Nets Are Scorching

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I was a part of the TrueHoop Network’s Live Draft that lasted for 8 hours and 23 minutes so I am just getting my thoughts down.  We will have more to come about everything, but right now, here are my quick thoughts in run-on sentence form.  I am just letting everything go here…

Well it was an interesting draft day for the Nets.  The most interesting thing happened hours before the draft.  So here is who we had leave the team:

• Vince Carter
• Ryan Anderson

Here is who we added to the roster:

• Rafer Alston
• Courtney Lee
• Tony Battie
• Terrence Williams

It was real sad to see Vince leave (check back tomorrow morning for something special), but it is the right move for the future of the team.  I would have liked to see us make one more run at the playoffs, but doing that could have meant us not getting as much value for Vince, and it would have completely ruined our small (very small) chances at LeBron.

It is also a little disappointing seeing Ryan Anderson go.  He really won me over during the year (I remember thinking he was going to be a huge bust after seeing him in his first preseason appearance), and he was a valuable part of the team (he also made for great comedy with Brook).  With this trade, the Magic got two guys who can contribute immediately.

As for the guys we got, we made out pretty well in this deal (Especially considering the rumors for other trades that we shot down).  In Rafer Alston, we got a PG who was a starter for long stretches, including the playoffs & finals.  He is going to be a solid backup that will allow Keyon Dooling to move to the backup SG spot.  Tony Battie adds toughness to a frontcourt that lacks it.  I don’t know if he will be the starter for this team, but this trade shows the confidence that the front office has in Yi and his health, since they traded away his only competition.

The real crown jewel of this trade is Courtney Lee (which is why he gets his own paragraph).  He is going to be a special player in this league.  I have seen few rookies play with the swagger that Courtney Lee played with this year.  He does a lot of things well, and few poorly.

In the draft with the 11th pick, we took Terrence Williams.  This is a guy who can play 3 different positions and he is crazy athletic.  Williams is also a playmaker who said he wants to mold himself after LeBron, but not the scoring LeBron, the LeBron who does everything.  Getting assists, rebounding, and defending.

So what does our roster look like now?  Well here is what I think it might look like on opening night:

• PG – Devin Harris/Rafer Alston/Keyon Dooling
• SG – Courtney Lee/Keyon Dooling/Jarvis Hayes/Terrence Williams
• SF – CDR/Bobby Simmons/Terrence Williams
• PF – Tony Battie/Yi
• C – Brook/Boone

There are other guys on this team, but these are the guys who will probably get the minutes.  The thing is though, we are probably not done with the moves.  We are over on our roster spots and will probably have to lose 1 or 2 guys.  Who?  Well, I know we already said we were picking up Hayes’ option, but did that happen already?  If not, he could be the guy.  I also see the Nets trying to trade Bobby Simmons to clear roster space and leave the SF spot open for CDR and Terrence Williams.

Our finances?  Well, they no longer look too bleak…quoting Dave D’Alessandro:

Cap space for 2010-11 before the Vince trade — $9,724,569 (10 players). That was with a $46,775,431 payroll.

Cap space for 2010-11 after the Vince trade — $27,303,344 (9 players). And that’s with a 29,196,656 payroll.

The thing is, I don’t really think this is for LeBron.  I mean if he wants to come to NJ (Brooklyn), I won’t turn him away, but with us drafting T-Will, I can see us going for Chris Bosh with all our extra cash.

More on all of this stuff over the next couple of days, but I am exhausted right now, and I want to let this sink in…