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Najera for the MLE & Kiki still trying to get Camby.

By the end of this week, the Nets will have signed a free agent. That's what we've been told, anyway. And our best guess is that it will be Eddie Najera. We'll leave it to the grownups to settle the two- or three-year haggle.

Maybe Denver jumps back in, we don't know. But think about it: If you were under a crushing debt load - and the Noogies are facing another $13 million tax hit next year - would you really want to make it worse just to keep Eduardo Najera?

If Najera is the guy, this is what we think happens next (caveat lector -- this is all informed speculation), and it still involves Denver.

1. Kiki gets on the phone with his old cronies at Rocky Mountain central and levels with them: You guys stink, he'll say. OK, he'll be more diplomatic than that, but any team with an $81M payroll coming off 50 wins and a first-round sweep should think about how it conducts its business. Cost-effective, the Noogies are not.

2. Denver has a surplus of bigs - five of high quality, plus Steven Hunter. This is one of their best chances to scale back and take the 34-year-old Camby off their payroll. Two reasons: They can get a pile of expiring contracts coming back (Van Horn/Swift), and one decent big (Sean/Josh, take yer choice) to fill out their frontcourt, while crossing their fingers that the aforementioned big can help Nene hold down the center chores.

3. If the Nuggets hedge, the Nets can find a way to include the other Marcus in the deal, going the other way. Maybe George can get the guy's career going.

4. The Nets pay Camby his $11.2 and $10.9, hope that he can still give them 13 boards and three blocks per game, and Brook Lopez gets to learn at a reasonable pace from a terrific role model instead of being force-fed the starting job.

Why Najera? He is a quality player, don't get me wrong, but come on. Do we need another big man? No. Go out and sign that backup PG and/or SF. What are you doing Thorn? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

You can probably get away with playing Najera at the 3. He's like Nachbar in that regard... At least Najera is a good character guy / energy player who could serve as a mentor to someone like Sean Williams both on and off the court.

Dave D'Alessandro doesn't seem to fully understand rebuilding. The idea of bringing in an old big man to take away minutes from the young frontcourt is exactly the opposite of what the Nets should look to do.

I'm also somewhat wary of a Najera signing because while he is a great glue guy and would be an excellent mentor, I am afraid that Frank would over-play him at the PF position to the detriment of the guys like Yi, Swill, and Boone.

If the Nets are in rebuilding mode then it makes no sense to sign Najera and Camby. These two guys will definitely get you a few extra wins but at what cost? The development of the young players like Yi, Lopez, Williams etc? These guys need to be given every chance to develop into solid players so that in 2010 the Nets will have a good young core which will make it a lot more attractive for big name FA's to sign.

lurkingobeiscity wrote:Dave D'Alessandro doesn't seem to fully understand rebuilding. The idea of bringing in an old big man to take away minutes from the young frontcourt is exactly the opposite of what the Nets should look to do.

I'm also somewhat wary of a Najera signing because while he is a great glue guy and would be an excellent mentor, I am afraid that Frank would over-play him at the PF position to the detriment of the guys like Yi, Swill, and Boone.

Agreed. Plus, is it asking too much for a free agent signing to be for a true SF?

I'd like that too. Some other RFA's I hope the Nets are looking into:

Kelenna Azubuike
Ryan Gomes
CJ Miles
Dorrell Wright

I'd be very happy if they could work out a S&T for one of those guys.

I also hope we sign Lindsey Hunter so we have that veteran leader/mentor in the backcourt.

I'd LOVE if we landed Ryan Gomes. Problem is you're not gonna find a player as young as those 4 that will take a 2 year deal.

I don't know thats just another Dave D fairy tale .

Bleah WTF is going on?
Najera?
F why do we need ANOTHER one dimensional big man?

If youre gonna rebuild than rebuild all the way dont look to trade for long contracts like Camby and Noicioni.

Anderson and CDR, with Najera. Boki? Don't we have too many 3's now? None of which are starter material.

You can't just rebuild with 13 players under 25. You get a good core of young guys (like we have 8 players now with 2 years experience or less) then add a few decent high character vets to help develop them. I agree I don't like the idea of Najera, but if we landed Camby or nocioni without losing anyone important (meaning losing only Stro/Marcus/KVH/Pics) then I'm for it. Camby's contract expires at the right time and can help tremendously with out young big men's defense and Nocioni player 100% every second of every game and only costs a little more than 6 mill in his highest paid year. I'm not willing to send off any young core guy except for Marcus so it'll be tough to nab both, but we have a glaring hole at the 3 spot and also need a solid Vet big man to help the young guys. These players solve both problems and Camby's deal comes off the books at the right time so I see nothing wrong with this.

...I would be willing to throw the MLE at Kurt Thomas. He would be a perfect mentor for our young players, plus it means we wouldn't be losing any of our good young players. I don't want Camby because I'm almost positive Denver would demand Sean in the deal and I'm not ready to give up on his potential just year.

Edit: I doubt he would come here though, that's why I figured we could use the MLE. For those of you that won't want to do that, who would we get with the MLE to be more valuable in the long run. We are not going to be competing even for the playoffs this year so why not sign a great high-character guy who's dividends will surely pay off in the future.

Then again, that's just me.

I agree that Thomas would be a good mentor. He's just old now and I think is looking to only sign with playoff teams. I don't think he'd want to sit the last year or two on a bad team. But as for free agents, I'm lost right now thinking about who a) would come here right now and b) would not suck for us. We don't really have a bright history of free agent signings.

Preludepunk27 wrote:You can't just rebuild with 13 players under 25. You get a good core of young guys (like we have 8 players now with 2 years experience or less) then add a few decent high character vets to help develop them. I agree I don't like the idea of Najera, but if we landed Camby or nocioni without losing anyone important (meaning losing only Stro/Marcus/KVH/Pics) then I'm for it. Camby's contract expires at the right time and can help tremendously with out young big men's defense and Nocioni player 100% every second of every game and only costs a little more than 6 mill in his highest paid year. I'm not willing to send off any young core guy except for Marcus so it'll be tough to nab both, but we have a glaring hole at the 3 spot and also need a solid Vet big man to help the young guys. These players solve both problems and Camby's deal comes off the books at the right time so I see nothing wrong with this.

Great post.

who would we get with the MLE to be more valuable in the long run.

Keyon Dooling. Orlando just spent $25 mil on Pietrus they won't match a 3 year deal.