RealGM

Well the way we've been playing lately has put us at a crossroads. We are 6 games out of the playoffs and have the 6th worst record in the league. WAS and TOR are just 1 and 2 games behind us respectively.

I ask where do want to see the Nets end up when the season is said and done. This is our last season to add a sure top talent. I think you can see that with the way this team has been playing we are heading in the right direction away from the bottom dwellers. I'd like to see us land the pick for this last season since I know we aren't making any playoff noise. Let us add one more piece to this puzzle before we start shooting for the playoffs. I hate losing but sometimes it's for the best and to go on a worthless run in the second half of a lost season could cripple our future. We don't need any late lotto picks on this team we have enough role players, we need an impact player and that can only be found near the top of a weak draft.

We started rebuilding this team and have made the fans suffer for two years watching terrible teams now you want to take our suffering and not reward us with a potential star. Instead you push us towards the playoffs with false hope. Add your top 5 talent, make a trade for a struggling player (OJ Mayo) and make a push for some young talent on the FA market (Chandler/Green/Melo) and then play your hearts out next season when we will be looking to making some noise before we make our splash in Brooklyn.

This plan was set in motion after we lost out on the 2010 FA's and now everything is being screwed up. We can't even lose correctly.

I've never been one to root against my team but when it benefits their future, I'll do whats best for my team. Sorry for the long read.

I basically agree with most of your points. One caveat - I would not tank games and I would try to win. The lottery is too unstable and unless we are trying to lose games we won't crack the bottom 5 (CLE, MIN, TOR, SAC, WAS). IMO it makes very little difference whether you enter the lottery as the 6th worst team or the 10th.

So anyways, I guess the simplest way to explain what I want the rest of the season, is like this. I want to win as many games possible without violating the conditions below. I believe winning games means that Favors, Lopez, Harris, and the rest of the crew will look that much better. That can mean anything from appealing to free agents, to furthering player development, to increasing trade values.

With that said, I would not try to win games at the expense of-

1- Adding Salary for next season
2- Sacrificing Draft picks

There are a few exceptions I'd make for young players like Mayo and the obvious exception for Melo if Denver comes crawling back.

Lastly 1 move I would be tempted to make would be trading Humphries for a top 20 first round pick. I think that there are teams in the playoff hunt/on the periphery of the playoff hunt who would trade for him as either a "dirty work" kind of player or as a big man off the bench. Maybe even a potential lottery team like Milwaukee would make some sense. Anyways, IMO Hump is not going to be worth the $20 mil he'll likely get on his next contract and with Favors here I would rather sell high.

It's a flat out EASY decision for the Nets to make this season.

Take it from my boy Herm: THE NETS SHOULD PLAY TO WIN THE GAME.

I know a lot of people drool over some of the kids at the top of the lotto, but none of them really WOW me that much to tell you the truth. Going into this season I thought we'd improve and wind up picking between 6 and 12 which I'm fine with. The thing is, with our assets, if we are completely sold on a player the will go earlier, we can go get him. Because of that, I would rather have our guys play tough the rest of the season and see how it all pans out. Remember we can't win to save our lives on the road so I think we may have a shot at the #8 seed in the East, but still will be unlikely.

One thing to note too is that we're kind of a rag tag group right now with some up and coming kids. If we pushed in the 2nd half of the season and squeezed our way into the #8 seed, I think that puts us in a good position this summer for free agency to tell you the truth. It shows we improved and just need a couple other pieces, but this team is capable of grinding out wins.

I know some have the sparkle in their eyes of sucking and getting a shot at Sullinger or Irving, but that doesn't interest me. I want to see progression. End of story! I'd rather push for the #8 and miss than go through the misery of all those losses again like last year. If the NBA draft wasn't a lottery, I'd be more ok with tanking, but after last year falling to the 3 seed, I'd rather focus on wins than focusing on a player (see: John Wall) that may or may not end up on our team.

^^I listen to him

Netaman wrote:IMO it makes very little difference whether you enter the lottery as the 6th worst team or the 10th.

There is no opinion to be had here, you're exceptionally wrong, it's all...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycJ5m5Mt9JE[/youtube]

Playoffs no doubt.


Playoff experience + winning mentality > an unproven rookie.

Preludepunk27 wrote:It's a flat out EASY decision for the Nets to make this season.

Take it from my boy Herm: THE NETS SHOULD PLAY TO WIN THE GAME.

I know this is just a humorous and useful cliche, but Herm is unemployed and there isn't much similarity between football and the NBA anyway.

Totally different way of building a team in football, you can completely reinvent yourself on the fly at the drop of a hat every single offseason and there is absolute and true parity.

I know a lot of people drool over some of the kids at the top of the lotto, but none of them really WOW me that much to tell you the truth.

Yeah, well that's great and all, but both you and me were drooling over Turner and he hasn't exactly lived up to the hype, I hated Brook Lopez and Russell Westbrook going into the draft and all the critics and experts thought Brandon Roy would be a nice role player.

You personally, or any of us not being "wowed" by any of these prospects is not a smart excuse to reason that the later lotto picks are as valuable as the top ones, whether as a potential big time player, or the often overlooked trade value.

Answer me this, would the Celtics have been able to acquire Ray Allen for the 12th overall pick in place of the 5th overall pick?

Going into this season I thought we'd improve and wind up picking between 6 and 12 which I'm fine with. The thing is, with our assets, if we are completely sold on a player the will go earlier, we can go get him.

I'm sorry dude, I don't mean to go off on you or anything, but this is just nonsense.
Wait, I mean pure bull ****.

Basically you're saying that if we really wanted say, Kyrie Irving, or Jordan Hamilton and both are slotted to go, say, 1st and 4th overall, that we can just throw a bunch of later, future picks at whatever team is slotted to pick there combined with our 12th overall pick, make a 8 or 11 pick jump into an elite area of a draft that probably levels off around pick 7 or 8 and land our franchise guy?

Come on dog, let's be real here. This type of thing just doesn't happen. Teams with super high lotto picks are not in the business of trading said pick for a bunch of garbage and a MUCH later lotto pick, unless you're Isiah Thomas or Ernie Grunfeld, who has probably learned his lesson at this point anyway.

Because of that, I would rather have our guys play tough the rest of the season and see how it all pans out. Remember we can't win to save our lives on the road so I think we may have a shot at the #8 seed in the East, but still will be unlikely.

I know we're only 6 games back in the standings, but let's keep it real.
We're 19 GAMES below .500 right now.
The current 8 seed Charlotte is "only" 7 games below .500.
There are 33 games left on our schedule.
Let's just assume it takes a measly 37 wins to get in this year(I think a very realistic #), that would mean we would still have to go 22 and 11 the rest of the way out.
That's on pace for a mid 50's win season.
It's not impossible, but neither is me becoming friends with benefits with Jenna Fischer.

One thing to note too is that we're kind of a rag tag group right now with some up and coming kids. If we pushed in the 2nd half of the season and squeezed our way into the #8 seed, I think that puts us in a good position this summer for free agency to tell you the truth. It shows we improved and just need a couple other pieces, but this team is capable of grinding out wins.

Where it puts us is into Baby Bulls territory and we get to sign this year's Ben Wallace, while Melo still decides on the Knix if he makes it to free agency.

I know some have the sparkle in their eyes of sucking and getting a shot at Sullinger or Irving, but that doesn't interest me. I want to see progression. End of story! I'd rather push for the #8 and miss than go through the misery of all those losses again like last year.

We've already passed the misery of last season and if it wasn't for the "Melodrama", who knows how this team would have played from the jump?
And you know what happens when we make that push now and miss?
We wind up with 34 wins and Terrence Williams instead of Steph Curry, James Harden or even Blake Griffin.
But, "Yay! Progression! You've got mail!"

If the NBA draft wasn't a lottery, I'd be more ok with tanking, but after last year falling to the 3 seed, I'd rather focus on wins than focusing on a player (see: John Wall) that may or may not end up on our team.

Again, you know you're my boy Lude and I don't mean to be a dick, but this is where people show they're ignorance to the process.
Yes it's a lottery, but this isn't the Mega Millions.
This is a raffle.
Sure anyone can win, but the guy who buys 140 tickets has a much better chance then the guy who bought 6, or even then the guy who paid for 37.

And what was so bad about landing the 3rd pick?

We got who I feel is the 2nd best prospect out of that respective draft, who could honestly become the best player out of the draft and guess what? He was enormous trade value to boot.

Listen, I loved Turner too and I really thought he was the next Brandon Roy waiting to happen, but even this early, I think it's safe to say he isn't.

So that 3rd pick looks better then the 2nd.

And would you rather have say, Greg Monroe or Ekpe Udoh right now?

Another point must be made that if we wind up with say the 5th worst record, it means we couldn't land further then the 8th pick as well.

I really don't want to tank, if it came off like that sorry. I do want to win some games, but we need to go the youth route here. If we make a push and miss the playoffs and land the 11th pick I would really feel like this season couldn't have been anymore disappointing.

I mean let the kids play more which will ultimately lead to some growing pains. Let Favors and James get some crunch time burn. Lets see what we have in Uzoh. Limit Lopez/Harris minutes no need to push him 40 min a night get them down to 30-32 ish.

Thats not tanking but playing for the future.

624 wrote:Playoffs no doubt.


Playoff experience + winning mentality > an unproven rookie.

You're right, the Thunder should have traded for Jamal Crawford and Udonis Haslem in 08 and made a push for the 8th seed instead of winding up with Russell Westbrook and then James Harden.

Playoff sacrificial lamb sweep and 37 wins is much better then a franchise player level stud who has a chance at being a perennial top 10 player or the ability to trade for that type of player by using the top draft pick you would have had.

Let's go trade for AK47 or Tayshaun Prince and Zach Randolph!
Come on guys the playoffs for one season are so exciting!
Especially being swept in 4 straight 20 point blowouts to the Heat or Celtics!
That'll build confidence and morph our guys into superstar!
It's so worth being the Knix whipping boy for the entirety of Amar'e's contract!


And I need to say, if we overachieve and get in, eh, it is what it is, you have to enjoy it as a fan, but to hope to just win as many games as possible during an obviously lost season with only 33 games left?
I cram to understand the mentality and I hate watching losses as much as all of you.

Rockice_8 wrote:I really don't want to tank, if it came off like that sorry. I do want to win some games, but we need to go the youth route here. If we make a push and miss the playoffs and land the 11th pick I would really feel like this season couldn't have been anymore disappointing.

I mean let the kids play more which will ultimately lead to some growing pains. Let Favors and James get some crunch time burn. Lets see what we have in Uzoh. Limit Lopez/Harris minutes no need to push him 40 min a night get them down to 30-32 ish.

Thats not tanking but playing for the future.

Thank you.

Well said!

^^^Yea I want see more Farmar and Uzoh.Forget Brook give me some more Petro!!!

I'm down for letting Favors and James get more playing time but Uzoh really??

Brook
Favors
D.james
Morrow
Devin

^^^I have no problem with these guys getting the majority of the minutes.If Devin and Brook are only playing 30 min a game then thats called tanking in my book.I'm not trying to develop Petro and Uzoh they can kick rocks.

Yeah, Petro, meh, but his point stands, no reason to overwork Brook during a lost season.

But Uzoh, he sucks. I can't stand watching him bring the ball over the time line with his small forward level handle and then dribble the air out of it until there's 7 on the shot clock, then drive straight toward 3 defenders and either turn it over or make a horrible "pass" to someone outside so they can jack up a contested 20 foot 2 pointer at the buzzer.

stevieboy wrote:I'm down for letting Favors and James get more playing time but Uzoh really??

Brook
Favors
D.james
Morrow
Devin

^^^I have no problem with these guys getting the majority of the minutes.If Devin and Brook are only playing 30 min a game then thats called tanking in my book.I'm not trying to develop Petro and Uzoh they can kick rocks.

Why not Uzoh he could be a solid contributor. We won't know unless he plays. He has good size and could be a nice bench player. With Farmar out he should be seeing major minutes right now. Everyone including Petro and Outlaw (not the expiring players) should be evaluated these guys have contracts beyond this year and they should be evaluated properly to see if they deserve minutes beyond this year.

Uzoh is **** garbage, I never understood why we inked him in the first place.

vincecarter4pres wrote:Uzoh is **** garbage, I never understood why we inked him in the first place.

There's nobody else right now.

vincecarter4pres wrote:

624 wrote:Playoffs no doubt.


Playoff experience + winning mentality > an unproven rookie.

You're right, the Thunder should have traded for Jamal Crawford and Udonis Haslem in 08 and made a push for the 8th seed instead of winding up with Russell Westbrook and then James Harden.

hindsight is always 20-20 but i get what your saying. but im still not understanding your lovefest with james harden... for a #3 pick he really isnt anything special and you put him in the same conversation as blake griffin.

everyone knows that the draft is a huge gamble and its extremely tough to choose the right guy thats gonna become the next top contributor for a team. just look at how many top 3 picks have fizzled (swift, kwame, olowokandi, joe smith, darko, lafrentz, miles, morrison, thabeet etc etc) theres been tons of top 3's that blow. reminder kobe went 13th.

and when you put it like were 19 games under .500 and the bobcats are 7 it makes it seems insurmountable but a 6.5 game back distance is not insurmountable... u can call bs all you want but best case scenario they go 13-22 and we go 20-13 is kinda realistic since we played most of our toughest games on our schedule already... just puttin in my 2c

First off I would like to apologize if I came off like a dick, again.

I reread my posts and I see I did.

But anywho, I wasn't trying to put Harden in the same category as Griffin, although I'm still really high on Harden they obviously aren't in the same tier at all.

I was just pointing out a guy like Harden, he would have been the starting 2 guard on this team and would probably(just my opinion) be putting up big numbers and supplying wins to this team, while T Will was unceremoniously jettisoned from this team for a heavily protected draft pick and although I still believe he has sizable upside, he's basically rotting on a bench in Houston behind some pretty average young wings.

I know the draft is far from certain and there have been close to as many busts or role players that have come out of top 3 picks, but right now, if this team doesn't make a huge trade by maybe draft night, we desperately need at least that shot at a star player to add to this core.

At least one last shot, you know. I mean after that, hopefully we'll have a true 3 man youth core to go with and at that point you make trades for the semi-star, top dog role players and make a push and just hope your core develops into a contender.

Again though, if we do make a push as is, even though I'll be disappointed in a sense by losing out on that top pick, I'm still gonna love the moment as a fan.
But at the same time I just can't see any benefit in adding expiring or even long contract, overpaid, glorified role players just to make some push to help Proky look smart to the casual or success starved fans.

Just be patient for the rest of this season would be my reasoning and enjoy the currently enhanced play of this team as is and what maybe will be and then we go from there in the offseason. This is all moot though, because we don't play the games nor make the decisions, but in the name of spitballing, which is what we're all here to do, that is my view.
That's all.

Everyone here knows that I tend to lean towards the side of tanking, but as much as getting another crack at a high ping pong ball, I say we are close to getting into the playoffs to not try to get it done.

Here are some of my reasons to go for the playoffs.
1) We have Favors and Lopez. We have two hard positions to fill filled with two young players that can go with the organization.
2) The sooner these young guys get a feel for the playoffs the better.
3) With all these draft picks, we can easily move up the draft by trading our picks and getting more picks for Cash.
4) Do you really want to see the Knicks in the Playoffs and the Nets not in it? I really dont think i would be able to deal with that personally. They Suck.
5) I have money on the Nets making the playoffs. Yeah it was a risky bet but it is still possible.

yea vc4p i see your points and their all valid i just tend to err on the side of optimism... especially the way we've been playing the last 2 weeks. however, to revisit someone elses point earlier in the thread... we really do have assets to move up in the lottery on draft night. u tell me a team wouldnt take a top 20 and a top 10 pick plus maybe damion james for a top 5 pick... a young team rebuilding would jump on that IMO