<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Portland Trail Blazers formally reached a deal that sent forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim to the New Jersey Nets as the moratorium was lifted on NBA free agent signings on Tuesday. Signings were supposed to begin nearly two weeks ago, but complications in putting the NBA's new six-year collective bargaining agreement into writing forced a pair of delays. The Blazers signed Abdur-Rahim then dealt him to New Jersey for a protected first-round draft pick next year. If the draft pick is a lottery selection, then Portland would receive the following year's first-round pick from the Nets. New Jersey President Rod Thorn would not disclose terms of the contract. It was not yet signed because it is contingent on a physical exam, he said. "I think Shareef is at a point in his career where he has a lot to prove, and that bodes well for us," Thorn said. "He's a very prideful individual, and he wants to prove that the lack of team success in his NBA career is due to the teams he's played on, rather than to him. To me, he's right in his prime as a player." Abdur-Rahim has averaged 19.8 points and 8.1 rebounds over a nine-year NBA career in Vancouver, Atlanta and Portland.</div> Source
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting nextlevelgame:</div><div class="quote_post">Eh, if we do well that draft pick might be useless.</div> It might be useless but im starting to get scared with who Miami is getting. Now its not likely Nets can be 1st seed
Well the draft pick will be useless to us anyway, b/c there's no way we're in the lottery next year, but Rod already knew this and probably hated to part with it. I say with the addition SAR, JMac, Wright and an unkown shooter or bigman, we are no doubt the third seed. However, depending on how things go, we could be the fourth best team or higher. It all depends on if Shaq stays healthy for Miami, and if DJ doesn't stay, they have no outside shooter other than JWill (who is nothing special), b/c butler and Jones are gone. Also to me, the additions of Jwill and Walker were terrible. Walker is just no good for any team, and Jwill will get in the way of Wade's playmaking. I like them getting Posey though, but he isn't EJ. It also depends on if Detroit responds well to Flips style. Indiana is a solid team, but will lack leadership with Raggie gone (anyone who thinks JO is a good leader is just humoring themselves). Cleveland IMO will not be a top-4 threat. I think that we will for sure get the 3 seed, b/c of the division format. We have a chance to get the 2 seed with a better record than Detroit and Indiana, but they are built for the playoffs, and IMO would likely beat us if we squared off. Miami will definitely get the 1 seed, but I don't see them winning a championship with that lineup.
how many western confrence teams will we get ahead of too? remeber it goes by overall record of all team not just confrence anyways i would post more but i got to go
