| Picking Up The Pieces After The Carter Trade Authored by Joseph Colucci - August 18, 2009 - 8:06 pm
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First things first. Those who grew to love Vince Carter as a member of the Nets, and who were never really fans of Carter before his Jersey days, find themselves happy to see him have a chance to win a ring in Orlando. Nets fans saw Vince change as a player, become a leader by example and an all around excellent veteran teammate. As with Jason Kidd, Nets fans have to feel fortunate to have witnessed this juncture of Vince Carter’s career, where he truly proved critics wrong. Vince leaves fans in New Jersey with numerous memories and highlights which they can only be grateful Vince wore the Nets jersey with pride. Nets fans can say with confidence, Vince's heart and commitment to his team have been validated by way of the New Jersey Nets.
However, when you talk dollar and cents and find yourself in another financial trade, where your team sends a blue chip and gets nothing in return besides the ability to sign a free agent down the road, it is frustrating. Repeating the success of the Kidd trade would have been very difficult, but the value returned for Carter clearly favored the Magic.
Does Nets ownership truly have the belief their organization can sign that big name in 2010 or 2011? Of course, that’s the only mentality to have along with embracing the possible youth movement and the rebuilding years.
Already, some analysts have alluded to Brooklyn being the biggest component of the Nets signing a big name free agent, which makes the Nets situation even more complicated. Now with every passing month, its seems like Brooklyn is slipping out of the organization’s fingers eventually faced with the huge task of convincing that player to come to New Jersey.
In return for Carter, and looking at the glass as half empty, the Nets get nothing beyond a young potential talent, a couple bags of chips and ultimately the concept of cap room and what the Nets hope they can accomplish with free agency. Here is where you’ll find the BEWARE sign for all of those who believe New Jersey has a great chance of landing that free agent when the time comes. Or for all those fans who actually believe Nets ownership will spend that money when the time comes. The biggest fact in the Nets future is not how much cap room the Nets have, but how there is no guarantee they will actually spend or land anything special in free agency. The fact is, New Jersey does not hold the upper hand, they do not hold the keys to their future, the free agents do. And while ownership may have a strangle hold on personnel decisions, Nets fans may find themselves with nothing more than a name who brings them closer to selling a couple more tickets, a bunch playoff-less or average seasons, the lottery and another hopeful top-10 pick in another weak draft.
Numerous teams have recently shown their push for free agency with big names like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh becoming available in a couple years. NBA teams like the Blazers have utilized the draft and have demonstrated how you can rebuild a team, rather than making a blockbuster trade bringing in a serious player or talent. While there are those fans who are not opposed to sitting out the playoffs for the next 3-5 years or more. These same fans may find themselves down the road looking from the outside in, knocking down the door of Rod Thorn wondering did we just take a step back in time.
With today’s NBA teams, it is not possible to throw out the organization’s given financial state. Those fans who find it difficult to swallow sending a player like Vince to a team like Orlando without getting much in return ask themselves why the Nets did it. (Especially when we all know there are other NBA teams out there in the same situation as Orlando).
It’s simple. The Nets were not willing to wait, and needed to shed a contract from their payroll.
And when faced with the likes of Miami, New York and a dozen other top echelon teams who hold the advantage in negotiations over the Nets in free agency just by who they are. Nets fans have to put their faith in ownership, Devin Harris and Brooke Lopez and say, come to New Jersey we can make it happen. Or in fact, make a move to make another move. And so it becomes the endless spiral of moves that brings us one more step closer to that championship Nets fans were promised just a few years ago.
When faced with empty promises and false of hopes of the future, Nets fans will look to management, who will turn to ownership, who will inevitably consult their financial advisers.
Choosing to dump Vince Carter rather than trade him, defines the New Jersey Nets. Yes, we all know the cap is in place for a reason and the obvious reasoning for getting under it. But don’t be fooled Nets fans, once again you will find yourselves on the short end of the stick of a franchise that is more interested in the business than the championship. |
