Breaking: The Brooklyn Nets are still odd.
Stuck in the throes of a season that has them contending for eighth place in the Eastern Conference, the Nets find themselves in a tough situation, footing an extravagant salary and luxury-tax bill for a mediocre product. Their next move, then, is obvious: Blow stuff up. Shop Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson. Start over. Hit reset. Rebuild the right way, the cheaper way.
All of which is easier said than done—especially when to trying to make a play for Rondo.
Per Nets Daily, Brooklyn tried to wedge their way into the trade festivities before Rondo was shipped to the Dallas Mavericks:
In an interview with Comcast Sports Net Friday, Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix says the Nets offered Mirza Teletovic as a centerpiece in their offer for Rajon Rondo. League sources confirmed to NetsDaily that the Nets indeed made a bid for Rondo, but said that Teletovic was not offered. Rondo ultimately went to Dallas in a multi-player deal.
In discussing the Nets desire to dump some of their big contracts, Mannix said of the Celtics, “when they talked to Brooklyn about Rondo, they talked about Mirza Teletovic and some of the younger pieces there.” Not so, say league sources. Instead, the Nets and Celtics discussed Brook Lopez and Deron Williams.
Mannix suggested the Celtics take a look at acquiring the Nets center.
“There’s no evidence they’re looking into him,” Mannix told Kyle Draper before Brooklyn played in Boston on Friday afternoon. “If I’m Boston, I’d do my homework on Brook Lopez. He’s in his mid-20s. He’s a guy who’s a pure center, who has been an All-Star. He makes some decent money but, if you’re rebuilding a team, a guy like that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to start with.”
Need any more evidence on the plummeting value of Brooklyn’s core?
If the Nets were indeed slinging players like Williams and Lopez without ever being identified as a major Rondo player, well, that’s just sad. Not sad in a pathetic way; sad in a “Holy crap this is sad” way.
The Boston Celtics didn’t net much for Rondo, after all. Brandan Wright, Jae Crowder and some low-end picks is hardly a king’s ransom when dealing away an All-Star point guard. Rondo’s value clearly isn’t what it once was, but Boston’s apparent rejection of Brooklyn’s centerpieces reflects even more poorly on the state of the Nets.
Dealing Williams will be difficult in general, since his contract runs through 2016-17 and no team in its right mind wants to compromise flexibility with Kevin Durant entering free agency in 2016. Moving Lopez should, in theory, be easier. While his injury history sucks, he’s younger and cheaper and plays a shallower position than Williams. The Celtics could have easily justified taking a flyer on him through this season or next, given what they wound up accepting for Rondo anyway.
No matter, though. Rondo wouldn’t have been a long-term fit in Brooklyn. And even if he was, his bill of health isn’t that much cleaner than Williams’.
This is just another “What if?” scenario for us to ponder.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com.
