Joe Netsfan Backlash #2- Boo Is True For SAR



		Champy's studying the faces of all the new Nets Backlash Addresses Email Us! Send your emails to Joe (joe@joenetsfan.com) or Champagne (champagne @joenetsfan.com) about the Nets, the NBA, our site, or anything at all, and we'll post them here with our replies.		Backlash #2 - July 27, 2005 Boo Is True For SAR Joe, Love your site, check it daily. You know why? 'Cause I feel the Nets are close and can make a run if they go the right way. I'm all for SAR. I know people say he's not a winner or even seen the playoffs but COME ON... Everyone laughed at the Nets 'cause we hadn't won a playoff series in how long and then the right situation comes along and BAM we're in two Finals. So give the guy a break. He's got impressive stats and his interior offense will let J Kidd keep distributing and not let defenses collapse on RJ and Vinsanity. now his defense ...well he's still vastly superior to Collins. OK bye Brian thanks and good luck but now we're to find some other good luck charm/ lovable loser= Mile Ilic. Hopefully develop him to rotate with Krstic/Collins/Ilic as our Center. As for our backup point please nooo Dooling. His offense is awful don't be fooled by his playoff showing against us. I live in Washington and I've seen two people we should approach... Steve Blake pointed Maryland to the NCAA Championship- very tenacious, hits his jumpers, can run an offense. Juan Dixon - was the reason Maryland won its championship, comes off the bench and lights it up consistenly. Good on defense too. Ball skills still developing but really worth a look. If we get Swift I can live with a Kmart replica (athletic-imagine his stats after he get some alley-oops) and has some defense which we reallly need. and hasn't had the minutes yet so he could get Kenyonesque numbers (future nickname K-lite). Don't forget Antoine will be able to spell at the two. We can sic him on the #2 or #3. Come on, we have a chance. -Boo, July 17, 2005 Joe, No biggie... So Dooling went to Orlando, he had a good playoff series and has earned some dough, but don't look for him to do too much for Orlando. We should have Antoine sub in for JKidd, he's unselfish and at 6'7 he can be a defensive stopper. If not, Juan Dixon would be great (I live in D.C.) and he's explosive and a good defender. Use the exception for Dale Davis, he'd be great for defense and rebounds , pushing Collins further down the bench. Brian Grant, if he gets dropped by the Lakers, we neeeeeed to pick him up 1 Kidd/Juan Dixon 2 Carter/Antoine 3 Richard/Mercer/Jon Barry 4 SAR/Dale Davis 5 Krstic/Robinson/Milic/Brian Grant by committee to rack up fouls against Shaq. We could compete well against any team with this, exciting this could be the year, man. Scalabrine did us a favor by opening a spot for someone to really help us, not that it wasn't fun to see him play every 3 months don't forget the ATrain is stil out there, or Rodney Rodgers to give pep off the bench so don't sweat doooling he's alright but we'll be allright -Boo, July 23, 2005 Boo: So, SAR's coming, Dooling's not, and you want have of Maryland's hoop team to come play in NJ. Plus, throw in Dale Davis, Brian Grant, Jon Barry and even Mile Ilic (who ain't coming, that's part of the plan) for the bench. Well, you're certainly taking my "dream big" speech to heart. And you won't miss Veal. Got it. How about Milt Palacio instead of Juan Dixon? Give me Davis, sure, and maybe even find a way to bring Jon Barry here. But please, no Rodney Rogers, Steve Blake, or even Brian Grant, unless you can sign him for nothing (what the hell, he'll be bringing $30 mil with him if the Lakers cut him). Or Damon Stoudamire? What if the Nets could get Michael Finley on the cheap? 25 minutes from him off the bench would be crazy. I hope that he and Thorn would at least consider it. - Joe It All Works Out In The End Joe: Dammit! What the hell's happening!!! The SAR talks are bogged down! Stromile's about ready to be a Rocket! And Thorn's going to Darius Songaila as a back-up plan! Anybody here in their right mind want Songaila as a 4!?! I mean you're planning on pimping up a car for the races and all you come up with are the f-in' FUZZY DICES!?! Are we on the same page here!?! Are some strings being pulled that I don't know about!?! These guys almost broke my heart again last season. From really sloooooow to a mind-numbing frantic dash to the post season. From what we've seen during the play-offs, we really needed another athletic big man that bad. Krstic's awesome but it sort-of seems sometimes that it's like what MacCulloch would've done if Kmart's out two seasons ago! They need a balls-to-the-wall PF out there BAD!! Please, Rod, please..I do trust you THAT bad! Deliver thine big man, an athletic no-guts-no-glory BIG, and I'll rant no more.... That said, GET PJ BROWN BACK...while you're at it get Kidd's Oakland mate Payton in the mix. They need some uglies on the D back there fast. - Kenneth Liwanag, July 17, 2005 Kennth: Don't sweat it, SAR's in the house. Gotta feel better about that. Payton? Wow, that'd be something, if the Glove has anything left to offer. PJ Brown? Only if you can fleece him away from Byron and his bunch for cheap. Otherwise, give me Dale Davis. Hopefully, he'd take up less cap space. Even with the backup PG spot in the air, you have to be feeling much better about the state of the Nets 2005 - 2006, right? - Joe Hunter And Gatherer Joe : With Abdur Rahim on board the Nets should obtain Steven Hunter for defense and block shots. They have alot of offensive weapons. Remember when the playoffs start defense is the name of the game. Look at San Antonio and Detroit Pistons. I do not have faith in Jason Collins and Nenad Kristic on the defensive end - at least Steven Hunter would alter and block shots on the weak side and you can get him on the cheap. - Emozack, July 19, 2005 Emozack, Any other Netsfan besides me not impressed with Hunter? True, Collins doesn't block shots, and can't score from 3 feet to save his life, but I'd still argue that although he doesn't block shots, he's still a better defender than Hunter. Anyone else agree? - Joe Kyle Korver Or Aston Kutcher? Joe: Wouldn’t you agree that now that we have SAR we should go after Dooling with the remainder of the MLE AND Kyle Korver. I mean this would give us a backup and two sharpshooters (Wright) to lead our 2nd cavalry off the bench. What do you think? - Richard Bonsu, July 19, 2005 Richard: I would have been ok with Dooling (for all of those who hate his game, think of it this way - after Dooling crapped out, now we're looking at Milt "Net Killer" Palacio, who's not a bad player and certainly worth picking up simply so he stops killing the Nets, but he doesn't have Dooling's raw talent), but never Korver. For those of you who fell in love with his 3-point shooting, which I admit is sweet, well, the fellow does not play defense. Moot point anyway, since he wound up extracting - what, $24 million? from the Sixers. But in my eyes, it's the same thing as the fascination out there (which I would assume has been put to rest) about Christian Drejer. Not at all worth it, friends... - Joe Cliff Hanger Joe: Uncle Cliff signed on for another year..... Things are shaping up, I would be thrilled if we can land Dooling or Songaila(from Sac) or maybe Brian Grant on the cheap if he is waived..... Portland needs to give in on the trade exception if we have any chance on signing Dooling and Sungala with the mid level..... Damn John Nash he still causing us pain........and he doesn't even run our team anymore...at least we got our man...... - Anthony Colaiemma, July 20, 2005 Anthony: Nash did get a first rounder out of us, but not a bad price to pay in the end, is it? Uncle Cliffie's on board, Dooling's history, Sogaila is rumored elsewhere, and Grant is the big mystery. But SAR's one of us, and that will help us out tremendously. - Joe Whistling Dixon Joe: Well I'd first off like to say that we have found K-Mart's replacement. Signing Shareef Abdur-Rahim may have been the ticket to the NBA Finals. Great move for my buddy Rod Thorn. So now we have a big man. This whole situation with the backup guard, I say sign Juan Dixon. Trust me, I've watched this guy his whole time at Maryland and he can shoot. I think he's a defensive specialist, and what he needs is opportunity. He would be a great backup for J-Kidd in my opinion. Plus I assume he is cheaper than Kenyon Dooling. I'm not so sure about resigning Cliff though. It's like we need a vet like him to teach the younger guys, but...I'm not so sure. I can live with it though. Anyway, my last thought - we should have just signed Shareef without that sign and trade thing. Why would you give up a future first round pick, instead of a second round pick(Mile Ilic). I think that whole thing was stupid when we could have just signed him. Well we still have the Clipper's pick, which should be a lottery one. But I'm calling' it right now Joe, NBA Finals. We are coming. - Joe From NJ (AKA J-Nat), July 23, 2005 P. S. Antoine Wright was a good addition for the Nets too. Joe: Again with Dixon? I guess he's not a bad player, but he'd come with a heftier price tag than Palacio, apparently, and he's seriously in demand. I wouldn't say no, but not at the expense of others I've talked about above. Cliff? Well, he's not expensive (since we re-signed our own) and he can make shots, even though he's not a rebounder and he's as old as I am. As for the picks, well - Thorn can either get one back next year (anyone say RJ?), deal with what he has (depending on how far it takes him this year), or bring Mile Ilic in as his first rounder (both Thorn and Stefanski have said the guy is future first round material, another Krstic in the making but more of a true center) next year. You gotta believe those two, right? Only Planinic seems to be a disappointment from Eastern Europe, and he may pan out yet. The Wright pick was the right pick, at least considering who was left on the board. - Joe Crazy Ideas? Joe: Buford, Best, Thomas, Vaughn, and Smith all showed flashes of promise during last season. If we cannot get what we want in the free agent market, they would be serviceable with what we have now. Last time I wrote you,(January?), I suggested a few off the wall additions to the Nets. Among the suggestions was another Serv-M. national, Jarron Collins, Keon Clark, and our Jason Williams. I read somewhere that the Lakers may be interested in Keon Clark. The crazy idea I have now is to split our 5 million among three different players. They would be Lonny Baxter, Steve Blake, and Juan Dixon. They have played together before. They have played with our former coach. Two of them know the Princeton office. We could not offer them starters minutes but we could offer a chance to continue to grow among people they know. I like the phrase on the Netsdaily bulletin board. "Krstic and four other guys". I continue to hate Lupica..."Nets should trade Jefferson" He thinks we would trade him to the Knicks for Sweetney though he did not say it. - ECBeltsville, July 25, 2005 EC: Whoa! I've got whiplash from all those twists and turns... I don't think you want that many bench players to return - the idea is to get better. I'm ok with letting Buford, Thomas and Smith walk. Vaughn will most likely be here for defense and security, and Best, although he's too small and not coming back, I would certainly welcome back. Thorn wants to split the exception 3 ways, but not on any of the players you mentioned (and again with the Maryland thing - is it Terps week or something?). Lupica's a New York homer. Ignore him. He was over 10 years ago. - Joe Champs 2006? Joe: As we discussed in Feb, Abdur-Rahim is now a Net. Is it possible that we are one solid backup to Jason Kidd ( Damon Stoudamire ) and one backup big man (Reggie Evans ) away from accomplishing this? When you look at the turnaround from one year ago it is remarkable. Maybe it is still a long shot but it is at least plausible if everybody stays healthy. - Lams123, July 25, 2005 Lams: Shows you that Thorn and Stefanski know a thing or two, alright. For all the grousing about last year, we're sure in good hands. With a few more pieces, the Nets could challenge in the East (especially if Shaq breaks down), and be a factor. Let's hope that we don't see a 3 - 13 start again...Not likely. -Joe More And More Questions Joe: Well I think once again Rod Thorn has shown he still has his fastball. He and Stefanski managed to... 1. Pickup a top notch FA without giving up much (a trade exception they weren't going to use and a lottery protected pick). 2. Add a solid swingman to boost the bench where it was weakest (Buford and Mercer didn't get it done). 3. Added a European Center who could pay dividends in a year or two (sound familiar?) 4. Still hold the MLE to add some more players to the mix. Still I do have some questions... 1. The top 5 are set: Kidd, VC, RJ, SAR, Kristic. Top reserves: Twin, Uncle Cliffy, Wright, Vaughn. However can we really count on Twin and Cliffy to get the job done by themselves against teams like Detroit and Miami? We still need another big man. 2. What about Zoran? He now looks like #3 on the PG depth chart (if Dooling signed, where the heck would he be). Could he move to SG? Is Vaughn the backup SG? 3. This team could still use a sharpshooter off the bench, a guy like Steve Kerr who could sit for a long time, then come off the bench and nail some big 3's. I've heard the name Jon Barry but what else is really out there? Once again I'm thankful I'm not a Knicks fan. - Rich McCabe, July 26, 2005 Rich: I think that Rod and Ed think the way you do, and are working on a plan to get more than just Cliffie and Twin for the bigs, and someone to help Kidd out. Padding the bench, even with Kidd, Carter, Jefferson, SAR and Krstic, is the only way the Nets will go deep. And I ain't talking Lucious Harris and Brian Scalabrine here. Zoran's a shooting guard or even a pseudo-small forward, as far as I'm concerned. We'll see what his role is come training camp, especially if Mercer's around and the Nets bring in a guy like Barry. And yes, even with King Larry aboard, they still have 17 small forwards and Me-bury. So, a Knicks fan with a genius coach and that motley group is still hosed, in my book. -Joe Chemistry Set? Joe: Though Nets do get stronger offensively with SAR, do you think they'll be alright defensively and chemistry wise? From, - KMooks23, July 27, 2005 KMooks: Chemistry-wise, I don't think there is going to be a problem, unless they get selfish and each of the starters/scorers wants to pad their stats. Kidd'll kill them for that... Defensively, I can see Frank being smart enough to make sure that SAR either comes off the bench, or plays with Collins in the lineup to cover his butt. The Nets'll give up more points, but they'll score more too. Since Frank is committed to defense, I think it'll work out ok (especially if Thorn can pick up Dale Davis or someone like that). -Joe Too Much Information Joe: I heard the Keyoon Dooling news and here is my take on how we should go about filling the last couple of holes. I like Dale Davis and hope he excepts our offer. Songalia is restricted so we shouldn't tie up our money, Davis like Cliffy is Defensive minded and if you mix and match with Nenad and Abdur Rahim, you get offense on one end and defense on the other. If you have Collins, Robinson, Davis on your bench that maybe one of the best defensive bench in the league, so when we need big stops one or two of them should be in the game. So Davis would be a go for me. Then as for the Milt (Net Killer) offer, I am not thrilled, call me spoiled with all these big names in our lineup but he just don't do it for me. I hope we find a way to get D. Stoudamire in a Net unfiform. He fills two needs at one time. A backup PG capable fo running a team and also a deadly perimeter threat. Hopefully Shareef, (his best friend) can convince him to take a good part of our mid level to be a frontrunner for a championship. Talk about limiting Jason's minutes, in the playoffs he may just avg a triple double. he would be so fresh.... However that might just be wishful thinking on my part, for one he might get a big offer from Houston and or Cleveland. For us big thinkers I will keep my fingers crossed. If that doesn't work out why I am not hearing names like Dickau from the Hornets, he is like a poor man's Steve Nash, would be a perfect complement to J-Kidd and I think you would not lose anything once Dickau comes in. He maybe looking for a starting role but I have not even heard teams in the market for a starting PG mention him at all. Also why am I not hearing Brevin Knight, The NJ Product who was up there in assists last year....Another complement to our team and savy vet.....I can't see why he would not want to win on a vet team then go back to expansion land in Charlotte and mentor Ray Felton. Last and certainly not least (here I go again dreaming about big names) I guess its just the Yankee fan in me talking. J-Kidd's mentor and good Friend..Mr. Gary Payton (the Glove himself), looking desperately for a championship just like Jason, very good friends with Jason, Big guard, still has a lot left in the tank, defense, offense and most of all playoff experience. Why should he go back to the Lakers when he doesn't like the triangle? Boston doesn't want him, you know he would take part of the mid level and once again he may want to start but all teams in the market for a starting PG are not looking to sign the Glove. Last but not least what are the plans for Zoran?????????? They are definitely looking for a combo guard or back up for J-Kidd and they have brought back Vaughn? How many PG's are they gonna have, four? I don't see it, please elaborate on what you think, is he is the future plans for the franchise and want to develop him more or will he be the 13th or 14th off the bench behind the new sign and Vaughn??? Please send a memo to ROD and ED on my thoughts before these valuable pieces to our puzzle, D.Stoudamire, D. Dickau, GP and Brevin Knight come off the market and we have Milt (the Net Killer on our roster). Well I guess he can't kill us anymore but he may just have a horrible season and kill us that way... Thanks for your time Joe, here is my revised NJ 05'06 Roster Starters: J Kidd- PG VC -SG RJ- SF SAR- PF Nenad- C Bench: J. Collins - C- C. Robinson- SF,PF,C R.Mercer- SG,SF - J.Vaughn- PG - Zoran- PG/SG I only place him here because he is under contract- A, Wright- SF/SG G.Payton/D. Dickua/Brevin Knight/D.Stoudamire- PG D.Davis- PF,C B. Grant, Allan Houston, M. Finley- C- released by Lakers for amnesty clause -I KNOW, I KNOW- WISHFUL THINKING. - Anthony Colaiemma, July 27, 2005 Anthony: Don't worry, this will all get back to Rod and Ed, but in any case, I'm sure they've thought about all of your scenarios. Dickau, Brevin Knight and Payton are all different point guards that do different things well. I say go for the experience and bring in Payton, even if his ego would have to take a massive blow for the 15 minutes he'd likely get (but at least he'd likely be on the floor at the end of games). Stoudamire is intriguing, but can be a headache, which Thorn is certainly not going to be happy about. Solid citizens for Rod, he was burned by Eddie Griffin and others, so he probably won't spend the money for him. As for Zoran, well, he's a man without a position right now, so if he's a Net and not on the IR all year, he's likely going to have to work some time at PG, SG or even SF until he finds a role for himself. I still say he's better than Ron Mercer, but is he more reliable? That's the big question. Right now, with Carter, Wright and Mercer at the shooting guard; Kidd, Vaughn and perhaps Palacio at point guard; SAR, Robinson and even Collins at the power forward; , and Krstic and Collins playing some center, perhaps the only spot for him right now is backup small forward with Richard Jefferson (Wright, Carter and even Robinson can play here as well). See the issue? He could easily wind up stashed on IR until it gets figured out (or become trade bait?). Remember, it was me who said "Dream Big". So if the Nets could get Finley to come to NJ, wow, that sure would help out. -Joe Archive \| Backlash \| Bio \| Calendar \| Champagne's Blog \| Diatribe \| Game x Game \| History \| Home \| Joe Netsfan's Blog \| Media \| Opponents \| Players \| Playoffs \| Search \| Specials © 2005 Shawn Belschwender and Michael Kozlowski