Remember last year when the Nets and fans were not-so-secretly hoping that Kris Humphries would bypass his player option, becoming a free agent and giving the Nets more cap space to play with so they could sign ALL those superstars (Travis Outlaw, Johan Petro, Stephen Graham …). Well the good news is, after the year he’s put together, Hump has seemingly forgiven the Nets for their ignorance and has explicitly said he wants to be back next year, when he’s free agent for real and will likely command more money:
“You want to make the most money you can and have a great career and all those things,” he said. “I want to be here. They’ve helped me get a lot better and rolled with me this year. It would be great to be back here. We’re looking to do that.”
I think if the Nets can find a way to upgrade themselves at other positions this summer (notably SG and SF) then keeping Hump keeps too much sense. However, I would also like to see them get one more big who can rotate in at either PF/C (Big Baby?) and after watching Johan Petro neither single-handedly blow the game agains the Knicks on Wednesday, I hope the segment of the fanbase who was defending that signing last summer understands why others were furious with the idea that the Nets gave a stiff like that a decent chunk of change just because he was the only one who would seemingly take it.