Nets Are Scorching

We can make the playoff this year. Look at the teams on the bottom that made it last year. Our teeam is better than last years chicago team. We are better than the bobcats. And i think we are even with the bucks. We can bump one of those teams out of the playoffs now that we have good coaching, more talent, and lopez is a year more experienced...

I would rather we grow the talent we have and wait. I dont want to waste our cap space on scola or thomas. Scola is 30. Thomas is just a player who jumps high. Nobody wanted to sign with us because our supporting cast isnt ready to back a superstar. Look what chicago did. They took their time and drafted well. Then they allowed their pieces to grow. Now they are appealling to free agents. Let avery johnson get lopez, harris, t-will, d. james, favors, and c lee on track. Once we get them playing well together, then a superstar would love to come and join us. Chicago was able to make the playoffs without a superstar. They shwoed that they are a great supporting cast for a scorer to come in. We have to do the same with our guys. Give avery a chance...

PF I would prefer Scola, but if he is gonna be resigned by Houston then Thomas. Boone already is our backup center, and as for backup PG, I'd go after somebody cheaper than Farmar or Nate, who both wouldn't want to sign with a non contender anyway.

Now that we have Outlaw at the 3, we still need a backup PG, backup C, and a PF.

How about this scenario:

PF- Scola/ Tyrus Thomas
backup PG- Farmar/ N. Robinson
backup C- Shaq (no, I'm kidding) Jermaine O'Neal??

Yeah

If this was 5 a year I'd be ok with it. But I'd rather overpay for better free agents or not at all.

I live in Houston. We're not getting Scola.

And can we stop talking about D-Leaguers please? Yea, let's go get Nasheen Thabeet.

Perhaps we somewhat overpaid for Outlaw, but at least we didn't fork out the max for some undeserving player. We now have a functional roster - i.e. the gaping holes at sf/pf have been filled by Favors and Outlaw. Remember that next year we will not need to extend any of our young core yet so we'll still have cap space. I say now either: (a) save the cap space for the deadline (b) save the cap space for 2011 or (c) trade for picks/young talent + expiring deadweight contracts. Whatever we do. let's not (d) use up our cap space on FAs in a market that's way too hot right now. Too many buyers. Just fill up the roster Golden State-style with rooks and D-leaguers and see if we can find a diamond in the rough. No need to rush out and overpay for guys now that we have a functional competitive roster. Just let them play and grow a la OKC.

Larry Bird offered us Danny Granger (perhaps 5th best small forward on the planet) and pick #10 for Devin Harris and pick #3.

Granger is locked in at a reasonable 12 million, and well worth it. If we wanted a PF we could have picked Seraphin at number 10 who is just as long, strong and raw as Favors, and shares the same high ceiling.

If 10 was too much of a stretch for Seraphin we could have taken Paul George or better still tried to get pick number 23 from the T-Wolves in exchange for us moving down from 10 to 16.

If we had done that, we would have Granger, James and Seraphin now.

TWill is a much better fit at PG than SG anyway with the way he distributes (good) and shoots it (bad). A shooting guard should be a good shooter right? He's much like Rondo only bigger and stronger. Throw money at Anthony Morrow,(46% career from 3) or JJ Reddick for a SG, or if you prefer defense like Avery does go get Ronnie Brewer or how about two of these guys since we have so much cap space?

To back fill for losing Harris we could have drafted Vasques at 27 or signed Luke Ridnour which would have been my preference.

I would have also liked to see us hoard more bigs like Whiteside and Pittman at 27 and 31. Brook could use the help against Dwight Howard and Orton.

This cheap, home grown, D-League talent hoard could have helped us eventually land CP3 next year via trade.

Didn't we all anticipate that we'd have a rough time attracting top free agents after winning only twelve and moving to Neward for two years?

I agree Carlos, 2 years/20-22 million for Scola, definitely worth it. He's very underrated

I like what Chad Ford said. I mean, I wouldn't be THAT upset if all we came away with this summer was Favors, D. James, Outlaw, Scola, and Korver with another 10 million to spend on absorbing contracts on mid season trades. I mean, it's not Lebron and Bosh, but it's decent. Favors could very well be a stud in a few years, and T Will seems like he's matured a lot. Lopez is gonna end up the 2nd best Center in the NBA by the end of this season, IMO, and we will be set for the future.

wouldnt be bad
carlos

How about we sign Shaq to a 2 yr/11 million contract to play alongside Lopez...

Josh who?

I wonder if we could get Josh for less than $50 mil over 5 years?

Oh, Josh Boone is also a better offensive player than Outlaw. But I guess we have too many backup centers at the moment.

"In a few days Outlaws contract will look like a bargain." LOL-- not even in a few years.
But in a few years we'll be wondering where our cap space is.

Humphries exercised his player option for just over 3 million and is still a Net as far as I know.

Would Scola be worth it at over 10 million/yr at his age? I wouldn't want to do that for more than 2 years, especially with Favors waiting in the shadows.

@Mike-- I wasn't just going by last season. Hump has been a better offensive player over the last four years.

Did they trade Humphries away?

Plus Avery Johnson must of signed off on this also. I can't believe Thorn is just doing what he wants without consulting rest of management team.

@CAT;
In a few days Outlaws contract will look like a bargain. Accept the fact that nobody wanted to sign with us. Maybe we misplayed our hand badly but somehow I believe the writing was on the wall. Outlaw is a much better player then Hump. He broke his foot last November so last season was a waste. I think Nets did what was best at this point in time. Sure it's a lot of money but it won't be the first time a player has been overpaid.

@Mike-- well, we could have waited a day to find out, couldn't we? Now it's impossible. But we got Travis Freaking Outlaw, a weaker offensive player than Kris Humphries, so it's all good. And we're only paying him a little more than twice what Hump makes. Remember when we were desperate to dump him? Hahaha, good times.

@CAT;
Do you actually believe LeBron was coming here? Even if we signed Boozer or Amare he was going to go play with Wade and Bosh. The man probably gets his kicks shooting goldfish in a barrel. Seems like the great King James needs at least 2 other superstars to compete for a title. What a clown.

we dont have any sf other then james now we add a player like outlaw tht helps out a lot t-will doesnt play the 3 he plays the 1 or the 2 so yea tht was our biggest need we have favors at the 4 and we cant get lee cause he might be in a sign and trade and we r looking at scola and thomas so relax we will be ok next year

HEY LEBRON, WE GOT YOUSE 3 BACKUPS AND NO PF! COME TO JOISEY!!

The nyets are probably willing to go over 10 million for Scola. Not sure if the Rockets would want to match that.

Scola I believe is the better player, but I think the Rockets would match any offer

I think Scola is better than Tyrus, even though Tyrus is younger I think Scola is just better!

also damion james i forgot

i think we should get granger then sign tryus or scola whatever then our linup would be

harris, t-will
t-will, lee
granger,outlaw
thomasor scola
lopez,zoubek thts a nice starting 5

Great move..

Here's a little more from sourpuss Dave D.
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"During his last two full seasons in Portland, he was indisputably one of the most exciting sixth men in the NBA, averaging 13.3 points in ’07-08 and 12.8 points in ’08-09".

"Moreover, he is very good 3-point threat, hitting 38 percent from downtown his last three seasons -- and he has the courage to take that shot with the game on the line".
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Nets finally do something right and all hell breaks loose. LMAO

Chris Ford on the Nets latest plan B

"Sources say that the Nets are strongly considering making an offer to either Tyrus Thomas or Luis Scola to fill their hole at power forward. Both Thomas and Scola are restricted free agents, which means that the Bobcats and Rockets can match any offer.

The team is also exploring trades with teams looking to reduce their payroll. During the draft they had discussions with both the Pacers and Blazers about larger deals that included LaMarcus Aldridge and Danny Granger for the rights to No. 3 pick Derrick Favors.

The Nets plan to use about $20 million of their $30 million in cap space this summer. The plan is to hang on to the other $10 million to use as an asset for in-season trades (they way the Thunder have masterfully done the past two years) and, if nothing materializes, roll the cap space over to the 2011 season."

Outlaw = borderline scrub???
Here's a bit of what Dave D. says after signing.
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"Here’s what they have in the 6-9, 210-pound Outlaw: They get a guy who, when healthy, got the ball in crunch time for a 54-win team – and a guy who produced as one of the best fourth-quarter scorers in the NBA from 2007 to 2009".

Cool , we can overpay Richard Jefferson too and have his backup make 7 million per year!

CHILDRESS CANNOT SHOOT PAST 10-12 FEET!!!! HE CANT! WHY WOULD WE WANT HIM????

Awesome signing. This gives the Nets flexibility with the starting rotation with Lee, Twill, and Outlaw being interchangable at the 2 and 3. we aren't getting Lebron or David Lee, so this was a good move.

Richard Jefferson is out there, haven't heard anything about him to any team...

If overpaying Outlaw is our biggest mistake come next season, I'll take it. If Outlaw stays healthy and plays well, he will be worth every penny. We have enough young players already and Outlaw is a veteran and still young. Plus I like his name... LOL

Terrible signing. Just terrible. Outlaw is millimeters above being a scrub. Could we really not have gotten Childress for this money? ANd now we seem to have committed to using up our cap space, even if it doesn't get us anyone good.

FIRE THORN, BRING BACK KIKI.

Seriously though, shouldnt we be able to lowball these dopes like Childress who went to Greece to play and are now being paid in monopoly money?

Nit picking, but I like the deal Kleiza signed with the Raps better than our Outlaw deal. He's younger, was more effective and a lot cheaper ($4.7M per). Not as good of a shooter (career 34% from 3 vs 36% for travis) but more boards and more FTA per game.

---> correction above.. "next" should be "nets" i am a phonetic thinker..

I agree with you Mike and share your opinion. But if people actually believe that we failed because we didn't get Bosh,Lebron,Wade or overpaid Amare.Then heck let them be mad...

Also 2 million of Travis Outlaws contract this year is EXTRA cap money that the nets (and everyone else) didnt think they would have.

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So really, this year, Travis Outlaws contract is only about 5 million.... thats not bad and should certainly not affect the next flexibility this summer with or without Lebron since Lebron is the only player worth a max contract left. So really this signing doesn't effect the Nets negatively in my opinion. Not unless Travis disappears or gets severely injured in the up coming years. But thats a risk with signing anybody.

It will be interesting to see how Outlaw as a starter compares to Rudy Gay this year. I bet outlaw puts up 18 and 6 if he plays 35 minutes. Gay will probably put up 20 and 6 and is making pretty much double. I really wanted LeBron but i think we are building a young, athletic, team. Just like the Hawks did before they signed Joe Johnson to put them over the top.

I can't believe some of these posts here and on NetsDaily. They think that the Nets are the only team in the league and players are all dying to play for us. We finally find someone who wants to play for us and everybody complains that he is overpaid and worthless. Travis Outlaw is a quality player and at 25 he is younger then Devin Harris. He will be given a chance to start so lets see what happens. I'm betting that he will excel on this Nets team.

If the Nets do not get Lebron then this is a great signing.

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If the Nets DO get Lebron then this is a good signing.

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If the Nets are trading for Chris Paul then Damion James and/or Terrence Williams might be part of a trade, then this is a really good signing.

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If the Nets do not trade for Chris Paul or someone of his caliber (to land Lebron tonight) then I think the next signing should be for Kyle Lowry and Tyrus Thomas. Lowry is a BEAST!!!!! And hopefully Tyrus can at least play some great defense... And who knows maybe he has grown up some under a real coach with Larry Brown??? Maybe he can finally live up to his potential?

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Its very good the nets didnt overpay for David Lee, Rudy Gay, Joe Johnson, Carlos Boozer, Amare Stoudemire--if they did then they would still not be a contender but they would have also lost a lot of flexibility in the future. And worse of all, they would be too good to get a good lottery pick and not good enough to contend. Thats the same as the Nets A.D. JK five years ago... not good.

I never expected the Nets to get any of the bog 3 either to be honest, and I thought giving Amare a max would have been a HUGE mistake, but I would ahve liked them to get Lee/Boozer if the numbers made sense. Losing Boozer for $1M per is a mistake in my book. Rod picked a poor time to try and play games. I would still very much like for the Nets to get Lee is it can be done for 5 yrs and 12-13M. Anything more would be a mistake. My guess would be that James plays the 3/4 and Korver plays 2/3, and yes Korver will be the first pure shooter we have had since Draz. That said he cant play a lick of D.

Not for nothing, at lunch I was kind of upset about all this Lebron business, and as a diehard Nets fan, (a Knicks convert about 10 years ago when Scott Layden destroyed that team, and the only team I have ever jumped ship from ) a Nets season ticket holder when I could afford it, and the last two years of destroying our roster, trading RJeff, VC, and everyone else, and a 12 win season all with the hope for Lebron and Free Agents and we get outlaw, korver and maybe t.thomas (who is not even that good and seems lost or doesn't want to play most of the time). This is a TREMENDOUS let down. Can we at least get David Lee? This is a sad day for 2 years of straight losing.