Jordan Farmar on why he picked the Nets over the Lakers: “We talked about it, and it wasn’t really how I wanted to spend my whole career, being a backup in a triangle (offense),” the Nets’ new backup point guard explained yesterday.

Al Iannazzone continues to speculate the Nets options for PF. They include Andrei Kirilenko, Troy Murphy, Kenyon Martin, Brandon Bass and Paul Millsap.

Daily News has part two of their interview with Mikhail Prokhorov. There's more amusing stuff in there, including this nugget:

Q: Can you play (PF)?

A: Power forward? I’m too old for this. And I don’t like the salary of the players. I can make more in business.

Mark Ginocchio

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UPDATE: Al Iannazzone now reports that the Nets have hired Billy King to be their new General Manager, rather than hiring him as President. To quote Mikhail Prokhorov:

I am very pleased Billy King is coming on board as Nets general manager. He has all of the qualities we’ve been looking for in a candidate:  professionalism, good relations with the league, players and agents, and strong communications skills.  He will be an excellent fit with Head Coach Avery Johnson. Most importantly, Billy is ambitious.  He wants to win.  This is what I felt when I met with him and why he will be a strong addition to the Nets organization.

NBA.com states King's experience in the original story as follows:

King's tenure as the Sixers' basketball boss was uneven. He was able to surround Allen Iverson with enough talent for the 76ers to make the Finals in 2001 and for Iverson to win league MVP honors that season. But Philly never reached those heights again, as King made a series of questionable financial decisions, including giving journeyman forward Kenny Thomas a $50 million contract and center Samuel Dalembert a $64 million deal. He gambled that Chris Webber and Iverson could coexist when he traded for Webber in 2005, and the team made the playoffs that season. But they didn't get there in 2006, and by 2007, Webber's knees had deteriorated to the point where he and the team agreed to a buyout.

After Brown's departure for Detroit in 2003, King also went through several head coaches, including Randy Ayers, Jim O'Brien and Mo Cheeks.

But King drafted pretty well during his tenure as president, taking forward Andre Iguodala in the first round in 2004, guard Lou Williams in the second round in 2005, guard Thabo Sefolosha in the first round in 2006 and forward Thaddeus Young in the first in 2007.

Now that King has been confirmed as GM instead of President, I'm still not a big fan of this move. Even less so, actually. What do you guys think?

Devin Kharpertian

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New Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov made some rounds yesterday, talking with his beat reporters and other Nets writers at the Four Seasons hotel and via e-mail. He answered some obvious questions about the team's search for a new President (UPDATE: Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo is reporting Billy King is the front runner with Avery Johnson's blessing). He's also very bullish on the team's "Plan B" roster, despite understanding why fans may be disappointed about striking out on the "big names."

From the keyboard of the hardest working team blogger in the NBA, Ben Couch: "There is no contradiction between Plan A and Plan B," said Prokhorov on Tuesday at the Four Seasons. "I think we have great trade opportunities. really good trading assets and a really deep bench. That’s why I’m satisfied. I understand that fans feel a little bit upset, a little angry maybe. But I think they will like this team very soon."

In an e-mail exchange with NetsDaily, Prokhorov talked about the ideal candidate for team President: "For a championship team, we need a president with a combination of professional skills.  He should be respected in the League, very ambitious and able to work well with Avery Johnson.  We need not only teamwork among the players, but great teamwork on the management side."

Throughout these interviews, Prokhorov also flashed his personality and sense of humor. When asked about where he was when LeBron James made his announcement to join the Miami Heat: "Prokhorov said that he was asleep in Moscow. “Maybe it will surprise you, but I still keep some assets to work on,” he said."

When asked about his "Blueprint for Greatness" mural in New York City: “I think Jay and I look really great. I’m looking into the possibility of buying the building and having it shipped back to Moscow,” he said.

About what happens if he fails to get the Nets a championship in five years: "I'm going to get married," Prokhorov joked, playing to his playboy reputation. "It's the worst punishment."

As for his overall message to Nets fans: "Be patient. Support our team. We will win for sure. And, trust me, the next season will be completely different -- aggressive, young," Prokhorov said. "Now we have a really good ambition: to beat Miami Heat."

Mark Ginocchio

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The Summer League stats for the Nets are now up on our Statistics page, and over the five games a some interesting indicators came up in the numbers. Because of that, I'm going to do a quick statistical breakdown of the Nets players and how they fared last week.

First, the Big 3:

Terrence Williams (18.8 PPG, 3 RPG, 5 APG, 4.2 TPG, 44.3% FG%) was the star of Summer League. While he was off at times - in game 3 he struggled from the floor, shooting 8-26 - he was the most consistent producer for the Nets throughout. Attacking the rim regularly, T-Will took almost 16 attempts from the floor per game and a little over 6 attempts from the free throw line.

One important note is that in the 5th game, he only played for the first five minutes, so only looking at his stats from the first four games produces a line of 23-6.3-3.8-5.3-44.7%, which other than the huge turnover number is very impressive. As I mentioned in the game 3 recap, it did seem that T-Will was experimenting a lot with his game, so the turnover number doesn't bother me too much. If he tightens his play up for the regular season, he will have a very good year.

Damion James (18.8 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 1 APG, 46.4 FG%) showed a lot of signs that he's going to be an impact player at the next level. Although he was forced to sit out the final game due to injury, James was aggressive at all times on both sides of the floor and really showed off his impressive stroke. He hit many mid-range jumpers and shot 4-10 from the field over the five-day period, two of those in his 30-point breakout on Wednesday. His only serious issue is free-throw shooting - he shot 19-34 (a paltry 56%) from the charity stripe, which is worse than his college average this past season (67.4%) but not by much. His weaknesses pale in comparison to everything he brought to the team last week, and he'll have a definite impact on the Nets next year.

Derrick Favors (10.6 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 1.2 APG, 4.8 FPG, 46.7 FG%) Had an up-and-down Summer League performance, but really started to put it together by the end of the week.  While struggling with foul trouble, turnover issues, and an occasional lack of aggressiveness early in the week, Favors dominated in the final game of Summer League, breaking out for 23 points, 11 rebounds, and a variety of post moves and high-flying jams. After watching in-depth for a week, the talent is clearly there - he just needs to work on his aggressiveness in the lane and work on the flaws in his mid-range jumpshot. He's got all the unteachables - an NBA body, ridiculously smooth athletic ability, and a knack for finishing around the rim - all he needs now is a coach who will get in his head that he actually can score on anyone. Luckily, the Nets have the perfect man for the job in Avery Johnson.

The rest:

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Devin Kharpertian

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Say what you will about the Nets and their off-season pick-ups thus far (I certainly said a lot last Friday), but one thing is certain – they are assembling a roster that, statistically speaking, is a definitive improvement over last year’s 12-win debacle. With the acquisitions of Travis Outlaw, Jordan Farmar, Anthony Morrow (who was officially acquired in a sign and trade yesterday) and Johan Petro, the Nets are adding to their already young and developing core, and doing this with players who offer an improved skillet over organizational predecessors like Jarvis Hayes, Bobby Simmons, Keyon Dooling and Josh Boone. Meanwhile, for the first time since the dismantling of the “Big Three” era, the Nets appear to be following an actual team-building philosophy – acquiring athletic, multi-purpose players who can run the floor, play defense, and shoot the three. When your team’s primary weapons are an athletic, speedy point guard in Devin Harris and a low post powerhouse in Brook Lopez, the athletic and three-point aspects become especially important.

But let’s go back to where the Nets have statistically improved. Here are some of the key numbers (using advanced metrics) for some of our new acquisitions compared to how some of the Nets playing in similar role/positions last year performed. I’m even going to use Outlaw’s 2009-10 numbers, which were affected by a lingering foot injury all season.

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Mark Ginocchio

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On a day where the Nets are expected to announce their free agency pick-ups, the beat writers are taking stock in the team's off-season. Al Iannazzone says the team hopes they can sneak into the playoffs next year if everything breaks right - though so far, in the team's coaching search, draft lottery pick, GM position and free agency pursuit, nothing has broken right. Meanwhile, Daniel Marks, an admitted Nets fan writing for Dime, believes the Nets didn't have such a terrible summer.

Dave D'Alessandro believes the vacant GM position is between team VP Bobby Marks and former Sixers President Billy King.

For the vacant PF position, Fred Kerber believes with Udonis Haslem off the board, the team will go the trade route or look to sign Phoenix Suns "energizer" Louis Amundson.

Mark Ginocchio

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So the Farmar deal has been confirmed by just about everybody, so I will talk about it a little more in depth than I did last night.  At just 23, Jordan Farmar already has four years of NBA experience, and that experience has been with a championship team in the Lakers.  In LA, Farmar was more of a shoot first style point guard, but I am interested/excited in seeing him running a team outside the triangle offense.

As I said yesterday, this is just another move in a series of move in where the Nets are adding capable athletes who can impact the game on the defensive end just as much as the offensive end (Morrow is the exception...he's a shooter and that is all he can do right now).  Farmar isn't a lock down defender by any means, but he is quick and athletic, and with Avery Johnson coaching, that should be enough to make him a good defender.

So with the Farmar signing at $12 million for three years, the Nets have around $15.5 million in cap space:

(It should be noted that NetsDaily has them at 14.5 million left.  The actual number is probably somewhere in between)

So after the Farmar signing the Nets have right around $15.5 million left in cap space.  The Nets have now done a pretty good job of filling all of their holes except for the one that was the most glaring, a starting-caliber power forward.  With Dallas offering Haslam a ton of money (more than the Nets probably were looking to offer), the only option that seems to be left is trying to pry away Luis Scola from the Houston Rockets.  However the fact that it might take the rest of their cap space to actually get it done, means that it probably won't happen (remember, the Nets are hoping to keep around $5 to $10 million for in season/next summer acquisitions).  So what does that leave us?  The option of the trade.

Now there are two directions the Nets might be going in based on their roster moves.  The first would involve trading Devin and maybe some picks to a team needing a point guard for a power forward.  I personally think this is the least likely of the two options, but Jordan Farmar's reason for leaving the Lakers is because he wants to be the starter somewhere.  Obviously he isn't going to beat out Devin, but if Devin is traded, Farmar is the starter and the Nets can use Terrence Williams to back him up.  It's plausible.

The second direction can go in (and the one that I think will end up happening...just a gut feeling) is that the Nets will trade a combination of one or two of their wings, some picks, and maybe even some cash for a starting Power Forward.  The Nets have six wings on their rosters, and out of all of them, only two of them are eligible to be traded (you must wait a certain amount of time before trading recent signings and players who came over in trades) and those two are Terrence Williams and Courtney Lee.  Williams is probably the one that is more likely to be traded, just because he has more value and can be traded just on his own (with some picks) for a power forward.  Courtney Lee has lost his value and the Nets would probably have to include some things to get a power forward with him in the deal.

So moving forward the Nets will probably be exploring the trade market rather than the free agent market when looking for their power forward.  It's going to be interesting to see what happens.

Sebastian Pruiti

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Adrian Wojnarowski brings the news again, this time from his twitter feed:

New Jersey has finalized a three-year, $12 million agreement with Lakers free agent guard Jordan Farmar, a league source tells Y!

I am putting together my thoughts on this for a post tomorrow, but the initial reaction is that I like it.  I liked Felton more, but it was obvious that he wanted to start (and he wanted starter money).  The Farmar deal is reasonable to me, and his athletic ability fits into how the Nets are currently building their roster (defend and get in transition).  With Farmar being coached by Avery Johnson, he could be a solid defender.  This is an open thread to get you until tomorrow morning...feel free to discuss this move and other rumored moves.

Sebastian Pruiti

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In the fifth and final game of summer league, the Nets enjoyed their easiest victory yet, securing a winning record by defeating a depleted Boston Celtics roster 86-68. Despite Luke Harangody's excellent play (18 points & 8 rebounds) and the absence of Damion James and Terrence Williams (who sat for the game after a short stint in the first), the Nets had a great all-around game from start to finish. Many of the role players played well - Jakim Donaldson was active all game and finished with 15 points on 5-6 shooting from both the field and the line, Brandon Heath showed off an impressive touch, and Connor Atchley attacked the boards - this fifth summer league game was won because of the excellent play of the guy we've all been waiting for to break out: Derrick Favors. Let's see what it was he did so well.

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Devin Kharpertian

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The Nets have made three signings (two signings and one offer sheet to be exact, but we will count all three as if they sign with the Nets for purpose of this discussion) over the past week.  This obviously means that the amount of money the Nets have in terms of cap space has decreased.  I think now is a good time to look at where we stand, so we can see what moves are available moving forward:

Numbers from the great site ShamSports.com

* - The $500,000 attributed to Keyon Dooling is the guaranteed portion of his contract.  $500,000 of his 2010 salary was guaranteed, so if he was cut (which is what happened) he gets paid that amount and it goes against the Nets cap.

** - The rookies aren't signed yet, this is just 100% of the cap hold attributed to their draft slot.

*** - Unlike the Outlaw deal (which has been announced at a $7,000,000 flat per year basis) the per year figures for these two deals hasn't come out yet.  Just divided the total amount by the total years to get a close enough estimate.

Alright, so as everything stands right now, the Nets are currently sitting with right around $19,500,000 in salary they can offer for this upcoming season.  What we heard from Chad Ford is that they don't plan on spending all of it:

The Nets plan to use about $20 million of their $30 million in cap space this summer. The plan is to hang on to the other $10 million to use as an asset for in-season trades (they way the Thunder have masterfully done the past two years) and, if nothing materializes, roll the cap space over to the 2011 season.

If this report is true, the Nets plan on spending about another $10 million while holding onto the rest.  This could change though, especially if the Nets want to make an offer on a guy like Luis Scola.  The only way the Nets can get him is if they make an offer of something like $13 or $14 million a year (and even then, it isn't a guarantee that the Rockets don't match).  That deal would also still leave them with around $5 million for in season moves, and give them some cap room to carry over into next year.  I think this will be the move we hear about next.

Sebastian Pruiti

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According to Adrian Wojnarowski (who by the way is a must follow during the offseason) the Nets have come to an agreement with big man Johan Petro:

Center Johan Petro has reached agreement on a three year, $10 million deal with New Jersey, league sources tell Y!.

Ugh.  This is the first head-scratcher in my opinion.  Petro is obviously coming in to be Brook's backup (and he is a good backup at that), but at $3.3 million per year (also 3 years?!?!)?  Even in an offseason where everyone is getting overpaid, that is way too much.  The Nets also know have four post players in Brook, Petro, Favors, and Hump.  Hopefully this isn't what we are entering the season with because as of right now we don't have a starting quality PF.

With that being said, this isn't reason to go crazy and panic.  Overpaying for a guy like Petro sucks, no question, but it isn't like the Nets spent their final $3.3 million on him.  Yes, I realize I am rationalizing right now...

Sebastian Pruiti

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After signing Travis Outlaw, the Nets aren't done collecting wing players.  They have now turned their attention to Warriors' restricted free agent Anthony Morrow.  Morrow and the Nets agreed to a deal that would play the undrafted wing player $12 million over the course of three years, according to Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski.

This is a real good deal for the Nets because it is a reasonable amount of money for a sharpshooting wing.  However, it is so reasonable that I think the Warriors have a good chance of matching it.  Wojnarowski says that's not the case:

The Golden State Warriors aren’t expected to match the offer, a league source said. They have seven days to make a decision after Morrow officially signs the sheet.

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With the franchise in financial flux because of an impending sale and having just committed $80 million to forward David Lee(notes), the Warriors aren’t expected to spend to keep Morrow.

I will eagerly be counting down the days.  I personally think that the Warriors "shrugging off" of Marrow could be a smokescreen.  This is because if teams know a restricted free agent will have his offer matched, they will just jack up the offers forcing teams to pay big if they want to keep their guy.  The Nets could have signed Morrow to a good deal thinking that the Warriors won't match, just to have the Warriors turn around and match it (This is kind of what happened with Marcin Gortat last year).

As what this signing would mean for the Nets, I don't want to get too much into it in case the Warriors do match, but this works.  Morrow is a sharpshooter that will spread the court and keep teams honest (no more zone with Morrow on the court).  Also, this signing tells me one of two things.  Either that the Nets are comfortable enough using Terrence Williams as a backup point guard with Outlaw and Morrow on the wings, or the Nets are loading up on wings because they are looking to deal one or two of them.  In my opinion (just my opinion, I have no sources) the latter is more than likely the case.  The Nets now will have Terrence Williams, Damion James, Travis Outlaw, Anthony Morrow, and Courtney Lee on their roster as wing players.  All five of these guys seem like they can come in and contribute right away, but there doesn't seem to be enough time for all of them.  All five of these guys have pretty good contracts (with 3 of the 5 still on their rookie deal), so that is a lot of attractive assets the Nets could include in a trade.

However, we might be getting ahead of ourselves.  Hopefully we can revisit this in seven days...

Sebastian Pruiti

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