Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. Fool me 50 other times with the same trade rumor, you’re the New Jersey Nets.
Frank Isola, who still thinks LeBron James will be a Knick, believes this weekend in Los Angeles will be an actual battle of the billionaires, the “Decision” redux where both Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov and Knicks fat toad owner James Dolan will get a chance to meet and woo Carmelo Anthony during the All-Star Break. Getting Dolan involved only hurts the Knicks, unless they’re trying to sell the Denver star on Io Digital Cable and some old inventory from The Wiz superstores, but I just don’t see how this ends happily for the Nets.
Thankfully, Al Iannazzone reports of a plan B, a more reasonable trade exchange with Portland involving Devin Harris, Travis Outlaw and Anthony Morrow for Andre Miller, Rudy Fernandez and Joel Przybilla. Not a splash by any stretch, but a good way to get rid of a player in Devin Harris who just doesn’t look like he wants to be here anymore.
The logic for ‘Melo is obviously with the trade deadline less than a week away, he’ll crack and sign the extension in NJ so he gets his money. Denver clearly wants the Nets assets more than New York’s. But if Billy King and Proky essentially have to hold a player financially and emotionally hostage to get him to commit, is this going to be the player you want to build your franchie around? This whole ordeal for the Nets is seemingly still too much about marketing dollars and screwing the Knicks and not enough about good sound organizational team building logic. But since the Nets have already played the role of Wiley E. Coyote to ‘Melo’s Roadrunner other times this season, they might as well get nailed by another anvil and a stick of dynamite before this is done. I would be shocked if ‘Melo is Net, and if Proky’s big grandstand last month was just a way for the Nets find a way to deal for ‘Melo without giving up Anthony Morrow and Johan Petro while sacrificing two additional picks, then I once again have lost faith in the billionaire.
