| The New Direction Of The New Jersey Nets Authored by Quinten Farmer - February 25, 2008 - 1:32 pm
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A new day dawned on the New Jersey Nets franchise with the trade of franchise cornerstone Jason Kidd. After a difficult first half of the season, Kidd finally went public with his desire to be traded to a contender. With multiple teams vying for the services of the All-Star point guard, GM Rod Thorn was able to get a quality package with which to begin the post-Kidd era in New Jersey.
The official deal had Kidd, Antoine Wright and Malik Allen going to the Mavericks in exchange for Devin Harris, Trenton Hassell, Maurice Ager, DeSagana Diop, Keith Van Horn, two first round draft picks and cash considerations.
Breaking the deal down from a Nets' perspective, it is obvious that the main target was Dallas point guard Devin Harris. A speedy defensive stopper, Harris has solidified his status in the crop of young point guards in the league right now, just a step below the likes of Chris Paul and Deron Williams. Although currently recovering from an ankle injury, Harris is an adequate, cheap replacement for Kidd, an observation borne out by his +238 Reina value.
For the most part, the rest of the players acquired in the deal were simply salary equalizers to balance out Kidd’s monstrous $19.7 million salary. Hassell, Ager, and Van Horn will mainly serve the Nets by breaking Kidd's salary into more manageable pieces. None of that trio is likely to contribute much on the court, and Van Horn may never even suit up, considering he was essentially in retirement before the Mavericks signed him as a salary equalizer. Diop will be splitting time with youngsters Sean Williams, Josh Boone, and Nenad Krstic.
Despite the feeling that the Nets have gutted the roster by trading Kidd, they are in fact left with a fairly talented team. There is no doubt that both Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson can score, and the Nets frontcourt suddenly looks like a defensively intimidating bunch, with talented shot blockers Diop and Williams. Despite the massive hole left by the departure of Kidd, the Nets are left with a respectable point guard rotation of youngsters Harris and Marcus Williams.
The newly acquired Stromile Swift now may be the odd man out, as the underachieving forward was likely brought in to run the break and finish Kidd’s pinpoint passes. With Kidd’s departure and Diop further crowding the young frontcourt, Swift may once again be relegated to the bench.
With Kidd gone, the Nets' rebuilding now focuses on star shooting guard Vince Carter. Despite his undeniable talent and explosive scoring ability, Carter’s long-term contract and injury concerns detract considerably from his value. Thorn must now hope that a late season resurgence by Carter will make him attractive to teams looking for a scorer this off-season. Even then, the serious question marks attached to Carter may force Thorn to look for nothing more than short-term contracts, and perhaps a pick or young player.
In a fortuitous turn of events for Thorn, his rebuilding effort is now simplified due to the “big three” makeup of this current Nets team. If the team is able to move both Kidd and Carter for young pieces and short contracts, then Thorn is left with Jefferson as his only large contract to work with. At only 27 years old, Jefferson is just entering his prime as a player. As the Nets take the next couple seasons to remake their team, the front office can evaluate Jefferson and hope he grows into being a marquee player for this team.
Although there is undoubtedly talent on the roster, it is hard to imagine that the team will see a large amount of improvement after trading away their heart and soul. Barring a sudden reemergence by Carter, the team is likely to drop out of the playoff picture, or possibly snag a low seed in the mediocre Eastern Conference. Either way, the team has admitted to a rebuilding effort with the trade of Kidd, the only question now being the manner in which they go about it. |
