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D'ALESSANDRO: Nets need a few good men
Sunday, May 23, 2004
We hold this truth to be self-evident: The Nets have slipped, and it's time to start climbing again.

They're still a nice team, but the Nets have to change their roster if they are to keep up with the best teams in the Eastern Conference. Indiana and Detroit are clearly better. If Miami adds a quality big man, the Heat can rise to their level in six months. Cleveland is ready to take a giant step, and can turn into a 50-win team overnight if it adds the right veteran or two. Milwaukee, which was only six games behind the Nets in the standings, can only improve with good health.


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It's time to admit it now, because the worst-case scenario isn't so improbable: The Nets can easily wake up in October and find themselves out of the top half of the playoff bracket if they don't make some changes.

You know the circumstances that have led to their present condition. Jason Kidd's body has started to break down after logging more than 10,000 minutes on the odometer over the past three seasons, and only time will tell whether this is an irreversible drift.

There is a lack of quality size, mostly because of the thunderbolt that was Alonzo Mourning's injury. The glaring inability to hit jump shots finally caught up with them, particularly in the postseason.

Assuming Kidd returns healthy, there are two directions in which Rod Thorn can go. One involves adding players who can enhance what the Nets do well -- which is to defend and play up-tempo -- regardless of position. The other entails filling in the blanks, fixing weak areas by adding guys with the skills that the Nets currently lack.

It is very difficult to do both, because their funds are limited, the free-agent market is mediocre, and there are few valued commodities outside of the nucleus of Kidd, Kenyon Martin, Richard Jefferson and the two Euros (Zoran Planinic, Nenad Krstic).

So don't expect drastic measures. You'll hear the usual rumors -- prepare yourself for groundless rubbish such as Kidd for Tracy McGrady -- but Thorn is likely to add two or three bodies that will strengthen the core, assuming he has the go-ahead to spend his mid-level exception ($5 million) and million-dollar exception ($1.5 million).

And judging by the way the new owner is throwing around billions for urban development in Brooklyn, he'll undoubtedly be willing to spend millions on actual assets.

These are a few guys whose agents might be on Thorn's call list when the bidding begins in July:


Stromile Swift -- The Memphis forward is a high-flyer, and he immediately improves the Nets' two biggest weaknesses -- shot-blocking (26th) and offensive rebounding (27th). He'll also be able to play center against some of the East's smaller lineups. Consistency is a problem, but he has never received regular minutes, which makes you wonder whether the Grizz will match any offer that begins with the Nets' mid-level.


Etan Thomas -- Also restricted, and nothing like the fellow above, but he's young and 256 pounds of rock-solid muscle. He'll still need time to find his offensive niche, which could be irrelevant, considering the way the Nets abandoned the Princeton offense in the postseason. But he does all the heavy lifting, he'll block some shots, and he's a great player to bring off the bench to back up the 4-5 spots. Best part: He could come cheap.


Brent Barry -- He'll be in demand, because he knows how to win, he shoots 40 percent from the arc, he can play up-tempo and he can fill backcourt spots. The question is how long you want to commit to a 32-year-old. The Nets would undoubtedly have to carve out a big piece of their mid-level as a starting figure, if not use all of it.


Gordan Giricek -- He's a notorious play-buster, but he plays hard and can do something that very few Nets do -- score in different ways. But don't invest more than two plus an option: He could either find his game quickly on the right team or bust.


Michael Doleac -- If the Nets ever return to their motion offense again, he could play it, though his assist numbers don't show it. A good high-post center.


Donnell Harvey -- Right, four teams in four years, a bust. But he has never found the right team, and he'd fit the style -- fast, long, has hops, and can board and finish on the break.


Bob Sura -- It's hard to get an honest read of his Atlanta stats (in 16 games as a starter: 16.3 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game), but he's a high-energy guy who can play both guard spots.

Deals? Those are harder. Trading a guy from this bench -- Rodney Rogers or Aaron Williams -- is likely to yield the same quality of player.

One thing in Thorn's favor is there are perennial contenders -- Sacramento and Dallas, to name two -- in the same predicament. If there are deals to be made, he'll call those teams first, along with others (Golden State, Memphis et al.) that are clearly motivated to improve quickly.



Dave D'Alessandro appears regularly in The Star-Ledger