Nets Are Scorching

p.s. i'm a nets fan,and let's just say this offseason hurts

the nets will have worse record this year then the lebron less cavs.they did nothing noteworthly besides disposing of coach frank and bringing in avery.let's all get ready for jordan farmar billboards on the highway,maybe a brook lopez 1000 foot banner in brooklyn reading coming soon.they should trade devin harris might as well tank again in hopes of the lottery,we all saw how well that went for them last year.hell if they really wanna clear some more cap space let's bring in that team that plays the globetrotters because that's how they're gonna look against the likes of the heat.leave it to an club that actually made an ad with superstars from other teams to try to get fans to the swamp.disgraceful

When the Nets win.

I envision that scene from Major League in the Cleveland Bar when the Indians beat the Yankees.

The Punk Girl with the Mohawk. The construction worker. They get excited hug, look at who they're hugging. Shrug, and keep celebrating.

That's how it'll go down. When we beat the Heat only to get swept by the Lakers.

@Mike Just read some comments and post from NetsDaily, All I have to say is I love NAS.
And guys I love reading these debates but you're all getting worked up, when the Nets start winning we will all lighten up, because after all we are all Nets fans and all root for one thing, so lets please relax.

If "Big Daddy" is what his name implied, he will be back. Otherwise he's just a phony. @NJINME; Your dad was a great guy. Maybe he should be "Big Daddy". Just trying to get by, in this great big world. And it is a great big world... You tell me who knows all the answers... It ani't me...

Hey BigDaddy come on back!!
I wanted your opinion on my Devin Harris remarks.

@ Mike My dad was from NYC E25th St, Gramercy Park area..I lived there for several years. He may have called him Joey D, not sure, I always heard Joltin' Joe from the song I guess. My dad played ball in the city was signed by the reds in 48, but his dad had just died and he had to help his mother and younger brother. Later he played ball for the army in Germany. When he came back he played again in NYC and was signed again by The Yankees, same agent as signed Micky Mantle..this time he had me and my mom and they didn't pay much so he just went to work. He was a good man could have been real good player too, struck out Joe Torres brother Frank several times in one game in Germany.

I came from the lower East Side. It was Joey "D". You are too young too remember. Life goes on with you or without you. Have a good day...

For a winner...just did a long shift...another one tomorrow

@Mike it's Joltin' Joe..I have a vision of Billy King twiddling his thumbs while waiting for the phone to ring..now we know Chris Paul won't be calling..he wants to play on a winner

I agree. It's like he taking "his ball" and going home. Sure we have disagreements, different opinions. But isn't that the point of having a blog. JDoc and me are like oil and water. But I think it adds spice as long as it don't turn into blatant name calling. But that's just my opinion. Who's better... Willie Mays, Joey "D" or Duke Synder? Hell if I know... but I will say Joey "D". Shoot me for being wrong...

I did not expect a ridiculous meltdown from an adult.

Hence the tag "Big Daddy"... I was wondering why you picked that name. Join NetsDaily... You will fit right in. They are very mature and great B-ball experts, just like you. just kidding, hope you stay on and make men of us all. We need that "Big Toe".

Y'all can have your little childish BS blog and cry all ya want to. I'm looking for a place to have a serious discussion with knowledgeable basketball people, not whining crying children. I was a mod at inside hoops and left for the same reason, too many children. There are some here who fit the bill of people who you can have an adult conversation with, but they are too few. The rest are just typical internet kids who spent to much time playing video games and not enough time in the real world. Wah wah wah boo hoo hoo....I soiled my diapers, grow up some of y'all. I'm moving on.....

To each his own. Like I said. I'm still giving Harris the benefit of the doubt. Rondo is no doubt the best PG in the East.

Rose and Jennings I would put in the next class. I would put Harris as a 2A to these guys right now.

The rest of the names above I disagree. Wall has a world of talent, but he's a rookie. I'm not assuming anything with him.

I'd say Harris' stock is trending down and Felton and company are trending up.

PG's don't have to be 3 point shooters in my opinion. We'll see what Harris brings to the table this year. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt last year, based on the injuries, the coaching, the supporting cast and a laundry list of other factors that could have effected his overall play.

This season. No excuses, left. We'll see where he stands.

@JDoc
Not to bash any particular players or opinions but I just don't think Harris can hang with the top PG's.
Harris has never shot 30% from three or averaged even seven assists in his entire career.
Right now, in the Eastern Conference, Rondo, Rose, Jennings, Felton, Holiday, Williams and Calderon are all better players than Harris. (IMO) And John Wall will join this list next year. I had great confidence in the Nets and Thorn up until recently but the circumstances of his departure are strange (he's not retiring) and I think we missed out on some opportunities during the draft. That said, I think we did okay in free agency.
I said I wasn't going to bash but couldn't help it. Sorry. I'll chill out now and try to be more positive in the future.

i say win 17 games the next 3 years and hope for good lottery picks and draft the best players.
im being completely serious too......

@Mike

I'm just saying that your comments are always negative without any point of bearing or reason behind it.

For Instance:

Comment A: Our management sucks, and messed up the entire off-season. The drafted the wrong guy. They traded Yi for nothing. They struck out in Free Agency.

Comment B: With what Favors showed in the summer league, and the way Harris performed last year, I'm already starting to regret not taking the offer from Indy to swap picks and Harris for Granger.

Comment A, isn't refrencing a specific alternative. It's putting blame with aim. Comment B, voices something we could have done differently, and speaks to what the alternative could have looked like.

Your comments never offer alternative insight. They are just a negative blanket of pessimistic views.

Patrick/YoYo: The two other guys playing Devil's Advocate today, voiced a view point of contention. Another option we could have had, but passed on. Or an alternative view of a players performance that can be constructively criticized and improved.

There's a major difference. That's why you got called out. Negative comments like yours lead to a general annoyance with the overall negativity. That leads to others with fair alternative assesments getting called out when they might not deserve it.

It's a free country. Say what you want. But I think most of what you have said is short sighted and ignorant, and I find it annoying.

With that said. I sound like an arrogant ass on a high horse right now, so feel free to tell me to screw off.

@JDoc;
So you are the one who decides what constitutes a valid or invalid comment. Thanks for letting me know.
I will be sure to have you edit my comments before posting.

Plenty of people have probably already said this, but our biggest problems last year were depth, early season injuries and coaching. That's what our free agent signings during the off season addressed.
Would you rather have Trenton Hassel, Jarvis Hayes, Keyon Dooling or Travis Outlaw, Anthony Morrow and Jordan Farmar? Kiki Vandeweigh or Avery Johnson?

Do I think free agency was a booming success? No, but that doesn't make it a failure. We're going to be a deeper, better coached team than we were last yr. If things don't work out this year, we still have the draft to help add even more depth to our roster in the future. We also still have 10-15 million in cap space left over.

@Mike

See above. I don't call people whiners when they make sense.

You're just negative. Patrick actually made a point of contention that's valid.

@Patrick

You may be right, but the jury's going to be out. If Favors turns into Howard or anything close, I'm really glad we kept the pick.

I'm giving Harris the benefit of the doubt for now. I think Raymond Felton might prove to be the better PG in the tri-state area, but Harris has been an all-star and does have the ability to be again.

All-Stars = Very Good. Look at the PG's in the Eastern Conference. Harris can hang with these guys.

That said. I hope we package him for Paul. If we ship off Favors and Harris for Paul. I'd rather that than Granger.

I'm just letting this play out.

@Patrick;
Don't try talking sense or giving your opinion, just agree with what they tell you or else they will call you a whiner or hater or un-American. They think their bullying talk is going to shut people up. It might if they
had anything insightful to say. LMAO

BD: I'm just thought it looked funny, so I was joking around Bacterialogical is in reference to the study of bacteria. In your reference you would be referring to a bacterial infection, which is an infection caused by bacteria.

For the record on Chris Paul. I don't really care where he said he wants to be traded. He has two years left on his contract, and he doesn't have a no trade clause.

So N.O. has time to show him they can with him. Whoever trades for him has time to show them they can win with him.

If the Nets were able to trade for Paul and went on to play in the Easter conference Semi's this year, and made a push for the Finals next year, with a developing supporting cast. I'm pretty sure Paul would give serious thought to the Nets retaining him, and ushering the team into Brooklyn.

Just let this situation play out.

@BigDaddy
This isn't based on nothing. All this CP3 talk started when he toasted Melo at his wedding and suggested he, Melo and Amare start their own "big three"

I also don't understand all of the Devin Harris support out there, calling him a very good point guard.
All of the best PG's shoot around 40% from 3 and Harris is at 27%.
He's also not a crazy good defender/distributor like Rondo, so I hope we can all get a little more real about our players.......
Given what I've seen of Favors (who could become Dwight Howard or Stromile Swift) I'm very sorry we didn't take Bird's offer of the number 10 pick and Granger for number 3 and Harris. If you ask me that's was blowing a golden opportunity.

@ Patrick.....there ya go making up trades that will never happen.

bacterological: a science that deals with bacteria and their relations to medicine, industry, and agriculture

I think CP3 calls Melo and tells him not to sign in Denver and wait on the Knicks in 2011. Knicks can get CP3 for Galinari, Felton and Curry expiring contract. Galo is a good replacement for Peja.
Sort of depressing for us but LeBron set a new trend and now all these superstars are running the league.
We're going to have to do it the old fashioned way and hope that Lopez, Favors and TWill become stars.

Mike, who cares about the 3million. It doesn't do anything on our cap, and our owner wipes is ass with hundred dollar bills.

what's bacterological?

@Mike

I don't see the coherence in your babble.

Now you're comparing me to a politician? Last I checked Politicians try and spend their way out of problems instead of taking a conservative approach at the kind of organic funding that I've suggested.

Are you going to post when we DO win 40 games?

You don't even deserve to be a fan.

All you talk about is how we're going to suck, or how we shouldn't have drafted Favors, or how we gave away Yi.

The bottom line is we're a young team with a high cieling and a low floor. The reason I say everything is fine is because we still have the freedom to sign a max contract player NEXT summer. We still have young favorable assets than can allow us to trade for a max player during FA. We still have a roster full of young budding stars, that have all-star upside or greater.

David Lee went to Golden State. Do you think of Golden State as a competitor? They gave David Lee $80 million dollars!

Yi, wasn't a good trade, but it was far from a franchise crippling trade. It was done to give us cap room to sign two max free agents. It's the same thing the Bulls did in giving away Hinrich. The potential upside, outweighed the potential fall back. The best part is, that mistake is erased after THIS SEASON. Because Ross is gone, and this FA class and draft class is loaded with PF, that are all better than Yi.

You talk about drinking Kool Aid. I talk about having vision.

You're predicting 25 wins. Do you really think we're worse than the Raptors? Are the Cavs better than us? Minnesota? Philadelphia? We're not going to be the worst team in the NBA again. We're in better shape than teams like Atlanta, who aren't going to contend for a title, but are going to make the playoffs.

See what has been done. Be excited for what we do have. And when we win 35 games this year, and 40 next, I expect you to offer every fan on this board your sincere apologies for the raw sewage that is your fan outlook.

Yeah those Bucks must be pretty stupid taking Yi off our hands, in the last year of his contract and getting 3 million dollars in the process. You guys are either very young or shills,

Wah wah wah wah boo hoo hoo....it's getting old and very annoying. We haven't played one game, Billy King has not made one move yet, Derrick Favors has not played in one NBA game and we suck, we screwed up on free agency even though nobody wanted to come here anyway. COME ON!!!!! Some of y'all are just plain negative ninnies who love to cry about things. You guys can cry all you want to, you dismiss the facts to advance your negative baseless opinions. This is a sample of the make believe video game, instant gratification mentality that has seeped into the sports world like a bacteriological infection. Take some antibiotics called reality and grow up. Being a fan does not mean agreeing with everything the team does and hiding from the reality of a poorly run front office. But that is not the case so far with the Nets, on the contrary. If you know and understand anything about running a sports franchise you would know it's not like playing video games. I crack up at these proposed trades fans make, ridiculous and childish most of the time. This is a multi million to billion dollar business in the real world were people's jobs and careers are on the line. It's takes two to make a deal and nobody wants to deal with the Nets right now, don't y'all understand that? I guess not.....getting rid of Yi was addition by subtraction, he was horrible. 7 feet of drek, he played like he was 6'5". Maybe some day when the light bulb goes ON in his head, he'll figure it all out. But there was no sight of that and he was clueless on the court, zero BBall IQ. We made some good moves to have a deep and athletic, young and talented team, added a young dynamic winning coach, added a top lottery pick, still have a multitude of draft picks and cap space for the future, what more can you ask for?

And if we do win 40 games two years
from now, then what? Trade for LeBron or Durant? The Nets will have to hope that Favors becomes a star,
we get real lucky in the lotto and some team makes a stupid move involving us. Probably all three.
I will still root hard for the Nets but will refrain from drinking the Kool-aid, especially if your the one passing it out.

@JDoc; I really don't care what you think about me. You should be a politician. "Don't worry folks, everything will be O.K., trust me".
Either that or you are Yormark in disguise.
The Nets get blind sided in the free agent market. They give Yi away for almost nothing. The player they wanted to get rid of, Humphries, is now going to be a contender for starter at PF. They still don't have a legitmate starting SF or PF. If the Nets go belly up I wonder if you will still be posting. Plus T-Will looks to have no position especially if the new arrivals and Harris + Lee play well. We have a backup center who nobody knows what he's going to give us. Win 40
games with that lineup?

someone needs to open Chris Pauls eyes. the knicks really?
you prefer amare and his bad knees and eye to brook lopez, already the second or third best center in the east? we need to forget this PF business and go after Chris Paul hard. and next year we can sign Carmelo and boom good to go. championship city

@Nardfather

I hear ya, but time will have to tell. The bottom line is, he hasn't really screwed up yet, with us. He hasn't really done anything, yet.

At the end of the day, how much of an impact does the GM have on a franchise? How many truly great GM's are there?

A lot of people thought Danny Ainge stunk, and they he got the Big 3 in, Rondo stepped up, and suddenly the guy is a genious.

I think a bad GM can wreck a franchise, but I don't know if there is such a thing as a good GM. I think a lot of it comes down to luck.

So, I'll reserve my Billy King commentary until he's got a few moves with the Nets under his belt.

JDoc,

Love the fire buddy...and I too think the Nets did fine this offseason. We got a great coach and nice rotation players to go with some young talent we already have. The only mistake I see is Billy King, not confident in him as a GM.

Thank God the Rockets resigned him.. 5 years and $55 million for a slightly above average PF who is on the WRONG side of 30..

Way to go Billy!!!! Glad to see you are picking up where you left off in Philly..

What Dalembert wasn't available?

Regarding Chris Paul...

The Magic and Blazers are the only teams I see making that deal.

The Mavericks have Jason Kidd. You think he's going to let that trade happen? What are they going to split minutes down the middle at PG?

The Knicks, I can see trying to make a deal, but who are they giving back? Gallinari and Felton? Does that seem like something and no draft picks? Does that seem like something New Orleans wants to do?

Paul's naming friends teams. Dwight Howard, Amare, Tyson Chandler, Brandon Roy.

Don't think at all into it. And once again. If we don't land him. This isn't the end of the world. We still have a very good PG in Harris and a solid back up in Farmar.

@ Mike...

I consider you a whiner. First off, Miami cleared cap space for 3 marquee Free Agents and already had Dwayne Wade's loyalty.

Lebron told the Nets he was very interested, then he joined with Miami, because they could afford all 3.

That's Lebron choosing the easy road over the legendary one. I work in business. I know what it means to have the better product, and the better system. I know what it's like to show that in irrefutable data, and facts. I know what it's like to have the customer agree with me that my system is in his best interests.

I know what it's like for the customer to still go another route because of some small piece of the pie that I can't match, that takes immediate precedent over long term value.

That's what happened with Lebron. He saw Wade, he saw Bosh, he saw instant gratification, and he took it. He'll regret it.

We still made the right pitch and sold the right value. We never had the capability to put those 3 guys together. Only Miami did.

So while it was a failure, I'm still very proud of the execution of our strategy towards Lebron and Bosh. You're not going to win them all, but if you keep playing your cards right eventually you will win big and be successful.

We played our cards right. Essentially we went all in with pocket Aces and lost to trip 7's. It happens. You can't control everything.

Regarding Boozer. We didn't even get a phone call back. We offered him a fair offer ($15 Million per, instead of the $16 million per he took). For all you know Chicago made the same $15 per offer, Boozer called and said make it $16 and I'm in, and it was done.

That again, while not a win, isn't something I hold our management team at fault for.

As for Thomas? Wow, he re-upped with a playoff team. Was he ever really considering leaving? He signed for 5 years and $40 million. How much more would you have offered for him? He's a young PF, with big time pedigree. He was drafted 4th overall. What are you going to sell him on? Caddying for Derrick Favors in 2 years?

This is the point I'm making. You pessimists want to call everything a strike out. I'm saying we didn't strike out. We just didn't hit the home run. We got better litterally at every position. We upgraded our coach. We have the coach with the Highest Winning Percentage in League History. He was our FIRST CHOICE.

I'm telling you. I live in Houston, TX. Luis Scola was NEVER leaving the Rockets. It would have taken a 5 year $60 million dollar offer for the Rockets to even consider not matching. Do you want to pay a 35 yr. old league average PF 12 million a year?

Lose your entitlement philosophy and ask yourself the basic question. Did we get better? Did we make strides as an organization? Do we have a positive future outlook? Do we have resources and flexibility to continue growing forward?

The answer to all of the above is YES! The reason why I'm an optimist about the team is because of that.

You say we struck out, I say we improved at every position and still have just as much flexibility as we've always had.

I don't understand the negativity. To me we look like we're a 35 win team this year with upside. Come next year, with no moves (which isn't going to happen), and only Favors development (which is), I see us as a 40 win team with upside.

So why so serious?

Notice the Nets were NOT one of his (CP3) teams. Like I said no one wants to come here for now and that will hopefully change when we move to Brooklyn. As for scola, I bet the nets were trying to push Houston into a sign and trade of some kind. It didn't work, they were NOT giving him up period. It's a non story at this point he was never going anywhere else. Houston was not trading him and would have matched any offer, end of story. So in this case just how did the Nets screw up? They didn't.....Derrick favors will play starters minutes from day one and by the end of the season net fans will have forgotten other players like Yi and Bosh and Scola and DLee. Favors and Lopez will be the best low post one-two punch in the NBA within 3 years.

I didn't really know where to put this, but it looks like Chris Paul has come out and said that he wants out of New Orleans, possibly before the start of the season. His preferred teams are said to be the Knicks, Magic, Trail Blazers and Mavericks.

He said that he "wanted to play with a superstar." Is there a reason why the Nets are on the outside looking in again? I know Brook Lopez isn't a superstar just yet, but he looks to only be a year or two away (especially if he starts playing defense.)

Yeah , those optimists are going to pretend we didn't try to get free aganets and struck out .... they are just going to accept whatever is like it's all part of Proky's great plan and Avery's "system". While I don't think this would have been an amazing signing , I think it would have been a very good one and here's why.
--------------------------------
1. Even at that price , Scola is still an asset to other teams that didn't have cap to spend this year. People would have been calling for him. The deal was allegedly front loaded so he would have been easier to move a little later if need be.
2. He's a very good pick and roll guy , and another offensive threat (the 3rd threat for the starting lineup which it desperately needs). That is very important on a team.
3. He a pro's pro. He works hard and hustles and he's very smart. He can teach the young guys a lot with how he plays the game night in and night out and in practice.
4. He would have been a fan favorite and enrgized the crowd and his teammates. He is loved by his teammates and his coaches as well. He brings heart , hustle , and a winning attitude and desire .... something they are severley lacking. Even if he was only worth 12+ wins (going from 24 to 36 for example) , it would be worth it to help get things turned around and moving in the right direction.
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While I don't agree with his assessment of management, I think Jdoc's situation analysis is spot-on.

The team is missing key starters, but there is talent and depth and most importantly maneuverability. There have been many great pickups made during the season, and I suspect there will be more movement this year than years past due to the roster imbalances created by these major signings.

Having a coach who has the experience of actually coaching a basketball game in the past can't hurt either.

Our great "management team" you speak of tried to sign LeBron, Boozer, Thomas etc. and failed. That same management team offered Scola that contract you now call ridiculous. You can't have it both ways, or can you? If they signed Scola you would be dancing in the streets. I consider myself a great Nets fan but I will not close my eyes to reality. So far this off season has been disappointing. But then again who knows what the future will bring.

A 5 year contract for a 30 year old? Check.
Chewing up cap space with a mid-level contract? Check.
These guys really need to hire a stathead to explain player value to them.

Dude, I live in Houston. Scola was never leaving Houston.

I'm tired of people talking about us being failures this Free Agency. I don't think that's true at all. The Knicks gave Amare $100 Million. The guy has two bad knees and a bad eye. He doesn't play defense, and he lived off of passes from arguably the best PG in the game.

He's a good player, but not $100 Million good.

Boozer, health issues and no defense. Also had Derron Williams feeding him the rock in the low post. Not worth 16 Million a year.

Bosh was always going with Wade who was never coming to NJ. We made a play on Bosh. But him and his butt buddies had this circle jerk planned for quite some time.

Lebron is the guy we put our efforts towards. We made a strong presentation, and the guy showed he was a coward and a fool, in tearing down a lot of what he's worked so hard to build.

Proky even 'leaked' meeting notes to advise Lebron of what a mistake it was.

"I believe Wade and Bosh will join forces and play for the Miami Heat."

"I believe Lebron James will dramatically de-value his brand if joins them in Miami."

A week after this letter was released, Lebron had a 60 minute television special a gutted his popularity. He went from Hero to Villain.

Now any championship he wins will be worth less, not winning a championship says a lot more, and the radiant personality that he crafted en route to being the next Michael Jordan, was flushed down the toilet, as he became NBA Public Enemy Number 1.

So did we go out and go knee jerk after anyone? No. We signed important role players that fit into an atheltic and defensive minded strategy.

We kept our flexibility and we've got an exciting young team thats capable of improving and achieving special things. We also are in great position to land a top flight player via trade or FA next season.

This off-season was not a failure. Our management team did an excellent job.

I'm proud of the direction of this team.

P.S. That Travis Outlaw signing is looking pretty good right now. I'm hoping T.O. comes up big this season. If he can provide consistent scoring and defense, we can live with a rebounding, defense minded PF for now. Spending big money for 3rd tier PF talent is foolish. Save our money unless we can acquire a true
impact player.

How surprising! The Nets still can't get a PF. Our money is not good enough? The Nets are going to have to build from within. It's obvious that unless we grossly overpay, free agents are not knocking down our doors. Develop Favors and James.
Save our cap space, you never know what will come up down the road. Maybe we should think seriously of trading Devin Harris at some point.
By the time our team is ready to rock, Harris will be an "old" man.