I don't know how you guys feel, but the early RJ returns have me quite sad. Yi finds away to tick me off every other game, and Bobby Simmons does one better and ticks me off EVERY game with his poor play. I'm not sure we are that much better with RJ, if he really felt like he didn't want to be on this team, but I think we could have done a lot better than these two guys. It has me really wonder how good or scouting is when you consider Yi, Simmons, Ager, M. Williams, S. Williams, Antoine Wright, etc. have all been brought in and either soured upon, sucked, or traded away.
I still would do the RJ deal. The thing you have to weigh in is that we wanted to get rid of his fat contract AND get a nice prospect in return, which we did. Also I don't want RJ's attitude on our young team.
Yi and Simmons are young prospects? Yi is a prospect, Simmons is a joke. Also, 2010 isn't going to happen if we don't get our asses moving on Brooklyn. If 2010 comes and goes without us in Brooklyn not only will we not get that big free agent, but we will have waisted three years waiting for it.
Well after 1 game where Yi didn't wow you, you think the trade was a dud. What did you think after his 24/10 game? Brook was also dominant today. He had 25. Devin had 30. Vince had 26. You expect Yi to drop in 20 of his own? Sheesh, it's like you didn't even think about this before you started the thread.
Yi is a prospect, Simmons was someone we needed to take in order for the contracts to even up. And what do you mean by wasting 3 years? We are REBUILDING regardless if we end up in Brooklyn or get King James. We will still have the cap space and hopefully a respectable team to attract some decent players IMO.
Even if we don't sign "the one who shall not be named" , we're going to be a better team and there will be a big pool of players in 2010.
11/1 0 Pts FG 0-4 11/8 2 Pts FG 1-10 Yi has dropped 20 pts once this season, and not reached 4 pts three times. So actually, no, Yi's 24 pt game didn't wow me. And even if it did the fact that he followed it up with a rather mediocre 30% shooting 11 pt night during a miserable Indiana lost would have gotten rid of that. To me he has had 2 good games, three bad ones, and the rest he's been treading water. Meanwhile, we gave up all-star talent to get him. Regardless of whether you wanted RJ here or not, he still had value.
Simmons clears cap space for when the Nets are trying to get a lot of room. Yi is still very young and has shown some signs this season. This trade wasn't made for the Nets to be champions in 2008-2009 (which there was 0% chance they would have been here with RJ here). Better to get piece to build towards the future with then keep pieces around that aren't going to get you anywhere.
We are rebuilding, but if a big name player became a free agent next year that could put us over the top we'd still sit back and wait for 2010 and the promise of bigger and better. I don't play like that.
IMO it came down to who would be better for the Team/Organization overall. Carter or RJ? They decided to go with Vince which in my opinion makes perfect sense in multiple areas.
Context, context, context 1. Don't isolate the RJ/Yi trade outside the context of the rebuilding effort in general or the other deals made in the off-season. Short term, no doubt, it was a lop-sided trade, but the Nets wound up in better shape after June 26 (the day of the trade and the draft) than they were on Feb. 18 (the day before the Kidd trade). It was all part of a single rebuilding plan, not isolated deals. As noted in another post, three players acquired as a result of the Kidd trade--Harris, Anderson and Dooling--scored 55 points last night. Lopez scored 25 more and looked like Tim Duncan. 2. The Nets were 34-48 last season with a payroll fifth from the top and no cap room to speak off next season. Jason Kidd went on strike to get a contract extension. The Nets may very well go 34-48 this season with a payroll fifth from the bottom and cap room in 2010 and yes, possibly 2009. 3. Yi had a bad game last night. It happens. He just turned 21. He's inconsistent. He has played less than a full season in the United States. You say he finds a way to tick you off every game. How did he tick you off the night he scored 24 points, hit five three's, grabbed 10 rebounds, passed out four assists, and blocked a shot? He's a work in progress. So is Lopez. So is Anderson. So is Boone. So is Williams. Some day, hopefully, they will put it all together (or in the case of Williams or Boone, the players who replace them) and we'll have a good idea of how the "June 26 gamble" paid off.
--RJ was playing poor defense, and this team is all about defensive effort. --RJ's contract was really restricting flexibility, because of the cap. This is important. If there was no salary cap, then I might not feel the same way about the deal. --RJ is at the pinnacle of his career. The nets acquired someone with more upside. Possibly Yi's upside will never exceed RJ's current reality, but he will be getting better when RJ is still declining. --RJ has a high scoring average this year, but his shooting percentage is below average. Again, it is hard to evaluate just what his value is when he shoots only 43%. --Yi really has tremendous upside. He was a top draft pick, and is still very young. Many people would have traded Kidd for Bynum before he took that leap forward last year. --The Nets now have a terrific foundation in place for the next few years. They will have at least as good a record this year as they did last year, and be in a much better position financially to improve. I like RJ, but other than Bobby Simmons, what is there about this deal not to like?
ummmm id do the RJ and Yi/Simmons trade OVER AND OVER again... seriously i expect Yi to have nites like last or nites where he scores 0 pts... he just needs to find a way to be consistent... and that comes with time... brook and ryan got me so excited last nite happy to see them both doing well!!! GO NETS!!!
thats another key about the california connection. I think when either brook or ryan are having a good night the other will feed off of it.
