Last Thursday, the Nets made their intentions clear. They started the day with a trade. They gave up the only remaining player from their Eastern Conference championship teams in Richard Jefferson.
RJ was with the Nets for seven seasons and the trade was mostly, but not entirely, about money. The team wanted to clear some cap space and this trade was a perfect solution.
They dumped the large salary of Jefferson's and picked up an okay small forward, Bobby Simmons, and a talented young big man, Yi Jianlian.
The Nets obviously agreed to take Simmons because they get a guy who can compete for a small forward job for them for two seasons, before his contract expires in 2010.
Simmons's contract expiration will clear up another 10.6 million dollars of cap space. With the addition of Yi the Nets get a seven-footer that may be anywhere from 20 to 26. I do not think the Nets are looking for a franchise player in Jianlian, but he still has good potential.
Looking at the business side of this deal, the Nets could be looking to get Yi to fill the seats in Brooklyn. Asian audiences have already shown that they are willing to pay to see Yi.
In his first home game with Milwaukee, an estimated 100 million viewers tuned in. This suggests that the Nets may be hoping to televise their games in Asia. Even if Yi does not turn out to be a great player for the Nets, he will definitely be a great investment.
Later that night the nets picked up, arguably, the best big man in the draft in Brook Lopez.
Lopez may potentially be a great player. He will excel with Devin Harris getting him the basketball.
At pick No. 21, the Nets took Ryan Anderson, a 6'10'' power forward from California. Last season Anderson averaged about 22 points and 10 rebounds per game.
He is an excellent shooter, not only behind the arc, but also behind the stripe. Anderson should be an immediate spark off the bench.
Later in the draft, New Jersey had the 40th pick. With this, they chose to take a scorer in Chris Douglas-Roberts. The Memphis shooting guard is a steal at 40 and should be a good scorer on the next level. He could be compared to Chicago's Ben Gordon.
So, how is any of this relevant to bringing in Lebron?
Well, with a large amount of cap space already cleared the Nets will likely look to move Vince Carter, probably for youth and draft choices. The team appears to be making an attempt at having some experience in a young team by 2010.
If all goes well, the Nets will be a legitimate contender to make the playoffs by the time Lebron is available.
Lebron is also good friends with Jay-Z, a part owner of the Nets. Lebron has toyed with the media by saying things about New York being his favorite city and Brooklyn being his favorite of the five boroughs.
There is still a lot of time and there is a chance we see Lebron stay put in Cleveland. It should be very interesting.
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3 months ago
theres no way lebrons gunna leave cleveland
from 3 months ago
If the Cavs don't make a move to make their team good enough to compete with Boston and Detroit, then Lebron may very well leave. At this point, anything can happen. There is no way to predict what will be in Lebron's mind in two years.
3 months ago
lebron is likely going to brooklyn. cleveland hasn't done anything to help lebron out. lebron has been saying how much he loves new york and playing in the atmosphere. we all know the knicks are a terrible team and with the aquisitions the nets made, lebron must be noticing.
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