The New Jersey Nets could go from being the worse team last season with a 12-70 record to being the best team next season and probably for the next five years and this is how they can make that dramatic turn around.
As it stands, the Nets have a payroll of $22.2 million for next season assuming Kris Humphries picks up his $3.2 million player option, which I expect him to do. This puts them in the running to offer a max contract to one free agent while leaving them only a few million shy of offering a max contract to a second free agent. In terms of players, they have first time all-star point guard Devin Harris, soon to be perennial all-star center Brook Lopez and the 3rd overall pick of this year’s draft. The Nets also recently hired Avery Johnson as their new coach and has the backing of their new multi billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov, who vowed that the team will win a championship in 1-5 years. All these factors puts the Nets in a very intriguing position and if the dots are connected the right way, the Nets could be playing like a well orchestrated opera symphony and making Prokhorov prediction come true as early as next season and this is how they can accomplish that feat.
Sometimes to build a dynasty a team must make some bold moves. However, in many instances their hands are tied because they are usually over the salary cap, don't have the lottery picks to rebuild or, simply find themselves stuck with players that have very low trade values. Fortunately for the Nets, none of these scenarios applies to them. They have the 3rd overall draft pick in this year's draft. They are approximately $31 million under the projected $53 million salary cap for 2010-11. They also have some very attractive young players to deal, which is why I believe the Nets are in the perfect position to build a dynasty immediately! The Nets could begin by acquiring Chris Paul in a trade. In order to pull this off, the Nets would offer the New Orleans Hornets Devin Harris, Kris Humphries, Yi Jialian and the 3rd overall draft pick for Chris Paul. In essence the Nets will be trading away $16.2 million in salaries for Chris Paul’s $14.9 million, which should take their $22.2 million payroll down to $20.9 million. The question is, why would New Orleans trade Chris Paul, arguably the best point guard in the league when he’s healthy?
The first reason has everything to do with the emergence of first year point guard Darren Collison. On January 29th, CP3 went down with a knee injury against the Chicago Bulls and was out for two months. When he returned from injury, he averaged only 9.4 ppg and 8 apg during a 7 game stretch from March 22 to April 3rd before being shut down by the Hornets for the remaining 4 games of the season. From Feb 1st to the end of the season, CP3 replacement rookie point guard Darren Collison was nothing short of breathtaking. He averaged 19 ppg and 8.55 assists per game on a very impressive 50.7 field goal percentage, while shooting 44.7% from 3s and making 84.1 percent of his free throw attempts. What made this even more impressive was that these numbers were over the last 35 games of the season. I am not saying Darren Collison is as good as CP3 but, he is definitely a solid replacement at the point guard position.
The second reason the trade makes sense for the New Orleans Hornets are the pieces they will be getting in return. In Devin Harris,they get an all-star point guard who may not as good as CP3 but, gives them a good enough point guard that will not over shadow Collison’s development as CP3 would have. The Hornets also get Yi, who is considered a ‘hybrid stretch 4’ a versatile power forward who can shoot 3s, not to mention the fact that he is a 7 footer and he's only 22 years old with a major upside. The icing on the cake is obviously the 3rd overall pick in this year’s draft, which figures to be a very deep one.
The fact is, the Hornets will either trade Collison or CP3 and even though the Hornets are leaning towards trading Collison, this trade gives them too many pieces to pass up. It can even be argued that at first glance this trade benefits the Hornets more, especially when you consider CP3’s 9.4 ppg and 8 apg that he averaged during the last 7 games that he played for the Hornets. What if he doesn’t return to his old form is what a skeptic might ask? I am not one of those skeptics and I believe CP3 will return to being the best point guard in the entire nba next season.
With the trade completed the Nets will have CP3, their point guard of the future and center Brook Lopez, who I predict will be an all-star by next season. In addition to filling the two hardest positions in basketball, that being the point guard and center positions, the Nets would have enough cap room to sign two free agents to maximum contracts.
Obviously Lebron James will be the first option at the small forward position along with Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire at the power forward spot. Imagine the Nets president Rod Thorn, new head coach Avery Johnson along with new owner Mikhail Prokhorov on one of Prokhorov Gulf Stream jets with Lebron and Bosh discussing the possibility of a Chris Paul, Lebron James, Chris Bosh and Brook Lopez line up with two maximum level contracts offers on hand. There is absolutely no way, Lebron and Bosh will say no to that.
With a lineup with CP3, Lebron, Bosh and Lopez, any decent shooting guard will fit in nicely. Although the Nets already have Courtney Lee on their roster, they could most certainly upgrade by offering Ray Allen a 3 year deal starting at the mid level exception. It will be hard press for Ray to pass up the opportunity of finishing his career with this team considering how he ended game 7 against the Lakers scoring only 13 points while making only 3 out of the 14 shots he attempted. The Celtics could probably offer Ray a two year deal with an average of around $10 million however, at the end of the day, the extra $3 million per year which is more like $1.7 million after taxes, will not be enough to keep Ray with the Celtics. Considering how miserable Ray played in game 7 against the Lakers and because on several occasions he's mentioned a conversation in which Michael Jordan told him winning one championship was lucky, I believe Ray will gladly take two more rings as opposed to an additional $3.4 million over the next two years from Boston.
In conclusion the Nets could have a starting lineup of Chris Paul, Lebron James, Chris Bosh, Brook Lopez and either Ray starting as a fifth option or, providing instant offense off the bench for the Nets. Rod Thorn could go down as the greatest president/ general manager of the decade. Prokhorov prediction that the Nets will win one championship during the next 1-5 years will actually turn out to be low because, this Nets team barring injuries will almost certainly win at least 3 championships over the next 5 seasons. The Miami Heat can sign three max players, the Knicks can sign two but, the New Jersey Nets are the only team that could end up with three max players. In addition they have soon to be perennial all-star center Brook Lopez and could end up signing the sharp shooting Ray Allen. The Nets must act quickly because if they don't, Collison might get traded on draft day and pretty much ruin their chances of acquiring Chris Paul via a trade. I trust Rod Thorn, the Nets president is already working on this angle.
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