Nets Trying To Get Billups And RIP Along With Anthony

[Blackmun]

Melo will just walk and sign with the Knicks. I'm not sure what New Jersey is thinking :s

This is what they are thinking;

"One source said the Nets are equally determined to keep Anthony away from the Knicks. They already are a distant second to the Knicks in the standings and attention, and seeing Anthony across the river, where he prefers to be, would be crushing."

Read more: http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/ ... z1ATHcwkzN

In short; as long as they can keep the hope alive for Nuggets to get something in return for him, they won't deal with the Knicks.

[klemen4]

Actually one of the numbers I heard was 15 players....not including draft picks.

by http://twitter.com/al_iannazzone

I think it is close to something like this:
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachi ... Id=2g2g7z2

[Trader_Joe]

If anybody would care to read the articles out there the last 24 hours, you can see that it's Leon Rose, the agent for Melo, Hamilton and Paul, pushing this deal. Rose and World Wide Wes are the ones trying to push Melo into agreeing to go to NJ for a couple key reasons:

a. They want their clients to be the brand for the Brooklyn Arena which ideally would include Paul as well.

b. They want to work with and get on the good side of the richest owner in the NBA who is steadily becoming one of the most public and powerful people in NY according to Forbes. Prokhorov was the one that said Wade and Bosh would team up in Miami. He said he sees the league going in the direction of stars joining forces with stars. He also wrote a letter to the NY Times or Washington Post supporting Lebron for his decision. He's a smart enough business man to already understand the workings of the NBA and to work with the right people, which in this case is the most powerful agents.

While, I'm not convinced a deal is going to happen, because I think Melo is intent on the Knicks, this clearly would be a smart business decision for the Nets. If Melo goes to NY they are left going into Brooklyn as an after though. But if they land Melo, it increases their exposure, marketability and the odds that they land other marquee free agents such as Paul.

If the resultant Net team is:

Billups / Farmar
Hamilton / Morrow / Vujacic
Melo / D.James
Humphries / Outlaw
Lopez / ??

NJ is a team only 4.5 games out of the 8th seed and would be on the rise. They would still have a lot of work to do to be a serious threat, but they would have 4.5 years of Melo (half of this season, player option picked up for next year, then the extension kicks in for 3 years) to become a contender. Other than Outlaw and Melo, all their big contracts would expirer in 2 years after this season (Farmar, Morrow, Billups, Hamilton).


Personally, because I don't care about the business side, I would much rather not do a Melo deal (unless of course the chances of Paul coming next year were legitimate) because I feel it's short-sighted and business driven. Let the big guys (Orlando, Miami, Boston) run their course and wait until 3-4 years from now when the young guys have matured and the draft picks have come to fruition.

2013-2014 NJ Nets could be:

-Favors
-Lopez
-D.James
-Outlaw
-2011 NJ #1 (top 5)
-2012 NJ #1 (lotto)
-2013 NJ #1
-2012 GS #1
-2011 LAL #1
-2012 HOU #1
-Tons of Cap Space

[AmareNY]

I agree Prokhorov going to end up building a winner one way or another. He going to end up being a real good owner.

[menofvalor]

How would that make the Nets any better then Denver? Hamilton is a downgrade to JR Smith.

[iDunk]

How would that make the Nets any better then Denver? Hamilton is a downgrade to JR Smith.

JR Smith > Rip?

Are you serious?

Talent wise Smith is better but the better player is obvioulsy Rip. He's been an All Star 3 times in his career.

[menofvalor]

Actually I just looked at Rip's numbers, I was under the impression he was struggling this year but he is actually shooting the ball well, especially from 3, 40%. Rip in his prime was a beast, but at this point in there career's I would rather have Smith, but its much closer then I thought.

[Manhattan Project]

You would think people would learn after Wallace, Kobe, Shaq, Bosh, Lebron, and every other pending free agent that was not getting his way with the team he was with. new York is the common threat, but outside of amare has always been just a threat to help players get what they want.

Yeah for the most part of the past decade, we were used as a decoy because we had a GM and the Owner that was willing to do any sign and trade for the guy they liked. Teams could use New York as the leverage.

However that all changed once we actually got under the cap. Last year and this year the Knicks are a legitimate threat to sign a big name, in this case Carmelo Anthony. We have the supporting cast that can help, we have a coach that is liked and a great city. However the most important think is now we can actually sign the player instead of fantasizing about doing a sign and trade with our overpaid garbage.

[darth_federer]

Havent read this thread but anyone else find it funny that its the lineup Detroit should have had if they hadnt drafted Darko second overall in 03?

[Die93]

Its obvious he wants to go to the knicks

[Blackmun]

If anybody would care to read the articles out there the last 24 hours, you can see that it's Leon Rose, the agent for Melo, Hamilton and Paul, pushing this deal. Rose and World Wide Wes are the ones trying to push Melo into agreeing to go to NJ for a couple key reasons:

I can absolutely guarantee you that Leon Rose is not pushing anything his client doesn't want. That would get him 1) fired 2) sued the **** out of 3) revoked his agent license.

Since the rest of your post was just going off on a pipe dream based on your first statement, I'm omitting them entirely.

I agree Prokhorov going to end up building a winner one way or another. He going to end up being a real good owner.

How, exactly, is he going to do that?

Prokhorov is going to do what everyone figured he would; throw away the Nets like a spoiled kid does with a broken toy a week after Christmas.

[Jose_Matador]

Melo will just walk and sign with the Knicks. I'm not sure what New Jersey is thinking :s

This is what they are thinking;

"One source said the Nets are equally determined to keep Anthony away from the Knicks. They already are a distant second to the Knicks in the standings and attention, and seeing Anthony across the river, where he prefers to be, would be crushing."

Read more: http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/ ... z1ATHcwkzN

In short; as long as they can keep the hope alive for Nuggets to get something in return for him, they won't deal with the Knicks.

there whole organization has been a joke ever since Kidd, RJ and Carter left.

"Net" fans won't even have a team soon. So playoff pipe dreams and superstar rentals are the best they can hope for until the team is moved.

[J Smitty]

The Nets will be better than the Knicks in two years, and for the rest of the decade after that.

[KnickelandDime]

The Nets will be better than the Knicks in two years, and for the rest of the decade after that.

Who wins the next presidential election? What's next weeks powerball numbers? Will the Yankees win the penant next year? How many more season until The Office is put out of it's misery?

[TDevilsG]

Blackmun wrote: Prokhorov is going to do what everyone figured he would; throw away the Nets like a spoiled kid does with a broken toy a week after Christmas.

And why, exactly, would he do that again after the millions upon millions of dollars he has invested within the franchise as well as Barclay's Center?

In a recent interview:

VEDOMOSTI: Why did you buy the New Jersey Nets? And why aren't things going so well with them?

Prokhorov: Why do you say that? We have four draft picks, haven't you noticed? We have a team, we're building the arena, we've hired professional management, we have the option to buy in to another large project, the building of an office center. For me, this is a project with explosive profit potential. The capitalization of the team will be $700 million after we move to Brooklyn. It will earn approximately 30. And the arena will be worth around $1 billion. We are planning to become NBA champions within five years. Brooklyn is the capital of immigration, there are some 450,000 people from our part of the world living there with no major sports teams to root for.

There is nothing implied within this statement, taken on 12/23/2010, which implies that he's reconsidering his investment. I'm not sure where you would get that idea. What I do know is that it only takes one very good player to turn a franchise around. Take a look at the team across the Hudson for verification of this. Franchise's rebuild; all teams are cyclical. I'm sure there was a point in time when your own team was horrendous. And I'm sure there was a point in time that they were at their peak and were in the NBA finals, as the Nets were several years ago.

There's no reason to believe the Nets won't be a contender by the time they reach Brooklyn.

[J Smitty]

The Nets will be better than the Knicks in two years, and for the rest of the decade after that.

Who wins the next presidential election? What's next weeks powerball numbers? Will the Yankees win the penant next year? How many more season until The Office is put out of it's misery?

Oh you're right, I'm not a Knicks fan, so I don't have the ability to make baseless predictions and bash other teams like you guys do.

Though predicting that Amare's knees will crap out by the time he is 30 doesn't really take much intellect. All you have to do is look at every piece of history involving microfracture surgery.

[rewill17]

I'm prolly late but...

http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.ssf/ ... ested.html

Pistons side is reported dead.

[ny_illmatic]

The Nets will be better than the Knicks in two years, and for the rest of the decade after that.

Who wins the next presidential election? What's next weeks powerball numbers? Will the Yankees win the penant next year? How many more season until The Office is put out of it's misery?

Oh you're right, I'm not a Knicks fan, so I don't have the ability to make baseless predictions and bash other teams like you guys do.

Though predicting that Amare's knees will crap out by the time he is 30 doesn't really take much intellect. All you have to do is look at every piece of history involving microfracture surgery.

Wow, some of you nuggets fans are so bitter..any mention of NY and it's automatic bashing..seriously, it's like you guys have a damn alarm that goes off whenever the knicks and melo are mentioned. Don't be mad at Knick fans just because your franchise player wants to play for them.

Well, regardless of where he ends up, ya'll better enjoy it while it lasts.

[Sh0t]

Co-sign the russians in brooklyn. I grew up in Queens, went to junior high school and and high school in Brooklyn.

Should be a law against the kind of Eurasia hotties strolling around certain areas of B/Q.

Brooklyn Nets still sounds ridiculous to me. Poor jersey. forever taking Ls

[KnickelandDime]

The Nets will be better than the Knicks in two years, and for the rest of the decade after that.

Who wins the next presidential election? What's next weeks powerball numbers? Will the Yankees win the penant next year? How many more season until The Office is put out of it's misery?

Oh you're right, I'm not a Knicks fan, so I don't have the ability to make baseless predictions and bash other teams like you guys do.

Though predicting that Amare's knees will crap out by the time he is 30 doesn't really take much intellect. All you have to do is look at every piece of history involving microfracture surgery.

But you just did... Plus way to act as if all fans of each fanbase type in unsion or something. Please find one post in my history where I attacked a team or characterized a team's fanbase like you just did in your last two posts.
As for Amare, let's wait and see. Amare is often used as one of the success stories for microfracture. Maybe that means he'll be good for another 2 years or maybe another 7 years but you don't know and neither do I.