Nets Moving Down A Legitimate Possibility
Jun 16, 2009 2009 Draft, Omri Casspi, Rumors
Despite the fact that Rod Thorn and Kiki have been telling everyone who would listen that they are not moving from the 11th pick, it seems like the Nets moving down is a legitimate possibility. Why would they move down? Omri Casspi. Check out what Jonathan Givony has to say on the situation in his latest Word On The Street:
One team that might be interested in moving down in this draft is New Jersey, as they are reportedly very high on Israeli Omri Casspi, but may not want to invest such a high pick on him.
Now the Nets have been interested in Casspi for some time now (right before the Chicago Combine), and it appears that he just continues to impress. He had two group workouts in New Jersey and an individual one and the Nets are still interested, so that has to mean something. Now why not just pick Casspi with the 11th pick? While Casspi is a solid player, he would be a reach at 11. If we can get something along with trading down (like a second round pick), moving down would be a nice move.
For those who are interested in what Casspi can do, here is a little excerpt from Jonathan Givony’s New Jersey Group Workout Wrap-Up (Austin Daye fans pay attention to who Casspi is doing this to):
“Austin Daye vs. Omri Casspi turned into a real wrestling match. Casspi just manhandled Daye, really threw him around. It was a bit disappointing to see how little Daye was able to compete from a strength perspective—Casspi is a kind of a skinny guy himself. At one point Casspi cut Daye’s lip open–he had to go to hospital for stitches. The Nets should have done a better job of getting someone to call fouls. Casspi was fouling the hell out of Daye. Some of the guys were looking at each other like ‘what are we watching here?’
Casspi was impressive, just like he’s been everywhere he’s gone. He plays hard, competes. He hit tough shots. Step-backs, runners. Then he missed some wide open J’s—go figure. He hits the toughest shots, but can’t always make the easiest ones. He looked like he could be a great complementary player in a 5 on 5. Definitely an atypical player for a European. “
Toughness is something that the Nets frontcourt (besides Brook) lacks, so I am all for someone who likes to bang inside.
Some More Casspi News
Jun 10, 2009 2009 Draft, 2009 Offseason, Omri Casspi, Rumors
I got an e-mail yesterday from Yaniv Orgad of Haaretz Sports wondering about Omri Casspi’s situation and if I knew whether or not the Nets were going to draft him. Now even with my big ESPN title (ok fine, not so big), I still have no clue. However, Yaniv included a link to an article from Haaretz, and it had an interesting excerpt:
Omri Casspi is just one of 36 players invited to tryouts this weekend with the New Jersey Nets, a senior executive said yesterday. Gary Sussman, the team’s vice president of public relations, would not comment on the Israeli’s chances to be chosen by New Jersey, which has the 11th overall pick in the upcoming NBA draft’s first round. But he did say Casspi made an impression on Rod Thorn, the Nets’ president, who watched him in camp in Chicago. He added that New Jersey would probably invite him to a personal tryout next Tuesday.
I can’t tell from the article if the workout happened yesterday or if it will be happening next Tuesday (I am guessing it happened yesterday), but this is real interesting. When I talked about this a little while ago, I was talking about a group work-out. Now, he is getting an individual one. What does this mean? Well a couple things (remember, this is only 1 blogger’s speculation).
- Thorn has got a trade completed that has us drafting late in the first round, but it all hinges on whether or not Casspi impresses everyone at his work-out. If Casspi doesn’t impress, we won’t go through the deal.
- We have a trade done that has us drafting later in the first round and haven’t announced it yet and now we are working out guys who are late round projections.
This can be all wrong, but really who knows? This could even have something to do with that Carlos Boozer sign and trade (probably not though – I still don’t think it will happen).