The Ugly, The Uglier, and the Ugliest: The 2010-2011 New Jersey Nets

The once clamoring of overwhelming confidence and content on this site is at an all-time low, and with good reason.

The select few, like myself however, have consistently voiced our extreme displeasure since this past disastrous summer. And this is not only because of the huge swings and misses we took at the most elite stars we heavily focused on. We were never getting LeBron, Wade and Bosh --- but is anyone here still severely doubting and hating on Amar'e, Gay, and Boozer?? We should have matched every offer that we most certainly could have:

Amar'e: 52% FG, 26.3 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 2.3 BLKS

You can read all about my post advocating for him before the season started:

I'm Sorry, But The Nets Should Have Signed Amare!

http://www.netsdaily.com/2010/10/13/1750247/im-sorry-but-nets-should-have-signed-amare

Gay: 49% FG, 21.3 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.9 STLS, 1.2 BLKS

Boozer: 55% FG, 20.2 PPG, 10.1 RPG

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And so we struck out. After all the promises and bizarre pompous marketing schemes, we all still said to ourselves, OK, the Nets team is still raw but chock-full of assets and potential so hopefully we can just develop our existing talent, draft well in the next two years and hopefully land a free-agent in the summer(s). But when CDR was shipped out for nothing, you kind of suspected this team was beyond desperate and ready to have a fire-sale to ensure the Nets can acquire a player with not only a household name but contained superstar "sex appeal" - which is why I think they didn't heavily pursue the aforementioned players-- even though they were/are terrific and obviously capable of contributing to a winning environment, they ultimately were not BIG enough to really steal NYK's thunder.

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Travis Outlaw. Johan Petro. Wow. From the first second I heard of the signings, I ranted here quite liberally - having clean yet vicious arguments with a lot of y'all about how dubious and embarrassing these really were. I literally could not believe my ears and eyes and made several other posts as to how we should have signed RJ (even after Outlaw was brought in since RJ was still a FA)  who is now having a modest, yet extremely efficient season on the best team in the NBA: http://www.netsdaily.com/2010/7/16/1573587/why-the-nets-should-still-target and how T-Will should have been the starting SF regardless of Outlaw, since TO was, and is, so pathetic and is clearly not worthy of a starting SF job in the NBA -- I also compulsively insisted that neither Morrow (a much better value signing than TO, but also only 6th-7th man talent/capability) or Outlaw deserves to be a starter on their own, but together would just result in an utter disaster. I thought I was going crazy or perhaps was starting to doubt my knowledge since seemingly everyone barked back at me saying I was just a "hater" and that Outlaw would prove his worth by providing at least 15 ppg, 6 rebs and excellent outside shooting - HA!: http://www.netsdaily.com/2010/8/22/1636385/start-t-will-at-the-three

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So with everything else in this debacle of a season coming into fruition that made/makes absolutely no sense to me, like trading players without every seeing what they can do with major minutes - T-Will first, Troy to be next obviously. If the organization and/or the most overrated coach in NBA history wants to have these players traded as quick as he knows how to because he happens to be on some power trip (seems to be happening all around the NBA - NJ, Memphis, Indiana etc.) why not showcase the players to either prove you wrong or at the worst build-up/reinforce their own value? We are stuck in a losing environment, what is there possibly to lose? What about starting Stephen Graham? Is there one other team in the entire league that would have cyphered Stephen Graham and Outlaw in and out of the starting lineup without ever looking at T-Will and Murph seriously? There are so many other things that absolutely infuriate me as a simple fan - which have been discussed ad nauseum in other posts - I can only imagine what those around the NBA actually think.

Hmmm. Why would Melo want a part of this? Oh right, the billionaire owner who has proven nothing thus far in terms of making NBA-savvy moves, relegated only to offering bombastic business-only ploys. And there is the obnoxiously expensive "iconic" new arena that supposedly is to be ready for the 2012-2013 season which might hook in the stars, right? Why would Melo want to wait until he is nearly 29 years old to play in this arena. It is quite apparent he wants to win ASAP - Amare came to NY, and boom (with the help of Felton) they have catapulted to a state of relevance instantaneously. Having reached the WCF already, a first round exit (at best btw) with Chauncey and Rip (as rentals essentially) obviously will not cut it for Melo. And while some argue CP3 would follow in the coming year, there is no real reason to believe that is factual as of yet.

So I will end  by repeating the same kind of statement that I have said time and time again regarding other things - If Melo and CP3 miraculously arrive here, I will eat my words and praise this team, management  and so on... but until that day, I am not crowning anyone (nor should anyone else) in this organization/coaching staff as they have provided nothing thus far in terms of tangible improvements from last year. In other words: hope is not change - we have been sold so much as Nets fans without actually receiving anything.