REAX

[ecuhus1981]

OK, let's all admit that yesterday sucked hard. I was ready to bid adieu to RealGM altogether, but I think we have to look at things rationally. At least, we can commiserate here, right?

The Gerald Wallace trade was not a knee-jerk reaction, I don't believe. He's been too involved in the Dwight talks not to be a possible trading chip later. "But... Crash can opt out on July 1st", you say? Sure he can. That leaves us one last hope: draft day. I think that King wanted to reel in Wallace now, to hopefully execute a straight-up deal with ORL later, something like Lopez/Wallace/1sts for Howard. This would also at least partially explain Dwight's about-face, since they would not have been able to trade him after yesterday unless he waived his ETO. Otis Smith "says" he loves Wallace, and King is behaving like a faithful lapdog, fetching any asset that is requested in hopes of landing Howard. Billy has basically put his career on the line here; if all of this results in a happy Nets ending to the Dwightmare, then he'll be hailed as a sly, risk-taking fox. If we surrender the #4 pick, and Deron and Dwight all go elsewhere, he's the worst GM in the history of pro sports.

Can we get into the playoff hunt with Wallace? Maybe, and that would definitely alleviate some of the current pain. It's hard to say no when we are only 4.5 games out of the 8th seed in the East, wit h22 games to go. Unfortunately, I do think that Milwaukee (who currently holds the 8th slot) will improve from the Monta deal, and NYK could be the biggest post-TDL turnaround of the league. It won't be easy, but IF we can go 15-7 over these last 22, that might be enough to slip into the postseason. That might be all of the goodwill we need to keep Dwight interested; and really, thanks to Billy, that's our only hope.

And when will Brook return? April 1? Earlier? His return, and a renewed devotion to crashing the boards, could be the difference for us right now.

Williams, Brooks, Wallace, Humphries, Lopez
Farmar, Morrow, Green, Williams, Petro

[vincecarter4pres]

Lopez can't be traded on draft night.

[N Ireland Nets]

Lopez can't be traded on draft night.

This is the visual example of what was going on in Billy Kings head after reading Lopez cant be traded at the draft

[NyCeEvO]

Did we really need another thread for a personal reaction?

Not trying to be mean but there is a "BK monitoring thread" which we've talked about this for 70+ pages over the last 20 hours.


Also, unless D-Will, Lopez, and G-Wall go down/remain down for the rest of the season, we'll improve our record. We won't make the playoffs but we can't get a drat pick that is 4-7 unless we finish with the 4th, 5th, 6th, or 7th worst record. Right now, we have the 6th worst record and we should be able to get to the 8th position without much effort.

Also, we can only trade Lopez on the day, he signs otherwise he can't be traded until December, which basically means if there is no S&T trade for D12, we're most likely going to have another offseason of crap free agent signings just to keep more cap space open.

[ecuhus1981]

^
I thought we could have signed Brook to an extension anytime this season? Westbrook and Rose got extensions, and they were in the same draft class. You're telling me that from the trade deadline until July 1st, we're NOT allowed to offer an extension, and then trade him?

[Rich Rane]

^
I thought we could have signed Brook to an extension anytime this season? Westbrook and Rose got extensions, and they were in the same draft class. You're telling me that from the trade deadline until July 1st, we're NOT allowed to offer an extension, and then trade him?

I believe the date to offer an extension to any first rounder in the 2008 draft class was January 25. Because we didn't offer one to Lopez, he will become a restricted free agent on July 1.

[vincecarter4pres]

^
I thought we could have signed Brook to an extension anytime this season? Westbrook and Rose got extensions, and they were in the same draft class. You're telling me that from the trade deadline until July 1st, we're NOT allowed to offer an extension, and then trade him?

Yes, that's what we're telling you and what so many people don't seem to realize.

[Jersey Generals]

Yes, that's what we're telling you and what so many people don't seem to realize.

Yup, this is awful in every way, shape, and form. Trust me, I'm a relatively positive person, but even I'm sick to my stomach due to the realization that this very well will put this franchise back years if Deron Williams doesn't re-sign, and even if he does, the team would have been better off without making this trade.

The doomsday scenario in my mind could very well come true, and if it does, the Nets will not be contending until at least 2016-2019.

[ecuhus1981]

Oh yeah, I remember hearing about that deadline. Yup, this sux.

Even IF we make the playoffs and Dwight demands a trade, we probably don't have the assets ORL will want on draft night, and Wallace (assuming he's an asset Otis will still want) could opt out months before Lopez is eligible to be traded.

I'm interested to see how in H#!! this is supposed to turn out well for us...

[Jersey Generals]

I'm interested to see how in H#!! this is supposed to turn out well for us...

It's not. Panic moves rarely ever do work out well...

[ecuhus1981]

I retract my earlier statement about gunning for the postseason. That won't help us.

The only way out of this mess is... to tank. Tank hard over these last 22 games to ensure the highest probability that we retain a top-3 pick in this year's draft. If the Magic has another swift postseason exit, ORL may be ready to trade Howard/Duhon for Wallace/Morrow/Farmar/#3 on draft day; if not, we still have another young stud moving forward, whether or not Crash sticks around.

Let Deron and Brook heal as long as they need. Gerald Wallace is pretty banged up, too; hopefully our trainers need to bench him all of April for precaution. You guys know I'm not a big proponent of purposeful losing, but Billy has painted us into a corner here. Avery, keep up the good work!

[therealbig3]

Well, I mean everyone's saying that it will take some clever maneuvering, but Lopez can be S&Ted in a separate deal that you can use for a deal for Howard. Everyone's said that we still have a shot for next year.

But I really don't see Deron staying, why would he sign a big extension with this team? What incentive have we given him?

"Sorry, we didn't get you D12, but we gave up a great lottery pick in a strong draft for Gerald Wallace, now you should stay right?"

And Deron staying is the only way we have a chance to attract other stars.

And I'd rather have us finish with as good of a record as possible, and give Portland a late lottery pick. We're giving a top-2 protected next year, a top-1 protected after that, or an unprotected pick after that. Those are the drafts when we're probably going to suck hard and pick high, so we should save those picks. This year, we have a chance at still finishing with a respectable record, so whatever, the trade happened, let's give them the weakest pick that we can, and then be able to keep our picks for the future years.

[vincecarter4pres]

Yup.

How gross would it be to wind up with the 3rd overall pick, then have Billy spend it on MKG, who's going to be good but not great in all likelihood, in fact a Crash clone more or less, then Deron walks, we stink up the joint and wind up around 7th to 9th worst record and jump to say 2 and we ship Shabazz Mohammad to Portland?

I mean Shabazz is just an example, a lot of guys who get hype don't wind up that good or drafted that high come draft time, but everything points to him being very similar to Vince Carter.

[Jersey Generals]

Hence the doomsday scenario.

Deron walks, and since the Nets won't have their pick in 2013, Billy thinks it's best to spend, so he uses all the cap space that Deron's walking provides on crap players, signing them to four year deals that end in 2013, locking the team to a mediocre future. Not good.