Post#304 » by jerseyjac » Sat Feb 27, 2010 2:18 pm
Nets stand pat
Already owning about $23 million in salary-cap space for this summer’s free-agent market, the New Jersey Nets could have tried to clear another $5 million before the trade deadline to give them enough room to sign two max-level players. But with a few talented young players, along with some draft picks to dangle, the Nets didn’t find a deal to their liking.
“We had talks with several teams, but we never came close to completing anything,” Nets president Rod Thorn said. “The free-agency market has changed because you have seven teams with $15 million or more under the salary cap. There are a lot of teams who, at least in theory, could sign a max free agent.”
Thorn said most of the teams talking to the Nets were focused on acquiring center Brook Lopez(notes) or guards Devin Harris(notes) and Courtney Lee(notes). Thorn considers all three to be key pieces of the Nets’ future – regardless of whether Thorn is around to call the shots after the team’s sale is completed. The New York Knicks, meanwhile, made deals to allow them to potentially sign two top-tier free agents.
“If we would have made a trade, we would have had to get rid of a real good player in order to get down to where the Knicks got where you have at least the possibility of signing two players,” Thorn said. “They gave up a lot to get there. Just because you get there doesn’t mean you’re going to sign people under the salary cap. You’ve got to look at the environment and try to make the most rational decision you can.
“But to me, for us to give up a real good player, in order to have the ability to sign two guys is not the way to go. Who says we are going to get a player as good as the one we have to give up? We’ve got to look at our roster now that we’ve played virtually three-fourths of the year. Lopez, Harris and Lee are players that just stood out to us over the course of the year, guys who can be on a rotation on a good team and are all relatively young.”
via yahoo.com
