It's true, but then he'll be a bitchin expiring contract, and if they don't use that, then they'll make sure others expire at the same time, and have enormous cap space to take a run at the next star. When you have $, all problems can be fixed with a little patience and a good GM. BTW, that's why I was against drafting Drummond. He'll absolutely suck for a couple of years, and then when he starts to dominate, he'll leave the pistons for a team with a good GM and capspace - hello, Brooklyn!
It just occurred to me--the Nets REALLY missed out by not getting a top-3 pick. How good would Thomas Robinson look added to Deron, JJ, Wallace and Lopez? That would potentially be a contending starting 5.
He has $89m left on his deal, that is beyond atrocious. Factor in his mediocre play, along with Wallace's declining numbers, Billy King is running that franchise into the ground.
If you think about it, both of those moves were great moves for the Hawks in terms of their payroll. Johnson wasn't nearly worth the money he was being paid. As one of the most overrated players in the game, his contract would only prove to be a bigger and bigger onus on the Atlanta Hawks. Williams' contract/productivity was like a microcosm of Joe Johnson's contract/productivity. Ferry didn't take on too much talent in return for the two, but he shed two of the worst contracts in franchise history in one day. That has to be commended on a certain level. The Hawks weren't going anywhere except playoff mediocrity with Joe Johnson as their captain and Marvin Williams making over $15 mill the next two years. Now they have room to build. I agree on Wallace, and I wouldn't want to bring in Joe Johnson and his awful contract to my team, but I feel like there was more to this deal than what meets the eye. I have a feeling that Orlando was playing hardball with Howard's trade requests and probably didn't accept any of Brooklyn's offers. Knowing that the odds of Howard coming without Deron were probably 50/50 and the odds of Deron staying without a legitimate core being slim, the Nets were probably pressured into bringing in Johnson just to keep on Deron. That being said, it did put a big smile on my face knowing that Dwight Howard and his "camp" are pretty much f*cked. (BTW - How weird is it to type the "Brooklyn Nets"? I just had to edit my post to take the "New Jersey" out. Just feels weird...)
Humphries is actually quite good, if they hold onto him (which they should, now that Joe Johnson has exploded their cap situation). Robinson has a higher ceiling, but over the next year or two, I'd expect Humphries to be better. The Nets are paying a ton for it, but they have a pretty strong potential starting five (once/if they get Williams, Lopez and Humphries back into the fold). Not a title contending starting lineup, but one that could contend for a top-four seed, IMO.
Now they're saying that Brooklyn might get DH. Deron, DH, GWall, and Joe Johnson will be a pretty good team. Obvious JJ and GWall aren't anywhere near the players they were a few years ago, but still, not a bad team at all. I figure they'll replace the Celtics as the third best team in the East.
That'll be ridiculously unfair if they can send out those scrubs for Dwight. They’d definitely be second favorite in the East; Rose may not play at all next season. Players often never return to 100% of their old self after ACL reconstruction. The Bulls will likely lose one or both of Boozer or Asik and don’t have much flexibility to add free agents going forward.
If I were Orlando I’d insist on completely unprotected 1st round picks in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 for a Dwight deal. Those last few picks could be at the top of the lottery and quite high. Brooklyn would be willing to take the risk. That’s how the Bulls got a number of great lottery picks, they were from the Knicks. The Bulls blew it and drafted Tyrus Thomas instead of LaMarcus but regardless those picks can become very valuable. I’d also make Brooklyn take back a couple crappy contracts like Turkoglu.
They couldn't have both Wallace and the pick. They got one for the other. People in this thread belittle Brooklyn for paying Wallace $10M, but our team will pay more to a worse player, Batum.
This has a Howard smell to it. JJ will make enough salary with the addition of brook Lopez to get Howard and a bloated contract. I think they are giving the green light because they will have a decent talent and above average center for Howard. Why not?
Everyone's saying how stupid Brooklyn is, but they forget that before each acquisition, they ask Orlando, would you like this player included in the Howard trade?
How quickly some people forget. The pick was top-3 protected; if it had landed in the top 3, they would have had Wallace and the pick, and we would have gotten their pick (likely in the 20s) next year.
Larry Coon just said Nets only used tax payers MLE on the Russian, so they don't have a hard cap. They can do a sign and trade of something such as Humphries, Lopez, Marshon, 3 picks for Dwight and Hedo's contract. I'd expect Dwight to end up in Brooklyn in a few days and replace Lebron as the most hated player in the NBA.
