At around noon today, I was on The Basketball Jones’ live mock draft (yeah, I am still bragging about that) talking about how Derrick Favors to the Nets was pretty much a sure thing. After that, the crazy started. First, there were multiple reports that the Nets were leaning towards drafting Syracuse SF Wesley Johnson. That has now seemed to settle down, with some reports saying that Johnson is simply just in the conversation with Derrick Favors.
With things starting to become relatively calm once again, Dave D’Alessandro decided to shake things up again with his report that he put out tonight around 10. Apparently Cousins is now out of the conversation:
“Cousins has great hands and great feet, and he knows how to play,” Thorn said. “But you know, it’s a leap of faith there to suggest that he can play the 4. He can shoot the ball well, and he can face the basket. But I don’t think he’ll take it from 20 feet and go by people, and defensively it could be even more of a problem.”
In their internal discussions, the Nets have concluded that in spite of Cousins’ great talent, it would be very hard for him to complement Brook Lopez as the full-time power forward unless he trimmed down to 265 pounds — and he might have enough trouble getting down to 275.
So things simplified? Not so fast, there is now a new big man that the Nets are considering. His name is Greg Monroe:
It just means Thorn is in the mood to confuse everybody by suggesting that Greg Monroe of Georgetown is now also in the mix.
“We like Monroe a lot,” Thorn said, when reviewing his short list today. “He’s a lot different than Derrick Favors. He has an all-around game — left hand, right hand, great size. So I don’t think you (eliminate him) by any stretch. Monroe’s looking very good to us.”
That’s not the only news made tonight either. Chad Ford is reporting in his newest post to the TrueHoop blog that the Nets have dealt Chris Douglas-Roberts to the Bucks for a second round pick:
Finally, it looks like the Bucks aren’t done dealing. This afternoon they traded Dan Gadzuric and Charlie Bell to the Warriors for Corey Maggette. Now sources say that the Bucks and Nets are in serious negotiations on a deal that would send Chris Douglas-Roberts to the Bucks for a second round pick. With the addition of Maggette and Douglas-Roberts, you have to wonder if the Bucks may look at something other than a wing with the No. 15 pick in the draft.
That puts this CDR tweet in perspective now. 10 hours ago, he tweeted:
Got news for yall later! Yall ready for this??? Ahhahaaahaha. I jus can’t hide it. FTD. Yes yess! FTD yes yess!
FTD meaning Fear The Deer. Well then. I have never denied Chris Douglas-Roberts talents, and I think when he wants to be, he is one of the better pure scorers in the NBA. To me, it just seems that the Nets were fed up with his off the court issues and were getting rid of him anyway (the Nets had until late in the month to decide whether or not they wanted to pick up his option) and they took what they could get for him, and that was a second round pick. The Nets now have four picks in this draft (two first rounders and two second rounders).
There has been a lot of action over in Nets-land, and the draft isn’t even until Thursday, so don’t expect for everything to be over and done with (especially with the four picks the Nets have). Hold on guys, this is going to be a wild ride…
