LeBron Likes Us, He Really Likes us
Jan 3, 2010 2010 Offseason, LeBron James
Considering how LeBron James told the media a few months ago that he would no longer talk about his impending free agency, he certainly had some kind words about the state of the New Jersey Nets yesterday. Per Dave D’Alessandro:
“I’m not sure,” James said. “I think their record could definitely be better, but they do have some good pieces. I think Brook Lopez, Devin Harris, Courtney Lee and some of those guys — CDR — are some really talented players.”
and
“It’s a good team. It’s a talented team. They’ve got some really good players,” James repeated. “They’re going to play hard. They got a lot of guys that want to win, and they just have to keep working.”
The New York media is going to continue to paint the LeBron situation as Knicks-or-bust. Take for example Mitch Lawrence’s article yesterday with Knicks color-man Walt “Clyde” Frazier, who believes: “LeBron would gain in stature by coming to the Knicks … I think if he signed with the Knicks, he’d be right up there with Kobe.”
The idea of LeBron James needing New York City to raise his status in the NBA is beyond ridiculous. More than enough people believe James is the best player in the league and a once-in-a-generation talent. The only thing that currently separates him from Kobe Bryant is the fact that Kobe has won a championship. If the Cavs ever paired LeBron with a talent on the level of Shaquille O’Neal circa 2000 or Pau Gasol, I’m sure James would have won a championship by now.
With that said, I would take LeBron’s comments about the Nets yesterday as a positive. No, he’s obviously not going to say that he’s planning to play side-by-side with Devin Harris and Brook Lopez next year, but the fact that he acknowledged the talent currently on roster is a nice nod to the organization. It’s certainly a lot better than what Chris Bosh said about the Nets last month.
When it comes to LeBron’s free agency plans, I think he’s going to go where he believe he’ll have the most lasting legacy – is that sticking it out in Cleveland to bring a championship to his hometown team? Is that taking the challenge of coming to the team like the Knicks or Nets and building them into winners? Is it where he could play with a good friend like Dwyane Wade? Only LeBron knows the answer.
I still put the Nets’ chances of landing LeBron this summer as very slim, but I’m glad the beat writers are still floating this idea out there, instead of deferring to the Knicks guys to carry the conversation.
Thorn Might Be Gone At Years End, But Should He Be?
Sep 24, 2009 2010 Offseason, Excitement! Can You Feel It?!?!, Mikhail Prokhorov, Ownership Issues, Rod Thorn
So what hasn’t been said about Mikhail Prokhorov’s bid for the Nets? In the past day we have heard from Mr. Prokhorov himself, the Nets, Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, ESPN, FanHouse, Dave D., and most importantly our own Mark G. I mean even David Stern voiced his opinion (from Dave D.):
“We are looking forward to the Nets’ move to a state-of-the-art facility in Brooklyn, with its rich sports heritage,” NBA Commissioner David Stern said. “Interest in basketball and the NBA is growing rapidly on a global basis and we are especially encouraged by Mr. Prokhorov’s commitment to the Nets and the opportunity it presents to continue the growth of basketball in Russia.”
After reading through all of this stuff, the thing that really peaked my interest was Tom Ziller’s piece for FanHouse. The title? Nets Management Is Toast. With my personal response to any move the Nets make being “In Thorn We Trust,” you can see why this worries me a bit. I am actually really thankful for Ziller’s article, because through all of this excitement, and yes this is exciting as hell, we need to understand that this is new ownership, and traditionally when referring to sports teams, new ownership likes to clean house. Ziller writes:
New owners habitually jettison management when taking over a team — it’s an accepted practice going back to the 1970s. And Prokhorov’s a special case: he has money, he has nationalistic pride, he has a desire to further the careers of his countrymen and friends, he has an aching need to win (as seen with his CSKA Moscow club) and he has completely carte blanche. If Thorn’s contract extended into 2010-11, perhaps you could see Prokhorov holding off on the upheaval. But the new owner has literally no incentive to stay with the status quo.
While this is entirely true, you have some special circumstances at work here. First, when new ownership usually cleans house, they go on to hire people who have been around the league for some time. It is becoming apparent that Prokhorov plans on bringing his own people from Russia over. The problem with this, at least initially, is that the people that Prokhorov is going to bring over won’t be too familiar with the inner-workings of the NBA. For example, go take a look at Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ, and tell me that isn’t crazy. That’s just salary cap stuff! If Prokhorov thinks he can just jump into NBA ownership with his own people running the Nets, he is crazy.
This is why if Rod Thorn is willing to (remember his contract is up at the end of this year, and who knows if he wants to keep doing this, especially during a transition period), Prokhorov should keep him on in some capacity. With the summer of 2010 fast approaching, you want Thorn’s experience and contacts on your side. I would feel more comfortable if he was still in his current position, but if Prokhorov really wants his people in key spots, I wouldn’t be against seeing some money thrown Thorn’s way to keep him in an advisory role, sharing his knowledge with Prokhorov’s people and smoothing the transition.
One final thing that Ziller notes:
Maybe there’s even an anti-incentive to staying with Thorn beyond April. I mean, the Nets have oodles of cap space this summer, and every superstar alive will be a free agent. July 1, 2010 is the opportunity for the Nets. Prokhorov is going to want his people in place for that.
He is spot-on here, and that is what scares me the most. Hopefully Prokhorov seriously thinks about keeping Thorn on board, even if it is just for one more year, long enough for Thorn to show Prokhorov’s people the ropes. Something that eases my nerves is that Prokhorov is willing to learn from the NBA. From ESPN:
Prokhorov’s love of the high life is rivaled by his devotion to basketball. He owns a share of the Russian team CSKA Moscow, and he said on his blog he wants to buy the Nets partly to get access to NBA training methods and help Russian coaches get internships in the league.
In the end, we won’t know until Thorn’s contract is up, but one thing is for sure, things are exciting as hell right now!
Dwayne Wade Likes the Nets, Probably Won’t Play Here
Aug 14, 2009 2010 Offseason
More from Fred Kerber and the NY Post. During the same movie shoot at the Izod Center yesterday where Dwight Howard talked about Courtney Lee’s emotional anguish, Dwayne Wade, one of the other high profile free agents to be next summer, put to rest the idea that he’s looking to leave the Miami Heat.
“I’m not thinking about the Knicks or the Nets. Only when we play them,” Wade told Kerber.
No shock here. But something I did find interesting was Wade’s positive comments about the direction of the Nets franchise.
“It’s a class organization and when the time is right, they’re going to go get the players they need to get. I think people around the league see that. They’ve had success, especially when J. Kidd was here . . . so everyone knows this organization has the want to be great. It’s just about if they get the players. They’ve got some now. Devin Harris is a great, great star. He’s a centerpiece.”
Then the kicker: “the main chatter right now is about the other side, New York, but I’m sure the Nets are going to get some love as well.”
As a Nets fan, it’s comforting to see comments like these about the state of the franchise from one of the league’s established superstars. Living on Long Island and New York City my entire life, I’ve always had to deal with pulling for a team that was second fiddle to the Knicks. This was especially frustrating when the Nets were busy making back-to-back finals, and the Knicks were doing jack squat. I know there’s always a certain allure about playing in New York City, but the Knicks just don’t have as much talent to build around going into next season. The only selling point is the city itself and it’s not like guys like Wade and Lebron are going to be hurting for endorsements, regardless of where they play.
Posted by Mark Ginocchio
More “Summer of Lebron” Speculating
Aug 13, 2009 2010 Offseason, Jay-Z, LeBron James
Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch sees two potential scenarios unfolding during the “Summer of Lebron.” He either stays in Cleveland or he jumps to New Jersey.
Calling one of Lebron’s other potential suitors, the New York Knicks “mismanaged and malodorous,” Arace adds that the Nets have the benefit of minority owner and rapper Jay-Z to help lure James while also having the cap space to potentially add another superstar, like Chris Bosh.
Personally, I’m just relieved to read some sports commentary from outside the Big Apple that acknowledges some reasons why Lebron isn’t going to automatically gravitate towards the Knicks if he spurns the Cavs next year. The Knicks haven’t been relevant in more than a decade and if the Nets could establish any sort of stability with the Brooklyn/New Jersey situation in the coming year, I think they have as much of a shot, if not more, to land Lebron instead of the Knicks.
Posted by Mark Ginocchio
Never Too Early
Aug 11, 2009 2010 Offseason
For Nets fans who are already dreaming of the summer of 2010, Dime magazine reminds us that there’s more to next year than just the pending free agencies of Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.
Manu Ginobili, Ray Allen, Carlos Boozer, Shaquillie O’Neal, Tracy McGrady, Marcus Camby, Derek Fisher, and Jermaine O’Neal are also on that list as unrestricted free agents along with who Dime dubbed “the most important free agent nobody is talking about,” SG Joe Johnson.
Is it too early to declare Courtney Lee the SG of the future?
- Mark Ginocchio
Thoughts On Some Ratner Bashing
Aug 3, 2009 2009 Offseason, 2010 Offseason, Brooklyn, Bruce Ratner, Nets In The Media, Opinion, Steve Politi
Reader CoolNet pointed me to a Steve Politi article titled “Ratner knows damage, not damage control ” it is basically Politi just bashing Ratner, and I have some thoughts on it I wanted to talk about. Now before I get to the article I do want to say that I don’t really want to see the Nets leaving NJ, but I understand why it would happen. That being said, if I was responsible for making this decision, I would like to see the Nets move to Brooklyn. Now on to looking at Politi’s article (I am quoting passages from his article and then giving my opinion on it. For the full article click here):
Bruce Ratner inherited a championship team and gutted it. He stumbled into a growing fan base and alienated it.
That is the first sentence of the article, so you already know where this is headed.
In the meantime, he is treating the Nets like a Basketball Gordon Gekko, slashing salaries and laying off employees. Ratner never cared about owning a Basketball team, and now it has become clear that he cares little about destroying one, either, so long as he finds a way to complete his real estate deal.
Funny, but looking back, it was Alonzo Mourning who recognized his intentions from the very beginning, and the former Nets center was vilified and run out of town for it.
Remember what Mourning said after meeting Ratner? “I asked him, ‘Other than your investment for financial purposes, what’s the reason you bought this team?’ And you can ask anybody in there: He said, ‘To move it to Brooklyn.’ I didn’t hear ‘to win a championship.’ I didn’t hear that come out of his mouth.”
In my opinion people seem to get the positions Owner and GM a little confused. There aren’t too many owners (I can only think of Mark Cuban off the top of my head) who are really involved in the basketball side of things. Sure they sign off on decisions and can make their opinion known, but owners own basketball teams to make money. Most owners are businessmen, and as much as it hurts basketball fans to think of it like this, but to them basketball teams are just a way for them to make more money. That’s why they hire basketball people. Now once they interfere with those decisions, then that is when you have a problem. I will expand on this a bit later…
Oh and why is Zo asking the owner questions. Before I continue I got to say I LOVE Zo. I love his passion, how much he puts into the game, his heart, everything, but seriously? One, what does it matter to you that the owner wants to win or not? Two, why are you bringing this out to the media? Three, as a Net, he kinda quit on the team. Now I do give him the benefit of the doubt with this. You don’t really know what was going on behind the scenes, and there were rumors of some pretty bad stuff being said about Zo by teammates, but still.
To think, the Nets were a few victories away from that championship when Ratner bought them, and six years later, the idea is laughable now. Look at what they have become.
The star-free roster. The bottom-barrel payroll passed off as cap space when it is really just the remains of a fire sale. The team is even removing the “New Jersey” from the road uniforms, as if it could possibly insult fans more. But hey, plenty of season tickets are available.
A lot of Nets fans, including myself at one point, became disillusioned by the back-to-back NBA Finals runs. Let’s look back at what was going on in the NBA. The East was just plain awful so let’s take it easy on the whole “championship-contending team” thing. Oh and why is what we become so laughable. When I look at this roster, I see a team with ton of youth that is going through the rebuilding process quicker than most. The future is bright!
Maybe I am drinking the Kool-Aid, but I stick by my guns when I say this, I really do not believe this is a salary dump. I have said this a number of times, but when you rebuild, you are usually taking aging superstars with big contracts and replace them with younger unproven talent that is cheaper. That is how it works. Eventually this team will add some FAs (in 2010), and the Nets’ salary will be back at normal. And what makes anyone think that Ratner has been involved with any of these decisions. People will say “You know Ratner is pressuring Rod and Kiki into this.” We have (in my opinion) two of the best and well-respected front office men in the league, and if they were being forced into making decisions, they would probably leave and get a job somewhere else. I think this “fire sale” is all them.
I must say I do think removing New Jersey from all jerseys is a bit much though. With the Brooklyn deal still not 100% yet, why take unnecessary digs at Nets fans.
Look, everyone knows that sports fans haven’t always embraced the Nets during their four decades here, but they are still part of this community. No one wants to see them become a joke again. Now the news breaks that assistant coach Roy Rogers might take a job at Rutgers to avoid a pay cut? That is the definition of bush league
First let me say that the way Ratner is handling the coaches is a problem. This is what happens when the owner gets to making basketball-related decisions. As a businessman it makes sense to cut salaries, but as a basketball-related decision it does not. Losing Brian Hill will hurt, and if Roy Rogers leaves that will hurt too.
The bottom line is that if Nets fans actually went to games, we would have never been in this situation. I know that the Meadowlands is a pain to get to, but it gets done for the Giants and the Jets. Whever I think I about this, I remember something that happened to me. Back in 2002, me and my dad decided to go to Game 5 of the Eastern Confrence Semifinals. We didn’t have tickets, but we thought we would be able to scalp purchase some from a third party on the way to the arena. We didn’t have to. We were surprised to see that there were still great seats still available. We get inside the arena, and it was half empty. It wasn’t just because we were early either, it remained about half empty for the entire game.
The Nets are in Basketball purgatory, and the most frustrating part for Basketball fans here? The way out is just a few miles away. It has never made more sense than now to move the Nets to the Prudential Center. If Ratner really needs relief from his mounting debt, he should look down Route 21.
Newark mayor Cory Booker heard the news about Ratner seeking investors and expressed his disappointment that keeping the team where it belongs still does not register on the Nets radar.
“I’ve done a lot of work to put the foundations down for a group of people who want to keep it in New Jersey,” Booker said yesterday. “It really has to do with the sellers now and where their heart is.”
It would be great to keep the Nets in NJ, and if it does happen Newark is the logical choice. However, moving to Newark would lead to problems as well. First, I don’t really think that David Stern would be happy seeing one of his NBA franchises playing in a stadium that was built for hockey mostly and for college basketball teams such as Seton Hall and NJIT, nevermind that it’s smaller capacity would still work with the amount of fans that have been showing up for Nets’ games.
Let’s say that Stern is ok with it, who says that the Devils (who own the Prudential Center) would be. From what I heard, they are against the idea of leasing out the arena to the Nets (though I am sure this is just posturing from them to get more money).
All things being considered, this article just seems like a bash job to me. Politi makes no real attempt to show the good that is going on with the Nets. He is just interested in shoving his opinion down the readers throats. Now, I hope people don’t get confused with my opinion with Ratner. I don’t think he is the best owner (not even close) and he has done a ton of things that I think will hurt the Nets, however he isn’t the worst owner in the league and he does get bashed a lot (some warranted and some not).
—
Since I am in a defend the Nets kind of mood right now, I did want to mention an article I read over at ProBasketballNews. The article evaluates the offseasons of teams in the Atlantic Division. Despite complementing the Nets’ moves this offseason Chris Bernucca says this:
Biggest setback: The team’s financial woes and the ongoing saga of the Atlantic Yards project led owner Bruce Ratner to put the team – or at least a portion of it – up for sale. That can’t be good for luring free agents.
Biggest risk: With all the uncertainty swirling around the franchise, will any free agent really want to sign with the Nets?
I do think Free Agents will be willing to come here. One, we have tons of money to throw around at them, and two, we have a great young core that when looking at them, free agents could consider themselves the “missing piece” and want to sign there.
Plus, we will know whether or not Brooklyn will happen by late December, so there won’t be any real confusion/uncertainty about where they will be playing in the future.
My Take On Ben Couch’s Interview With Kiki Vandeweghe
Jul 27, 2009 2009 Draft, 2009 Offseason, 2010 Offseason, Kiki Vandeweghe
Kiki Vandeweghe has been with the Nets for 18 months now, so Ben Couch decided to sit down with the Nets’ General Manager and ask him a few questions. It is broken down into two parts (part 1 and part 2 here) and it is a great read for any Nets fan. Ben Couch also put together a complete list of all the moves Kiki has been involved in. Ben asked some great questions, and some of Kiki’s answers really got my wheels spinning (These are bits and pieces from Kiki’s answers. Again to see the complete answers check out Part 1 and Part 2 of Ben Couch’s interview):
NJNets.com: Looking back at the past 18 months, how do you feel about where the team is now — and where it could go — relative to its position when you joined back in December 2007?
It’s difficult to replace great players, but our players were getting older. And in 18 months, we’ve gone from a sort of older team that did not have any cap flexibility and no real good way to improve to a team that has four or five really good young players who can play together for a long time, great cap flexibility – probably as much or more than anybody in the league – some extra draft picks. We also lowered the cost of the team and moved all the real big long-term contracts. We’ve got shorter term contracts at lower numbers, which is where you need to be if you want to improve, so I would say we’re as well-positioned as anybody in the league to improve in a very short time.
I like our young players very much: Devin Harris, Courtney Lee, Jarvis Hayes, Yi Jianlian, Brook Lopez, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Terrence Williams and Josh Boone, who are all young and all have big upside; they’re good players now, but they can continue to improve. I like our veteran group: Rafer Alston, Eduardo Najera, Keyon Dooling, Bobby Simmons, the addition of Tony Battie, Trenton Hassell. I like our group, we’ve got a nice mix of players.
Improving in these challenging economic times, it’s about flexibility, and I would say we’ve got as much flexibility as anybody. We’ve done a 180 and we’ve done it about as quick as I’ve seen it done. And it’s been great working with Rod — I’ve learned a ton already. It’s a tremendous opportunity for me to be a part of this. To me, the way I personally look at it, the real work begins now because you’ve created the opportunities to improve. Now you’ve got to take advantage of those opportunities: you’ve got to use your extra draft picks wisely, you’ve got to use your cap space wisely. That doesn’t come around all the time. But these are opportunities and I think that if history is any indicator, with rod and myself, we’ll be able to do some good things.
I know that fans want their teams to be competitive every year, but it is the GM’s job to pay attention to the future. Kiki is a great GM that understood Nets weren’t going to reach their ultimate goal with the current roster they had, so he (along with Rod Thron) decided to rebuild. It is also comforting to know that Kiki and Rod don’t think the job is done, and that there is work to do. I think they have made a ton of great personel decisions so far (I still think we have the best young core in the NBA), and I hope they continue to draft well for the next couple of years and add that one free-agent who will be able to put us over the top.
AROUND THE INTER-NETS:Nets In NBA Hell, But For One Year Only
Jul 23, 2009 2009 Offseason, 2009-2010 Regular Season, 2010 Offseason, Links, Nets In The Media
Basketball Fiend is a solid NBA blog, and I read it daily. So when I saw this post today, I knew that I had to link to it at some point. I also find it funny that it came during the same day my post came out. Here is a little info on Basketball Fiend’s Basketball Hell:
The concept of NBA Hell is something that I came up with last season, watching teams like the Knicks and the Sonics (now Thunder) slowly and painfully torture their fans like the intro to Wu Tang’s Method Man.
NBA Hell is basically the professional basketball version of Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, a guided tour through the nine circles of hell, each circle a little bit worse than the one before it.
The article was popular last year and I enjoyed writing it, so I figured why not bring it back?
Since this is the second edition, I tried to refine the concept as best I could, using more statistics (such as winning percentage, blowout losses – which I define as losses by more than 15 points, scoring margin, and average attendance) as well as other, more subjective factors (like ownership and the ability to win in the future) to pare the league down to the nine most unbearable teams in the league.
On to some of the stuff he said about the Nets. Again the full thing is here:
The way I see it, 2009-10 is going to be a torturous season for the Nets.
After trading away its best offensive player (Vince Carter), failing to address a need at power forward, and adding Rafer Alston, one of the least-coachable players in the league, the Nets are going to have a hard time competing in 2009-10. It’s difficult to imagine them winning more than 25 games next year.
After that, things will look up.
The Nets may have traded away an offensive centerpiece in Carter, but the trade also freed up $30-35 million in cap room for the 2010 offseason.
and
All four of those guys are talented players with definitive skills. Harris and Lopez run a wicked high pick-and-roll, Lee is a talented outside shooter who can play solid D, and Williams is a defensive-minded athlete with the kind of physical skills coaches dream of.
I completely agree with this whole section, but I think if everything comes together correctly, the Nets can take 30-35 games this year. In my opinion it all depends on Terrence Williams and CDR. If they can contribute positively, I think we can avoid the flames of hell.
State of The Nets: We Need To Stay Put
Jul 23, 2009 2009 Offseason, 2010 Offseason, Brook Lopez, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Courtney Lee, Devin Harris, Rod Thorn, State Of The Nets, Terrence Williams, Vince Carter
Every once in a while, I will take a look at the Nets organization and give you my opinions on where we are and what I think we should do. This is called State of The Nets.
I know coming in that this isn’t going to be a popular post. Reading the comments here, in forums, and on other Nets blogs I get the feeling that most Nets fans aren’t happy with the direction we are taking. I disagree with these fans’ feelings.
Aging middle of the road teams have a tough decision to make. Do you stay put, happy with making the playoffs as a bottom seed every year? Do you try to add the missing piece and make a run? Or do you get younger, retool, and overhaul your roster? For years after making our back-to-back NBA finals run, we kept trying to add the missing piece to our big three, while not really concentrating on the draft. The New Jersey Nets kept making the playoffs, but they never added that ONE player that put them over the top.
Thorn Wants 2, But Will We Get Any?
Jun 30, 2009 2010 Offseason, Brook Lopez, Brooklyn, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Courtney Lee, Devin Harris, Free Agents, Jay-Z, Rod Thorn, Terrence Williams
Here is audio from Rod Thorn’s conference call:
(Remove the audio player – it played automatically and it was getting annoying)
If the above player doesn’t work, click the link here. It is a pretty interesting listen, so if you get the time, check it out. The big thing that I took from this conference call is that Rod Thorn is going to be willing to spend in 2010. Thorn said that if he chooses, the Nets can offer two-max contracts. Having money is just half of the equation though, players are going to have to want to come to Nets (notice I didn’t say New Jersey).
Will that happen (I know this is real early to start talking about this, but this a much talked about topic among Nets fans)? Pessimistic Nets fans (and there are a lot of them) will tell you that it won’t. They will say things like “When have the Nets ever signed a big time free agent?” Or “Why would LeBron or anyone want to come to the Nets if they are still in NJ?”
Maybe I am just an optimist, but I think all that is a load of bull. Yes, I know the Nets haven’t signed a big time free agent in recent memory, but when have they been in position too? For as long as I can remember, the Nets have had a solid core of playmakers (Kidd, Martin, RJ, and Vince Carter have all been a part of the Nets at some point), and haven’t really had a need to go get a big-time free agent. They were always adding veterans who were supposed to be (excuse me for using a now tired theme after this draft) pieces to a puzzles, and it worked for the most part. The Nets were always in the playoff hunt, and while they were never seriously considered championship contenders, they were always competitive.
Despite this competitiveness, Thorn wanted a title team, so he decided to re-tool and start a youth movement. Brook Lopez, CDR, Devin Harris, Courtney Lee, and Terrence Williams are all under 25, and they are going to be big parts of the team this year. Despite the fact that we might be terrible next year as these young guys learn how to play, the future looks bright. Real bright. When looking at this young core (we also get 2 first round picks next year), a big-time free agent might see themselves as the guy who put them over the top. Take into account that most of the big free agents in 2010 are buddy-buddy, once one signs we might be able to snag another. Just imagine Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh joining up with Devin Harris and Brook Lopez. What free agent wouldn’t want to be a part of that team?
As for the whole Brooklyn/NJ thing. Brooklyn is going to happen, whether it be for 2 years from now or 3, it is going to happen. Now if Thorn can guarantee these potential free agents at least 1 year in Brooklyn (by this, I mean that we would need to at least break ground before next offseason), then in my opinion this won’t even be a factor.
One final thing I wanted to touch on that negative fans choose to ignore all of the time is our part owner. Yup, I am talking about Jay-Z. In our era, Jay-Z is an icon, a legend. A lot of these players would love to be able to say that they are playing for Jay-Z and having him watching all of their games. It is already common knowledge that Jay-Z and LeBron are BFF, and I am sure that Hova would be willing to use his “charm” to try to convince players to come over and play for the Nets.
When you combine all of these factors then add in all of the money, I think there is a very good chance that we land a top tier free agent in 2010. If not two.
Tags: 2010, Basketball, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Hova, Jay-Z, LeBron James, NBA, NJ Nets