New Jersey Moving More Talent?

[HMFFL]

As they were putting some of the finishing touches on the Richard Jefferson-Yi Jianlian deal, the Nets received a call from the Cleveland Cavaliers, who offered them Wally Szczerbiak and his expiring, $13.2 million salary for Vince Carter. According to two Eastern Conference executives, who asked for anonymity so as not to spill Rod Thorn's secrets, the Nets considered it -- but not for very long. Thorn would not comment on the discussion yesterday, but while the deal would have crippled his offense, it would have freed up yet more money for the 2010 free-agent market. The Nets have only $36 million earmarked toward player salaries that summer, and the removal of Carter's four-year contract would cut that in half.

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Other moves seem to be coming. The Nets still need a backup shooting guard. They likely will continue to shop Marcus Williams, see if they can include Keith Van Horn in a trade and try to utilize some of their other assets — a $3.3 million trade exception, DeSagana Diop via a sign-and-trade, a glut of young players on reasonable contracts and future draft picks. Whatever they do, the summer of 2010 will be in their thoughts. “We have a long summer ahead of us, a lot of work to do,” Vandeweghe said. “We have to go through free agency. There are a lot of free agents that I think can be very productive for us. We want to get some of our free agents back. We’re going to explore all options to improve the team.”

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[JoshB914]

Looks like the Nets are trying to set up a big move for Lebron in 2010. I'm glad we won't have to worry about them for the playoff race this year, it looks like they are headed into rebuilding mode.

[evildallas]

I've been posing a Carter to Cleveland deal all over the board, I think the problem is that Ferry didn't offer enough. If they had offered Wally and 2 firsts (#19 that got used on Hickson) and a future 1st that Jersey would have bitten. They could slide to the bottom for a year or two and hope for lottery success and then move to Brooklyn with the possibility of signing 2 max players to play in their new home. Those max stars would join a base of Devin Harris and the following on rookie deals: Sean Williams, Yi Jianlin, Brook Lopez, Ryan Anderson, Chris Douglas-Roberts and probably 2009 and 2010 top 5 picks. I figure Josh Boone and Marcus Williams will be renounced that year to make full salary offers to the likes of Lebron and Bosh.

The NJ rebuilding plan kind of puts a bullseye on Nenad Krstic. If he was offered the full MLE I doubt that NJ would match. It would be a bargain if he regains his pre-injury form or a horrible waste if he doesn't.