There are some newspapers reporting that Jerry West called Rod Thorn for a sign-and-trade between Martin and Swift... Swift is a big time prospect with a lot of upside, but there's a reason he's called Slow-mile Swift. He doesn't really make smart decisions or play with much heart. He just seems to dunk. But if his head is straight, he could be the big athletic power forward the Nets chould use, since Martin doesn't usually do well against Duncan, KG, Dirk, and the more elite power forwards. Other than that, is there anything we could get for Kerry Kittles from the Grizzlies? Perhaps Mike Miller, a shooter and great passer? West seems high on him though. Or what about Shane Battier? He's a decent shooter and a good defender as well. Hopefully the Nets could find something.
if gasol isnt involved in the trade, i don't even want to thing about it. gasol is the only player i would even consider to think about trading kmart for. plus they would have to throw in another good player. like nextlevelgame, i would want miller too. they wont give up gasol/miller for kmart. so grizzles are out,next rumor please.
Gasol/miller for Kmart I like that. I am a real fan of Mike Miller I loved him in orlando he has a great shot that spreads the defense. But they wont get rid of Gasol. They would make a trade for SwiftMiller for KMart but i wouldnt like that
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">BUCKS STOPPING HERE By FRED KERBER June 25, 2004 -- The Nets' off-season makeover continues. And it's not necessarily for the better, as cost-cutting has become a way of life. While Kerry Kittles and his $10.267 million salary continue to be offered around the league and there are persistent concerns regarding the ability to re-sign free agent Kenyon Martin, some of the latest moves involve the coaching staff. Assistant Larry Drew is all but finalized in New Orleans, where he will be reunited with Byron Scott, the man who hired him in New Jersey last year. Don Newman, another Scott hire who was dropped from the bench to a scouting role when Lawrence Frank was named coach, has left the Nets and joined the staff in San Antonio. But the highest impact developments remain among the players. The Nets are trying every move to cut costs and save money. The $5 million mid-level exception? That's for other teams, not the new Nets. Look for Lucious Harris to be bought out of his $2.5 million deal for $1 million. And the Nets are hoping to buy out Rodney Rogers of the final year of his deal, worth $3.35 mil. The Nets want to keep Martin, but should he receive a max-out offer from another team, there are growing concerns about the ownership's willingness to match. The Nuggets are interested and the Nets spoke with them regarding a deal involving Nene. Memphis contacted the Nets dangling a package that included Stromile Swift. "Kenyon wants to remain a Net. It's no secret his goal has been to remain in New Jersey," said Martin's agent, Brian Dyke. "Beyond that, I really have no comment." But beyond that, there really is no comment necessary. Reward Martin or deal with the consequences, which would be to lose the still-youthful star and be prepared for whatever is left of a fan base to see just how flammable Meadowlands Arena can be when virtually empty. As for Kittles, the Nets have spoken to just about every team short of Serbia and Montenegro regarding a deal. The thinking is to move Kittles' contract and bring back equal money (not talent) that would then serve as the bench. There has been talk with Portland and Seattle (for packages with stars such as Shareef Abdur-Rahim or Ray Allen, both unlikely). Discussions with Cleveland centered around two New Jersey-born products, forward Eric Williams (a free agent who would have to agree to such a deal) and guard Dejuan Wagner. If the Nets were to deal Kittles, they would have to get a shooting guard in return, especially if they buy out Harris. Also, they lost Tamar Slay, once being groomed for that role, in the expansion draft. Remember, the key word now is save. So go ahead, make the Nets an offer. Maybe you could have your own NBA player. </div> NY POST Also. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Nets pondering trading away Kidd The Nets hope the price to keep Kenyon Martin isn't more than just a maximum contract worth $85 million. Two sources with knowledge of the Nets' thinking said that the team's preliminary brainstorming on how to re-sign Martin has included the outside possibility of having to trade Jason Kidd and his massive contract. However, Nets CEO Rod Thorn dismissed a Philadelphia Inquirer story that said the team has already begun shopping Kidd. "We are not shopping anybody around," Thorn said last night. "We talk about guys all the time. People talk to us. So to say we are shopping him or Kenyon or anybody else is not true." The Nets did trade their No.22 pick (forward Viktor Khryapa) as expected to Portland for $3 million and the rights to ex-Net Eddie Gill - whose contract likely will be renounced - before taking 6-9 forward Christian Drejer, who played two years at Florida before joining F.C. Barcelona this year, with the 51st pick in the draft. Several league sources say incoming owner Bruce Ratner, whose purchase of the Nets likely will be approved by the NBA before the end of the month, wants to slice much of the Nets' hefty payroll. That could cost the Nets their All-Star power forward, a restricted free agent who could draw a max offer from another team. The Nets have the right to match any offer or do a sign-and-trade. There is already a rumor circulating about a sign-and-trade involving Denver's Nene. Unless the Nets can trade Kerry Kittles' $10 million contract and unload other big-money players like Rodney Rogers and Lucious Harris (who may be bought out), the Nets may look into parting ways with Kidd, sources said. Kidd, who won't be happy if the Nets lose Martin, is considered to be untouchable along with Richard Jefferson. But Kidd, who led the Nets to two straight NBA Finals upon arriving in 2001, has five years and approximately $88 million remaining on the $103 million deal he signed last summer. He will also have surgery on his left knee but has yet to set a date. When asked if the organization has discussed the possibility of trading the franchise point guard as a last-resort option to keep Martin, Thorn replied: "We talk about a lot of different things that I'm not going to talk about." Said senior VP of basketball operations Ed Stefanski: "We'll go through the whole thing of how the system works. Hopefully we can keep Kenyon. That's our goal - to do what we can to keep Kenyon Martin." Ohm Youngmisuk & Darren Everson </div> NY Daily If we lost Martin but picked up Nene, I wouldn't be too upset.
The thing that gets me is if we do get to keep kmart how much more moves can we make in trying to improve the team. Being that Kmart wants max pay. How much room does that give us in picking up players that can have a positive impact to the team in any way like the bench, starters and everything in general. I dont think it gives us anything. We're going to be stuck with his big salary and not other players other then RJ and Kidd. We will have superstar and look like and a rebuilding team that still makes the playoffs.
I dont know how many times I have to say Stromile Swift is not Kenyon Martin. Swift is a nice athletic player but he isn going to take you anywhere as your starting big, especially by himself(which he would be, with this current Nets frontline). Kenyon Martin has improved every single year while playing alongside a CBA collabor Center in JC. And a bunch of washed up Product like Rodney Rogers etc. He has basically been our only worthful bigbody during the Jason Kidd era(Van Horn never touched the paint so he is out of consideration),Yet we & he have still been competive the last 3 seasons. Its time to pay the man respect for his efforts & improvement. And stop offering im to teams for thier one-dimensional bigs like Stro(the Grizz) or Nene from the Nuggets etc. The Nets need to start dumping some of these contracts Kittles, Zo, Lu Harris, Rodney Rogers etc via trades. Or Buyouts to make room to pay our future. I mean Memphis is not even throwing their best bigman on the table, yet we are willing to give up our only bigman. Bruce Ratner is surpose to be a sart busiess shark,so why doesnt he know tat leting K-mart go fr any little flash in the pan ball player is not smart business.
The only thing that i don't like about this off season is that there are no moves that we can really make. Also even if we do make the playoffs with out real substantial players that could put up the point while our starters are out IE Jefferson, Kidd, and KMart. Yes Kmart is getting better every year but he is not up to the level of Dirk, KG, TD, and Brand but he will be there in about 2 years when we will be going through our rebuilding era. Don't get me wrong I am a fan but i am a realist first. Keep KMart but they have to give him supporters that can shoot and doesn't fold under pressure. Cause sometime Kmart tries to do to much. Just look at the Lakers they could have given the Pistons a run for their money if they had a decent bench and Malone was health no support for Shaq and Kobe so they had to do everything on their own prime example the overtime all Shaq and Kobe.
Well if we are going to be real, I have read that the Nets would have to chose between Kidd & Martin. Well the Nets should chose Martin imo, its pretty clear. Kidd is not going to be the sam player he was two seasons ago. No player who's knees start to go bad are ever the same player they were before, especially not a point guard that relies so uch on running up & down like kidd. So I would rather keep Kenyon Martin, who wll be our franchise in a year or two. And lets just say we did put Kidd on the trade market now, we would get alot in return as far as substance parts and/or cap sace. Lets just say Dallas,pulls out of th Shaq bonanza, they would give us some decent parts in a trade for kidd. I could see Dallas trading away Nash-Howard-Walker for Kidd & kittles. That trade would benefit for the Nets in alot of ways. Walker's contract could be used to resign Jefferson nets year. And we wouldnt have to go thru the same k-mart type drama with RJ next year. Josh Howard would be a nice off-guard to grow with Jefferson & Martin. And I think the Mavs wold give up Howard in a trade because they could just re-sign Daniel's who is very similar to Howard.And we could get Nash(after he signs back with the Mavs) who likes to push the ball in the open court as well, could be the Nets pg for 6+ years. Is he as good as Kidd? of course not. But he still an all-star collabor pg. Or their is a team like the Bulls, If we wanted to start to rebuild now so buy the time the Nets moved to NYC(if approved) they could have a competive team built around Martin & Rj. The Bulls are not going to keep all those young parts. So they will have a bunch off young parts & future cap space to offer us for a guy like Kidd who could help the growth & direction of their franchise. Imo with Kidd probably on the decline, I rather build a team around RJ & Martin then anybody else even if it meant taking a stepback next season after giving up Kidd. 3 or 4 years from now the Nets would be better for it, Instead of giving up Martin.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting NJNetz:</div><div class="quote_post">Gasol/miller for Kmart I like that. I am a real fan of Mike Miller I loved him in orlando he has a great shot that spreads the defense. But they wont get rid of Gasol. They would make a trade for SwiftMiller for KMart but i wouldnt like that</div> I like Miller also, he could replace Kittles well if you ask me. Better shooter and definitely a harder worker and better player in terms of consistency. Just not as tough as nails like Kittles ice, he's pretty ice cold when it comes to getting nervous. Miller's only fault in my eyes is he's too unselfish or chicken at times, not taking the shots he can make. Needs to get more courageous, but still a good fit. Gasol too, you need a good C badly.
If the Nets were going to trade Kidd for lesser talent, I'm hoping it's the Bulls. I really like Kirk Hinrich, and with the drafting of Ben Gordan, I would hope the Nets trade Kidd Kittles for Hinrich, Chandler (or Curry), and Deng (hopefully) and some fillers like Scottie Pippen's expiring contract.. Resign Kmart and you would have a solid rebuilding defensive team. For the Bulls, they'll have a big point gaurd that can gaurd the shooting gaurds since Gordan is too short. With the lineup of Kidd/Duhon Gordan/Kittles/Jamal Crawford Jerome Williams/Chris Jefferies Antonio Davis/Kendall Gill Curry That should make the playoffs. And the Nets with Hinrich/Zoran (Kenny Anderson might join up) Deng/Lucious Jefferson/Rodney Rogers Kmart/A-train Chandler/Collins Not a steller team but definitely one of the best rebuilding teams. Defense wise it's also one of the better int he league. Hopefully chandler's back problems are gone though. Will probably still need more help off the bench.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Kidd/Duhon Gordan/Kittles/Jamal Crawford Jerome Williams/Chris Jefferies Antonio Davis/Kendall Gill Curry That should make the playoffs. And the Nets with Hinrich/Zoran (Kenny Anderson might join up) Deng/Lucious Jefferson/Rodney Rogers Kmart/A-train Chandler/Collins</div> I would def. want Hinrich in the deal. I would rather get Ben Gordan instead of Luol Deng. I think Gordan is going to be a stud on the NBA level. I think his game was a little held back at Uconn with everything going thru Okafor, with the freedom he should get on the NBA level, he is going to be a guaranteed star. And he is ready to step in and bring major production right now imo. Deng has alot of upside but he has to develope an NBA level jumpshot quickly because he cant take players off the dribble like Ben Gordan can. but both are going to be pretty good players at this level so I could live with either one. As far as our roster goes(that you have after we would make that trade). The Nets have said they will buy out Harris' contract & probably Rogers as well. They would probably look for a cheaper veteran guard on the open market. The Timberwolves GM, Flip Suanders, after drafting guard Blake Stepp said that the wolves will be carrying 3 point guards on the roster this year. Inorder to do so they will most likely have to let one of their off-guards/Small-forwards go. Sprewell is a guarantee to stay, Wally makes to much money to let go or probably trade, & Hassell perimeter defense is to important to their system, so if the wolves did have to let a off-guard go, it would be fred Hoiberg. If Hoiberg for some reason happen to become available or not re-sign by the wolves than I like him as a cheaper replacement for Harris. And replace Rogers with Eddie Griffen ,who by all-accounts is surpose join the team for the start of training camp. And then we have a pretty nice roster. And a team that could make the playoffs now, yet still have alot of room to grow, similiar to the Heat. The only hole I would see in our team would be the back-up pg spot because Zoran is still questionable on whether he is a pg at this level. And probably wouldnt recieve that many minutes this year even if the Nets were rebuilding,but yet had a chance to be competive. So signing a veteran pg would be extremely important someone who can push the ball alot
Deng does have a good jumper. In the pre-draft work outs with Grover, the only player that shot better than Deng was Devin Harris. If I remember correctly he made like 35 three pointers in 40 tries. He's more athletic than most people give him credit. Personally, I think he's about as athletic as Paul Pierce, and might be the next coming of PP. In highschool, only one player was ranked above him, and that was LeBron James. His roommate in highschool was Charlie Villanueva, and look out for him next year. Don't get me wrong, I think Gordan will be a good player, but not solid like Deng. I think Deng will eventually be able to carry a team like T-Mac, Pierce, AI, (perhaps not as great, but he'll get the job done) but I'm unsure about Gordan. Deng pretty much anchored Duke this year and got Reddick his shots by penetrating and dishing. Besides that, he's a great passer. He can make crisp post entry passes to Kmart or Chandler (if my proposed trade goes in). I can definitely see him averaging 16/6/2 his rookie year and only getting better. I don't know where you claim that Deng can't take people off the dribble. His handles are pretty solid for his size. He's probably not quick to gaurd 2 gaurds, but Jefferson should be able to do that.
I like the proposed. All the players fit in to our squad and i would nt mind getting hoiberg to replace Lu Harris but i would like to keep him and get rid of Rodney (what a waste of a spot on the team). But thats ok. the only one that I am sketchy about is tyson chandler. But i wonder how much loyalty there is to Jason Kidd. They showed loyalty last season but they are now showing more to keep KMart as expected. But let us see what happens its going to be a long summer.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting nextlevelgame:</div><div class="quote_post">Deng does have a good jumper. In the pre-draft work outs with Grover, the only player that shot better than Deng was Devin Harris. If I remember correctly he made like 35 three pointers in 40 tries. He's more athletic than most people give him credit. Personally, I think he's about as athletic as Paul Pierce, and might be the next coming of PP. In highschool, only one player was ranked above him, and that was LeBron James. His roommate in highschool was Charlie Villanueva, and look out for him next year. Don't get me wrong, I think Gordan will be a good player, but not solid like Deng. I think Deng will eventually be able to carry a team like T-Mac, Pierce, AI, (perhaps not as great, but he'll get the job done) but I'm unsure about Gordan. Deng pretty much anchored Duke this year and got Reddick his shots by penetrating and dishing. Besides that, he's a great passer. He can make crisp post entry passes to Kmart or Chandler (if my proposed trade goes in). I can definitely see him averaging 16/6/2 his rookie year and only getting better. I don't know where you claim that Deng can't take people off the dribble. His handles are pretty solid for his size. He's probably not quick to gaurd 2 gaurds, but Jefferson should be able to do that.</div> I never said Deng cant shoot, I said he has to show a NBA level jumpshot, that means for me, making the jumpshot against the tuffer defenders, something he did not do consistently at Duke. Also I never said he couldnt take people off the dribble, I said he couldnt do it like Ben Gordan can. Ben Gordan even if his jumpshot doesnt prove to be as solid as it was at Uconn, he can live off his ability to take people of the dribble(similiar to how RJ lived off his 1st step quickness until he improved his NBA level jumpshot). Iam not sure Deng can live off of taking people off the dribble alone,if his jumpshot needs to improve against good NBA defense, because he doesnt have that quick 1st step like say a Gordan, or a Jefferson. So if Deng doesnt make the NBA level jumpshot right away then he wont be able to produce right away in my opinion.
dam, this offseason keeps getting me more depressed. i totally hate this new ownership. we were TWO WINS away from nba title. now we have to rebuild!?!?!?! are you freakin kidding me?(iknow that was 2seasons ago). we have the money and everything to give to martin, rod said we were goina keep him, so we better be keeping him. now there are kidd on the market rumors. we just gave him an extention!!! bruce ratner has definitely b/c enemy #1 to me. we are going to have ppl come off our books next year so i dont understand the sudden need to cut cost and b/c a crap team again. if he wants to cut cost, then just get cheap/crap additional players to surround kmart/kidd/rj and hope we can turn them into good players. give us a bunch of rookies then for a year or two. it just really hurts to see us come so far as an organization. we were in the doghouse for years, then made back2back nba finals appearances, came within 2wins of getting our 1st title, setting all kinds of nets records in the process and now b/c ratner takes over we have to rebuild b/c people are backing out of helping him with the move. and it doesnt help that he has to buy-out the people in brooklyn where the arena would be built. he obviously is an idiot and this offseason is starting to piss me the hell of. good thing bruce ratner didnt buy my yankees, or i would have no sports teams left. bottom line. kmart deserves max. you can compare him all you want to kg/td, but he is younger than them and has improved every year. you can't b/c a great player over night, it takes time and kmart is going through that time. if someone has to replace him, i don't see us having a shot next year. kmart needs to be in a nets jersey for nj to have a realistic chance next yr imo.
^You know, I agree with everything you said Throwback, but Ratner for some reason needs the Nets to be under the cap, when he put the team in front of the approval board to bild a new staduim in brooklyn, once he takes over the team. So he trying to dump as many contracts as fast as possible, which means we probably will have to chose between Martin or Kidd. Either way we go, we will be loosing a great player. But like I said we have to invest in our future. And the future of the Nets should clearly be Kenyon Martin & Richard Jefferson.
Kenyon's my favorite Net, but you gotta be serious, he's not worth the 103 million dollar contract he's seeking from the Nets...14 million per??? Are you kidding me? To me, 11 million (what they're offering) is generous enough, possibly too generous, for his services. He's a good player, not a great one. Meanwhile, Kidd has done more holding up the Nets than Kenyon. He's a leader, the brain, and what keeps the Nets alive. Kenyon is just a part. Kenyon + RJ = Amare and Marion and you see how well they've been doing in the West. Kidd has made it far into the playoffs with Marion and Rodney Rogers with the Suns. He might be getting old, but he deserves to stay in Jersey for the rest of his career. He's earned that. Kenyon, I love his game and flair, has not come even close to doing anything that Kidd has and should accept the 85 million dollars. Kidd is an arguable top 5 player, while KMart isn't even a top 5 power forward yet (KG, TD, JO, Dirk, Elton Brand/Webber(when healthy)) and there's other power forwards gaining grounds on him (Amare (who might surpass him next season) Zach Randolph, Pau Gasol (see Amare)). Jefferson said that he's willing to take a less than max contract cause he's willing to sacrafice for the team. If Kmart can't accept that, then I'll accept seeing him leave. But I will not stand for Kidd being traded cause he's earned every cent of the 105 million dollar contract.
i just hate the idea were we have to invest into the future when we were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO close to winning a title. we basically had 1 finger on the trophy now we have to put it in our rear view mirror for a couple of years. it is just sad to see us come alive as a franchise,then have to go through another dark period. i don't want to go into another dark period or years where we know we cant get to the finals. i at least want a shot to win at least the east every year. that all i want, is a chance to be champions.
I just like thinking of a rebuilding period been through it long enough. And when kidd came i knew that it was going to end the rebuilding era. Now they want to bring it back. No way. Whos going to watch a rebuilding team.
