thegrahamcrackr
Registered User
Garnett looms
as missing gem
Kevin Garnett may be what Nets need but getting him could cost whole team.
SAN ANTONIO - One by one, as they made their way out of the SBC Center late Sunday night, the Spurs were ushered into a small, brightly illuminated area off a hallway littered with champagne bottles. Inside blue curtains, photographers greeted jubilant players, their families and friends, and then positioned them for their own personalized pictures with the Larry O'Brien trophy.
If Jason Kidd wants to pose for the same picture next June, with Joumana and T.J., he will have to leave the Nets and jump to the Spurs.
As the Finals proved, the Nets might be kings of the East, but they're still a long way from winning the whole thing. What separates them from the elite teams is that they don't have Shaquille O'Neal or Tim Duncan, and don't have the players who can outduel them in a series.
"With what we have right now, we've just got to get better as a team," Byron Scott said after the Nets' season ended with a fourth quarter he won't soon forget. "Experience is going to help us."
Kevin Garnett would help a whole lot more.
You can bet that the Nets will try to trade for Garnett at some point this summer. With the lack of dominant 7-footers in the East, it's the kind of bold move that could guarantee more trips to the Finals.
But more importantly, Garnett would give Kidd a reason to stay in New Jersey, other than his ability to get more money from the Nets than from any other team. Garnett hasn't gotten out of a first round, but he is a premier big man and would give them their best chance of winning a title.
For Kidd, finishing a distant second, where he found himself for the second straight season, has already gotten old.
"Hopefully, the bridesmaid thing will come to an end, if I do return back as a Net," he said.
The Nets can't get cute here and offer anything less than the maximum contract, totaling around $103 million. Privately, they have fears about Kidd's ability to avoid breaking down. He is 30. But if they offer a penny less, they will be giving him a reason to walk.
"We are in a great position to do some really big things," one high-ranking Spurs executive said amid the celebrations late Sunday night.
Translation: We've got the money to add another superstar, Jason Kidd.
The problem for the Nets is, it's easier to imagine Kidd hugging Duncan after the 2004 Finals than it is to see Garnett smiling at an introductory press conference in East Rutherford this summer. Team president Rod Thorn loves Garnett's size, enthusiasm and all-around game as much as Kidd does. Thorn will do everything he can to swing the deal, just as he did regarding Garnett last summer.
But again, it just might not be possible. With Garnett entering the final season of his contract, the Nets would have to send Dikembe Mutombo, Kenyon Martin, Richard Jefferson and anyone else whose salaries match Garnett's 2004 salary. A whopping $28 million.
Even if the Nets equal Garnett's number, Minnesota would still want all of New Jersey's players. Timberwolves VP Kevin McHale is dead set against taking on bad contracts, even more than getting cap space by allowing Garnett to simply walk. As he did last season in refusing to assume Keith Van Horn's bloated contract, McHale would likely balk at Mutombo's money - $18 million next season and $20 mil in 2005.
McHale wants young stars in return for Garnett. Martin looked like one, but that was in the Land of Make Believe, the East playoffs. In the Finals, Martin met his match against Duncan and had two miserable games to close out the series. And yet, the Spurs played only two dominant quarters out of 24. More than once you were thinking, how did these guys ever beat the Lakers?
Now the question is, can the Spurs do it again if they don't bring in Kidd? Next season, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant will have a new supporting cast in what likely will be Phil Jackson's final season. They'll all be driven to dethrone the Spurs, who like the idea of signing Jermaine O'Neal, but also believe that titles are won with ready-made superstars, plural. Below-average shooter or not, Kidd fills that bill. Tony Parker, invisible in the last three Finals games, does not.
By getting another big man and signing Kidd, the Spurs will have their best chance to repeat. Then he could find himself walking into the same makeshift photo studio next June, for his own Kodak moment with the trophy.
Originally published on June 17, 2003
Now that is one of the funnier things I have read today. How in the world would NJ get Minny to trade Garnett. I mean if he goes anywhere it would be to Indy or Chicago IMO, someone with real young talent, and lots of it.
as missing gem
Kevin Garnett may be what Nets need but getting him could cost whole team.
SAN ANTONIO - One by one, as they made their way out of the SBC Center late Sunday night, the Spurs were ushered into a small, brightly illuminated area off a hallway littered with champagne bottles. Inside blue curtains, photographers greeted jubilant players, their families and friends, and then positioned them for their own personalized pictures with the Larry O'Brien trophy.
If Jason Kidd wants to pose for the same picture next June, with Joumana and T.J., he will have to leave the Nets and jump to the Spurs.
As the Finals proved, the Nets might be kings of the East, but they're still a long way from winning the whole thing. What separates them from the elite teams is that they don't have Shaquille O'Neal or Tim Duncan, and don't have the players who can outduel them in a series.
"With what we have right now, we've just got to get better as a team," Byron Scott said after the Nets' season ended with a fourth quarter he won't soon forget. "Experience is going to help us."
Kevin Garnett would help a whole lot more.
You can bet that the Nets will try to trade for Garnett at some point this summer. With the lack of dominant 7-footers in the East, it's the kind of bold move that could guarantee more trips to the Finals.
But more importantly, Garnett would give Kidd a reason to stay in New Jersey, other than his ability to get more money from the Nets than from any other team. Garnett hasn't gotten out of a first round, but he is a premier big man and would give them their best chance of winning a title.
For Kidd, finishing a distant second, where he found himself for the second straight season, has already gotten old.
"Hopefully, the bridesmaid thing will come to an end, if I do return back as a Net," he said.
The Nets can't get cute here and offer anything less than the maximum contract, totaling around $103 million. Privately, they have fears about Kidd's ability to avoid breaking down. He is 30. But if they offer a penny less, they will be giving him a reason to walk.
"We are in a great position to do some really big things," one high-ranking Spurs executive said amid the celebrations late Sunday night.
Translation: We've got the money to add another superstar, Jason Kidd.
The problem for the Nets is, it's easier to imagine Kidd hugging Duncan after the 2004 Finals than it is to see Garnett smiling at an introductory press conference in East Rutherford this summer. Team president Rod Thorn loves Garnett's size, enthusiasm and all-around game as much as Kidd does. Thorn will do everything he can to swing the deal, just as he did regarding Garnett last summer.
But again, it just might not be possible. With Garnett entering the final season of his contract, the Nets would have to send Dikembe Mutombo, Kenyon Martin, Richard Jefferson and anyone else whose salaries match Garnett's 2004 salary. A whopping $28 million.
Even if the Nets equal Garnett's number, Minnesota would still want all of New Jersey's players. Timberwolves VP Kevin McHale is dead set against taking on bad contracts, even more than getting cap space by allowing Garnett to simply walk. As he did last season in refusing to assume Keith Van Horn's bloated contract, McHale would likely balk at Mutombo's money - $18 million next season and $20 mil in 2005.
McHale wants young stars in return for Garnett. Martin looked like one, but that was in the Land of Make Believe, the East playoffs. In the Finals, Martin met his match against Duncan and had two miserable games to close out the series. And yet, the Spurs played only two dominant quarters out of 24. More than once you were thinking, how did these guys ever beat the Lakers?
Now the question is, can the Spurs do it again if they don't bring in Kidd? Next season, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant will have a new supporting cast in what likely will be Phil Jackson's final season. They'll all be driven to dethrone the Spurs, who like the idea of signing Jermaine O'Neal, but also believe that titles are won with ready-made superstars, plural. Below-average shooter or not, Kidd fills that bill. Tony Parker, invisible in the last three Finals games, does not.
By getting another big man and signing Kidd, the Spurs will have their best chance to repeat. Then he could find himself walking into the same makeshift photo studio next June, for his own Kodak moment with the trophy.
Originally published on June 17, 2003
Now that is one of the funnier things I have read today. How in the world would NJ get Minny to trade Garnett. I mean if he goes anywhere it would be to Indy or Chicago IMO, someone with real young talent, and lots of it.
