New Jersey Nets 2008-2009: The Rebuilding Period Begins

[netsforever]

After getting frustrated with some of these ridiculous and over-played trade ideas (see: JO, Wilcox, Kidd at the MLE)... decided to construct what I would do as the GM of this team.

Free Agency:
Resign Nenad
Attempt to resign Nachbar - but will get overbid by some Western Contender - he'd fit in well with a Phoenix or a Dallas.

NJ In:
Shane Battier
Luis Scola
Bobby Jackson

Houston In:
Vince Carter
Trenton Hassell

Why for us?

We drop Carter's contract, and pick up a HUGE trade chip in Battier. Bobby Jackson is off the books after 08/09. Luis Scola has game.

Why for Houston?
Rockets decide to make the big trade, combining TMac/VC/Yao for a 2-3 year period to try to move up in the West. They've tried winning with their current group, it hasn't worked, time to retool. Trenton Hassell provides savvy defense and playoff experience.

Our roster post trade:
Nenad / Boone
Williams / Scola / Swift
Battier / Ager
RJ / Jackson
Harris / Williams

Trade 2:
NJ In:
Leandro Barbosa

Phoenix In:
Shane Battier

Why for us:
Like it or not, the NBA is now designed so that speed and perimeter shooting are keys to a team's success. Part of our problems in the late part of the Kidd era stemmed from that. While still talented, Kidd could no longer defend the quicker 1s, and the Tony Parkers of the league repeatedly burned us. Our acquisition of Devin Harris was a sign that Thorn understands that. So, we bring in Barbosa, a guard nearly as fast up and down the floor as a Kerry Kittles, who's an even better three point shooter.

Why for them:
Phoenix's main issue after the Shaq trade was a contradiction of styles. Phoenix is no longer the fast breaking, 7 seconds or less for a shot team that we all knew and loved. Rather, they are a slow, deliberate unit with not one but TWO talented low post players. Phoenix would be better served by transitioning to role players with that type of game. Leandro Barbosa is an prime example of this. Barbosa saw his numbers drop drastically after the Shaq trade - going from a 46-47% shooter putting up between 16-17 points a night to a 44% shooter averaging 13 a game.
Shane Battier is the perfect player for the new Phoenix Suns - giving them an additional defensive stopper in the backcourt who can also drain threes, opening up things inside for Shaq and Amare.

Phoenix now has a well balanced team.
Shaq
Amare
Battier
Bell
Nash

Two low post scorers, two excellent three point shooters and defenders on the perimeter, and Steve Nash at the point to make it all work.

Our roster post trades / without our draft picks added:

C: Nenad Krstic / Josh Boone
PF: Luis Scola / Sean Williams / Stromile Swift
SF: Richard Jefferson / Maurice Ager
SG: Leandro Barbosa / Bobby Jackson
PG: Devin Harris / Marcus Williams

Thoughts?

[Serpo]

The Nets won't trade Vince and you know that .

And i don't like Barbosa at all , he's not more then a 6th man and never will.

[Da big3]

we cant trade a superstar for a role player.........

[deviljets7]

The Nets won't trade Vince and you know that .

And i don't like Barbosa at all , he's not more then a 6th man and never will.

Maybe it's because of the incompetence the Nets have had on the bench for years, but I think talking about Barbosa as only a "6th man" is greatly underrating the impact a guy like him and similar players can have on a team.

Starter or not (and he would start for most teams), Barbosa is a guy that would play at least 30 minutes a night and would be the best outside shooter on this team (including Carter).

Thorn may be saying all the right things about Carter to the media, but if he could get this package for Carter, I think he'd do it in an instant.

[vincecarter4pres]

-= original quote snipped =-



Maybe it's because of the incompetence the Nets have had on the bench for years, but I think talking about Barbosa as only a "6th man" is greatly underrating the impact a guy like him and similar players can have on a team.

Starter or not (and he would start for most teams), Barbosa is a guy that would play at least 30 minutes a night and would be the best outside shooter on this team (including Carter).

Thorn may be saying all the right things about Carter to the media, but if he could get this package for Carter, I think he'd do it in an instant.

I love it!

You guys balked at the idea of getting Ben Gordon as a starter, and now everyone wants Barbosa!

Stop.

You cannot start Barbosa and Harris, it is just too small a lineup period.

And Barbosa is an impact player, but what Carter isn't?!

I don't even think Houston does this deal either.
They would probrbaly love pairing Tmac, Yao and Carter, but for their best defensive player who is one of the best defenders in the league and one of their most important big men, Scola?

And if Barbosa is so good why does Phoenix trade him so easily?!
Because most teams would rather have Battier.

Stupid 2nd trade.

1st one is decent, but only if you were gonna move RJ for a star 2 guard, which kinda kills this whole concept.

This is not a rebuilding trade, and you are trying to make it look like such.

Just dumb.

[MrDollarBills]

A Harris/Barbosa backcourt would work great if this were a midget league

[S.I.C. GM]

Yeah he is the sixth man on the Suns but the guy would be starting for us.

The funny thing Harris used to come off the bench too. Ginobli comes off the bench too when he should be starting. I think people here havent seen this guy play much.

Anyway here are Barbosa's stats this year being the 4 offensive option:

Leandro Barbosa
Games 82
Minutes 29:30
FGM 5.8 FGA 12.5 FG% 46.2
3PTA 2.0 3PT 5.2 3PT% 38.9
FTA 2.1 FTM 2.6 FT% 82.2
Rbs 2.8
Ast 2.6
TO 1.4
Stl 0.9
PPG 15.7

[netsforever]

The Nets won't trade Vince and you know that .

And i don't like Barbosa at all , he's not more then a 6th man and never will.

I think that the Nets would move Vince with the right offer.

Barbosa would be a starter on most teams in this league. He's much more talented than you're giving him credit for.

[netsforever]

I love it!

You guys balked at the idea of getting Ben Gordon as a starter, and now everyone wants Barbosa!

Stop.

You cannot start Barbosa and Harris, it is just too small a lineup period.

Barbosa is between 6"5 and 6"6. Gordon, I believe, is between 6"2 and 6"3. Different players. Is it any smaller than Golden State's Davis and Ellis? Harris, I believe, correct me if I'm wrong - is like 6"3/6"4. I don't think the size is a big issue. The guys who are going to kill us against this lineup - the Kobes, TMac, LeBrons - kill us anyway.

And Barbosa is an impact player, but what Carter isn't?!

Carter is absolutely an impact player. However, he's overpaid, unmotivated, and basically not the guy I want as my #1 player. I'd rather give RJ a chance to run his own team, and build around him, Harris, our draft picks and young big men.

I don't even think Houston does this deal either.
They would probrbaly love pairing Tmac, Yao and Carter, but for their best defensive player who is one of the best defenders in the league and one of their most important big men, Scola?

It's entirely possible that Houston doesn't do this trade. No question there - I'm making some leaps in this proposal.

And if Barbosa is so good why does Phoenix trade him so easily?!
Because most teams would rather have Battier.

See my thinking of Phoenix's pace - a guy like Barbosa is much less valuable to a Phoenix team who now plays in the half-court. Barbosa's game isn't well-suited to that style. Battier's is.

Stupid 2nd trade.

1st one is decent, but only if you were gonna move RJ for a star 2 guard, which kinda kills this whole concept.

Right. Because our pairing of RJ with a star 2 guard has worked SO well so far.

This is not a rebuilding trade, and you are trying to make it look like such.

Really? Would you rather be paying Carter 48 million over 3, or Barbosa 19 over 3? Paying Hassell 9 million over 2 years, or paying Scola 6 million over 2? Jackson's contract expires in 2009.

After this deal, assuming that we resign Devin Harris, we have these guys under contract going into the 09/10 season:

RJ - 13.2 million
Harris - somewhere between 8 and 9 million, I'd guess
Sean Williams - 1.6 million
Marcus Williams - 2 million
Barbosa - 6.6 million
Scola - 3 million
Boone - 2 million
Ager - 1.8 million

37 million before our draft picks. Sounds like enough cap space to do some damage that summer to me.

Just dumb.

Yeah? Why don't you do something better?

[/b]

[MrDollarBills]

The only people on this team that are overpaid are Richard Jefferson and Lawrence Frank.

[netsforever]

The only people on this team that are overpaid are Richard Jefferson and Lawrence Frank.

RJ isn't that overpaid. Mimimum wage might be overpaid for Frank.

[deviljets7]

-= original quote snipped =-



Maybe it's because of the incompetence the Nets have had on the bench for years, but I think talking about Barbosa as only a "6th man" is greatly underrating the impact a guy like him and similar players can have on a team.

Starter or not (and he would start for most teams), Barbosa is a guy that would play at least 30 minutes a night and would be the best outside shooter on this team (including Carter).

Thorn may be saying all the right things about Carter to the media, but if he could get this package for Carter, I think he'd do it in an instant.

I love it!

You guys balked at the idea of getting Ben Gordon as a starter, and now everyone wants Barbosa!

Stop.

You cannot start Barbosa and Harris, it is just too small a lineup period.

And Barbosa is an impact player, but what Carter isn't?!

I don't even think Houston does this deal either.
They would probrbaly love pairing Tmac, Yao and Carter, but for their best defensive player who is one of the best defenders in the league and one of their most important big men, Scola?

And if Barbosa is so good why does Phoenix trade him so easily?!
Because most teams would rather have Battier.

Stupid 2nd trade.

1st one is decent, but only if you were gonna move RJ for a star 2 guard, which kinda kills this whole concept.

This is not a rebuilding trade, and you are trying to make it look like such.

Just dumb.

If we're going to start making general statements, let it be known that I like Gordon. However, there is a major difference in money between the Barbosa stuff now and the Ben Gordon stuff from last year.

Barbosa is locked up for the next 4 years at $27 million. Gordon reportedly declined $50 million over 5 years. In addition, in all of the Gordon rumors/proposals, the Nets were also taking the corpse of Ben Wallace off the Bulls' hands. To ignore those factors is just ignorant.

Also, no one ever criticized Carter in this thread. I know he's your boy, but he doesn't need you to go on the rampage when someone has the nerve to suggest trading him.

[S.I.C. GM]

-= original quote snipped =-



If we're going to start making general statements, let it be known that I like Gordon. However, there is a major difference in money between the Barbosa stuff now and the Ben Gordon stuff from last year.

Barbosa is locked up for the next 4 years at $27 million. Gordon reportedly declined $50 million over 5 years. In addition, in all of the Gordon rumors/proposals, the Nets were also taking the corpse of Ben Wallace off the Bulls' hands. To ignore those factors is just ignorant.

Also, no one ever criticized Carter in this thread. I know he's your boy, but he doesn't need you to go on the rampage when someone has the nerve to suggest trading him.

I agree with everything you said.

Especially SEE BOLD

[MrDollarBills]

-= original quote snipped =-



RJ isn't that overpaid. Mimimum wage might be overpaid for Frank.

Frank could be a homeless bum with a cup in his hand begging for change and i'd still think he was being overpaid

[etopn23]

Lol, Houston would make that trade with no hesitation. Even though they lose Scola it's Vince Carter... Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, and Yao Ming would be better than the Celtics trio.

[halfHAVOC]

Lol, Houston would make that trade with no hesitation. Even though they lose Scola it's Vince Carter... Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, and Yao Ming would be better than the Celtics trio.

and then one blows out his back

one blows out his knee

and the other plays on one leg.

hmm better than the celtics? lol if they could play more than 70 games.

[etopn23]

-= original quote snipped =-



and then one blows out his back

one blows out his knee

and the other plays on one leg.

hmm better than the celtics? lol if they could play more than 70 games.

In their defense, both McGrady and Carter have been on the court for at least 70 games over the past 2 seasons. Yao hasn't, but it has more to do with that coach overplaying him than anything else.

[vincecarter4pres]

Barbosa is listed at 6'3.

And that is being very generous.


And even though VC is my favorite player, if it would improve the team, or we were absolutley going to blow it up, I wouldn't have beef with dealing him.

But this trade is worse then my Ben Gordon idea, which after everyone's critisism and some 2nd thought, I agreed and admitted it was stupid.

And Gordon probrably isn't going to get 50 for 5 after he turned it down unless it is the Bulls paying him, and even if he did he is still a lot better then Barbosa, just isn't as quick.


Plus, just what we need, another 1 man fast break.

With him and Devin on the court together there may never be a pass again on a fast break after the mid court line.

[netsforever]

Barbosa is listed at 6'3.

And that is being very generous.

You know what? I don't really care. If Barbosa's height was an issue, he wouldn't be a part-time starter for one of the most successful teams in the NBA the past 3/4 seasons.

And even though VC is my favorite player, if it would improve the team, or we were absolutley going to blow it up, I wouldn't have beef with dealing him.

But this trade is worse then my Ben Gordon idea, which after everyone's critisism and some 2nd thought, I agreed and admitted it was stupid.

Didn't see this trade idea.

And Gordon probrably isn't going to get 50 for 5 after he turned it down unless it is the Bulls paying him, and even if he did he is still a lot better then Barbosa, just isn't as quick.


Plus, just what we need, another 1 man fast break.

With him and Devin on the court together there may never be a pass again on a fast break after the mid court line.
No, that's what we have now. This trade gives us 3 perimeter players in RJ / Harris / Barbosa who like to run, another 4 in Sean Williams who has enough foot speed to be the following player on a fast break, and a faster team in general. Plus, it might actually make Frank develop a coherent offense instead of just relying on Carter's creativity all the time.

[MrDollarBills]

At this point, Carter has shown to be far more durable than McGrady. This stuff about VC being injury prone is about as silly as those idiots who were calling Kidd injury prone because he had to have microfracture

AND @ the idea of barbosa and harris making Frank come up with a coherent, effective offense. This guy is a "defensive minded coach" who can't get anyone to play defense or design an effective defensive system and hasnt done so in 3 seasons. Frank is not capable of doing anything but continuing to coach this team into the f'n abyss!!!!