NJ Nets agree to sign-and-trade for Keyon Dooling

[Versubio]

This always happens. You always get these guys who hate players without cause. The Lakers said the same thing about Mo Evans when we traded for him, and I was like oh this sounds like a terrible trade. Then the guy comes in and plays real well for us. Not a great player but definitely not as bad as the haters would lead you to believe.

I loved Dooling. He is not a super star but he will give you a hell of a lot of energy. He is a good ball handler. Has a nice mid range jumper. He actually shot the three ball real well for us last year, but that has not been his strong suit in the past. Plays real good defense. Can drive to the hoop with a vengeance. Gets out on the break. He is extremely quick. He is a combo guard though. He is not a true point guard, so he isn't going to run an offense to perfection and he is a little small to be a shooting guard. So he is a tweener, but he is perfect as a back up point guard or a guy you want to bring in and defend a big PG or a smaller SG. He is a utility player that plays with a lot of energy. I will miss the guy, but he is a luxury tax casualty for us.

I have my reasons for not liking the guy:

1. He is not a PG
2. He should never have the ball in his hands at the end of a game
3. He should never even be in the game with 2 mins left
4. I hate when he chucks a shot when he has teammates wide open and he is being double teamed
5. I hate when he makes dumb mistakes like throwing the ball of his foot about 4 times this year
6. I hate when he dribbles the ball until 2 seconds on the shot clock than either shoots (horrible)
or attempts a pass to Dwight, than Dwight gets called for a 24 shot clock, and Dooling thinks its Dwights fault.
7. He is not a PG!

The same reason why I never liked him and think that people at the Magic board overrate the guy immensely.

[jerseyjac]

Marcus Williams Days Are Numbered?

[Preludepunk27]

Honestly, most teams have 3 guys that can play point on their roster. I've read we can't find a decent vet for a Marcus/Sean or Marcus/Josh package, we would settle for sending Marcus to a team with a trade exemption just to shed some cap space. Personally I'd rather get something of moderate value, especially if we're giving up Sean or Josh, but I'm growing weary of the thought of us just giving them away for a garbage expiring/player with a small buyout just to save some cash immediately.

[OrlandoMagic]

Marcus Williams Days Are Numbered?

Not trying to make a trade for him, but I dont understand this very much. If he was the odd man out why not just trade him for Dooling, instead of using the TE? Unless Dooling is going to be used to motivate the kid, I would have to agree with Prelude the only reason you guys kept him is for another trade...

[Rich Rane]

Not trying to make a trade for him, but I dont understand this very much. If he was the odd man out why not just trade him for Dooling, instead of using the TE? Unless Dooling is going to be used to motivate the kid, I would have to agree with Prelude the only reason you guys kept him is for another trade...

Well, you might as well use it. TEs can't be packaged with anything. We were going to sign him with the rest of the MLE, but it wasn't enough.

[Preludepunk27]

Also if we were gonna deal Marcus for Keyon, we'd either have to include another player or keyon would have to sign a deal only a little bit more than the bi-annual exemption. The ONLY way we could get him was if we traded our TE or Van Horn basically. Of the two, I think the TE was the more logical since we can't package that with anything while we could use Van Horn's contract in another deal to make salaries work.

[MagiChamps]

Most of you should like Keyon. He's not a true point but he plays great defense and always works his butt off. Solid energy guy off the bench and fast enough to guard anyone.

[jerseyjac]

Most of you should like Keyon. He's not a true point but he plays great defense and always works his butt off. Solid energy guy off the bench and fast enough to guard anyone.

and I think he can handle the pg position 10-12min a game...but what you stated above, is really what we're looking for...Marcus might be the better pg, but his TOs, or the kind of TOs we saw from him on top of his defensive play or lack of...I'm willing to hand the ball to Dooling when Harris sits...and try that route...

Marcus still is highly talented and has some decent trade value...I still feel his inability to settle into his role has cause more problems for the Nets than anything...IMO, he tries to do too much...and at times, he is confused on the defensive end...I think at the very least Dooling could uprade us there, while us maybe losing the raw talent Marcus brings to the table as true passer...

[Preludepunk27]

Yeah I really think if Orlando had their PG position more under control the last few seasons Dooling would have settled into a roll and their fans would have been more comfortable with him. Even though the Nets are going to do the "play whichever big man has the hot hand tonight the majority of the minutes" strategy this season (like Orlando did a lot with Jameer, Carlos and Keyon), I personally hate that because players (yes, even NBA players do this) play scared because they think every mistake they make will get them pulled. I feel if he understands his role, he'll settle into it and be a better player. Remember to the Nets front office has wanted him for like 3 years now. They have incredible amounts of faith in him for some reason. I think that could possibly help the cobwebs in his head and help him stay more focused. When I played ball, I always played better when I felt the coaches trusted me so I'm hoping that is how Keyon could be with us.

[jvcn15]

and I think he can handle the pg position 10-12min a game...but what you stated above, is really what we're looking for...Marcus might be the better pg, but his TOs, or the kind of TOs we saw from him on top of his defensive play or lack of...I'm willing to hand the ball to Dooling when Harris sits...and try that route...

And let's not forget that when Harris sits down, Carter will most likely be in the game. So Vince would be the main playmaker, anyway. From what I've seen of him, while Dooling doesn't have a very good passing ability, I haven't seen him be much of a ball stopper either. You're definately right Prelude about being more confident once you know your role and having the confidence of the staff behind you, the problem is...can Frank clearly assign roles to the numerous new faces we have on this team? How long do you think it will take for him to get a rotation this year?

I also don't necessarily think this is definately the end of Marcus' tenure here. Sure, if they're able to package him along with Stro or KVH, to get a nice veteran talent, Nets will pull the trigger without hesitation. But as it stands now, there's really only CDR, Dooling, and Marcus as the backup guards. It's not exactly overloaded yet.

[Preludepunk27]

^^^ I'm hoping if we trade Marcus, it's not just for cap room. I've read if we can't get a vet in a package of Marcus/filler, we're gonna look to try to trade him to teams with a TE. If we DEAD SET on doing that, I'd give GSW a call and try to unload Marcus and Swift there for their 10 million TE. We could then hold on to that and see if any legit player with a contract that expires in 2010 starts complaining their team just wants to get rid of them.

[jvcn15]

Didn't the Warriors' TE expire already? Or am I thinking of something else... Either way, I highly doubt they would use their TE for that package.

One team who I mentioned before in a trade proposal that would be a good trading partner (if we were dead set on trading Marcus for a TE) would be the T'Wolves. They have a 1.4 mil TE from the Gerald Green trade, a hell of a lot of draft picks next year, and a need for a backup PG. It would probably only be a late 1st (Philly or Boston), but it's better than just cap space.

EDIT: Scratch that. Seems like Minny just re-signed Telfair.

[Preludepunk27]

oh snap you're right. They received it on Draft Night 2008 in the J-Rich deal. That is so weak.

I personally do not feel like we need another draft pick. The pick also can't be packaged with the TE unfortunately. They'd have to give us someone in return and besides they're boy from U of Florida, Craig Smith and Ryan Gomes, I don't want anyone else and we probably can't get those guys. Are they under the cap? If not, I don't even think they can ONLY offer us a 1st rounder anyway since picks have no monetary value right now. The only way I'd be open for a draft pick for marcus is if Thorn in the 2009 draft was just gonna trade our lottery pick and that pick (and possibly a 2010 pick) and move up as high as possible to take the best player available.

Here is the thing though, I don't think the Nets are interested in acquiring any "PG of the Future" at all until we figure out if Devin Harris is gonna be that PG or not. I think we'd want to acquire a solid up and coming SG or SF if we go young in any capacity right now which is why I keep bringing up Marco Bellineli.