FanPost

We are hitting a critical point in the future direction of the Nets (again)


As our record continues to deteriorate and the Nuggets continue to ask for more draft picks, the next month will tell us what type of team the Nets will be for the next half decade...and we thought this critical point happened 6 months ago!

It's hard for me to believe that the Nets will cave and give up 5 draft picks (as has been reported) in a package for Carmelo Anthony, the longer the Nuggets front office stalls the better the potential draft pick on our side looks to them.

Of course we want a franchise-type player to root for and to fill our seats, but how far back would this trade put us?

For those who want to keep most of the picks - Our draft record with Rod Thorn was mostly bad, yes he brought us RJ and Jason Collins, but it was the Jason Kidd trade that made everything right for our team for a big portion of the 2000's. Literally all of our draft picks in recent years other than Brook Lopez have been a bust (we shall see about Favors), and even though we have new people in charge, i am not confident that they can take all our draft assets and turn them into homegrown OKC-type talent. It takes a very smart front office (see the Spurs) to be a good veteran team every year and use late round draft picks to infuse young talent.

On the other hand, having a mega-talent like Carmelo Anthony will make the Nets a more attractive team for other players, right?

Look at what happened to us during the Lebron-a-thon over the summer. The Nets passed up on Michael Beasley for the expiring contract of Keyon Dooling, which of course had to do with cap space and adding "character" players. Obviously when LeBron didn't come, we took a huge hit and couldnt lure any free agents of value. We have the "nicest" team in the league now, which has the least amount of technical fouls and just about no toughness (outside of Humphries, who they hoped would've opted out durng the summer).

Is using the star power of Carmelo worth the risk of having almost no draft picks over the next few years? We would become the Knicks of the last decade by just adding risky free agents or making risky trades, or hope our bargaining chip (Carmelo) and a new arena could get us where were want to be.

So what are we going to be after the trade deadline? If we have Carmelo, we will still be giving the Nuggets a top draft pick with a bunch of lotto balls.

If we walk away from the trade, how could we maximize our future draft picks? We will have a bunch of "nice" guys and assets that can't be moved for anything as valuable as Carmelo.

Just remember how our summer went...we all know the Nets had a plan B,C,D and E and none of them happened (Rudy Gay, Carlos Boozer, Tyrus Thomas!). So just as the angle of cap space failed us, the hope of using draft assets can do the same thing and set us back.

I obviously do not have the answer, but i honestly feel there is no middle ground with this team. The decisions made by the trade deadline will determine our direction for at least 5 years.