Looks as if the Nets are in cost-cutting mode baby, on the verge of trading KMart to the Nuggets for future first rounders and possibily Tskitisvili.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=stein_marc&id=1840098

Man the West is insane. You have Sacramaneto, SA, Minnesota, and Dallas in the mix for the top 4, Denver and Houston with huge acquisitions this offseason (KMart and TMac), LA w/ Odom, Butler, and now Bryant, and then Utah with their upgrades, Phoenix with their upgrades. What a madhouse.

If the Knicks land any free agent (Crawford, Dampier, etc), that will push them past the Nets.

The Nets are going to be weak. Kidd, Kittles, Jefferson, ??, Kristic with zero bench, that team stinks. That is Kidd coming off knee surgery, btw.

Posted by BigSm00th:

Man the West is insane.

Yeah. But now the east has shaq, and the nba champion.

If we get craw and damp, we'll join that "insane" kind of team too.

who cares ? They'll add martin to their young nuckleus without breaking it.

Those 3 1st rounders will be very low one, so there is not a lot of value there.

Wow...Denver will be strong up front for some time. Nene, Camby and Martin as the Center, PF ans Small Forward. Does that mean Carmelo will be at the SG?

Big news for us, we now have a good shot at the Atlantic Division.

Nets are stupid imho...they should have matched K-Mart's offer sheet he got from DEN, & then worried about what to do w/RJ next season, next season...whether you trade Kidd, K-Mart or RJ next year, you still have the options open to you...but at least you stay competitive this year & you keep the fans happy through this transition to a new market.

now they will pretty much stink for the next 5 years minimum, & Jason Kidd is bound to demand a trade sooner or later...he's not going to want to be a part of a rebuilding at his stage in his career...he'll want to go to a contender...look for him to be a member of the Pacers, Spurs or Kings after next season...just watch!

the Nets will have ZERO attendance now at their home games...good luck trying to drum up fan support in a new market when your team STINKS...especially when that market is shared by the New York Knicks, who have an established fan following.

dumb, dumb move by Ratner & the Nets imho.

no one is beating the pistons heat or pacers NO team

long term max contracts usually have a downside. kmart had a hurt knee this year and smashed his leg twice.

if they get skita and 3 draft picks and are able to swap rahim for a pick+ kittles and wiliams

that means they traded kittles williams and martin
for rahim skita and two number 1s they would have massive cap room next year and can trade rahim if they need to

they should stay very competitive if they can get rahim and then have many assets + cap room +jason kidd's allure to bring them in.

You take a year hit stay competitive and reload. somewhere sometime you have to reload the nets cycle was quick but effective two finals and 2nd round out to eventual champs in 7 games with a hurt kidd. take it easy with kidd this year -- let him rehab perfect--and get guys like kristic scalabrine+ planicic good PT

A good business decision is to keep the team competitive, but dial it in for brooklyn. They are dead attendence wise anyway, why max a deal where your not getting any cashflow. I would look to move Kidd at some point as I don't think in 2-3 years he will still have the wheels.

Its forgotten that Nets took the Pistons to the brink in their series.

thank you...you just echoed my sentiments

Posted by franco12:

three first round picks?

Denver is likly to make playoffs- so where exactly are these picks going to be?

2 of the 3 picks are not the Nuggets' own picks, but are picks they acquired from the Wizards and Clippers. Both are lottery protected next year as well, so it's possible the Nets won't see two of those picks until 06 if the Wizards and Clips miss the playoffs

You hate Ratner if you're a New Jersey Nets fan. If you're a Brooklyn Nets fan ... guy doesn't look too bad. He wants to minimize financial bleeding til he gets them to Brooklyn and then be stockpiling some young talent to build an exciting team, with, if things fall right, a chance to be great. If he had maxed Kenyon, by the time the team hit Brooklyn, they'd be into heavy downswing, with Kidd way overpaid and on the way down and no new talent to supplement.