Today in the New York Daily News, they had an article which listed some of the possible players the Nets would try to acquire through trade or Free agency. Well here is the list & my take on the players..... Ray Allen- seems to be the top name on the list. I have expressed before that Allen isnt a top choice for me personally. But for many he would be a welcome addition. He is the shooter that the Nets desperately need & he is a top notch scorer in the half court, who can create his own shot off the dribble. More pluses in favor of Ray Allen. Many feel that he would be an automatic fix for all our perimeter problems. Here is my problem with the possiblity of adding Ray Allen..... 1) Inorder to acquire Allen the Nets will have to give up a major member of the team. The Sonics will mos def be asking for Kenyon Martin in return. A key rule in basketball is that you should never trade a talented big man for a guard(of course unless the guard is an all-world type of talent). So unless K-Mart's contract is really going to be a problem, I see know reason to trade him even for a player as talented as Ray Allen 2) Ray Allen will be going into his last season of his max contract next year. And it is reported that he will be asking for big time money at the end of that contract(probably another max deal). Richard Jefferson contract will be up at the end of next season as well. This means that the Nets will have to choice which player they are going to give the big money to Ray Allen or RJ. 3)Also I think Ray Allen lacks the tuffness that we need on the Nets. Granted you usually expect your tuffness to come from your inside postions. But you still want your core players to have a little tuffness in them. And Iam not sure that Ray Allen brings that to the table. Brent Barry- Very versatile combo guard. I think he would really fit our open court style of play. Top notch perimeter shooter. But he isnt that take over scorer in the half court that we need as a 2nd or 3rd option in the half-court (after RJ & Martin). And he has had several injury problems in his career. So its hard to believe, he is the answer to the Nets off- guard postion to take them to the next level(the championship level) Damon Jones- Well I must admit this was thee favorite player on the list for me personally. I think Jones would add alot of perimeter depth to our team. Alot of Nets fans might remember DJ from his short stint with the Nets in 98', when he was a wet behind the ear rookie we signed to a 10-day contract. Well Damon Jones has matured alot since then imo. The most notiable change in DJ is the range in his jumpshot. He has turned into a legitimate shot maker on the perimeter. And his versatily on the perimeter is a much needed addition to a Nets bench, who only real perimeter option is Lucious Harris. I like the possiblity of bringing back Damon. Anthony Peeler-would bring some perimeter sooting to our bench & is a solid defenser at the off guard position. Well known as a key member of those timberwolves teams that struggle to get out of the 1st round. And it seems like his # always decrease come playoff time, imo thats the worst sign of a player. A player who # continiously decrease in the playoffs isnt what the Nets need more of. Peeler did have a solid season this year, shot 48% from the field. But I personally think that is kind of a false stat in someways, Peeler played in a kings' system surrounded by shooters like Bibby, Peja, even guys like Christie, Jackson, so Peeler was the guy most teams chose to leave open. I doubt Peeler would put up the same type of effective shooting in a Nets uniform. If I was Rob Thorn I would pass on Peeler. But with the Nets seeming to be desperate Peeler could be a solid addition as a last option if no one else becomes available. Travis Best-of cousre he would be brought in to give Jason Kidd a legimate back up. I guess he could come in to give kidd about 10-15 minute rest per game. But the Nets have tried to bring in a bunch of pg past their prime to try & fill this role(Chris Childs, Robert Pack, Doug Overton). And non of them really worked. I would rather see the Nets try to aquire a backup pg with a few more years in front of him like a kevin Ollie or something. Or bring back Anthony Johnson, who did the best job as J.Kidd backup. Gorden Giricek- He is the only player on the list that kind of stump me. I honestly dont know how to feel about Giricek. He played alot of his basketball on the west coast with Utah & the Grizz. Two teams I dont use my league Pass to follow lol. But he did have a solid 2nd half-season with the Magic last year. The youth of Girireck would be a nice addition to our perimeter. But the 2 guard postion has been a kind of inconsistent let down in the playoffs the last few seasons. So I rather add playoff proven guys to that position. The Forwards Shareef Adur Rahim- Well the 1st thing I could think of when I seen Reef's name was, in what capacity would we bring Rahim to the Nets? would it be to add a body to the bench or would it be as a replacement for K-Mart? I would love Reef as a productive body off the bench. He can rebound & he is a scorer who doesnt need alot of go to touches/shot attempts to put points on the board. But he would be a horrible replacement for Kenyon Martin imo. And with the Blazers reportably "in love with Martin", that would most likely be the capacity in which Reef is brought to the team. Reef lacks the intangibles that Martin brings to the table. He isnt as athletic in the open court(which would limit the Nets open court game imo). He doesnt seem to take on the leadership role(and with K-Mart being the heart of the team imo, he is on of our leaders,along with Kidd), so we lose some leadership imo with Reef replacing K-Mart. And the Nets most def lose the passion & desire for the game that Martin brings. Antawn Jamison- for the most part see what I wrote about Reef( same rules apply to Jamison). And also with the Nets having a poor defensive front line outside of Martin. I dont see Jamison as answer to the KG's or the Duncan's on either end of the court. Stromile Swift- He pretty much cut from the same mold as K-Mart for an athletism stand point. I can see him running the break with kidd but I think we lose a bit in the half court on both ends, especially on the ball defense in the post. Clifford Robinson- aka Rodney Rogers 2004, yes I can see it now adding another jumpshooting combo forward past his prime. I would have love to had Unlce Cliffy back in the late 90's, when he played with kidd the 1st time. But after Rodney, I am kind of done being interested in aquiring key players who are about 2 or 3 seasons removed from their best years. I think the Nets should pass. Jamal Mashburn- very interesting. Under mormal circumstance I would probably say Mashburn is to big of a risk to even think about. A guy coming off a serious knee injury. And it isnt for 100% that he will even play again. But here what makes it interesting. Mashburn is exactly the type of score we need, he has one of the best post up games as a small forward & gets to the free throw line at a high rate in the half court when healthy. Those are two things the Nets lack(a post up option & a guy that gets to the free throw line out of post ups). And what really makes it interesting is that him & Kerry Kittles make the same amount next year. And with Byron Scott as a leading candidate for their coaching job. The Hornets may buy into a trade for the two, just to have a guy like Kittles, who played a fairly large role in B.Scott system on their team once they decide to give Scott the job. But like I said Mashburn would be a huge risk with his injury to his knee. And also him & Kidd didnt have the best of relationships during their days together as Dallas Mavs. Final Feelings Overall I was kind of dissapointed with the list of players the Nets were interested in adding. Their were no legitimate solutions to our problems at the center spot. Alot of players who's best years are behind them. I hope this is just a start up list & as we get past the draft. And closer to the July 1st deadline(when players official bacome free agents & talks usually really pick up), better additions or possible additions become available. What do you guys think of the current list?
Ray Allen for sure. I simply wish Brand were up there. He can play PF for us much better. Both are monster blockers and rebounders. I think Ray Allen's simply the best bet because we have Kittles. How about K-Mart and Kittles for Brand? That would've been good. I wouldn't mind Giricek he's a hard worker but such a mediocre player. He'd only add to the A-Train, Collins and Rodgers type of play that we have already. Too many of those. I don't want Monster Mash, he's got a bad attitude, we already have K-Mart, so why another one? Out of those Barry and SAR interest me most, their hardwork and skills would simply just add greatly on the team even if they were to play out of position. SAR is a bit old, but he's good, has potential and can get the job done. We can make the Blazers regret having lost him. But like I said, Brand interests me the most, regardless of him not being up there.
out of the guys mentioned, none of them really stand out to me as a 'must have' player. all of thoses players can add to our team and subtract. first off, i think we really need to go into this FA/offseason with the mindset that kmart will be back with us. we offered him $66 last summer so im pretty sure we will boost that up to whatever he is asking for. also trading him i dont think is an option unless, like i've said in previous posts, if we get a true/big pf along the lines of td/kg. i know there isnt anyone on the lvl as kg/td,but we need someone close to that. and that person would be kmart himself. he is only 25 and has improved every year. yeah he is a little undersized for a true pf, but his emotional play makes up for it. im a fan of ray allen, but i also agree with what hen said. especially about the contract issue. if we get him in his final year of his contract then have to resign rj/jc, then we are getting a little screwed. that is basically taking him and hoping to win it all next year and if not then it was a waste b/c not all three would be able to stay unless if some of them takes a pay-cut, out of the 3 u would hope jc would. sar & dj came out to be my fav two on the list. sar isnt worth trading for kmart, period. i would like to have him off the bench tho b/c he is basically like kmart and i would love to have another kmart on this team, especially off the bench. i realize this won't happen, but his name was one that semi-stood out. i would like dj in our system because i think he can get more shots and wont have to do too much. he will 3rd/4th option on the team and wouldnt have pressure to make big time shots b/c rj/kidd/kmart would take those. he hasnt had a lot of games that he has been a starter throughout his career so his #'s dont justify his gameplay. he would be a player who we could also have off the bench if we decide to start lu so dj can learn the system better and he can still produce for us. so he would be an ok selection. like what hen said, this you would think is a a rough copy of players names that we are supposidly going after. of course this is the newspapers thoughts and maybe rod and the nets aren't even thinking of half these guys and probably have an entirely different list of who they want. there are going to be rumors from now till the season starts up again and half of them are bogus. it just seems that we won't have that many changes/improvements b/c of contracts and nenad coming over and zo making a comeback(hopefully he has talk to multiple doctors about this so he doesnt hurt himself. you saw sean elliot come back with SAS, so i guess zo thinks he can do it too and help us win a title)
I must admit that I'm in love with the fact that we can get Barry. This guy can start at the 2 spot or can provide back-up for Kidd at the PG spot. He's also reliable at the 3 area and definitely can run the fastbreak as well. DOn't get me wrong, I love the other guys. But I quickly cross them off the list realizing that they probably would ask for KMart in return. The other guys simply suck. If they can pull a Kittles for Mashburn trade, I'd welcome it. As Henacy said, Mashburn's post game is something we can use.
I don't really welcome Mashburn, he's not really healthy, he has a bad attitude too, we seem to get enough of that from K-Mart if we were to keep him. He might simply ruin morale, that affects the game as much as anything else. All he has is his game. Barry does sound good, he'd be a useful SG as he's great as Combo, instant offense and some decent defense with great passing and court vision. He does sound the like the best rather than Allen now. But what about better PF or Center problems? Edit: Also how about some people to improve our bench. It just isn't enough we need truly awesome sparkplugs like the likes of BJax, DMase and some others. Manu could be ours for the taking.
Ray Allen would give u a great perimeter shooter. He is much better than K Kittles, and will instantly return the Nets back to the Finals if Kmart stays.
we need at least 1 perimeter shooter and a few big bodies. hopefully those big bodies have some low post moves and can block some shots, which we absolutly need imo. with another shot blocker to help kmart, kmart can block more shots b/c he wont have to try and block the other guys shot b/c he got passes jc or whoever. the mashburn issue i think might be a little too risky. we've had our fair share of risky moves that havent panned out (zo,childs,deke) and we are still paying for those mistakes. even if we did a kk for mash deal, that doesnt solve our sg situation. yea lu can start, but we need a guy who is younger,faster and has years infront of him. a guy like michael redd or someone like that we need, but that option doesnt seem to be out there. if mash can not bring his ego here and come off the bench for the good of the team, then i wouldn't mind it but the injury factor i think is a little too big to take. i rather keep kerry who has his knee problems than take mash but kk knows the system obviously and mash would be coming off the bench for someone and could cause chaos in the lockerroom, we had PLENTY of that this year. i think we basically need to play it safe and make moves that we KNOW can help us this year, not moves that we HOPE can help us.
a lot of those guys would be nice, but i dont think there is anyway possible the nets would be able to afford someone like allen or reef...k-mart is most likely going to want and get the max, with kidd and k-mart both getting that kind of money, i dont see how they could afford someone else like that :S but it would be nice
Oh by the way, they said also in the article that Eddie Griffen will most likely be in training camp with the Nets next season. For those of you Nets fans that have been following the up & down story of E.Griff coming to the Nets. Iam not for sure how good he will be after missing a full season of basketball. But he young so he will be an active live body off the bench something we need with all that age on our bench(like Rodney, A Will etc) .
wow that eddie grif news to be is a little shocking. i thought he was all busy with his legal problems. i havent heard about his current status. can somebody fill me in please? if he comes back legal problem free and keeps his head on his shoulders, he can definitly help us. he has been away from the game for a while and if he does make our roster and will be on our roster for a long time, then i wouldnt expect him to play too much in the 1st half of the season. we all know what he did at seton hall and the potential he has. SHU played at CAA so he will feel right at home with us. im sure if he comes into camp with a clear head, he will be fine b/c we have a good locker room and our front office has already tried to help him out when we first got him so you know they will help him even more this time. young would be great, it will give us fresh blood in our system and make the new guys want to reach the next lvl b/c maybe they havent been their in their careers and will push us even more. our guys could have mentally taken themselves out of this year b/c maybe they felt that we couldnt win it against SA with the same group that returned this pasted season. we need new blood and im sure rod thron will inject us with a variety of new blood.
I've been saying for 3 years now that the Nets DESPERATELY need some outside shooting...I believe Wesley Person is a free agent, and I believe Voshon Lenard is in an option year...they have been pathetic at outside shooting for years...they've got arguably the best PG in the game and some inside scoring with RJ and K-Mart...adding a lethal 3-point bomber only makes sense to spread tha defense...
also, does anybody remember around when antonio mcdyess was traded to phx from ny and when the nets went to phx to play the suns that there were reports that antonio said he would love to play with kidd next year? i don't know if he still feels that way, but i remember him saying that because they were teammates in phx and with the success of the nets and he is still buddy-buddy with kidd that he would come over here. i don't know his current situation though. is he even a FA? but i remember hearing that story.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting throwback:</div><div class="quote_post">also, does anybody remember around when antonio mcdyess was traded to phx from ny and when the nets went to phx to play the suns that there were reports that antonio said he would love to play with kidd next year? i don't know if he still feels that way, but i remember him saying that because they were teammates in phx and with the success of the nets and he is still buddy-buddy with kidd that he would come over here. i don't know his current situation though. is he even a FA? but i remember hearing that story.</div> Yeah I remember that story, there was actually a post about it. I think Antonio Mcdyess is a very last option. I dont think the nets need or want to invest in a another injury filled big body. The one thing I noticed about all the PF & real big bodys the NYDN hadf the Nets persuing, were all bigs who havent really missed alot of time due to injury. They all play about 75-82 games per season thru out their careers for the most part, which tells me the Nets only plan on going after bigs that are a safe choice without a history of injury. And I think after Todd Mac, Dekeimbe, & Zo that is a very smart idea by Rob thorn.
Wouldnt mind I think after all that has happended this week with the lottery. I think they should pick up a center at the #22 spot since it would be a waste for us to draft a pg with planinic. On insidehoops they have a mock draft and thay have us picking David Harrison 7-0 260 C from colorado. his states dont look that bad. Also stromile swift wouldnt be bad in a nets jersey cause rodney rodger is just not cutting it and jason collins (all they were good for this season was for fouls and space). Aaron williams was decent.
well we have nenad krstic coming over who can supposidly play the center spot. for us to draft another center i think is unlikely. we need a kid who has some kind of perimeter game, like a kyle korver who we drafted but gave to philly last year. imagine if we had him, he could hit the three and has potential, but we got rid of him. need a perimeter player if there is a good one out there at that time. but only if that player is the best player available at the 22nd pick.
I'm really high on Nenad. I'd really like to believe that he's the answer to our Center woes. Although I'm probably just hoping.
im excited about nenad too. vlade divac has praised nenad in interviews this season and said he is excited for him and the nets got a good player. i hope he doesnt come over as a center who isn't a physical player and likes to get dirty and bump bodies. i know his rookie year is probably going to be a spectator year, but hopefully he can come in and give us some kind of impact this year. he will probably be the 3rd center just so he can learn the language and system. he is said to really be a good talent, so if he blooms properly and like he is supposed too, then the following year he could become our starter and maybe we wont resign collins or make him backup and get rid of someone else. very excited about him coming over to hopefully give kmart the help he needs, just a matter of when he can help.
