<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Goodwin said his client is considering eight offers of the midlevel exception, which is the fund that capped-out teams can spend on free agents. It includes a first-year salary starting somewhere between $4.9 million and $5.2 million, and can be stretched out five years. He added that Abdur-Rahim may visit Miami next, "but at this point, we may sit tight." The Nets, meanwhile, want Abdur-Rahim to be more proactive. Specifically, they want him to say he's coming to New Jersey regardless of the contract figures. That would possibly motivate the Blazers to stop holding them up for a first-round pick or the rights to second-round pick Mile Ilic as compensation for a sign-and-trade deal. The Nets have already told the Blazers that they aren't willing to part with either. So if that's the case, how long should the Nets be willing to wait for Abdur-Rahim to make up his mind? "Until he gets something done with another team," Goodwin warned. "That's what it comes down to. That's the situation. It's a decision Shareef has to make, and he's definitely not willing to settle for the midlevel." </div> Pressure on Nets to complete deal
At least we knoe we got a steal by drafting Ilic because it seems Portland wants him as much as a future first-rounder. I guess Mile does have lots of potential, but he won't be ready for awhile. But... I say we give up Ilic, b/c it seems European bigmen are a dime a dozen, and just b/c Krstic is doing well doesn't mean they all will. Drejer looks to be a big bust, and honestly I dont see why teams keep drafting European projects that are a huge gamble and will not be NBA ready for at least a couple of years (Orlando-Vasquez, LAC- Korolev). I mean hasn't anybody learned anything from Darko??? Anyway, we should hold out on Portland as long as we can, but if it comes down to it, we should give up Ilic to get Rahim, because I don't think Swift will come any cheaper, and I think we all agree we'd rather have SAR. ...It'd be sweet if we could use the TE on SAR and then split the MLE between Donyell and Dooling, but I seriously doubt Marshall will go for anything less than the full MLE unless we can convince him to take a paycut to win. Most likely we'll have to split it between Dooling, Songaila and possibly someone else who is really cheap. Then we can use the LLE on some rookies or journeymen to fill out our bench ( i reallllly hope we can get Coppenrath). I'm not sure how that would work though and if we used our LLE last year and wouldn't be able to use it this year.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting virve119:</div><div class="quote_post">...It'd be sweet if we could use the TE on SAR and then split the MLE between Donyell and Dooling, but I seriously doubt Marshall will go for anything less than the full MLE unless we can convince him to take a paycut to win. Most likely we'll have to split it between Dooling, Songaila and possibly someone else who is really cheap. Then we can use the LLE on some rookies or journeymen to fill out our bench ( i reallllly hope we can get Coppenrath). I'm not sure how that would work though and if we used our LLE last year and wouldn't be able to use it this year.</div> If Donyell wanted to win and have to take a paycut, he'll go to Washington or Miami. In Washington, he'll still get paid the full MLE with a chance to start for a top 5 seed in the east, and in Miami he'll get to play alongside Shaq and Wade as a member of a possible contender. Shaq / Wade both command double teams, and that means Marshall will get plenty of open looks from beyond the three point line.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">If Donyell wanted to win and have to take a paycut, he'll go to Washington or Miami. In Washington, he'll still get paid the full MLE with a chance to start for a top 5 seed in the east, and in Miami he'll get to play alongside Shaq and Wade as a member of a possible contender. Shaq / Wade both command double teams, and that means Marshall will get plenty of open looks from beyond the three point line.</div> First of all, numerous analysts are predicting the Nets to be serious contenders not only for the Eastern title, but even for the championship if they add Rahim, and Dooling is pretty much a lock for us using porbly a little under half of our MLE. Second of all, with or without Rahim, I'd be very, very surprised if the Nets finished behind the Hughe and Kwame-less wizards in the East. Third of all, Marshall would have even more trouble competing for minutes with the front-court-loaded Heat than he did with TO. Sure he COULD have a better chance at a title with Miami, but he'd be sharing a ton of minutes with Haslem, Mourning, Simien and Laitner. Plus I don't really recall Miami being too interested in Donyell in the first place. Washington, Houston, NY, and NJ are the front-runners for his services. Fourth of all, he'd get just as many, if not more open threes with 3 of the best playmakers in the league driving and kicking it out to him- while all the time drawing the majority of the defense's attention themselves. Fifthly, Marshall is good friends with Vince, and has made it clear he would love to play on NJ. When Jersey beat Boston to make it to the playoffs this year, he said something like "My future team just made the playoffs." Lastly, I was just speculating and thought it would be sweet if we could somehow get 3 quality players that would boost our team in Rahim, Dooling and Donyell. I do know that the chances of us getting all three players is very slim. We could give Marshall the full MLE and I'm sure he would come to back up SAR and Krstic, but then we wouldn't be able to get Dooling to back up Kidd and we'd have to settle for Best again.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting virve119:</div><div class="quote_post">First of all, numerous analysts are predicting the Nets to be serious contenders not only for the Eastern title, but even for the championship if they add Rahim, and Dooling is pretty much a lock for us using porbly a little under half of our MLE. </div> 'Numerous analysts' as in? Be realistic. You will make the playoffs for sure - it will be sad if you don't - but you have no shot at crowning either the Eastern Conference or the Championship. Adding Antoine Wright / SAR or even Donyell wouldn't get you that far when Miami / Indiana / Detroit is standing in your way. Dooling will command at least the full MLE. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting virve119:</div><div class="quote_post">Second of all, with or without Rahim, I'd be very, very surprised if the Nets finished behind the Hughe and Kwame-less wizards in the East.</div> I didn't say the Nets will finish behind the Wizards. I said Marshall will get an opportunity to start for a top 5 seed team. The Nets most likely would win the Atlantic Division and therefore will be an automatic lock for the third seed. Wizards lost Hughes, but they got Caron Butler and got rid of Kwame's cancer-like effect. Kwame Brown contributed nothing in Wizards' playoff run last year. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting virve119:</div><div class="quote_post">Third of all, Marshall would have even more trouble competing for minutes with the front-court-loaded Heat than he did with TO. Sure he COULD have a better chance at a title with Miami, but he'd be sharing a ton of minutes with Haslem, Mourning, Simien and Laitner. Plus I don't really recall Miami being too interested in Donyell in the first place. Washington, Houston, NY, and NJ are the front-runners for his services.</div> He never had a hard time finding minutes in Toronto. He was the 6th man for us. What do you mean he 'could'? He definitely has a better chance with the Heat. Miami was the front runner for Donyell Marshall trade at the trade deadline last February. Washington definitely wants Marshall, and Marshall has the Wizards on the top of his list, but Houston? Last time I checked they were pushing for Stromile Swift and Damon Stoudamire. New York can't sign him now because they signed Jerome James using their MLE. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting virve119:</div><div class="quote_post">Fourth of all, he'd get just as many, if not more open threes with 3 of the best playmakers in the league driving and kicking it out to him- while all the time drawing the majority of the defense's attention themselves.</div> Er... since when did Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson become two of the best playmakers in the league? Jason Kidd is one, but Vince and RJ aren't even close to being in the same class as the best playmakers in the NBA. If I remember correctly, you guys had a tough time sharing touches between Kidd, Carter and Jefferson, and if you add Marshall to that mix, you're definitely going to have problems getting everyone a fair share of the ball. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting virve119:</div><div class="quote_post">Fifthly, Marshall is good friends with Vince, and has made it clear he would love to play on NJ. When Jersey beat Boston to make it to the playoffs this year, he said something like "My future team just made the playoffs."</div> Give me a source that states Marshall would love to play for NJ. I've never read or heard him say anything close to NJ being his 'future team'. He was still in Toronto when NJ played Boston, and I'm 100% sure there was no mention of him stating something like that. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting virve119:</div><div class="quote_post">Lastly, I was just speculating and thought it would be sweet if we could somehow get 3 quality players that would boost our team in Rahim, Dooling and Donyell. I do know that the chances of us getting all three players is very slim. We could give Marshall the full MLE and I'm sure he would come to back up SAR and Krstic, but then we wouldn't be able to get Dooling to back up Kidd and we'd have to settle for Best again.</div> That would be nice in a perfect world, but in the real world that's close to impossible. You either get SAR / Dooling, or settle on Donyell. I just think that if he's getting the same amount of money (MLE), he'd go to somewhere where he could start. He for sure wouldn't sign just to back up Shareef. The SAR / Dooling scenario looks ideal, but you'd have to figure out the sign-and-trade with the Blazers first.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting VinKanaddy:</div><div class="quote_post">If I remember correctly, you guys had a tough time sharing touches between Kidd, Carter and Jefferson, and if you add Marshall to that mix, you're definitely going to have problems getting everyone a fair share of the ball. </div> And you remember this from when? There were only a couple of games where we had all three out on the floor the past season, and they played just fine with each other. Jefferson still does well when there are other talents on the floor. Take a look at the 03-04 season when we had Kidd, Kittles, RJ, and K-mart touching the ball.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting giftedvisionz:</div><div class="quote_post">And you remember this from when? There were only a couple of games where we had all three out on the floor the past season, and they played just fine with each other. Jefferson still does well when there are other talents on the floor. Take a look at the 03-04 season when we had Kidd, Kittles, RJ, and K-mart touching the ball.</div> A couple games? What about the playoffs? They didn't exactly dazzle anyone with their ability to share the rock. IMO, Kidd and Carter duo played much better than Kidd / Carter / Jefferson trio.
Sounds like you guys landed Abdur-Rahim, congrats! http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2110920
VinKanaddy: Yes, it was only a couple of games. The off-season gives Frank and the other coaches to come up with a system that fits the trio, Krstic, and possibly SAR/Swift well. They only played four games in the playoffs. Sharing wasn't the problem in the series, as they shot around 39% from the field during the series. And while the trio getting 61 assists among them in 4 games wasn't so dazzling, their passing was fairly efficient, considering on the scoring help from the bench. They didn't have trouble getting the ball down low to Krstic, who was averaging 18.3 ppg on 56.3% shooting. Besides him, no one else played a factor. The rest of the bench plus Collins accounted only for 19.3% of the points during the series, on 37.2% shooting. They had no choice but to take the scoring into their own hands. Edit: I hope this news is official. I won't truly believe it coming from Chad Ford, but I have a feeling that it went through. As long as we signed him or Swift, i'm a happy man.
In no way did we see the trio actually playing together to their full potential. In Vince's first game as a Net (having had no time to gel with RJ and Kidd), RJ injured his hand, and played like 2 games after that injured before getting surgery. In the playoffs when RJ came back, it would be an insult to his talent to say he was at 100%. He had just come off of a rushed rehab, and the fact that he was playing at all was amazing. He came off the bench the first 2 games, and didn't seem his normal self the whole series. Anyways...the key to this deal is we have to work a sign-and-trade or else we might not be able to sign some of the other key players we need like Dooling and Darius, as the TE expires the 29th and cannot be split up between two teams. However, if we do use the MLE on SAR we could use the TE to lure another big free-agent like Daniels or possibly another big like Marshall (but then we'd have to settle for Best, Vaughan and Zoran to back up Kidd again...) Either way we have quite a few options and its going to be exciting to see how this pans out.
I agree, the trio didn't play to full potential. Now we we have a crazy foursome that is hard to stop. I think the addition of SAR will help RJ, VC, and Kidd more than one way, either drawing attention from the defense which will open up shots for others or finding guys cutting to the basket. SAR is a huge addition. Nets will win 50-55 games this year.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting virve119:</div><div class="quote_post">In no way did we see the trio actually playing together to their full potential. In Vince's first game as a Net (having had no time to gel with RJ and Kidd), RJ injured his hand, and played like 2 games after that injured before getting surgery. In the playoffs when RJ came back, it would be an insult to his talent to say he was at 100%. He had just come off of a rushed rehab, and the fact that he was playing at all was amazing. He came off the bench the first 2 games, and didn't seem his normal self the whole series. Anyways...the key to this deal is we have to work a sign-and-trade or else we might not be able to sign some of the other key players we need like Dooling and Darius, as the TE expires the 29th and cannot be split up between two teams. However, if we do use the MLE on SAR we could use the TE to lure another big free-agent like Daniels or possibly another big like Marshall (but then we'd have to settle for Best, Vaughan and Zoran to back up Kidd again...) Either way we have quite a few options and its going to be exciting to see how this pans out.</div> I still think that you guys will be better off by trading Jefferson for a starting centre and bench players who can step in to provide help. If I remember correctly, trade exceptions can't be used to sign players, unless you meant you could use it for a sign-and-trade. Anyway, congratulations on the signing of SAR, you've just upgraded the 4 spot considerably. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">VinKanaddy: Yes, it was only a couple of games. The off-season gives Frank and the other coaches to come up with a system that fits the trio, Krstic, and possibly SAR/Swift well. They only played four games in the playoffs. Sharing wasn't the problem in the series, as they shot around 39% from the field during the series. And while the trio getting 61 assists among them in 4 games wasn't so dazzling, their passing was fairly efficient, considering on the scoring help from the bench. They didn't have trouble getting the ball down low to Krstic, who was averaging 18.3 ppg on 56.3% shooting. Besides him, no one else played a factor. The rest of the bench plus Collins accounted only for 19.3% of the points during the series, on 37.2% shooting. They had no choice but to take the scoring into their own hands.</div> I hate stats, they don't tell you the whole story about a player and I just happen to believe that the Nets' backcourt is a little too crowded with RJ / VC / JK. Having a role-player and two all stars instead of having three all stars seem a better option.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I still think that you guys will be better off by trading Jefferson for a starting centre and bench players who can step in to provide help. If I remember correctly, trade exceptions can't be used to sign players, unless you meant you could use it for a sign-and-trade. Anyway, congratulations on the signing of SAR, you've just upgraded the 4 spot considerably. </div> we didnt sign him or did we??
According to reports, SAR will either agree to a sign-and-trade with the Blazers with the Nets sending the trade exception and a future 1st round pick their way, or agree to sign for the MLE.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting VinKanaddy:</div><div class="quote_post">I still think that you guys will be better off by trading Jefferson for a starting centre and bench players who can step in to provide help.</div> That might be good, but I'm still high on Krstic as our future center. If this were to happen, i'd trade Jefferson when his stock rises, probably after this season if he's healthy all the way through. I'm just glad our starting 5 can be competitive again. Hopefully we can sign Dooling now.
I love how Vince Carter fans are always throwing out the suggestion of trading Richard Jefferson, while I am definately for keeping both, if one had to go it would be Carter. While Carter is the better offensive player, RJ is the better rebounder and more capable defender. And brings more aspects of the game to the table then Carter, with more upside. Richard Jefferson is a consistent jumpshot away from being an elite player in this league. No way do the Nets organization(front office, us fans etc) invest 4 years in the development of Richard Jefferson, just to trade him away as he is about to verge onto his peek as a NBA star, just because Vince Carter came to town. No disrespect to Carter and what he did for this team last year but we have to much invested in RJ as the future face of this franchise. I mean last year when we gave him the big contract extension while sending K-Mart to Denver, we made that long term commitment to him. And I want to see his potential forfilled in a Nets uni....which means Carter or Jefferson...lets just say for me..Carter would be on the first thing smoking out of the Garden State
i dont understand why trade one of the three? jefferson si a solid defender with a consistnt mid range jumper, carter isnt a great defender but hes one of the greatest scorers rite now when he wants to be. and kidd is just great i just dont understand, plus they never actualyl got to play toghether
