The move from Newark to Brooklyn will surely help the Nets a lot. Think of the free agents they could have wooed to come play for them if the fact that they had to live in or around Newark wasn’t there. Now they are in the Big Apple, but next season’s NBA odds for the Nets are looking cloudy.
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I received a guest posting from Dave Thomas on the state of the lowly, putrid New Jersey Nets. Check it out..
With the trade deadline just eight days away, the Knicks and Nets must address their weaknesses and determine what fixes can be made right now. For the Knicks, they’ve uncovered Lin-Sanity and signed J.R. Smith this season. For the Nets, the re-signed Kris Humphries, but really haven’t done much else. With the trade deadline quickly approaching, here are the key weaknesses (and appropriately solutions) for each club.
AP Photo
Nets’ guard Deron Williams scored 57 points, setting a franchise record (and 2011-12 Regular Season record) in the Nets’ 104-101 win against the Charlotte Bobcats. Amazingly enough, 40 of his 57 came in the second half of play. Williams took over in the third quarter when center, Brook Lopez left with an ankle sprain. Williams scored 18 straight points and was able to routinely create his own offense.
AP Photo
With this performance, Williams is receiving national attention and more importantly–the attention of seven-footer in Orlando. It’s no secret that Howard and Williams would like to play together next season. Performances like this one will go a long way in making that happen. However for Net fans, this duo may not play in Brooklyn. The Nets have until March 15th in order to make a deal for Howard. With Lopez rolling his ankle (and needing subsequent X-Rays), the outlook doesn’t appear too bright for the Nets. Many do not think the Nets will be able lure Howard to Brooklyn this summer as a free agent. Their biggest competition will come from the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavericks have the cap space, superstar appeal, and owner to create a ‘Texas-sized’ Big 3, and the Nets may be left holding the bag this summer.
All-Star Weekend is here. Needless to say, this shortened NBA season has been fast-faced and full of drama. The Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder sit atop their respective conferences while the New York Knicks (17-18) have one of this season’s best stories. On the other side of town, the New Jersey Nets (10-25) have dealt with injuires, Dwight Howard trade rumors, and speculation about the future of Deron Williams.
With both teams expecting to rebound in the second half, here are first half grades for both teams.
Lin is Lin--AP Photo
Well, not as bad as the winless Washington Wizards, but they are pretty bad.
After last night’s home loss to the Atlanta Hawks, the Nets fell to deplorable 2-8 on the season. The Nets are the third worst scoring team (85.5 PPG) and and give up the eighth most points (96.7 PPG). The Nets are led by an increasingly uninterested, free agent-to-be, Deron Williams and Kris ‘Kardashian’ Humphries, who has his share of non-basketball related issues. Center Brook Lopez broke his foot during the regular season and is months away from returning to action.
A season filled with a lot of hope, Dwight Howard dreams, and their Brooklyn bound move, has turned into a cluster-you-know-what of a situation. Forget about Dwight Howard wearing a Net uniform, prepare to lose both Williams and Humphries to free agency. MarShon Brooks has been a nice surprise, but does Net ownership want him to be their cornerstone as they move into Brooklyn?
Things aren’t going to get easier for the Nets. They start a four-game road trip in Denver on Wednesday. They will make stops in Phoenix, Utah, and Los Angeles before coming home. Things just got a whole lot more difficult for the Nets.
After being spurned by Carmelo Anthony, the Nets wasted little time, trading for All-Star point guard, Deron Williams. The Nets will send rookie forward, Derrick Favors, point guard Devin Harris, and two first round picks to Utah. Williams, who was a member of the Utah Jazz for the last six seasons, is averaging 21.3 points per game and 9.7 assists per game.
Some outlets are reporting that Williams is completely unhappy with the trade and will not sign an extension in the future. Williams has two years remaining on his contract and has implied that he would like to join Amare and Carmelo in the Garden.
It’s not surprising to see Williams get dealt after his altercation with head coach, Jerry Sloan two weeks ago. Sloan is apparently going to return to the bench next season so the deal makes sense.
After his meeting with Carmelo Anthony on Saturday night in Los Angeles, Nets owner Mikhali Prokorov said,
“I think we made a very good tactical decision to force [the] Knicks to pay as much as they can,” Prokhorov told CNBC.com. “So it’s very good, it’s very interesting, it’s very competitive.”
If that doesn’t scream, ‘We Lost’, then I don’t know what does.
In addition to Prokorov comments, a source stated that the Knicks will not budge on their offer for Anthony. Thankfully, we only have to endure four more days of this before the deadline.
One key piece that I think a lot of Knick fans fail to realize is the Collective Bargaining Agreement in the NBA expires on June 30th. We’ve already begun to see how labor uncertainty is impacting the NFL and prospective free agents. The owners have been demanding larger revenue shares with numerous modifications to the current agreement. In the NBA, there have been rumblings that the owners want to institute a franchise tag similar to the one used by the NFL. A franchise tag is device that a team can use to retain a player who is set to hit free agency. The team promises to pay that player 120% of his prior year salary for one season only.
If the owners get their wish and the Nuggets do not trade Carmelo Anthony before Thursday, they can slap the franchise tag on him for 2012. This fact alone gives the Nuggets a lot of leverage in their negotiations with any prospective Carmelo suitor. Granted, it won’t be a huge benefit for the Nuggets to keep a disgruntled Carmelo in Denver for another season, but it also proves that they shouldn’t accept less than a king’s ransom for him.
The Knicks have less than 96 hours to make a deal before labor uncertainty has the final say on Carmelo’s future.
Is the Melo-Drama almost over?
A source is reporting that the 17-40 Nets and the Nuggets have reached a tenative agreement on a multiple-player deal involving Carmelo Anthony. According to the report, the following players will be swapped:
The Nets receive: Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Sheldon Williams, Melvin Ely, and Renaldo Balkman
The Nuggets receive: Derrick Favors, Devin Harris, Troy Murphy, Ben Uzoh, and four future first round draft picks.
The deal is contingent upon Anthony agreeing to a three-year, $65 million extension with the Nets. Owner Mikhail Prokhorov and minor owner, Jay-Z will sit down with Anthony during All-Star weekend this weekend in LA in an attempt to persuade Anthony to sign off on the contract. If Anthony signs the extension, the Nets will start this lineup on a nightly basis:
PG- Chauncey Billups
SG- Anthony Morrow
SF- Travis Outlaw
PF- Carmelo Anthony
C- Brook Lopez
Anthony has already spurned the Nets once and I can definitely see him doing it again. The Nets are giving up an absolute haul for Anthony, so it’ll be interesting to see how this situation plays out in the coming days.
Do you think Carmelo will sign the extension to play for New Jersey?
