It's gotten to this point already?
How to fix the Brooklyn Nets.
How to fix the Brooklyn Nets.
So the Brooklyn Nets have fired Avery Johnson as head coach. Now what? The "what" already appears to involve an attempt at courting Phil Jackson to take over Johnson's position, according to our Marc Stein and Chris Broussard. But does Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov seem like the type to be satisfied with just a coaching change?
It seemed to be a foregone conclusion that the Nets were stuck with their bloated roster despite handing Johnson his pink slip after a lukewarm 14-14 start; they have a league-high $330 million in future payroll over the next five seasons. Except the NBA transaction log is a graveyard of foregone conclusions.
Avery Johnson Fired
• Per Diem/Haberstroh: Next, Nets?
• 5-on-5: Deadline buyers or sellers?
• Sources: Nets eying Phil Jackson
• Pelton: Don't take the Nets job!
• Stephen A.: Is D-Will to blame?
• Arnovitz: The expectations game
• Howard: Phil, Prokhorov a match
• Rumor Central | ESPN New York
Don't believe me? Look back at the past six months alone.
Remember when it was a foregone conclusion that the Phoenix Suns would never ship Steve Nash to the rival Los Angeles Lakers?
Remember when it was a no-brainer that the New York Knicks would bring back Jeremy Lin at any cost?
Remember when it was assumed that the Lakers could never get Dwight Howard without first giving up Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol?
Brooklyn fans surely remember when The Joe Johnson Contract was untradeable, no? In other words, the NBA has taught us to expect the unexpected. So we should be careful about thinking the Nets roster is set in stone, especially after a billionaire owner guarantees a championship within three years and has gone on record as saying that future luxury tax payments are nothing more than a drop in the bucket.
It's worth reiterating that the Nets' assets won't be easy to move. They have the league's fifth-highest payroll this season and have more money locked up past 2014 than the Lakers, Knicks, San Antonio Spurs and Atlanta Hawks combined.
But if the Johnson trade taught us anything, it's that all contracts can be moved at the right price. (Right, Gilbert Arenas?)
So where do the Nets go from here? They have a few options they can explore in the wake of Johnson's dismissal.
The assets
Though Deron Williams and Johnson aren't playing anywhere near the caliber of ball expected of their max contracts, the Nets do have a young player at a shallow position playing like an All-Star, Brook Lopez.
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Lopez may have scared away suitors this offseason because of his recurring foot problems and a rebounding rate that made Andrea Bargnani look like Dennis Rodman, but it's hard to imagine Lopez's stock being any higher than right now. He's averaging 17.5 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.4 blocks while shooting 50.2 percent from the floor and posting a career-high 23.2 player efficiency rating. The 24-year-old 7-footer has his defensive issues, but teams have historically coveted that level of offensive production at center.
Sure, an average annual $15 million salary seems steep for Lopez, but if he hits the trade market now, he'll almost certainly find more takers than he did this summer.
But that's not the only trade asset that the Nets can offer. Kris Humphries, a double-double machine just a season ago who signed a two-year, $24 million contract in the offseason, is the type of productive player with a high price tag and short deal length that always seems to be in midseason trade packages (see Stephen Jackson, Emeka Okafor, Kevin Martin, etc.). No, Humphries won't be netting Kyrie Irving in a deal, but a player who has averaged a double-double over the past three seasons should garner some interest.
Andray Blatche has proved to be one of the biggest bargains in the game at a veteran's minimum deal. And while Mirza Teletovic struggled to crack Johnson's rotation because of his iffy defense, it was only a couple of months ago when several teams were in the hunt to lure the Bosnian scorer stateside.
There's value on the Nets roster -- just not on the side of the ball that they need.
The trade route
Here's a look at a few deals that make sense in Brooklyn:
Deal for DeMarcus Cousins:
Cousins
Sacramento has shown no indication that it would like to deal its disgruntled big man, but how much longer must the ultra-talented 22-year-old big man stay in the organization's doghouse before the situation becomes untenable for all involved? The Kings are going nowhere fast, and the Nets would be crazy not to at least call for Cousins' services. The framework of a deal might require a third team, but a starting point could be sending Lopez, Blatche and a future pick for Cousins, Chuck Hayes and Francisco Garcia.
Such a deal would give the Nets the defensive stud they desperately need in Hayes and a potential star in Cousins who could fit Prokhorov's high-risk, high-reward nature perfectly. And if the Zen Master winds up in Brooklyn, what better coach to unlock Cousins' potential?
Deal for Anderson Varejao:
Varejao
Given that the Nets currently rank in the bottom third of the league in both defensive efficiency and defensive rebounding rate, they won't sniff the top four in the East unless they drastically improve the frontcourt on that end of the floor. So it makes a ton of sense for the Nets and the Cavs to initiate talks centering on Varejao.
But will the Nets have enough? The Cavaliers should be willing to listen if Lopez is dangled as part of the package. The Cavaliers are said to be asking for the moon in return for Varejao, and they've been looking for a young big man to pair with Irving; Tristan Thompson hasn't taken the leap that many were hoping for this season.
A Lopez-for-Varejao swap can work only if Luke Walton and his $6.1 million contract are thrown into the deal; it might take an additional team to bring enough young assets to build a package worthwhile for the Cavs. It all depends on the Cavaliers' appraisal of Lopez's game and their appetite for rolling the dice in the draft yet again. Young centers who can produce the way Lopez can don't come around very often. In the past five seasons, only two players have averaged 17 points, seven rebounds and two blocks in a season before their 25th birthday: Dwight Howard and Lopez.
Deal for Utah's big men:
Millsap
Jefferson
Favors
The Nets could use a defensive-minded big man to anchor their defense in the worst way and former Nets draft pick Derrick Favors would fit the bill. Ironic, no? The Jazz might have the most attractive set of assets for the Nets, but it's hard to imagine that bridge will be crossed again so soon.
However, these two teams are both off to disappointing starts and find themselves sitting at .500 entering January. Neither team wants to be caught spinning away in the hamster wheel of NBA purgatory -- not good enough to make noise in the playoffs, but not bad enough to have any pingpong balls in the draft lottery.
The Jazz may not even be interested in acquiring Lopez, who could be just a younger version of what they already have in Al Jefferson, a one-way center with little capacity on the defensive end of the floor. Then again, they might lose unrestricted free agents Jefferson and Paul Millsap to free agency at the end of the season. It's highly unlikely they'll be partners by the deadline, but it's too juicy not to mention.
Other intriguing partners: Phoenix Suns (Goran Dragic, Marcin Gortat), Denver Nuggets (Danilo Gallinari, JaVale McGee), Portland Trail Blazers (LaMarcus Aldridge, Wesley Matthews).
The stand-pat plan
The Nets' best move might be to make no move at all.
Williams and Johnson are off to atrocious starts in the shooting category, though it's hard to shrug them off as slumps. Williams hasn't posted a true shooting percentage this low (51.6 percent) since his rookie season, but this may be the new status quo for him after right wrist issues required surgery 20 months ago. His field goal percentage this season? 39.8 percent. His field goal percentage since joining the Nets in 2010-11? 39.8 percent.
To solve their shooting woes, the Nets may want to look at their neighbors in Manhattan. After a disappointing start under Mike D'Antoni last season, the Knicks promoted Mike Woodson, who led them to the playoffs last season and to the No. 2 spot in the East standings so far this season.
Is interim coach P.J. Carlesimo ripe for a similar ascension? A Reggie Evans 3-pointer may be more likely. Carlesimo has won 27.4 percent of his games in his last four seasons as a head coach. That's equivalent to 22 wins over an 82-game season. Woodson had at least made the playoffs as a head coach in the new millennium before taking over in New York.
Blow it up
This seems like the biggest long shot of all, but making a big splash in free agency to open a state-of-the-art venue, then cleaning house isn't unprecedented in sports (right, Miami Marlins?). But we have no absolutely no reason to believe that Prokhorov has any desire to start from scratch as a money-grabbing maneuver, despite Williams' and Johnson's best efforts to warrant such a move. It's a foregone conclusion that Prokhorov will do everything in his power to build a team to win in the short term, but when has a foregone conclusion ever steered us wrong?
Oh, right.
