I've been a Nets fan for over 30 years and would like us to get a top three pick as much as the next guy...but the voodoo math on this website is disturbing. The only relevant statistic going into Wednesday is that the Nets have a 25% chance of a top three pick. That means 3 times out of 4, our pick goes to Portland. Those are not very good odds no matter what spin anyone here comes up with. If I am Billy (or a Nets fan), I assume that we do not get the pick and have a serious back up plan. I am sure this is how the Nets FO is operating as anything less would be irresponsible. So...I am hopeful like the rest of you but a lousy outcome is 3 times as likely as a good outcome. Just keeping it real.

Let us connect the dots.  Deron plays golf and has dinner with Billy and Avery.  Within days, Kerber and Al (the two most knowledgeable Nets writers) state that the Nets want to sign Nene and Prince...and retain Hump only for the right price.

Obviously, King and Avery asked Deron his preferences.  They would not then go to the press and contradict their discussions with Deron.  Deron, Nene and Prince all read the newspapers as well as their agents so going public serves a purpose.

Bottomline, Deron's first choice is Nene and Prince.

Let's get it done.

The obvious route to contention is three big man rotation and starting SF.

At last year's salary cap ($58M), the Nets have $16M of cap space.  The owners previously offered a cap of $62M, raising the Nets cap space to $20M.  Dumping Petro would increase the cap space to $23M.  Petro could go with a #2 and $3M.  I bet we could even trade Graham's non-guaranteed contract with another $3M to pay Petro's entire contract and keep our #2 pick.

We then spend $12M on Nene, $6.4 on Hump cap hold and $5M on Prince

If that is not enough to get Prince, I would dump Hump for Hayes at $4M or $5M and give Prince $6M.

If we cannot dump Petro, then it is Nene and Prince and vet min big and wing.

DWil/Morrow/Prince/Nene/Brook is very competitive in the East.

I want all Cuz supporters to bow down before Favors in this thread.  We were tormented all summer and pre-season by the likes of Andres and Jerry.  Remember the suggestion to trade Favors and two future #1 picks for Cousins after his first summer league game?  Maybe the prototypical power forward with a good attitude is better than the stone cold five who is already showing attitude problems and the inability to drop weight.

It is lost on some that Avery has the highest winning percentage of any NBA coach ever.  Some argue that any coach could have done well with the Mavs.  A few comments on Avery's record:

1)  Many coaches have coached teams much better than the Mavs - Phil Jackson, Red Auerbach, Pat Riley, etc.  So don't try to tell us that Cuban has one of the greatest rosters ever.

2) Avery made Diop look like a good NBA player and Josh Howard look like an all-star.

3) Avery made the Mavs a top ten defensive team after years of being the worst defensive team in the league.

4) And finally, Avery got Devin to play great defensive and not chuck shots....that was probably his biggest achievement.

No one should sleep on Avery's coaching record. 

In the end...

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It is occasionally said that Nets management reads NetsDaily.  So let's tell them what we feel about Jeff Bower.  

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We need some clarity on cap space...

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Let's try an objective comparison of destinations.

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