New York Post: MCDYESS PONDERS NETS GIG

[George O'Brien]

New York Post

MCDYESS PONDERS NETS GIG

By MARC BERMAN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Antonio McDyess (left), who will be free agent this summer, would like to play with old pal Jason Kidd. And Nets might need oft-injured forward if Kenyon Martin bolts.

February 26, 2004 -- PHOENIX - Antonio McDyess, who faced the Knicks last night, said he would love to take his game across the Hudson River next season and play with old buddy Jason Kidd on the Nets if the Suns decide not to re-sign him.
McDyess enjoyed living in Manhattan, despite being from a small town in Mississippi. A free agent July 1, McDyess must prove he can still be a productive power forward across Phoenix' final 24 games in his latest return from the injured list.

"That would be great, definitely would be great," McDyess said after yesterday's morning shootaround at AmericaWest Arena. "Who wouldn't want to play with Jason Kidd? I'd say he's the best point guard in the league. To play with him again would be great."

With Kidd's mighty influence with management, who knows? Kidd and McDyess played together in Phoenix.

"I don't want to say anything I would regret, but I definitely wouldn't mind playing with him again," McDyess added.

The former All-Star could come cheaply, for the lower exception ($1.5M). After calling Isiah Thomas "sneaky," it's unlikely he'll ever return to the Knicks.

McDyess said he couldn't understand why Keith Van Horn was traded, advancing that Thomas wants all Scott Layden players gone.

"I couldn't believe it," McDyess said. "But I wouldn't put it past him for anybody getting traded on that team. I was shocked it was Keith."

 

[JS22]

Damn. I really hope that Phoenix can keep him. Amare and Dice could be a very solid frontcourt next season. ..And if Phoenix could land Kobe:


Johnson
Bryant
Marion
Amare
Mcdyess

That would be an awesome lineup. But, it probably wont happen.

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by WastedFate
Damn. I really hope that Phoenix can keep him. Amare and Dice could be a very solid frontcourt next season. ..And if Phoenix could land Kobe:

Johnson
Bryant
Marion
Amare
Mcdyess

That would be an awesome lineup. But, it probably wont happen.

I think the Suns have a decent chance. The Nets interest is based on them losing K-Mart which they cannot afford to do. If K-Mart stays, then Dice might very well see the Suns as a good place to be since he could play both front court positions and not be required to play 35 minutes a game. The Veteran minimum is $1 million and the small cap exception is $1.5 million, which means the money would not be a huge deal.

The Colangelos have a reputation for getting what they want and if they really want Dice, they will figure out a way to keep him.

 

[jbeecham]

Dice played well last night, but he still hasn't shown me enough to want to keep him. If the Nets lose K-mart then they'll probably panic and throw $4.5 million at McDyess. The Nets will be a much worse team with Dice though.

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by jbeecham
Dice played well last night, but he still hasn't shown me enough to want to keep him. If the Nets lose K-mart then they'll probably panic and throw $4.5 million at McDyess. The Nets will be a much worse team with Dice though.

If they do, then they risk Dice being the Net's version of Googs (a panic buy that was not a good fit).

It has been hard to evaluate Dice in the limited minutes he's played. He looked pretty good in short spurts considering that no players were run for him and he has not worked with the team much on defensive rotations.

Most discussions have been about Dice coming back on the veteran minimum (about $1 million). If he comes back and plays well, he would be in a position to get a much better long term contract than anyone would give him this summer. He would not be expected to play 30+ minutes a game and put up big numbers, but still could play quite a bit.

If Dice can play at all and be had for the veteran minimum, it would be good to have a veteran inside player to mentor Amare. The potential of having Amare and a healthy Dice in the same lineup would give the Suns an awful lot of offensive firepower.

 

[slinslin]

Jason Kidd , keep your dirty fingers off of our players!
Antonio McDyess, walk and you land on the list of targets again.

That will be a lot of boos if Dice walks and Nets come to Phoenix.

I though Dice disliked New York. Brooklyn Nets are in New York as far as I know.

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by slinslin
Jason Kidd , keep your dirty fingers off of our players!
Antonio McDyess, walk and you land on the list of targets again.

That will be a lot of boos if Dice walks and Nets come to Phoenix.

I though Dice disliked New York. Brooklyn Nets are in New York as far as I know.

If this is not a money issue, I think the Colangelos know more about what it takes to keep player than they did back when Dice was here the first time. A lot of it has to do with the way the player is treated and how he fits into their plans.

None of this matters if K-Mart walks and the Nets are despirate, but if K-Mart stays I think Phoenix might be a good place to spend the winter.

 

[elindholm]

Jason Kidd , keep your dirty fingers off of our players!
Antonio McDyess, walk and you land on the list of targets again.

Am I missing something? First we say that McDyess wouldn't warrant anything that a minimum offer, and then we say that we'll be all bent out of shape if he goes somewhere else?

Is he a valuable player or not? We'll know more at the end of the season, but right now I'd have to say no. Let him go wherever he wants; who the hell cares? Are we going to feel rejected if Donnell Harvey signs with another team this summer?

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by elindholm
Jason Kidd , keep your dirty fingers off of our players!
Antonio McDyess, walk and you land on the list of targets again.

Am I missing something? First we say that McDyess wouldn't warrant anything that a minimum offer, and then we say that we'll be all bent out of shape if he goes somewhere else?

Is he a valuable player or not? We'll know more at the end of the season, but right now I'd have to say no. Let him go wherever he wants; who the hell cares? Are we going to feel rejected if Donnell Harvey signs with another team this summer?

Player babble about wanting to play with their friends is just that. At this point no one knows if Dice is 90% of who he once was or 40%. The only reason this piece gets picked up at all is because the New York writers accompanying the Knicks were looking for some reason to justify their existence.

Since other teams cannot even talk to Dice until July, the Colangelos do not really have to start negotiating for a while. They want to know if he can play before even caring.

 

[SweetD]

The Suns maybe working on a new contract now becouse of what happened last time with Dyess.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Originally posted by SweetD
The Suns maybe working on a new contract now becouse of what happened last time with Dyess.

Doubtful. Back then Dice was an elite player. Now he is a role player, if even that. I am sure the Cs said they will use the rest of the season to evaluate him, and gave him no assurances he will be back.

 

[Chaplin]

Originally posted by thegrahamcrackr
Doubtful. Back then Dice was an elite player. Now he is a role player, if even that. I am sure the Cs said they will use the rest of the season to evaluate him, and gave him no assurances he will be back.

You see, the way I see it is that Dice hasn't had a chance really to come back healthy in the last 2 years. He's always aggravated that knee. Hopefully, he's correct when he says he's feeling good right now, because between now and the end of the season will be his first real action in 2 years. So far, he hasn't gone the Penny Hardaway route in putting up mediocre numbers over a half or 3/4 of a season yet.

So I'll give him the benefit of the doubt right now. God knows, we gave it to Penny for long enough, I think we can give it to McDyess for 2 more months.

 

[Dr. Dumas]

If Dice pans out for the rest of the season, I think that he would be a solid pick-up to play 25 minutes a game. I understand that the NBA is a business, but Dice previously acknowledged that he made a mistake by going to Denver. He might feel like he owes it to the Suns organization to give Phoenix the first choice. He could also careless about anything but the money as well.
Have to wait and see-

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by Dr. Dumas
If Dice pans out for the rest of the season, I think that he would be a solid pick-up to play 25 minutes a game. I understand that the NBA is a business, but Dice previously acknowledged that he made a mistake by going to Denver. He might feel like he owes it to the Suns organization to give Phoenix the first choice. He could also careless about anything but the money as well.
Have to wait and see-

I think it will depend on how much the Colangelos want him and if somebody is willing to offer big bucks. It only takes one idiot GM with more money than sense to give him a long term mid cap, but his health risk is huge.

 

[Billythekid]

Would Mcdyess settle, to be simply Amare's backup if he's back to his near best? I doubt it.

 

[elindholm]

There has been some discussion of having them play together in small lineups, with one of them covering center. I don't love the idea, but if the Suns continue to be short of "real" centers, it might be the best of several unattractive options. Stoudemire and McDyess were on the court together for a bit last night, but I think it was only briefly.

 

[Lefty]

Kenyon Martin is not leaving the Nets because he is a restricted free agent and New Jersey is not going to let him go.

 

[Joe Mama]

Originally posted by Zona90
Kenyon Martin is not leaving the Nets because he is a restricted free agent and New Jersey is not going to let him go.

If he signs a maximum offer sheet from somebody else there's a very good chance that New Jersey will not match it. It is very similar to the Shawn Marion situation. A lot of people argue that if the Phoenix Suns would not have given Shawn Marion that maximum someone else would have. At some point the teams have to decide whether they would prefer to overpay or lose the player to some other team that will.

Joe Mama

 

[cly2tw]

Why Dice is worth any talking on this board is beyond my comprehension.

 

[George O'Brien]

It is not hard to understand where K-Mart is coming from.
Last season the Nets gave Kidd a full max contract that will be $14.7 this coming year but it is hard to imagine the Nets being a contender with Martin as well. This season he is at 18 ppg, 49.7% from the field, 9.9 rpg. and 2.6 assists. If Marion is worth a contract starting at $10.1 million and Martin has better stats; then certainly Martin deserves to be getting more than Marion.

New Jersey has a very weird finanancial situation. Prior to signing K-Mart they have committments of $59.4 million which includes $20 million in salaries for players that are no longer on the team: Mutombo and Mourning. If the Nets give Martin a contract starting even at $11 million, it will put their entire structure over $70 million. They get some relief the next year when Mutombo comes off contract but Kittles will be a free agent and Jefferson a RFA.

I think they will be forced to match whatever is offered, but somebody like Atlanta could make it painful for the Nets.

 

[elindholm]

I think Martin is almost certain to get a max offer from someone. To me he is more appealing than Marion was at the same point in their careers.

 

[slinslin]

I don't know about that Eric.

Martin IS older than Marion right now. Martin had some knee surgeries in the past.

Martin averages 18/10/2.6/1.5/1.4
Marion averaged 21/9.5/2.4/2.3/1.2

Both made the allstar game in their 4th season.

 

[elindholm]

Martin IS older than Marion right now.

Oops, didn't realize that. You're right, that changes things.

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by elindholm
Martin IS older than Marion right now.

Oops, didn't realize that. You're right, that changes things.

The only factor in K-Mart's favor is that he is a first option offensive play and Marion isn't right now.

 

[Joe Mama]

Originally posted by George O'Brien
The only factor in K-Mart's favor is that he is a first option offensive play and Marion isn't right now.

Not really. At least he isn't a first option offensive player on a good team. New Jersey Nets really do not have a go to guy on offense. That's probably the biggest reason they did not fare well in the last two NBA finals.

Joe Mama