an atomic transaction, meaning it happens in one occurrence rather than two separate transactions, in which a player agrees to sign with his current team so he can get the optimum deal and then is instantaneously traded to another team that wants his services. Thus, you can’t deceive a player into signing and then immediately after trade him, so the player would indeed have final jurisdiction on whether they will sign and then go to a specified team or instead test the open market.
Not only would the Knicks and Suns have to agree to the aforementioned trade, which the Suns never would do because they would have no reason to pay Eddy Curry, but Lee would have to have Phoenix as his desired place to play (unlikely) and would likely end up with a deal less lucrative than what he could receive on the open market due to the # of free agent bidders this season exceeding the # of top-tier free agents. This notion you have that such a transaction is a near certainty is mind-boggling to me.
Also, unless Stoudemire wanted to take one last stab at a championship in Phoenix it would make no sense to exercise his player option. What logic is there in taking a 1 year $17.5 million deal and risking another major injury rather than taking a 5-year $75 million dollar deal which he would likely garner on the open market.
Here is interesting an entry from SB Nation’s Suns blog about the A’mare sign-and-trade market which will give you some further insight.
http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2010/3/10/1322748/understanding-the-amare-stoudemire
The Legend
Thanks for clarification.
That article is rather complicated, but it does defend the possibility of S/T with Amare, only because it could bring a Max PLUS trade due to his bird rights. However, this wouldn’t apply to DLee since he would only be in the 12-14 million range.
However, I don’t trust the Knicks to try to prevent Nets from getting him.
What if Knicks could get him a 6 year deal with another team, by trading Lee’s Bird rights?
I like the idea of them going after Lee but how would drafting a big mess things up with Lee?
It seems like the smart way to go since we need a big man and whoever they choose can come off the bench if need be.
They don’t have a backup center plus Yi and Humphries should both be coming off the bench.
Them passing on a lottery talent big would bite them in the butt if they can’t get Lee.
Don't waste the money.
All 3 of these players along with our picks would make us a 50 win team however, none of these players would bring us a title. Players like Duncan, Garnett and LeBron are the type that will put us over the top. Build threw the draft with high talent and low cost players, keep the cap space then bring the final piece in with a FA signing that is a sure thing to make us a title contender. If we don’t sign LeBron we should be patient. Besides you never know what the draft could bring and there is always the trade possibility.
Scola is not an UFA
He’s still under the rookie contract. Even if the Rockets don’t agree on an extension, he’d still need to play on the qualifying offer next season.
Are you sure he is restricted? I have one source that says no, another that says team has 4.1 million option?
Did Houston say they wouldn’t bring back Scola and renounce his rights?
Funny thing, that before his recent good play, he would have been worth no more than 4 million per.
Any chance there would be a possibility of a S&T with Scola for Yi, and reuite Yi with Yao???
Yi will get 4 million next year and 5.4 million the following year if they keep him.
Scola would be a perfect fit for Nets if they could get rid of Yi at same time. Especially if they have to take a PF like Cousins with draft pick, making it unlikely to go after DLee using 12 million/yr.
Even if Nets got DLee, If Scola could be available around Yi’s salary, it would give the Nets a Contending type front court.
Nets:
Lopez, DLee, TWill, Turner, DHarris
with
Scola, CLee and Hump as reserves and still lots of cap space.
If Nets get #3/#4 pick and take Cousins, then:
Trade Yi for Scola and take RGay as FA:
Lopez, Cousins/Scola, RGay, CLee, DHarris with TWill, Hump with plenty of Cap Space left.
As long as Kiki is not making the decision, we will land a good PF. Kiki still believes in Yi. He played him 37 minutes last night. Why? Whoever comes must take 30 of those minutes away.
Scola is old, Boozer injury prone can't play defense. Lee is younger
I don’t want Boozer or Scola none of them I feel would fit this team like Lee would. He’s a playmaker could probably play small forward if had 2, he doesn’t get injuries left and right like some people, and he’s not going to demand the ball.
Scola and Lee shouldn't be listed in same category.
Scola should come much cheaper. Without his recent good play, Scola would be around a $4million/year player.
I wouldn’t mind having both Scola and Lee, as long as Yi was gone.
I doubt though that Yao would ever want Yi on his Houston team.
Yao knows better. And you can be sure Yao knows Yi’s true age.
Lee is probably the guy to focus on
Boozer is probably the most complete player now, but I just don’t think he’s our guy. Lee is the youngest of the group and still has more upside. He’s currently playing out of position and could potentially do even more damage playing PF next to Brook. A little concerned about his D, but not enough to look elsewhere. Scola is going to be 30, so I wouldn’t want to sign him long term.
Even if we end up with the 3 or 4 pick and draft Cousins or Favors, I’d still go after Lee as soon as the free agent period starts. I don’t think Cousins or Favors are going to dominate in the NBA right out the gate. If we end up with two great PF (and wouldn’t that be a nice change of pace) we can always trade one of them later for another piece.
Curious to see how much Lee is looking for – he’s definitely played his way to a bigger pay day this off-season.
by GeoffreySchmits on Mar 21, 2010 8:02 PM EDT reply actions
I'm curious to hear why
some people voted for “None of the above” in the poll on the home page.
NetsDaily.com
Why?
Outright foolish to spend money at high salaries to get marginal talent.
Spend the money on the draft and add Yi, C.Lee and J.Boone in trades with future picks to get top talent in the draft.
This is spending money wisely.
Just look at the talent if it came out for our team needs.
D.Cousin/PF, E.Turner/SG, W.Johnson/SF and C.Aldrich/C
They would fill all our need positions now at a fraction of the cost along with being far more talented then th ebunch coming out of F/A/
All four of the above are far better then any of the F/A’s available.
That is the answer in a nutshell.
I'll have to respectfully and wholeheartedly disagree
with everything you’ve just written.
NetsDaily.com
I assume you disagree because it wouldn't be possible to trade for the rights to draft 3 of the 4 names he mentioned.
The Nets 1st round pick may get Turner or Cousins. The best Nets could do in a trade using the Dallas pick, is to get Aldrich. Getting all 4 would be nice, but not feasible.
Yes, his trade scenarios are far-fetched.
Boone is a restricted free agent. He can’t be traded for a draft pick, so I don’t know where that comes from. Plus…
“All four of the above are far better then any of the F/A’s available.
That is the answer in a nutshell.”
If that’s the answer in a nutshell, then I disagree with it all.
Turner is great and I’d be happy if the Nets get him. And if they have pick 3 or 4 and get one of the other guys… OK. But the chances the Nets get additional lottery picks are slim to none. And Lee, Boozer and Scola are all proven players. Lee and Boozer have been All-Stars, and Scola has one of the better low-post games in the league.
The chances that Cousins and/or Aldrich turn out to be better than all three somewhere down the line aren’t that great. And they’re certainly nowhere near that level at this point.
NetsDaily.com
Cousins will be better than Lee and Scola.
There’s no question in my mind He will be a 20/10 guy for years to come. Lee is super over-rated and Scola is nothing but a role player.
Scola's nothing but a role player
if you underrated a players impact on defense. If a player scores 20 on one end and gives up 25 on the other he’s no more valuable than a player who scores 0 on one end but holds a 20 a night guy to 5 on the other.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
David Lee? scoffs
If the Nets can’t at least get a Karl Malone-type with Dennis Rodman defense, why bother?
There is no equivalent Karl Malone equivalent as a FA. But DLee would add about 25 Wins to season.
Lee+Turner could get Nets to 50 Win season next year.
You can make any number of excuses, but all the close games are wins if DLee replaces Yi/Boone for 32-35 minutes/game.
Where would the Knicks be if they had Yi instead of DLee? I’d say about 5 wins.
I rest my case.
Boozer playing well in a contract year? Surprise surprise
Boozer’s in the Charlie V, Ben Gordon mold. Play fantastic in a contract year, get paid, and go on cruise control.
Luis Scola would be nice, if he wasn’t 30 years old as with Boozer.
Lee, meh, would be alright. Wouldn’t do anything for us defensively though. But would help with out rebounding. His passing and shooting would help us too. He’s number one in all centers in the NBA is assists. And Brook is 5th.
I got your big man right here...
The funny thing about this picture is Wall is standing straight up and Cousins is leaning over.
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/2010/basketball/ncaa/03/09/sec.wall.cousins.ap/wall-cousins.jpg
Cousins should be our #1 pick, period, end of story.
I just read that Favors may not "come out" this year. That could mean that if Nets get #4 pick, Cousins could be taken already.
At least with Favors in mix, someone else might take a chance.
I wouldn’t.
No way though that Nets would take Cousins over Turner and Wall.
You are probably right.
That’s why the Nets stink. Thorn only makes the right move when it’s handed to him. Kidd, Carter and Lopez.
Playing it safe usually back fires. Wall and Turner are great players but Cousins is a player we can use and he might be the most dominant player in college right now.
Wall might be another Devin Harris. Not a great shooter and turnover prone.
Turner is a SG who can’t shoot well either.
We need a big tough player to play along side Lopez and he’s right there if we play are cards right.
But somehow we will fold our hand and end up with another small guard/wing.
That’s why the Nets don’t win.
I think Thorn knows that Devin would be better that Wall initially. The question would be for "how long".
Wall has added benefit of making it easy for any “Big” free agent to choose the Nets. If Nets took Cousins, then only worthwhile FA they might sign would be RGay, giving the Nets a pretty good front court.
Turner though has many ways to score. He is already an impact player. He will be college player of the year.
I am hoping that KY plays Ohio State for Championship. That would be nice.
Syracuse and Duke may be only teams to prevent that from happening.
NCAA's
As much as I like Duke over the years.
I am rooting for Syracuse to win it all along with them playing Kentucky.
This way the pimp Calapari can taste it by getting close one more time then loose.
As sick as that sounds, I also want the NBA Cleveland Cavs to reach the finals and then loose to Kobe.
This way both clowns Shaq and Lebron taste it from Kobe.
Ouch!
One other item to mention about Syracuse.
Next year they have a chance to go all the way to because they are getting a kid from Florida via Brazil whom is a solid 7 footer of talent.
F.Melo
No now don’t confuse him with that commercial for American Airlines, were the basketball player name Melo trys to get on a team in every country because he is clumsy.
In my opinion that commercial was based on Yi Jianlian.
Lots of laughs to all!
Thorn
R.Thorn did a great job of getting rid of 14 out of 15 players in only two years.
The Kidd trade was solid to get D.Harris.
The Carter deal to get him was solid only to make a mistake resigning him to more money later.
R.Thorn then redeem himself by making a good trade with Orlando.
He gets no credit or anybody else regarding B.Lopez.
It was luck that he fell this far down period.
What is sad about this pick is that we did not go after B.Lopez in the draft knowing that he was a need at Center.
Sad and no credit to anybody in this organization regarding B.Lopez.
Just everbody listen to me we need D.Cousins.
This will allow D.Harris be a double digit in scoring/assists while both Cousins/Lopez are double digit scorers/rebounders.
D.Harris gets the two down low to dominate by both boxing out while the other rebounds along with freeing up D.Harris for the ten footer instead of taking bombs to keep us in games.
When you get two beast rebounding it opens it up for everybody on the floor to do their thing.
You just might get a good 50 odd wins next year.
Now it is imperative that we use our future picks and even give away Yi, J.Boone and C.Lee to get these three other players now.
Its time for the Nets with their new added ownership and future new arena to take it to the next level.
We do not need our next three years of picks to get this done.
Knowing we cannot trade away two successive picks in the row.
We will need to package the Dallas pick with money and Maybe Yi and or make our first round pick with a deal already made with another team for their pick along with allowing us to trade next years pick to get another player or two.
Look it Turner and Johnson are of talent and high character. This could go along way in getting them for this team.
The new ownership group is not going to play around and just throw money around foolishly. They are smart of a group and have plans to make this work with creative, agressive ideas like getting these picks.
W.Johnson is a S.Pippen type with a superior jump shot.
E.Turner is a B.Roy type with being a ball handler along with leadership skills.
C.Aldrich is a Kendriks type with superior free throw shooting skills.
As a second unit banger he can go to the line and hit free throws at 80%
Bye Bye J.Boone
Now just ask is C.Aldrich better then Yi and Josh?
Aldrich bangs and rebounds and hits free throws at 80%
Yi does not bang and rebound
Josh does not hit the free throws
Aldrich is the best of both these bums and can start if need at PF
Don’t even say we are to young of a team.
K.Dooling, D.Harris and resigning J.Hayes will give us the age leadership needed to corral the young studs towards success.
That pimp known as Calapari said it the best.
I ll take talent anytime over youth or age.
Example:
Both Yi and Josh are young but have no talent for the NBA for success.
Oh I did forget to mentioned that we also make a smart move with our second round pick with talent and need.
A.Rautens/PG Syracuse is a great choice to fill in behind D.Harris and K.Dooling.
He could also come in for spot duty if somebody goes done to that dreaful thought of injury.
In 2nd round we are picking high but A.Rautens is the type of guy needed of high character and talent to work himself into the team and rotation as years go by.
Win, Win for the team and for him.
He is like aJ.J.Redick with better ball handle and passing skills.
Make me the GM and I would pull a few rabbits out and get the following guys of talent and high character.
Making deals is a talent and art form where everybody has to feel like they won today and for the future.
Yes
Nets Needs
D.Cousins, W.Johnson, E.Turner, C.Aldrich and A.Rautens
CARPE-DIEM!
@Dziedzic;
Your posts read like poetry. Colorful and free flowing. The Nets should get in touch with you and offer you a shot at G.M.. At least you wouldn’t be dull and boring. LOL
@Mike
Today to many people listen to reporters and writers on players.
Just watch the guys with your own set of eyes and then everybody can make the right decision.
Whats really funny is the pimp Calapari thinks he is getting close to winning it.
Then Boooooom!
Syracuse shoots him down.
That is if he gets pass Duke in the final four.
Thank you for the p.r.
I would hire you to teach the bigs how to play down low.
Yelling at 7 footers, what a kick that would be.
Buy the picks then the new owner is a billionaire
They need that shooter Wesley Johnson and a big (Cousins if Favors stays)
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