Nets Are Scorching

Obviously, this is a New Jersey Nets blog, however, the NAS crew absolutely love the NBA in general. So, every week, Mark, Devin, Evan, Justin, Danny, and myself will answer questions regarding the L.

1) Carmelo Anthony rumors are brewing again and this time, it’s alleged that the New York Knicks have skipped over the New Jersey Nets as the favorites.  They’d give up Danilo Gallinari and/or Anthony Randolph, Eddy Curry’s expiring contract, and trade Wilson Chandler for a first round pick to give to the Nuggets.  How would this affect the Knicks?

Mark: It would certainly bring a lot of attention back to the Garden, and my guess is Chris Paul would soon be pining to play there too, though I don’t know how the Knicks could acquire him with a now bare pantry.  Personally, unless the Nets totally back out, I don’t see ‘Melo going to the Knicks. The Nets could top their best offer and still have assets leftover to try and get one more player.

Devin: It would make them more appealing, definitely. Carmelo is a spotlight kind of guy, and pairing him with Amar’e at the Garden would make James Dolan a lot of money and at least get them from the 7th-seed range where they are now up to the 4th-5th. They’d still need one more piece (like Chris Paul, for instance) to really compete with the biggest and baddest of the NBA, but it would be a step for them – and while losing The Rooster and Wilson Chandler would hurt, Carmelo is a pretty worthwhile prize.

Evan: Over the last 48 hours the Carmelo Anthony rumors have once again heated up, and it now seems as though the likely destination for ‘Melo will be either New York or New Jersey. There is no doubt that he wants to play in this area, and while he initially didn’t seem to want to be in Jersey, he may have changed his mind on the Garden State and the Nets. If this proposed deal between the Nuggets and Knicks went through, the Nets’ biggest rival would immediately become a playoff team.  Raymond Felton, Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo would be quite a nucleus and as much as I hate to say it, the Knicks would once again be very relevant. That’s why I think the Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes are very important in terms of the pecking order between the Knicks and Nets. Don’t get me wrong, the Nets should not overpay just to get him and need to make a smart deal, but if they were able to get ‘Melo and keep him away from the Knicks, that would greatly help their standing in the tri-state area.

Justin: While I don’t give much weight to the allegations of the Knicks being the new frontrunners, not with the latest reports out at least, let’s live in hypothetical world for a moment and say this trade does indeed go through. First of all, that and/or is a big factor in this deal. If its Gallinari or Randolph, whichever one of those two remains would give the Knicks Stoudemire, Carmelo and either Gallinari or Randolph which to me would be an improvement upon what the Knicks have now and would certainly put them in the middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference. If the trade becomes Gallinari and Randolph, well now you’re losing two of big time talents and the team is going to have to very heavily rely on the talents of Stoudemire and Melo as what would be left on the Knicks roster would be a collection of role players. The big key here in my opinion is Gallinari. I think he’s already a good player and has the potential of being a multi time all-star. If the Knicks can somehow swing a deal for Anthony and still manage to keep Gallinari, they would have a nice roster. As far as the other stuff goes, the draft picks, cap space, even a young asset like Wilson Chandler, to me don’t matter. The Knicks are not a team that is going to attempt to rebuild through the draft anyway. Making this deal would then put them in great position to make a serious run at Chris Paul. Now, before I get sick to my stomach let’s come back out of hypothetical world, and let’s trust the latest reports from David Aldridge and Chris Broussard who both report the Nets are still the front runners for Anthony and not the Knicks.

Danny: While it seems to me that the Nets still have the lead in the Carmelo Anthony deliberations, if the Knicks had to give up Gallinari, Randolph, Chandler, and a first-round pick to get him, it wouldn’t put them any better than fifth in the Eastern Conference. While they would be immensely talented and entertaining at the forward spots with him and Amar’e Stoudemire, and decent at point guard with Raymond Felton, they’d be bare at the pother two positions — save the development of Timofey Mozgov into a legitimate NBA center. Even if everything went great, they’d still finish behind the Heat, Celtics, Magic, and Bulls. Read more…

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.