If you were D’Will:

Let’s say you were traded to a team coming off a 12 win season. One of worst seasons in history of sport.

To a team with a new owner. New General Manager. New coach.

To a team with a lot of holes on its roster.

To a team without another superstar.

To a team where it’s best player had a down year & ended up getting hurt. So you haven’t really gotten a firsthand sense of what Lopez can do.

To a team without veteran leadership & without a winning attitude.

To a franchise which is a distant second in the community to the Knicks.

To a franchise as thought of as one of the worst. Kidd years were great, but many think of that as an anomaly for a losing franchise.

To a team which was recently rejected by LeBron & Melo.

To a team currently playing in an arena which you don’t like playing in.

To a team that is losing even with your arrival.

Long story short, you have doubts.

Now let’s move a bit into the future:

After being with the team for almost a full year & before Gerald Wallace trade.

You really like the GM. He listens to what you are saying. He also had ownerships support and you like the fact that ownership has deep pockets. Because of this you feel like the team is headed in the right direction. They have made many efforts to get a big impact player/another superstar. It hasn’t worked out yet, but you really like the effort and that they are striving for big time.

There is some good young talent on the team. No guaranteed all-stars, but there is some potential.

You don’t like the arena you’re playing in. You struggle making your shot there and team’s record isn’t good at home. Many nights the arena isn’t full and can have more away team fans than home team fans. You can’t blame the fans because the team is moving out next year.

The team is losing. You hate the losing every night. You won’t make the playoffs. You like the franchise as a whole, except for the losing… It is a piece or two away from being a winner, and a couple of more pieces away from being a contender.

There are a lot of expectations for next year. When they move to Brooklyn. But… it’s still not proven and so there are doubts: What if you don’t like the new arena? What if the team continues to lose? What if Brooklyn doesn’t have the fanbase and the crowd support, initially? There are a lot of current players on the team that are unsigned. While it does give the team cap space to sign potential free agents you really don’t know what the makeup of the team will be.

You are going to be a free agent:

If you stay with Nets you will make more money because of bird rules, plus the endorsement money has been real good. There is an excitement about the future of the franchise, but no proof. You like what the GM & owner are saying but while you trust them, up until now it is all just talk… no results. You’re not at all sure the team will be a winning team.

The Mavericks are a team that could go after you hard. You used to live there. You have friends & family there. You LOVE the arena there. They do not play second fiddle to the Knicks. There are always more home jersey’s than away jersey’s (definite homefield advantage.) The owner has deep pockets. It is a proven winning franchise, coming off a championship season. It has some cap issues, but if they can get under it they will come after you hard.

Other teams will be in the mix. Proven franchises. One’s that might have proven talent. One's that don't have the huge doubts that the Nets do.

Ok, now you’re Billy King.

You know that this is a superstar driven league. Superstars do not come along often, especially one who seems like a real team player. We have one whose contract is up and we need to make a concerted effort to keep him. You talk with D-Will regularly. You & he are on the same page and he’s excited about the potential of the franchise. He & his family really seem to like the area. You know he can make more money with you than any other team. But aside from the money, there are a lot of uncertainties. Possibilities yes! But nothing is certain! And you know that when your superstar player hits free agency that the other teams are going to bring up the Nets uncertainties and prey upon those doubts.

Keeping the money & his family out of the equation for the moment, winning is the biggest thing for him. He will not want to sign a long term contract with a team that he isn’t sure will be a winner. So far, he’s done nothing but lose with this franchise. You’ve tried to get another superstar to join him, but that fell through… You need to get the losing taste out of his mouth and demonstrate through results, not just possibilities, that this team can be a winner. Trade deadline is pending. Now what are you gonna do?

So you go out and get the best available player in Gerald Wallace, who happens to sure up the biggest hole in the starting lineup in small forward and will bring an intensity and defensive presence that has been lacking on the team all year. With one move you can correct a lot of wrongs with the team. You think that when this complete lineup plays together that they will win some games. And that 20 + games of playing together will crystallize in D’Wills mind that this team can be a winner soon.. Wallace can opt out of his contract after this year. But you feel confident that if you can bring back D’Will you can also bring back Wallace.

You gave up a draft pick that could be realistically about 8-10. That pick could potentially be someone who could turn out to be a high value player, in a few years. You feel that that player will not help you bring back your superstar, where Wallace can.

IMHO:

Draft picks cannot be assured to get you a superstar. While it is generally not a good idea for a losing team to give up draft picks especially for an aged player, there are exceptions. In this case, we get a high quality player who fits our team dare I say (on paper) PERFECTLY, whose presence will help assuage doubts of the Nets not being able to win and very much help bring back one of these rare superstars. Once we have D’Will back we can continue courting other superstars as plan A, but at least you’ve demonstrated to him, that the worst case scenario is still pretty good.

If you were him, wouldn’t you have doubts? Wouldn’t you want those doubts addressed before locking you and your family into a long term contract?

My screenname is kiemurphy and i approve this trade! So should you! :)

I'm just a fan who wants to put down some thoughts.  No crazy trades or anything, just hoping for some realistic conversation.  Didn't watch a lot of minutes of games last year, so some of my in game specific knowledge is lacking.  E.G. I know Lee is great from the corner.  Harris used to be good at hitting a 12 -15 footer.  Nets played next to no defense last year.  But not much else!

Prokohorov - I like him.  Seems to have the right attitude.  Winning starts at the top, and he has given me a lot of optimism.  Has a successful business background.  Wants to have a global franchise and realizes that the best way to do that is to win.  I'm sure he'd like a big splash, like a big free agent signing, but seems to be smart enough to not push it.  Also, he's a leader who seems to listen to depend on his people around him to handle day to day stuff.  As long as he listens to Rod Thorn, who built a near winner here out of a perennial loser a few years ago, I'm happy.  Infrastructure is in place.

Coach - I think that an effective head coach they should have the following qualities.  1. Coach and stress defense.  It wins championships, and can give a decent team more wins.  2. A good in game decision maker.  One who exploits matchups and sees where we need to make adjustments because of things the other team is doing.  3. Motivates the team & manages egos.   4. Has a winning mentality.   5. Doesn't have to be a detail X & O's guy.  Leave that to the assistants.   If you get buried in the trees you miss the forest sometimes.   So far I like Avery best.  Not a big Van Gundy fan anymore.  I worry about the Thibodeau because i think he might be a "trees" guy, but I don't know.  I think as the surprise Thorn mentioned it could be Fratello.  I say that only because I like Fratello and he's a NJ guy.  He's had a decent track record of defense and winning.  I'm also not against Byron Scott as long as he's got detail oriented assistant coaches.  He's a winner.  Frank was the "trees" guy and a good compliment to Scott back in the day.  he would need another frank & Jordan under him.

Draft:  Will get Favors or Cousins... i don't care.  I'm not ready to judge either at this point.  Hope Rod makes right choice and takes BPA.  I wouldn't be suprised to see Rod trade down like he did a few years ago when we ended up getting RJ.

Current Roster: 

Yi Jianlian - Signed for 2 more seasons.  He's been frustrating.  We knew he'd be a project when we got him, and I believe it took Yao a few years to get on track.  Yi had glimpses of the player he can be last year (a couple of 30 pts game, albeit followed up with crap performances).  Might not be popular on these message boards, but I think he stays with the Nets at least one more year even if they do bring in a FA or high draft pick.  He just fits in perfectly with the whole global concept.  Like I said, he was a project when we got him.  His upside and global presence means we're not giving up on him yet.

Harris: Give him another chance to regain form from 2 years ago.  I like Avery's history of hard coaching to get through to him (I like to see kind of what Larry Brown did in Detroit with Chauncy as necessary).  Need a solid backup with him cause he gets injured so often.   I like Harris speed.  Just makes him impossible to guard.

Lee, TWill and Harris have potential to all be real good shut down type defenders (fromwhat i read).  I'm not saying they could man Kobe or anything, just saying that they have some potential, and with the right coaching I'm excited.  Maybe some occasional full court press to maximize this, like back in Potino's Knicks days.

Power Forward & Center: I'm assuming that Humphries excercises his option and returns.  So assuming that i'm right from before, that gives us Yi, Humphries, Lopez and either Favors or Cousins.  Davis Lee would be a good fit as he could log some minutes at Center to rest Lopez as well as start at PF.  He also has a pretty good motor, worth ethic, creates own points off of rebounds and can play away from the basket which would work well with Lopez.

Ball handling - Obviously Harris.  I like what I saw of TWill when he handled the rock.

Outside shooting - C. Lee...  No one else.  Need someone else!  C. Lee is good player, would like to see him come off the bench.   Oh, forgot about CDR.  Bring him back.  I like potential for spark off bench, even though didn't see a lot of it last year.  Things he said to media weren't that bad.  Just needs some coaching.

Free Agents:

Would like a veteran winning presence (Alston was so disappointing last year).  Some outside shooting.  Some rebounds.  Be great if we could get someone to take "winning shots" down the stretch.

We have a good nucleus, just no wins which will scare some off.  But some good selling points as far as players and namely Thorn who now has owners backing as in not cost cutting.  KiKi was a solid GM, but lousy coach.  With better coaching could have gotten 20+ wins.  Can spin the Rock as a positive I think. 

Wade - zero chance, but he'd be my numer 1 choice.  LeBron - a few months ago I'd have said zero chance... but now there is a chance, I'm just not counting on it!  Joe Johnson would be a good fit as well.  I'm just not sure he's worth max dollars, but not ready to give up on him after this bad playoff performance & sometimes you need to overpay a little.  Bosch, I'd take him.  Seems like an allstar type complimentary player.  Unlikely we'd get him after his top five list of teams he'd go to. 

Other FA - Already mentioned David Lee.  I'd consider signing him for about 8-10 mill.  Definitly better players out there, but just seems like a good fit.  Just shouldn't overpay.  there are others too.

I liked Jarvis Hayes.  I'd buyout Dooling. 

Miscellaneous:

Can't seem to shake the whole Global attitude thing.  Remember, he's trying to sell this product overseas.  Step #1 is winning.  But it would also help to have some international stars.  (Damn I miss Drazen!)  Maybe try to get Rubio or Dirk or...

November surprise as mentioned by MP on FRancessa.  No clue.

Thanks for reading.  Feedback woudl be great!

- K