Gift wrapped for Brooklyn: The 2008-2009 New Jersey Nets

I have always been resistant to change.

Even if I knew it was coming a mile away.

Last February, I got the opportunity to see the Nets at their best for what turned out to be their last time together against a major opponent.

And with the trade deadline looming, there were already some notable changes on their roster as the Nets shipped forward/center Jason Collins to Memphis for underachieving forward Stromile Swift. A few days later, team captain Jason Kidd followed suit when New Jersey sent him back to the very team that drafted him (Dallas Mavericks) for Devin Harris and other players.

Change was coming.

I just didn’t know how fast.

Nets Team President Rod Thorn and the rest of the Nets brain trust have been very busy this off-season. Having traded away their franchise’s second all-time leading scorer—Richard Jefferson to the Milwaukee Bucks for China’s Yi Jianlian and underachieving forward Bobby Simmons.

The Nets also did very well for themselves in the 2008 NBA Draft after they bagged Stanford’s 7’0’’ center Brook Lopez at #10, 6’10’’ forward Ryan Anderson at #21, and arguably the steal of the draft at #40—Memphis scoring guard-forward Chris “CDR” Douglas-Roberts.

Rod Thorn didn’t stop there as he also allowed forward Bostjan “Boki” Nachbar to sign with a Russian team and sent guard Marcus Williams to the Golden State Warriors for a future lottery-protected 1st round pick.

With that said, the only Nets left from last season’s roster are Darrell Armstrong, Josh Boone, Nenad Krstic, Sean Williams, Vincent Lamar Carter and his $61.8 million dollar extension. Of those five players, only Boone, Williams, and Carter are certain to make the final roster.

The New Jersey Nets have certainly positioned themselves well for the unrestricted free agent boon of 2010 that will feature the likes of LeBron James, Dwyane Tyrone Wade Jr., Steve Nash, Joe Johnson, Walter Ray Allen, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Manu Ginobili, Tracy McGrady, and for what it’s worth, Shaquille O’Neal. This list can further increase if players who hold Early Termination Options (ETO) in their existing contracts decide to exercise them. They are Amare Stoudemire, Michael Redd, Tyson Chandler, Richard Jefferson, Yao Ming, and Dirk Nowitzki.

If the Nets don’t land LeBron James in 2010.

They are not short on alternatives from the wealth of talent on that list.

Kudos to the Nets brain trust on their foresight.

Brooklyn may not only be getting a team two years from now.

But a solid contender.

Addendum:

- DeSagana Diop and the Dallas Mavericks agreed on a five-year, $31 million deal (the team’s full midlevel exception) last July 9, 2008. It will be Diop’s second stint with the Mavericks after being a part of the Jason Kidd-Devin Harris deal six months earlier

- What exactly did the Nets get in the Marcus Williams deal? Fred Kerber of nypost.com shares that “if the Warriors are in the playoffs in 2011, the Nets get their first round pick. So it’s lottery-protected in 2011.

He adds “if the Nets are still waiting for the pick in 2012, they get G. State’s first rounder, as long as it’s not 1-through 11. If they’re still waiting in 2013, they get the first rounder as long as it’s not 1-through-10. But 2013 is the cutoff. If they haven’t gotten the pick by then they get two second rounders, in 2013 and 2015.”

Sounds as shady as Marcus Camby being dealt for a 2nd round pick, if you know what I mean.

- Lastly, at the age of 40, guard Darrell Armstrong won’t be back with the Nets for the upcoming 2008-2009 NBA season.

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Jason Kidd's 100th triple-double: Destiny will have to wait

February 10, 2008.

Despite a sudden torrid downpour of snow as we walked towards the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey—I could feel it in the cold air.

This afternoon’s match up between the New Jersey Nets and Dallas Mavericks was going to be a good one.

Or at least I hoped it would be a good one, if only for two reasons.

• Super courtside seats!!! (Thanks Hon!)

• Triple-double #100 (Kidd had the opportunity that evening to record his 100th career
triple-double that afternoon and finished with 13 points, 14 assists, and six
rebounds—falling short of the feat by 4 caroms).

Some of the highlights:

• Saw injured point guard Devin Harris shooting around with an assistant coach (or trainer) more than an hour and a half prior to tip off. Harris seemed to show no signs of the foot injury that has kept him out of the Dallas lineup for the last few weeks. His shot looked sweet and his movement crisp while consistently knockdown uncontested perimeter jumpers. No wonder these guys are pros! (Later on, I found out that Devin was still on the Mavericks inactive list).

• Dirk Nowitzki also showed his shooting prowess as he seemed to mimic guard-forward Jerry Stackhouse’ knee-bending routine while shooting several 16 footers. Needless to say, they all went in—straight and true!

• More than a dozen kids sporting Jason Kidd jerseys engulf Nets forward-center Sean Williams as he signs autographs. Hon says to me, “Gee, those are a lot of Kidd’s.” I just love the word play. Hehehe. The kids turn out to be a part of Jason Kidd’s foundation—“Kidd’s Corner”—and got to watch the game live from their designated section located of the upper level of the Izod Center.

• As the clock was running out—players have fifteen minutes to change into their uniforms prior to the start of the contest—and the Dallas players ran to their dugout, player-development staff member and former Mavericks jock, Ron "Popeye" Jones, showed that he still got his pet move (a hook shot) down pat when he swished a hook shot from outside the court along the baseline. Wow!

• As the Nets entered the Izod Center’s playing court, speakers blared with Kanye West's "Stronger" as their theme music. It is the same single currently used by the New York Knicks. Now I am really sure that the owner of the “Best Rap Album” in the recently concluded 50th annual Grammy Awards “IS” raking in the Benjamin's during every home game at MSG and the Izod Center.

• Jason Kidd starts off strong with a nifty alley-oop pass to forward Josh Boone right in front of us.

• I was also looking forward to Kidd’s first foul shot (a technical free-throw) in the first quarter. Noticeably absent was his patented wiping-my-ass-blow-away-kiss prior to every foul shot. I believe the result of which is due to his ongoing divorce proceedings with his estranged wife, Joumana.

• Triple-double watch: Kidd 3 points and 3 assists after one period.

• Mavericks forward Brandon Bass takes out Vincent “VC” Lamar Carter with an elbow to the right side of his face after the former attempted to strip him of the basketball. My thoughts were, “I hope he is alright.”

• The Nets are down double-digits (11 points) with less than seven minutes left before the half. I’m praying now, “No blowouts please! Come on, make things interesting!”

• And that they did. The Nets come roaring back with a 20-4 run of their own—featuring Carter (8 points), Kidd (5 points), and Richard Jefferson (5 points). Intermission: Nets 46 – Mavericks 40.

• Triple-double watch: Kidd 5 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists at the end of two. He is now 2 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists away from a triple-double.

• During several intangible “Kidd” plays during the second half, I was hollering, “2-6-5,” “2-6-6,” etc. Signifying the points, rebounds, and assists Kidd still needed to get in order to reach the not-so-elusive triple-double.

• Triple-double watch: Kidd 3 points, 2 rebounds, and 7 assists at the conclusion of the third quarter. Kidd now only needs 4 rebounds to reach the 100th triple-double of his productive career.

• Nets Head Coach Lawrence Frank sits Kidd down for three plus minutes to start the fourth quarter. I say, “Play him Coach. He might not be with you next week!”

• Kidd leaves the game with 1:33 left in the fourth after Dallas removes their starters. He adds 2 points and 2 assists to his totals and finishes with 13 points, 14 assists, and six rebounds. Destiny will have to wait for another day...

• Lastly, there was a Stromile Swift sighting! The former Memphis Grizzly had his first block and defensive rebound as a New Jersey Net.

• Final score: New Jersey 101 – Dallas 82

Other Notes:

• I found out later that the Nets have historically had a difficult time against
the Dallas Mavericks. This truly was a treasured win as:

o The Nets won for only the fourth time in their last sixteen games.
o The win was only the Nets' fourth double-digit victory of the season.

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Yi Jianlian--NBA All-Star?

The proud city of New Orleans. 58 Days to go. NBA All-Star 2008.

The annual (a.k.a. "most likely") West starters most likely Yao Ming at Center (no contest here with an entire country voting for him); Tim Duncan (which was sketchy at first since he was initially listed as a Center. But now since he was able to sequester a reprieve on his All-Star ballot position listing (which would have most likely taken him out of the West starters if he didn't get it since Yao Ming has owned the Center slot since he entered the league in 03') and last year's league MVP Dirk Nowitzki at Forward; and Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady at Guard.

While the annual (a.k.a. "most likely") East starters would be Shaquille O'Neal at Center (no doubt moving to East to South Beach really helped in this department); newcomer Kevin "KG" Garnett and LeBron "LBJ" James as the Forwards; and Dwyane Tyrone Wade, Jr. and Gilbert "Agent Zero" Arenas at the Guard positions.

That is "most likely" and probably how the vote will turn out. New Jersey Nets point guard Jason Kidd (who currently has three triple-doubles this early into the 07'-08' season) should be the most viable replacement for the injured Arenas.

As for the West, I am not a big fan of Tracy McGrady and in all honesty, a natural point guard should start for the West and my vote goes to 2-time MVP Steve Nash (which won't happen because of McGrady's popularity).

Now to the main topic.

Question: Will Milwaukee Bucks forward and China's own Yi Jianlian make the NBA All-Star team?

I say YES!

Not because I'm a fan of Yi (which I am not), nor because the NBA seemingly decided to leave the 20 year-old Jianlian off the All-Star ballot.

Yi Jianlian will make it with his countrymen backing him up via the NBA's online All-Star voting system. They may have taken Yi off the ballot but NBA fans are more educated these days as there is always the "write in player" option.

Yi won't surpass "The Chosen One" LeBron James but he has a shot at Kevin Garnett's starting slot.

Yahoo Sports wrote:

China's basketball press lamented Friday (November 16, 2007) the absence of rookie Yi Jianlian from the 2008 NBA All Star ballot, reporting that the world's top basketball league may fear the voting power of Chinese fans.

Yi's name was absent from the ballot released Thursday (November 15, 2007) in the United States, making it much more difficult for Chinese supporters of the Milwaukee Bucks power forward to vote for him to start in the annual All Star Game.

The 20-year-old rookie has impressed in his first month in the NBA, averaging 11 points and 6.9 rebounds a game and replacing Charlie Villanueva, who is on the ballot, as the Bucks starter.

Yi's absence dominated the sports pages of many Chinese newspapers on Friday.

"The NBA does not dare to put Yi Jianlian on the ballot because the voting power of Chinese fans is too big," Titan Sports Weekly said in an editorial.

"If the NBA put Yi Jianlian on the ballot without careful consideration ... he would surely start for the East.

"The NBA fears that if a guy like Yi becomes an All Star and only scores two points in the game, they would lose the meaning of the All Star (game)."


Wouldn't it be fun to see the system work against the NBA?

So what are you waiting for?

Click here and vote today!

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The Sun Has Set On The Dallas Mavericks

May 3, 2007. No matter how much Mavericks owner Mark Cuban downplays his team's first round exit against the 8th seed Golden State Warriors, this date stands as a day of infamy for the Dallas Mavericks. After garnering the best overall record (67 wins and 15 losses) in 06'-07' season--which guaranteed them home court advantage throughout the playoffs--the Mavs were still unable to upstage the up-and-coming Warriors who seemed to have had their number over the last two years.

TNT Analyst Steve Kerr put it best when he likened the slumping Mavericks to last year’s Detroit Pistons. Kerr mentioned a conversation that he had with Pistons Head Coach Flip Saunders wherein Saunders talked about his team “losing their edge” entering that year’s NBA Playoffs due to a number of lackluster games in the tail end of their regular season schedule.

The Mavericks made NBA history as being the first number one seed to lose a best-of-seven first round series to an eight seed (The previous two occasions were best-of-five affairs wherein the 94’ Denver Nuggets upset the favored Seattle Supersonics and the 99’ New York Knicks which bested the Miami Heat on an Allan Houston runner at the buzzer). Despite winning 67 games (which tied them for 6th best overall record all-time); having three ten-game winning streaks (with a high of 17 straight games (they were unable to extend it to 18 as they lost to the Warriors in their next game)); having the best home record; best road record; and winning the southwest division title, it just wasn’t enough to best the Golden State Warriors who played their hearts out despite having an injured and inferior lineup to that of the Dallas Mavericks.

Then again, it’s pretty hard to win a basketball series or game for that matter when your star player—German native Dirk Nowitzki—in not so many words, conceded the series should the Warriors win Game 4. (Which they did! It also gave the Warriors a seemingly insurmountable 3-1 lead in the series).