<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. ? Shaquille O'Neal barely showed up in this joke of a series, spending less time and energy on the Nets than he had on any one of his old rap albums. That is the sobering reality Jason Kidd and Vince Carter can stuff into their Hefty bags now and lug into an early summer. Their Nets are only close to being a legitimate contender when measured against Jim Dolan's Knicks. Something has to change about this roster, something big. Rod Thorn has to trade either Carter or Richard Jefferson this offseason to have any chance of positioning the Nets with the real Eastern Conference heavyweights in Miami and Detroit. "We're going to have to get a whole lot better," Lawrence Frank said, "and we will." The Nets have no choice. O'Neal only cracked 20 points once in the four-game sweep Miami completed yesterday, and yet his home-state team remained a non-competitive, awed-by-Dwyane Wade mess. On a day when Kidd finally looked a little bit like Kidd, Carter was again all over the place, missing 16 of 22 shots and making like a gunner doomed to a ring-free career. New Jersey isn't ever winning a title with Carter, Kidd and Jefferson firing away from the perimeter, not when the best big bodies down low belong to Nenad Krstic and Jason Collins. Krstic will be a major factor someday, and still represents one of Thorn's great finds, but he'll always be a finesse player in dire need of a physical power forward who can cover his back. Collins is not that presence. No, he can't be a starter on any team that takes itself seriously as a championship hopeful. Collins doesn't have enough game, enough athleticism, to be anything more than the seventh or eighth man in a rotation worthy of a parade. He had three points on two shots in 34 Game 4 minutes, this with O'Neal stumbling and bumbling about on one good leg. Thorn has to replace Collins in the lineup with a star. The only way for Thorn to get that star is to trade one of his own. It's tricky business working within the boundaries of the salary cap, boundaries still being collectively bargained, but Thorn knows how to make a deal.</div> Source
Thorn can does not have to trade, he can pick-up a quality free-agent or hope to get a top-notch player in the draft. I would not like to see Kidd, Carter, Jefferson, or Kristic traded. I agree that Collins is not the best man for the starting job and that the Nets need to repralse him, if they are to have strive to be a contender, but not at the expence of Kidd, Carter, Jefferson, Kristic. I am very confident that Thorn will figure out how to build a champion this offseason. One way or another, the Nets should start training camp with an established roster and be able to build chemistry/get better over the course of the year.
Well, I dont know in my opinion it would be very dissapointing to see a trade go down and break up the big three before they get a chance to see how well the chemstry can work. But if I had to trade Jefferson or Carter, it would be Vince. Richard Jefferson is already the better all around player in my opinion. Carter is the better scorer clearly, but Jefferson is the better rebounder, defender, & the more willing playmaker. And Jefferson still is only going to get better. I personally never want to see RJ not in a Nets uniform. I think there is ways to add frontcourt help without making a trade tho...lets see what Rob can do with the draft. And see if he can convince a quality big to take less to come to Jersey.
