Check Mate for the Brooklyn Nyets...thank you Sam Presti

peachbucket · Post #1 » by **peachbucket** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 2:29 am

Really interesting story emerging from this trade deadline that I got from reading the Nets blog.

Apparantly, as was rumored a few weeks back OKC and Brooklyn had a deal in place with the principles being Lopez for Jackson. Apparantly, King walked from the deal at the last second hoping to extract more assets from Presti closer to the deadline. A rightfully irked Presti continued to give King the impression that OKC was still willing to do the original deal right up until the trade deadline and then pulled off a complex deal for Kanter at the last second leaving a surprised King (who didn't have a backup plan) not enough time to find another deal for Lopez who is now expected to opt out after this season.

Although this doesn't seem like a huge deal, it could have giant implications for the Celtics. Lopez was by far Brooklyn's best player (19.86 PER this season) when healthy and since Brooklyn is well over the cap they will not be able to replace his salary with anyone else in free agency when he walks this off season. With the rest of their players in decline and having no trade value (except Plumlee), this should turn Brooklyn from a potentially bad team to a horrific team next season with no way out. The fact that they traded Garnett for a declining Thad Young will only compound the problem as KG at the very least would have provided them with a stabilizing locker room presence that will be tested early and often under the pressures of the bright lights of NY.

I now expect Brooklyn to finish with a bottom three record next season in a draft loaded with superstar potential up top...and we will be able to rinse and repeat the process for 2017 and 2018 as well.

These Brooklyn picks just turned from silver to absolute gold Celtics fans...enjoy the show guys!

31to6 · Post #2 » by **31to6** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 2:38 am

Not sure I agree - Thad Young is 26, and will get the chance to do what he was doing in Philly again - which is, unfortunately, more than KG can do these days. Lopez, as you say, is almost 20 PER - and maybe he flips the 'healthy' switch and re-ups in Brooklyn? Stranger things have happened, so while I've generally been very optimistic about those picks I'm not counting today as a banner day, and am not ready to count any chicks just yet.

Also Reggie Jackson kinda sucks.

Marvel · Post #3 » by **Marvel** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 2:39 am

Billy King should have accepted what was offered and called it a day. Now he has nowhere to go with nothing but a bunch of ass. Serves him right. Idiot. How he still has a job as GM is beyond me.

BakersDozen · Post #4 » by **BakersDozen** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 2:40 am

it would be incredible if Presti knew all along he was going to pull out at the last minute in a deal with Brooklyn just to stick it to King..... but I find it highly unlikely.

Andrew McCeltic · Post #5 » by **Andrew McCeltic** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 2:47 am

Everybody loves to pick on Billy King, but he's been following dictates from ownership. Chris Wallace gets a bad rap, too, but he's done pretty well in Memphis and his hand was forced on the Vin Baker trade. BK's no genius, he could do more to change his owner's mind, or find creative ways to give him what he asks for- but he's also got a tough hand in Brooklyn, where they asked him to buy a contender ASAP and now want to dismantle it.

BRUNiNHO91 · Post #6 » by **BRUNiNHO91** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 2:54 am

Williams, Jack, JJ, Young and Plumlee with Lopez off the bench. That's 8th-12th seed again next year. If they lose Jack and Young they could really fall out tho. They are really stuck in no mans land. They aren't good enough to go anywhere, don't have assets to go anywhere, don't have the cap space to go anywhere, but have enough to stay in mediocre land giving us a mediocre pick.

Andrew McCeltic · Post #7 » by **Andrew McCeltic** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 3:02 am

Next year is our best chance at a top 5 pick.. If Lopez and Young opt out, they're in trouble. Williams and Johnson will be another year older.

At the same time, Young probably re-ups in Brooklyn, they can keep Lopez if they overpay him.. And we saw nibbles on Johnson this deadline (Charlotte, Detroit).. With the cap going up, too, teams may be more willing to do a Deron rental.. It's a mess there, but it's no guarantee they plummet. Still a lot of variables- Williams' health, the sale of the team..

rmal8852 · Post #8 » by **rmal8852** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 3:03 am

Marvel wrote:Billy King should have accepted what was offered and called it a day. Now he has nowhere to go with nothing but a bunch of ass. Serves him right. Idiot. How he still has a job as GM is beyond me.

Let's hope he keeps his job for at least 3 more years !!! :wink:

Post #9 » by **Froob** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 3:15 am

I still find it hard to believe Presti offered Reggie Jackson 12 a year. Absolutely insane offer for him.

BRUNiNHO91 · Post #10 » by **BRUNiNHO91** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 3:18 am

Froob wrote:I still find it hard to believe Presti offered Reggie Jackson 12 a year. Absolutely insane offer for him.

And Reggie declined. Just imagine how much of an insane offer it's going to take to get him to accept.

peachbucket · Post #11 » by **peachbucket** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 3:35 am

31to6 wrote:Not sure I agree - Thad Young is 26, and will get the chance to do what he was doing in Philly again - which is, unfortunately, more than KG can do these days. Lopez, as you say, is almost 20 PER - and maybe he flips the 'healthy' switch and re-ups in Brooklyn? Stranger things have happened, so while I've generally been very optimistic about those picks I'm not counting today as a banner day, and am not ready to count any chicks just yet.

Also Reggie Jackson kinda sucks.

Thaddeus Young has been on a decline for 4 straight years and is not a good player.

Also Reggie Jackson is still improving and has a PER of 15.71 this year which is higher than D.Will and Jarret Jack.

If Lopez opts out, Brooklyn will be the worst rebounding team in the league and it won't be close.

CelticFaninLBC · Post #12 » by **CelticFaninLBC** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 3:39 am

Nets will be brutal if Lopez signs elsewhere. JJ is turning 34, DWill can't stay healthy and they don't have draft picks to help.

celticfan42487 · Post #13 » by **celticfan42487** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 6:36 am

If Lopez opts out I'm pretty sure the Nets can go over the cap with any offer to resign him still. And they have no reason not to resign him as keeping him is the best chance they have at winning some games and with no first rounders... there's no reason to not win as many games as possible.

I know their owner doesn't want to keep spending luxury tax though so it'll be interesting.

But I think we all can be very happy they didn't trade for Reggie Jackson.

Deron, JJ due to age, and Lopez due to health are candidates to be out for a long time next year. They could be giving us a top 10 pick next season.

peachbucket · Post #14 » by **peachbucket** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 7:05 am

celticfan42487 wrote:If Lopez opts out I'm pretty sure the Nets can go over the cap with any offer to resign him still. And they have no reason not to resign him as keeping him is the best chance they have at winning some games and with no first rounders... there's no reason to not win as many games as possible.

I know their owner doesn't want to keep spending luxury tax though so it'll be interesting.

But I think we all can be very happy they didn't trade for Reggie Jackson.

Deron, JJ due to age, and Lopez due to health are candidates to be out for a long time next year. They could be giving us a top 10 pick next season.

Why on earth would Lopez want to re-sign with the Nets???? They are imploding and have been openly and blatantly trying to trade him for years. I am sure he is counting the days till he can get off that sinking ship. The only reason I could think of him re-signing there is if they grossly overpay him which I can't imagine Prokhorov will do considering the team is for sale and needs to cut payroll.

I honestly think Lopez has a better shot of being on the Celtics next year than back with Brooklyn.

celticfan42487 · Post #15 » by **celticfan42487** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 7:22 am

peachbucket wrote:
celticfan42487 wrote:If Lopez opts out I'm pretty sure the Nets can go over the cap with any offer to resign him still. And they have no reason not to resign him as keeping him is the best chance they have at winning some games and with no first rounders... there's no reason to not win as many games as possible.

I know their owner doesn't want to keep spending luxury tax though so it'll be interesting.

But I think we all can be very happy they didn't trade for Reggie Jackson.

Deron, JJ due to age, and Lopez due to health are candidates to be out for a long time next year. They could be giving us a top 10 pick next season.

Why on earth would Lopez want to re-sign with the Nets???? They are imploding and have been openly and blatantly trying to trade him for years. I am sure he is counting the days till he can get off that sinking ship. The only reason I could think of him re-signing there is if they grossly overpay him which I can't imagine Prokhorov will do considering the team is for sale and needs to cut payroll.

I honestly think Lopez has a better shot of being on the Celtics next year than back with Brooklyn.

Lopez is an NBA player that's broken his foot twice. He's not likely to survive his next contract long enough to make another big pay day.

This off season will be the biggest pay day of his career to live off of for the next 70 years of his life. And the Nets can offer the most money. As well as despite the team not winning championships playing for NY has it's advantageous outside of the court.

I don't think Prok is really going to raise a franchise value by letting him go. Selling a franchise that misses the playoffs and has no first rounder isn't going to be as appealing to the billionares as selling one that just locked up Lopez who comes through with a healthy season and they sneak into the playoffs. It's the NBA, the expenses are shared anyways, so it's not all on the Nets.

The only thing really stopping them is if Prok is concerned about the luxury tax which to him is pennies that he'll make back on the sale itself.

Andrew McCeltic · Post #16 » by **Andrew McCeltic** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 7:32 am

Lopez increasingly has a Yao Ming/Rik Smits vibe- very tall post player, not a great rebounder, lumbers along on his bad hardware and gets you buckets on sheer skill and height advantage. Ilgauskas was similar..

LuckyLeprichan · Post #17 » by **LuckyLeprichan** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 7:33 am

celticfan42487 wrote:If Lopez opts out I'm pretty sure the Nets can go over the cap with any offer to resign him still. And they have no reason not to resign him as keeping him is the best chance they have at winning some games and with no first rounders... there's no reason to not win as many games as possible.

I agree with the premise that the Nets will do what they can to win as much as possible since they don't have draft picks to look forward to, but if the owner is truly trying to trade the team I don't think he'll keep Lopez. More likely, he'll have a fire sale trying to get anything he can for JJ and DWill. I think a new owner would rather start fresh without the salary commitment than take over a team that's going no where but still paying luxury tax penalty.

If Lopez opts out and Young opts out and the Nets renounce all their cap holds, they can get down to 60m on the books, admittedly with only 9 players on the roster. Then it'd just be a matter of finding someone to take JJ's 24m expiring contract and they could field a crappy team but at least be out of cap hell. Alternatively, they could use the stretch provision on JJ or someone else.

Point is, they have options if the owner really just wants to clear the books and dump this train wreck off on someone else. They aren't pretty options but they are options.

Captain_Caveman · Post #18 » by **Captain_Caveman** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 8:04 am

Froob wrote:I still find it hard to believe Presti offered Reggie Jackson 12 a year. Absolutely insane offer for him.

People are in for lots and lots of sticker shock with any contract signed over the next couple of offseasons.

Pacino62 · Post #19 » by **Pacino62** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 10:42 am

Captain_Caveman wrote:
Froob wrote:I still find it hard to believe Presti offered Reggie Jackson 12 a year. Absolutely insane offer for him.

People are in for lots and lots of sticker shock with any contract signed over the next couple of offseasons.

Yup...Hindsight 20/20...Bradley is a bargain. I know our backcourt isn't elite, but they are a pretty damn good 3 guard rotation at a bargain basement price for 4 years

Post #20 » by **SmartWentCrazy** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 12:45 pm

I think this is a blessing in disguise for the Nets. If they can dump Deron in the offseason for cap space/expirings, they'll have 1 guaranteed contract on the books (Bogdonovich). They'll be able to offer multiple max contracts right when the cap goes up, and be positioned well for a quick rebound. Yes, they'll suck in 2016 and give up a high lotto pick, but it should just be a sunk cost at this point.