NBA Trades: 10 Bold Predictions for the New Jersey Nets with Deron Williams
The Nets will make the playoffs.
This is the boldest prediction of them all.
New Jersey is just nine and a half games out of the 8th spot in the Eastern Conference playoff standings. With 24 games remaining I wouldn't say that this is an impossible task, but it will be extremely hard for the Nets to pull this off.
I'm not talking about going past the first-round; they'll just sneak into the playoffs.
You say I don't know what I'm talking about?
I beg to differ.
After all, this is the Eastern Conference that we're talking about here, and you don't even need to be above .500 to make the playoffs.
10. New Jersey Nets Will Make the Playoffs This Year
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The Nets will make the playoffs.
This is the boldest prediction of them all.
New Jersey is just nine and a half games out of the 8th spot in the Eastern Conference playoff standings. With 24 games remaining I wouldn't say that this is an impossible task, but it will be extremely hard for the Nets to pull this off.
I'm not talking about going past the first-round; they'll just sneak into the playoffs.
You say I don't know what I'm talking about?
I beg to differ.
After all, this is the Eastern Conference that we're talking about here, and you don't even need to be above .500 to make the playoffs.
9. Deron Williams Will Sign a Contract Extension with the Nets
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I guarantee it!
Why wouldn't Williams sign a contract extension with the Nets?
I'm sure there is no way that the Knicks can sign three max players under the anticipated new collective bargaining agreement. Not unless they want to play 3-on-5 basketball.
There is probably not a single player that is excited about playing in New Jersey, but I'm sure a lot of them would be when the team eventually relocates to Brooklyn. And I'm not saying this just because I'm a Brooklynite.
Why would Williams pass up a chance to be the face of a major market franchise? No offense to the Utah Jazz.
8. D-Will to Lopez Is the Next Stockton to Malone
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It's a rare commodity in the NBA to have a dominant big-man on your team.
Nets know this and Deron Williams probably knows that playing along side a scoring center makes thing easier.
Just ask the Los Angeles Lakers.
Will Williams and Lopez develop into a Stockton to Malone kind of tandem?
Probably not, but this doesn't mean that they can't build their own version of the NBA's once upon a time most feared duo.
7. Jerry Sloan Will Coach the Nets
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I'm not too thrilled with the coaching job that Avery Johnson has done—plain and simple.
I don't think that any other coach, except maybe Phil Jackson, could've had any kind of success while coaching the current Nets squad.
For one, Johnson was unable to fit Troy Murphy into his scheme. Would any other coach fail to get at least some sort of production from a player of Murphy's abilities?
This is why Avery Johnson doesn't strike me as the kind of coach that will stick around for more than a season or two, or until Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov realizes that the team is stagnating with Johnson as its leader.
6. Brook Lopez Reemerges as a Rebounding Force
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In his first two seasons in the NBA, Brook Lopez averaged 8.1 and 8.6 rebounds, respectively. This season: 5.8 rebounds.
What has happened with Brook Lopez?
Is Kris Humphries taking away all of Lopez’s rebounding opportunities? I think not. I think it’s all in Lopez’s head.
Playing alongside Deron Williams should prove beneficial for Lopez. Williams and Devin Harris are both point guards who aren’t afraid to shoot the ball. While this is not a knock against Harris who has often been forced to carry the offensive, but choosing between the two I would say that Williams is the better decision maker, a better scorer, but not a player that would force bad shots. At least not at the rate Harris has been in his time with the Nets.
While there would be no direct correlation between Williams’ play and its affect on Lopez’s rebounding, I’d suggest more of a mental fix that Williams would provide for Lopez’s rebounding woes.
5. Nets Will Sign Marquee Free Agents
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Even though both LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony spurned the Nets, this doesn’t mean that other highly valued free agents will do the same.
Even though Carmelo Anthony stated that he wanted to end up with the Knicks, I think that the only reason that Anthony agreed to a trade was because Amar’e Stoudemire had already signed with New York.
Stoudemire was the magnet used to pull Anthony to the Knicks.
WIlliams too can be used as a magnet to draw marquee free-agents to the Nets.
4. What Free-Agent Can the Nets Sign?
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After trading away Derrick Favors, the Nets will be looking for an upgrade at power forward.
No disrespect to Kris Humphries, but the already thin Nets front-court is in a desperate need of a bona fide scoring big man. West has an early termination option in his contract, but he isn’t likely to exercise it unless the new collective bargaining agreement will be player friendly.
The Nets will be front runners for West’s services in case he indeed decides to enter free agency.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the Nets will sign Tim Duncan, but I doubt that will ever happen. But I’d be nice to hear “Timmay” after each time that Duncan scores.
3. Mikhail Prokhorov Will Surpass Mark Cuban as the Greatest Owner in Sports
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Not too long ago Mark Cuban was the hottest name in professional sports.
Most NBA players wanted to play for him, even if they never said so outright, and I’m not even talking about the players in other professional sports.
Here comes Mikhail Prokhorov—billionaire and playboy and now the new owner of the New Jersey Nets. If the NBA operated anywhere close to how European teams operate then the Nets would be buying top tier players left and right. Unfortunately, the NBA operations are a little more restricted, but this doesn’t mean that Prokhorov can’t splurge on the Nets.
Deron Williams is the first big signing of the Nets Prokhorov era, and he will do everything he can in order to resign Williams who is due to become a free agent in a little less than a year and a half.
Prokhorov is already building a billion dollar arena of the Nets to play, but the buck doesn’t stop there. There is no way that Prokhorov let’s Williams become a free agent, unless he wants his first big move as an owner to be labeled as a failure.
2. Nets Will Overtake the Knicks as New York’s Top Team
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You can’t escape the lore of the New York Knicks, with all their history and tradition.
This, however, doesn’t mean that the Nets cannot begin to build a tradition of their own. Come to think of it, the Nets already have tradition.
Julius “Dr. J” Erving and Bernard King are the faces associated with the beginning of the Nets franchise. Buck Williams carried the franchise through the 80’s. Drazen Petrovic was a brief glimpse of hope for the Nets in the early 90’s. The Jason Kidd era saw the Nets finally outshine the Knicks, but that ended all too quickly.
Enter Deron Williams and the next phase in the evolution of the Nets.
Knicks have history on their side, but they also have James Dolan. While the Knicks show brilliance, often times this brilliance is quickly overshadowed by the ineptness of their owner.
What NBA owner in their right mind would openly undermine their general manager (insert Donnie Walsh here)? The answer is, James Dolan. How? By allowing Isiah Thomas to influence his decision.
Prokhorov appears to be firm and level-headed, and someone who will turn a blind eye towards the mishandling of his team, much like Dolan did with Thomas as the decision maker of the Knicks organization.
In Carmelo Anthony, Dolan receives a pure scorer and not much else.
In Williams, Prokhorov received a team leader.
Which one do you think made the better decision?
1. Nets Will Win a Championship Within 5 Years, as Mihail Prokhorov Promised
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There is no single reason why the Nets will win a championship within five years.
It is all but a culmination of the nine aforementioned reasons.
Getting Deron Williams is a step in the right direction. You can call it a foundation stone for the Nets in building a successful franchise.
Without making a bold move in acquiring Deron Williams, the Nets have no chance of winning a title in the near future, i.e., five years. While I do not root for the Knicks to fail, I can’t help but think that James Dolan will find a way to screw things up, whether that is on his own or with the help of Isiah Thomas.
But I believe that Deron Williams can lead the Nets to the promised land.
And in Prokhorov I trust.
