Nets GM Billy King has made 'exploratory calls' about trades
If you're a Nets fan, who is the last person you would want to put your trust in after an 0-7 start to the season? Probably the guy most responsible for getting you off to that winless beginning, right? Well, if that's the case, then I have some pretty bad news for you...
...Nets general manager Billy King is reportedly making "exploratory calls" about trades. Good luck, Nets fans.
From Tim Bontemps of the New York Post:
This isn't actually as big a deal as everyone will make it out to be (and by "everyone," let's include the jerk who actually wrote the introduction to this). General managers are always talking to each other about players, gauging interests across the league so that if they do come across something that makes sense for multiple teams, they can try executing on it.
Considering Boston controls the Nets' first-round picks for the next three years, it's hard to imagine King would deal another draft pick for a quick fix. There are no quick fixes on this roster anymore—that's clear to everyone—and King would have to reach all the way into the 2020s to find a pick he'd actually be allowed to trade since he's already dealt so many.
If the Nets were making any sort of deal, it'd likely be to acquire a pick. Maybe that means trading Brook Lopez of Thaddeus Young down the line. Surely, they'd love to get rid of Joe Johnson, but considering the recent play of the 34-year-old, it'll be pretty tough to trade the second-highest salaried player in the NBA, even if he does have an expiring contract.
But Billy King said despite the rocky start, and despite the fact the team won’t benefit from a disastrous regular season like their rivals across the East River did last year, he won’t be making any short-sighted, panic moves. The Nets general manager said he won’t try to salvage a respectable finish at the expense of the team’s projected $40 million or so in cap space and the young players it does have.
“We can trade now and eat all that space up, get to 30-something wins and make the playoffs in the eighth spot,” King said at the team’s New Jersey practice facility Monday afternoon. “[But] then, where’s the future now? So it’s about adding the right pieces and being patient.
“We didn’t get here overnight, and we are not going to get out of it overnight. That’s reality. There is not something where it’s, ‘OK, this is the magic wand and we are going to do this and it’s going to change overnight. We knew that going in, we knew that when we made those decisions and it didn’t work, and so now we’ve got to gradually, systematically dig yourself out of it.”
While King said he’s made some “exploratory calls” about trades, the message he gave repeatedly during his 15-minute sitdown with reporters was the Nets won’t be making any drastic moves.
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