Season Lowlight
I don’t think anyone could argue that the Brooklyn Nets had a disappointing
season. After finishing 47-35 in 2012/13
it looked like the Nets were in good shape to perhaps take a step forward and
challenge for home court in the playoffs.
But this wasn’t the case as the team faced a series of hardships
including the oft-injured face of the franchise DWade only playing in 48
games. Gm Proid tried to stop the
bleeding by making a flurry of deals before the trade deadline but seemed to
only make things worse. His last hurrah,
or should that be ‘parting shot’ coming as he ‘reached into the grave’ to
retrieve one of his old favourites, none other than the great KG in exchange
for Chris Bosh - and then promptly resigned just weeks later! To everyone’s surprise, the ghost of gm boyd
returned briefly to take the reins. As
Boyd had done before him, Boyd’s ghost then proclaimed he would rescue the
franchise but then once again disappeared into the wilderness and was
dismissed, leaving the Nets to fester much like a two day old dog turd in the
sun.
The franchise demolition was deemed complete
with ‘The operation being declared a success but the patient dying’ - as the
Nets finished the season gm-less and with a sorry ass 30-52 record.
Season Highlight
It was a rough season in Brooklyn so finding a season highlight is like
searching for a needle in the haystack.
But, 3 things do come to mind – perhaps not for the right reasons; 1. The NLL’s first Mega Deal happened and was
orchestrated by gm proid. This was a
highlight in itself to witness some $80M+ in salaries changing hands between 5
teams; 2. The ghost of Boyd made an appearance – this provided some much needed
humour for many gms – albeit brief. 3. Gm wizkid was hired – without presiding
over a single game this guy saved the league already with his coding genius,
developing the new season’s stats extractor.
We wish him luck in breathing life back into the BKN franchise as he
‘sorts through the rubble’.
Transactions
The legendary New Zealand rock band Split
Enz released the hit single, “History Never Repeats†in
1981. Although it never gained much
international notoriety, it rose as high as #4 on the Australian Singles Chart,
and today, the signature song remains one of the few decent things to come out
of NZ and one of their most popular and most recognisable classic tracks.
What has this got to do with the NLL
Brooklyn Nets? Well, their former gm
proid operates by a completely opposite modus operandi and as a wise man once
said:
“Those who cannot remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.â€
In the case of proid, it seems there is in
fact a tendency for history to repeat – especially when it comes to player transactions
where unlike most gms who focus on attaining youth, proid has a penchant for
seasoned pros. Let’s take a closer look
at some of the deals that went down in 2013/14.
Best Trade
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13/12/25
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The Brooklyn Nets send Rasual Butler, Chuck
Hayes and Reggie Jackson to the Washington Wizards.
The Washington Wizards send Kyle Lowry and Erik
Murphy to the Brooklyn Nets.
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Here the Nets strike an excellent deal on
Christmas day sending Reggie Jackson to the Wiz in exchange for Kyle
Lowry. Lowry went on to have a career
year, unfortunately for Nets fans he was playing for ATL as he was on-traded
less than a month later in this head scratching deal where the Nets get Bayless
and Kaman in exchange for Lowry!
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14/01/15
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The Atlanta Hawks send Jerryd Bayless to
the Brooklyn Nets. The Atlanta Hawks send Amir Johnson to
the Miami Heat. The Brooklyn Nets send Kyle Lowry to the
Atlanta Hawks. The Miami Heat send Maurice Williamsto the Atlanta
Hawks. The Miami Heat send Chris Kaman to the Brooklyn
Nets.
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Worst Trade
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14/01/26
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The Brooklyn Nets send Chris Bosh and Alan
Anderson to the Washington Wizards. The Washington Wizards send Kevin
Garnett and Gerald Wallace to the Brooklyn Nets.
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As alluded to above this was gm proid’s final
deal before he bounced. Looking at the
timing of this deal one can’t help but think he was giving the people of
Brooklyn one last kick in the balls just before he departed the building. Acquiring two geriatrics in exchange for an
All-Star two way big man and a productive shooter in Anderson is indefensible!
Other Notable Trades
THE NLL MEGA DEAL!
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13/12/23
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The Brooklyn Nets send Darrell Arthur to
the Boston Celtics. The Brooklyn Nets send Tyson Chandler andGerald
Green to the LA Lakers. The Brooklyn Nets send Steve Nash to
the Utah Jazz. The Boston Celtics sendRamon Sessions to the
Brooklyn Nets. The Boston Celtics send Marco Belinelli to
the LA Lakers. The Boston Celtics send Jose Calderon, Steve
Novak and Chandler Parsons to the Orlando Magic.
The LA Lakers send Paul Pierce and Dionte Christmas to
the Brooklyn Nets. The LA Lakers send Patrick Mills to the
Boston Celtics. The Orlando Magic send Mike Miller and Thaddeus
Young to the Boston Celtics. The Utah Jazz send Chuck Hayes to
the Brooklyn Nets.
The Orlando Magic send a 1st-Rounder (Orl) to the Boston
Celtics.
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Orchestrated by gm proid this was an
exciting deal which set the NLL chatter abuzz drawing 32 comments including;
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dunadan
12/22 11:31 pm
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My head is
still spinning...
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vt
12/22 11:33 pm
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my head is
spinning from processing the f**ng thing.
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javijoe
12/23 06:57 am
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WOW.
Everyone wins!! So rare!!!! Great job on this Craig, jmac, merencio, greeny
and laddas!
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pennywise
12/23 12:31 am
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over $80M
in salary just moved....craziness....this probably took a few days to set up,
I'm sure.
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Taking a closer look for the Nets they acquire old favourites in Paul Pierce
and Chuck Hayes as well as young PG Sessions whilst ridding themselves of
Nash’s contract but also parting with highlight reel Green and defensive
stalwart Chandler. A so-so deal.
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13/11/08
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The Brooklyn Nets send Carlos Delfino to
the Chicago Bulls. The Chicago Bulls send Darrell Arthur and Reggie
Jackson to the Brooklyn Nets.
The Brooklyn Nets send a 2nd-Rounder (Bkn) to the Chicago
Bulls.
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A one-time NLL glitch, Delfino signed on
for the MLE for 3yrs. The Nets then
traded him to CHI during the pre-season for Reggie Jackson and Darrel
Arthur. Jackson went on to be part of
the deal which acquired Lowry whilst Delfino sat out the entire season. This was a real nice sequence of events in
BKN.
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14/01/21
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The Brooklyn Nets send Ramon Sessions to
the Philadelphia 76ers. The Philadelphia 76ers send Andre Miller to
the Brooklyn Nets.
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Here the Nets trade away Sessions for another old favourite in Andre Miller.
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14/02/20
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The Brooklyn Nets send Paul Pierce and Jannero
Pargo to the Miami Heat. The Miami Heat send Mike Dunleavy,Ryan
Anderson and Jimmer Fredette to the Brooklyn
Nets.
The Brooklyn Nets trade -8 GM points.The Miami Heat receive 8 GM points.
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Interesting deal here by the ghost of Boyd.
At the time gm tmac in MIA was trying to make a push for the playoffs so
acquiring Pierce made sense. BKN was
looking to the future and acquiring Anderson, Dunleavy and Fredette made some
sense. Fun Fact: after gm tmac flamed
out, gm proid once again returned as the gm of the Heat. We wonder whether the presence of one of his
all-time favourites Paul Pierce in a Heat uniform had anything to do with it?
Best FA Signing
Alan Anderson - Most players didn’t last too long in BKN last season, however
Alan Anderson did see out 29 games averaging 10.9ppg during that time. Not bad for a guy earning under $1M.
Worst FA Signing
There was no real bad free agent signings in BKN, none of any major
consequence. However perhaps Ryan Gomes
or Josh Childress were the worst since they never suited up in BKN.
Star
With so many deals going down no one really got a chance to shine in BKN.
Surprise
The biggest surprise in BKN was probably the series of rapid fire gm hiring’s
and firings beginning with gm proid’s shock resignation, followed by the ghost
of boyd making a brief appearance and then to top it all off the resurrection
of gm wizkid from the rubble.
Goat
Dwyane Wade – Wade is supposed to be the franchise cornerstone but he reported to
camp out of basketball shape and only played in 48 games preferring to rest and
watch his teammates toil and suffer through a disappointing season. Now that the franchise has a new gm and a new
outlook, I am sure the fan base won’t be putting up with this again.
Draft Report Card
With the 53rd pick the Nets drafted Jordan McRae late in the 2nd
round. However he will not see any NLL
court time having been sent off for a season of development overseas in
Melbourne, Australia. Perhaps he may
return with the same impact James Ennis did this pre-season?
Looking to the Future
After enduring a season tainted by bad luck through injury as well as
uncertainty in the front office, the BKN Nets fans now have a chance at a fresh
start with a new re-invigorated gm wizkid.
Unfortunately though you gotta have the
horses to win the race and right now wizkid has been left with very few
tangible assets and a team in complete disarray. The average age of his roster being the
highest in the league at 29.6yrs, BKN has 8 players on the wrong side of 30yrs
old ‘on their books’, 4 of which are currently slated as starters in
Miller-Wade-Dunleavy-Garnett.
As correctly stated by gm wizkid though, he
really will be ‘sorting through the rubble’ and trying to rebuild a franchise
which has been left in tatters by former management. We wish him luck, but don’t blame him for
tanking this season into the lottery.
At least the Nets will likely have some cap
space and their record was not THAT terrible – meaning they should have a shot
of landing one or two half decent free agents and if DWade can play a full
season these guys may make some noise.
Upcoming Free Agents
Dwyane Wade – Wade is coming off his worst season but he is still the franchise
cornerstone. Rumour has it that he has
been working out all summer and will be reporting to camp in much better shape
– ready to lead the Nets on a multi-year ‘close-to’ max deal.
What is it with guys with names starting
with J? Jerryd Bayless, Jason Maxiell, Jarvis Varnado, Jason Collins and Jimmer
Fredette have all made it quite clear that they have had enough and plan to
bolt from BKN.
