Fellow hoops fans, we’re in a state of mourning. Lets face it, both of our area teams are horrible. The Nets are rebuilding with what would be the equivalent of rotten wood and the Knicks…urrggh (beating my head against a brick wall). So, instead of going into a deeper state of depression, let me get a couple things of my chest.
1) Kidd didn’t quit on Nets; he quit on Vince
Before last Saturday’s game against the Nets, the Mavericks’ Jason Kidd denied accusations that he had quit on his former team. Kidd told Daily News reporter Ohm Youngmisuk that he had taken the franchise as far as he could and that his alleged protest before last season’s playoff loss to Cleveland was unfounded.
“I didn’t quit on the team,” said Kidd, who will face his old team on Saturday in Dallas. “The ride was over. At the end of the day, I gave everything that I could give to the Nets. There were no more rabbits that I could pull …
The New Jersey Nets waived former all-star center, Jamaal Magloire, Friday.
Magloire signed with the club in July, as a free agent; however, he averaged a meager 1.8 points and 3.4 rebounds in 24 games with the team.
The eight-year veteran was a 2004 All-Star selection and has averaged 8.7 points and 7.3 rebounds in stops which include: Charlotte/New Orleans, Milwaukee, and Portland.
Magloire is expected to join ex-Net Jason Kidd down in Texas, as the Mavericks have expressed interest in signing the former all-star, according to the Dallas Morning News.
updated @ 2:51…
It’s official. The deal is done, according to Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. J-Kidd is a Mav. The details, via ESPN:
Kidd, forward Malik Allen and swingman Antoine Wright sent to Dallas for 24-year-old point guard Devin Harris, center DeSagana Diop, swingman Trenton Hassell, guard Maurice Ager, Van Horn via sign-and-trade, first-round draft picks this June and in 2010 and $3 million in cash. The teams originally planned to move Wright to Dallas in a separate transaction but were able to make the salary-cap math work in a single trade after the deal was reconfigured over the weekend.
Now for an in-depth analysis of how KVH might fit into New Jersey’s revamped offense. Just kidding.
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Keith Van Horn might have made more fans in New Jersey and Dallas today than he did during his entire playing career. The 32-year-old’s decision to come out of quasi-retirement (and collect a hefty $4.3 million for doing so) in order to bail out two of his former teams was considered the …
Jason Kidd is still a Net and will be in tomorrow night’s NBA All-Star Game representing New Jersey. It appears Kidd will be heading back to the Medowlands after the game instead of going to Dallas.
The proposed trade of Kidd, Antoine Wright, and Malik Allen to Dallas for Devin Harris, DeSagana Diop, Jerry Stackhouse, Devean George, D-League guard Maurice Ager, two future first-round draft picks and $3 million is still on hold. The reason is due to George invoking his no-trade clause thus blocking the trade from going through. Both teams are trying to work out an alternative deal in the event George stands his ground.
Via NY Daily News:
“If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen,” Nets president Rod Thorn said yesterday in New Orleans, where he was attending All-Star Game festivities. “Everyone expected to get this done. I don’t know what’s going to happen here. This is totally unexpected.”
“In life when you make decisions you can’t make everybody happy,” Kidd said yesterday. “That’s just the way it goes.”
In addition to …
ESPN’s Marc Stein is reporting that Devean George is exercising his no-trade clause in order to block the blockbuster deal that would have sent Jason Kidd to Dallas in exchange for George, Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, DeSagana Diop, Maurice Ager and two first round picks.
The development is unexpected and fairly bizarre since George is only signed to a one-year contract and would only be asked to play out the season in New Jersey. I suppose the veteran doesn’t want to forego his chance at being part of a title run in Dallas, however, I think someone needs to remind Devean that he’s friggin’ Devean George. Shut up and pack your bags.
I’m completely spent from the Clemens hearings, so I’ll let ESPN do the talking:
Sources told ESPN.com that the Mavericks and Nets on Wednesday reached an agreement in principle on a Kidd deal after talks had seemingly stalled last week, moving the teams to brink of completing the NBA’s third blockbuster deal of the month.
Although sources say that the teams are still sorting out final details, this deal was described as “imminent” by multiple sources close to the process after negotiations moved to an advanced stage Tuesday night. The deal — salvaged from talks on a three-way trade with Portland that developed and fizzled quickly two weeks ago — has Dallas sending 24-year-old point guard Devin Harris, veteran swingman Jerry Stackhouse, the expiring contracts of center DeSagana Diop and swingman Devean George and guard Maurice Ager to New Jersey for Kidd and forward Malik Allen.
The Nets would also receive $3 million from the Mavs and Dallas’ first-round picks in June ‘08 and ‘10. New Jersey is expected to buy out Stackhouse’s …
The NBA’s trade deadline is just 10 days away and the Jason Kidd situation is still unresolved. The Dallas Mavericks have been rumored as a potential landing spot for Kidd since the superstar guard went public with his trade demands, and the NBA continues to wait to see whether or not the Mavs, who have watched Conference rivals L.A. and Phoenix bolster their rosters in recent days, will take the bait.
As if the schedule makers had a crystal ball, it so happens that the Mavs were in town last night, falling to the Nets in a surprising 101-82 rout at the Meadowlands. The game, however, was a mere sidebar to the topic on everyone’s minds, and prior to the game, reporters took the opportunity to question omnipresent Mavs owner Mark Cuban on the swirling Kidd rumors. Via the Daily News:
“For us to make the numbers work in a deal like that, we’d have to trade away half the team,” Cuban added, before settling into his first-row …
According to the Bergen Record, the Nets will acquire athletic power forward Stromile Swift from the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Jason Collins.
Swift should be a good fit in the Nets’ uptempo transition game…but not without Jason Kidd.
“It is time for us all to move on.”
That was what Jason Kidd told ESPN The Magazine in an interview on Monday. A day earlier it was reported that his agent had asked the Nets to trade his client to a contender. Kidd said he had no knowledge of the situation, but now the truth is out. Jason Kidd and the Nets appear to going in two different directions.
“It used to be if I got a triple-double, that was an automatic win. That’s just not the case now. We tried to make this work,” he told ESPN The Magazine. “We have found out it doesn’t.”
The Nets ended their 9-game losing streak Tuesday Night against the Milwaukee Bucks as Kidd had 9 points and 11 assists to help end the worst losing streak in over three years. The hometown fans at the Medowlands still cheered Kidd as he was introduced prior to the game.
Kidd has started 43 games this season, with an average of …
Life doesn’t look good for the Nets these days. After losing last night to the Denver Nuggets 100-85, the Nets have now lost eight straight. It’s their longest losing streak in over three years. They are now 0-5 on a six-game road trip.
It was only a few weeks ago where they were at .500 for the season but now find themselves fading. It didn’t help that New Jersey started out shooting 5 for 22 and scored only 11 points in the first quarter. At halftime, they trailed 47-31.
“We just didn’t have the energy and they did,” New Jersey coach Lawrence Frank said. “They were much more aggressive and really attacked us in the paint.”
Jason Kidd did what he could to help the struggling Nets by posting his 98th career triple-double and 11th of the season (13 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.) Richard Jefferson contributed 19 points to lead the Nets scoring but that proved to not be enough. The Nets got within 5 points in the fourth quarter before …
What do the New York Knicks think they’re doing?
Just when there were reports that James Dolan had finally come to his senses and decided to rid the Knicks of Isiah Thomas, the team started to win games.
Wednesday night’s 111-105 victory over New Jersey was the third straight for the 12-26 Knicks.
Why guys? Why now? Just when something really good was about to happen for the franchise and the fans — the jettisoning of Thomas — you had to go and delay the inevitable by winning some games.
That’s really rotten timing.
Maybe, though, something good has already happened to the Knicks. The winning streak has coincided with Stephon Marbury’s absence from the lineup. Marbury, the moody point guard, has missed the last three games and may need surgery on his injured left ankle.
Marbury has made a career out of leaving teams (the Nets and Suns) and then having them improve. Maybe his absence is having the same effect on his current team.
Memo to the Knicks’ players: Guys, stop winning. Play …
If you are a Knicks apologist, you likely can’t stand Daily News columnist Mitch Lawrence, who has been bringing his peculiar brand of pessimism and rancor to his coverage of the Knickerbocker franchise for years.
However, if you happen to have a head on your shoulders, you probably love the guy, and appreciate his voice of reason during this darkest era of basketball that New York has ever endured.
In his Friday column, Lawrence revealed that newly appointed Nets’ special assistant Kiki Vandeweghe desperately wanted a shot at salvaging the Knicks if Jim Dolan would only let him get a foot in the door. Via Lawrence:
Right up until he accepted the Nets’ offer, Vandeweghe, an ex-Knick whose dad also played in New York, was still trying to figure out a way to have a sit-down with the Garden’s CEO and convince him that he could get this team righted.
“The job Kiki really wanted was the Knicks’ job,” said one of Vandeweghe’s friends in the league. “He was really hoping that …
