Nets Are Scorching

At around noon today, I was on The Basketball Jones’ live mock draft (yeah, I am still bragging about that) talking about how Derrick Favors to the Nets was pretty much a sure thing.  After that, the crazy started.  First, there were multiple reports that the Nets were leaning towards drafting Syracuse SF Wesley Johnson.  That has now seemed to settle down, with some reports saying that Johnson is simply just in the conversation with Derrick Favors.

With things starting to become relatively calm once again, Dave D’Alessandro decided to shake things up again with his report that he put out tonight around 10.  Apparently Cousins is now out of the conversation:

“Cousins has great hands and great feet, and he knows how to play,” Thorn said. “But you know, it’s a leap of faith there to suggest that he can play the 4. He can shoot the ball well, and he can face the basket. But I don’t think he’ll take it from 20 feet and go by people, and defensively it could be even more of a problem.”

In their internal discussions, the Nets have concluded that in spite of Cousins’ great talent, it would be very hard for him to complement Brook Lopez as the full-time power forward unless he trimmed down to 265 pounds — and he might have enough trouble getting down to 275.

So things simplified?  Not so fast, there is now a new big man that the Nets are considering.  His name is Greg Monroe:

It just means Thorn is in the mood to confuse everybody by suggesting that Greg Monroe of Georgetown is now also in the mix.

“We like Monroe a lot,” Thorn said, when reviewing his short list today. “He’s a lot different than Derrick Favors. He has an all-around game — left hand, right hand, great size. So I don’t think you (eliminate him) by any stretch. Monroe’s looking very good to us.”

That’s not the only news made tonight either.  Chad Ford is reporting in his newest post to the TrueHoop blog that the Nets have dealt Chris Douglas-Roberts to the Bucks for a second round pick:

Finally, it looks like the Bucks aren’t done dealing. This afternoon they traded Dan Gadzuric and Charlie Bell to the Warriors for Corey Maggette. Now sources say that the Bucks and Nets are in serious negotiations on a deal that would send Chris Douglas-Roberts to the Bucks for a second round pick. With the addition of Maggette and Douglas-Roberts, you have to wonder if the Bucks may look at something other than a wing with the No. 15 pick in the draft.

That puts this CDR tweet in perspective now.  10 hours ago, he tweeted:

Got news for yall later! Yall ready for this??? Ahhahaaahaha. I jus can’t hide it. FTD. Yes yess! FTD yes yess!

FTD meaning Fear The Deer.  Well then.  I have never denied Chris Douglas-Roberts talents, and I think when he wants to be, he is one of the better pure scorers in the NBA.  To me, it just seems that the Nets were fed up with his off the court issues and were getting rid of him anyway (the Nets had until late in the month to decide whether or not they wanted to pick up his option) and they took what they could get for him, and that was a second round pick.  The Nets now have four picks in this draft (two first rounders and two second rounders).

There has been a lot of action over in Nets-land, and the draft isn’t even until Thursday, so don’t expect for everything to be over and done with (especially with the four picks the Nets have).  Hold on guys, this is going to be a wild ride…

Minutes after I got off the phone with the fine people of The Basketball Jones, doing their live mock draft (you can see the replay here), and talking about how the Nets are probably going to go big, news broke saying that might not be the case.  Draft Express, Chad Ford, and Adrian Wojnarowski all are reporting that the Nets are leaning towards Wesley Johnson for the number three pick, meaning that the Nets are going after a PF hard in free agency.  From Wojnarowski’s post:

All along, the Wolves had planned to select Johnson at No. 4, and yet the New Jersey Nets are holding serious discussions about drafting the small forward and taking their chances with trying to sign a power forward in free agency. The Nets had long favored Derrick Favors, but are debating now about how long it will take for him to become a regular contributor. New Jersey is still contemplating DeMarcus Cousins, too.

Ugh.  This strategy is good in theory, you don’t want to draft a PF if you are going to sign a youungish one to a max contract (Amar’e or Bosh), that is a waste of a pick.  Plus it isn’t like Johnson is a bad player (in fact he is very good). However, this could blow up in their face and ruin all the good will they built up with Nets fans after their awful season last year.

I am worried about it for two reasons.  One, if we don’t draft a PF and somehow whiff in free agency, we are going to see the Nets either give a max deal to a guy like Carlos Boozer or David Lee (trust me that’s bad) or the Nets are going to be stuck with Yi starting at PF for another year.

The second reason is my main worry, and that is the overcrowding at the wing position.  For a guy like LeBron, you don’t worry about overcrowding, but to draft a wing when you already have Courtney Lee, CDR, and Terrence Williams on the roster?  That just doesn’t make sense.  My fear is that the Nets’ new staff sees Terrence Williams as a back-up point guard instead of what he actually is.  A starting small forward with the skill-set to be a point forward type of player.  In my opinion, those are two different things.

A few hours ago, I was fairly confident the Nets were going with Favors, now?  Who the hell knows.  After the Vince Carter trade at draft night, I didn’t think that the Nets could match it this year in terms of surprises.  Apparently, they are well on their way.  Thursday is going to be interesting.

Just spoke with 2 sources & looks like Turner is lock at 2, & Wes Johnson now has lead at 3 in NJ.

Via Chad Ford

Wesley Johnson is moving up to 3, New Jersey, on our next mock coming shortly. Told New Jersey will take him and go for a PF in free agency. …
Wes is the most ready guy and New Jersey wants to be competitive next year.

via DraftExpress

All I can think is that this has to be a red herring. Forgive me for saying this, but Wesley Johnson should absolutely not be the #3 pick in this draft. He is a fine player and will continue to be at the next level, but he doesn’t 10% of Favors’s upside and is about as NBA-ready (if not less so) at 22 as Cousins is at 19. This entire year, I’ve said that I was content with having a guaranteed top-4 pick in this draft because it had a sure set of four top prospects: John Wall, Evan Turner, DeMarcus Cousins, and Derrick Favors. I was of course upset that we lost out on the John Wall sweepstakes, but we at least would have a decent consolation prize between the other three. Wesley Johnson was the consensus 5th best player – better than everyone else (except maybe Monroe, who has been climbing) but not as good as the top four. The fact that the Timberwolves were considering him at #4 even was surprising to me, although their logjam at the 4/5 spots made it more plausible.

Now, two days before the draft, Nets sources are reporting that they’re skipping out on that top four entirely. This has to be a smokescreen. I’m hoping this is a smokescreen. As I said earlier, Wesley Johnson is a good player, and will be a good player at the next level. But I don’t just want “good” with the third overall pick. If Wesley Johnson gets his name called third, I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ll sure be praying that it’s for another team.

As the New Jersey Nets look to rebuild themselves from their disastrous 12-win season, a lot of to-do has been made about the fact that in addition to their lottery pick, the Nets also have a second first rounder, and the first pick in the second round, which some consider has the potential to be “as good as a first rounder.”

Or is it?

Obviously, draft picks are a good thing for a rebuilding team, and almost every single draft has a few gems or solid rotations players in the second round – but history has shown that there’s generally something off about the player picked with the first pick in the second round.  Since the draft lottery era, the pick has only yielded one player who’s appeared in an all-star game, while producing far more players who have only played in one or two NBA seasons. In many cases, the pick has yielded players who have never played a single NBA minute. So when looking at mock drafts and imagining how that 31^st pick might look in the rotation next season, keep your expectations low Nets fans.

Read more…

According to Mitch Lawrence and the Daily News, the Nets are still trying to trade for New Orleans Hornets’ PG Chris Paul, apparently offering Devin Harris and the #3 pick in the draft to make it happen. But with a new coach coming in and NOLA trying to turn over a new leaf, they reportedly are not interested in trading their lone box office draw in Paul:

“We are not going to move him,” said one team official Monday. “He’s our foundation and is not exactly ‘touchable.’”

I think given all of the Avery Johnson/Devin talk that’s transpired since Johnson has come aboard, it would be interesting to see the Nets just turn around and trade for Paul. It’s the kind of move this team hasn’t made since Kidd for Marbury.

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Also, our boy Sebastian is going to be appearing on The Basketball Jones mock draft, streaming live at noon today. Good luck Sebastian. We’re all counting on you.

Update:

Here is the link for the post.  Check in around 12.