Melo returns

The Knicks got their guy back in Carmelo Anthony at a huge price of five years/120-129 million dollars. This was the worst thing the New York Knicks could have done in this situation. Now for the Knick fans that follow me and are saying, “You’re just hating on Melo and the Knicks” I promise you, am I not. If Melo signed for five years $95-105 million it would have been great. Even letting Melo walk would have been okay, but now the Knicks are stuck at good but not being championship contenders for the next five years. The first thing about this contract is if Melo is a number one option on a championship team. Some say yes others say no. Me? I don’t know, but I lean towards no. If he isn’t a number one option why is he making $24 million a year?  With Melo making all this money he takes up 35% to 40% of the Knicks salary cap which limits them in the future. They could sign another star in free agency down the line (I don’t know who that star is. Won’t be Love or Aldridge. Maybe Rondo, but he and Melo don’t fit.) Even if the Knicks get that second star player to come they would barely have enough money to fill out the rest of their roster. You need role players to win in this league. Having two stars take up over 70% of your salary won’t get it done. Which is probably what the Knicks are heading for.

I believe letting Melo walk was a better option than resigning him at this price. If Melo walks the Knicks would be awful next year but in a rare occurrence they have their first round draft pick and could be in picking in the top five! This would allow the Knicks to start over and develop a team for once. But instead of that, they will be stuck at good but not great and Melo will be Patrick Ewing 2.0 

Oh Brooklyn

For the first time since he bought the team me and Mikial Prokhorov have a problem. (Mikial if you’re reading this, this problem doesn’t have to result in violence). As we all know, Paul Pierce signed with the Wizards last night for five million dollars a year. It has been reported the Nets didn’t even offer Pierce a contract. Pierce was Brooklyn’s second best player last year and now he’s gone. The Nets gave up three first round picks last year for Pierce and KG (Billy King!!!!) The Nets got one year out of Pierce and will get two years out of KG who can barely play twenty minutes a game. Now I am happy when teams admit mistakes and move on from them; there aren’t many of those teams. But was this the right time to move on? If Pierce resigns with the Nets who is the favorite in the East? It would be a wide open race and the Nets would be in the middle of it. The real reason why Paul Pierce is no longer a Net is because the Nets lost 144 million dollars in basketball related activities and have decided to cut back on spending. They want to get under the repeater tax cap and spend big again in the future. I also find it a bit fishy that ownership decided to pass on Pierce to play two overseas players more (Karasev and Bodanovic). Could there be favoritism for overseas players in ownership? Which isn’t a horrible thing most of the Spurs are international players.

            Many reports say the Nets believe they can compete with the core of Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, and Brook Lopez. So they are counting on Deron Williams whose coming off ankle surgery on BOTH ankles and Brook Lopez coming off his second major foot surgery. That sounds dependable! The Nets still have a playoff roster but will be fighting for seeds 6-8.

For everything Brooklyn Nets and the NBA follow @threwthenet

NBA free agency FINALLY

 I’ve covered the two local teams now I will take a look at the whole NBA.

LeBron

            Obviously huge news, LeBron turned heel and then face better than anyone in history. But I can’t get over some of the things I am hearing about the Cavs. One, this roster is better than Miami’s. WHAT? This team won 33 games last year. Yes, LeBron makes them much better but not a title contender. Hell, they might not be the fourth best team in the east but they are still many pieces away. A number that stood out for me was that the Cavs shot 37% from the three in catch and shooting situations (19^th in the league).  For a team with LeBron they are going to have to get better in that category and they lost CJ Miles, Jarrett Jack and Spencer Hawes who are good at catching and shooting. Another thing about the Cavs; how is Kyrie Irving going to be playing off the ball? Also, how is Kyrie going to handle this spot light? He better play really good or else he’ll be killed in the media which would be something new to him. The last thing I find interesting about LeBron to the Cavs is now Kevin Love possibly going to the Cavs. I hate to be this guy but, why the hell would the Wolves trade him to the Cavs? What do the Cavs have to offer? Waiters, Thompson, Bennett and Wiggins? Wiggins is a great trade assist yes, but those other guys please. Waiters and Thompson are a reason why the Cavs have stunk the last 3 years and Bennett was the awful last year. But those four are enough for a top 10 player in the league. OH OK!

The Heat

            The Heat lost the best player in the world which means they’ll be horrible next year right? Surprising that answer is no. The Heat looked like they were about to lose Bosh but offered him the max and who was going to say no to five years $118 million? Bosh stays, Wade will most likely stay and they just signed Loul Deng which mean Miami will have a pretty good team next year. Will they regret singing Bosh to that long term deal? Probably. But for the short term the Heat should be okay. Hell, they might finish with a better record than the Cavs.

The Rockets

            Here are the losers of this year’s free agency. The Rockets were so close to being a title contender. We all knew that Bosh was going there until the Heat offered him the max. The Rockets thought so too which resulted them trading Jeremy Lin for nothing and now they will lose Chandler Parsons to the Mavericks. The Rockets had to lose Parsons here. If they resigned him they would have been in a tough spot with their cap. People will criticize their GM Morey for striking out big time in free agency but he did the right thing by going for it. I mean they were so close to having the best five in the NBA; the only thing he probably regrets is declining the option on Parsons because now he is gone.   But don’t worry they signed Trevor Ariza!!!

The Suns

            Phoenix might have had the best signing of free agency by signing Isaiah Thomas to a four year deal at $27 million. Isaiah is much underrated (one of my personal favorites, us small and skinny people gotta stick together) and now with Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic, the Suns have one of the best back courts in the Association. I’ve seen a lot of people say that this opens up a sign a trade possibility for Eric Bledsoe. I disagree with that. I think it opens up the Suns to trade Dragic, he’s 28 years old and has a play option after this year. He’s a great player but are the Suns going to give him a big contract? I think it’s possible that the Suns struggle this year and they decide to trade Dragic. But for the time being Thomas, Bledsoe, and Dragic are going to be really fast and really fun to watch.

The Wizards

            Washington became a big time contender in the Eastern conference this free agency. They signed Paul Pierce from the Nets. (Still in shock/pissed off mode about it) The Wizards are going for the kill with this signing Paul Pierce at $5 million is a steal. Pierce was Brooklyn’s second best player last year and will help John Wall and Bradley Beal out a lot. The Wizards have to improve their bench but they might have the best starting five in the east.

The Bulls

            Chicago was after Carmelo Anthony but came in second place in the Melo sweepstakes. Instead they will settle for Pau Gasol and their European stash Nikola Mirotic. I don’t know much about Mirotic except that he’s supposed one of the top three European players. But as Pau Gasol I don’t love it for the Bulls. How much does Pau have left, and does he fit that system? Also doesn’t Pau take minutes away from Taj Gibson? I think I rather have Gibson play more than Gasol.

The Next major move to happen is where Kevin Love goes. As of right now I only see one championship team in the NBA and that’s the Spurs… But depending on where Love goes that could change everything.

For everything NBA and Brooklyn Nets follow @threwthenet on twitter

Jarrett Jack

Today the Nets found their backup point guard and it’s Jarrett Jack. They also acquired Sergey Karasev. The Nets lost Marcus Thornton in deal.

            Full Trade:

Nets get: Jarrett Jack and Sergey Karasev.

Celtics get: Marcus Thornton, Tyler Zeller and protected first round pick from the Cavs in the 2016 draft.

Cavs get: CAP SPACE and the rights to Iikan Karaman and Edin Bavcic.

            Nets

For the Nets, they get the backup point guard they needed since Shaun Livingston left to Golden State. Jack is a veteran point guard who can get hot off the bench in a hurry. He had a disappointing season in Cleveland after signing a big contract. Jack became a big name in Golden State where he was a backup for Steph Curry and would sometimes share the floor with him. Jack will also be a combo guard with the Nets. Expect him to play with the ball and allow Deron Williams to play off the ball at times. Jacks salary is a bit heavy but with where the Nets are his contract is meaningless. Brooklyn is already over the cap, Jack will make 6.3 million every year. Jack can make 6.3 million in 2016-2017 but only 500K is guaranteed if he’s not waived before 6/30/16 (He will be waived!). The Nets also got Sergey Karasev (Now I have to memorize that spelling). Karasev is somebody the Nets wanted in last year’s draft but was drafted before the Nets could pick. Karasev barely played last year but he is a young player with potential and on a rookie contract. The Nets lose Marcus Thornton but they already signed his replacement in Bojan Bogdanovic.

           

Celtics

The Celtics take Thornton’s expiring contract but more importantly get Tyler Zeller a young player with potential on the cheap, and another first round pick. Danny Angie keep getting those Picks!!!

            Cavs

Cleveland gets about 9.2 million in cap space and the rights to two players that will probably never play in the NBA. They created the space they needed to sign LeBron.

For everything NBA and Brooklyn Nets follow @threwthenet on twitter.

Lionel Hollins and free agency

​Free agency started on the 1st and I was ready to write a free agency preview for the Nets, but then Jason Kidd went all Jason Kidd. So I couldn’t do a free agency preview without knowing who the coach who would be but now it is Lionel Hollins, and I am okay with it. He is the one re-trend coach I am okay with. He is a defense first guy and became a good coach in Memphis in the years 2010-2013. Hollins was 143-87 (one of those seasons was a shortened season). He took the team to the conference finals in 2013 and then was fired for not getting along with the front office. He was a hot free agent last year, but did not sign anywhere. Now he is more than that; he is the coach of Nets and that means a change in the playing style for the Nets.

​Under Jason Kidd the Nets played small with shooters on the court. Now with Lopez healthy and with Hollins as the coach, expect the Nets to go to a more traditional lineup with two bigs and only one point guard. This changes everything that the Nets should do in free agency. For example, right after the season I thought the Nets should let Blatche walk away, but now I believe the Nets should resign Blatche. With Hollins, expect the bigs to post up more; and can Mason Plumlee operate in the post? Blatche is great in the post. Also with KG being very limited, and Brook Lopez coming off his second foot surgery,the Nets need a big man who can score and more importantly just a big man. With the Nets cap limitations they can go over that cap to sign Blatche; they should resign him. In a radio interview, Billy King basically said the Nets weren’t going to resign Blatche. So WELP.

​The Nets lost Shaun Livingston to Golden State and now they need a backup point guard. The Nets have had talks with the Cavs about a Jarret Jack for Marcus Thornton swap. If that trade were to happen it would give the Nets a good backup point guard and the Cavs more cap room which something they’re looking for. Another name out there for the Nets is JameerNelson. He was just cut by the Magic so they could save six million and he is now a free agent. I think Nelson would be great off the bench of any playoff team. He is the type of guy who could start a 6-0 run by himself and could strive on a team where he isn’t the 1st or 2nd option to score.

​Now with Hollins as the coach the Nets are most likelygoing to need a more traditional power forward to play alongside KG and Mirza. I’m going to rattle off some names that might be able to fit in the Nets salary. Elton Brand is a veteran who might take less to play on a good team; Kris Humphries… okay everyone hates him but he’s a good player. However, he might be too much for the Nets but I wouldn’t hate bringing Hump back; Glen Davis was someone the Nets targeted last year before the Nets signed Jason Collins; Davis wasn’t great with the Clippers last year but could be someone the Nets target in free agency; and then last name on this list is Kenyon Martin because WHY NOT?!?! Let’s get K-Mart in a Nets uniform one more time!

​Paul Pierce is a free agent and the Nets must resign him.Plus, they have the biggest advantage of all, money! The Nets can offer Paul Pierce more money than everyone. I don’t care how much the Nets give Pierce. It doesn’t affect any other moves they can make and I root for the Nets, not Mikhail Prokhorov’s bank account. So get me Paul Pierce back in Brooklyn! Without him the Nets are nothing next year.

​For everything NBA and Brooklyn Nets follow @threwthenet on twitter.