When Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov became the majority owner of the team, he made a promise that raised plenty of eyebrows: the Nets will win a championship in five years.
It sounded like an impossible promise for a team that had been so awful ever since the departure of Jason Kidd back in the 2007-2008 season. Slowly but surely, though, Prokhorov made sure that his words would prove to be meaningful by building a new arena to help attract free agents and willingly spent top dollar to acquire the best available talents around the league. Fittingly, he even brought back Kidd – this time as a head coach.
With Deron Williams, Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez already on board, a few more moves needed to be made to help the Nets become elite. General manager Billy King did all he could to trade for Dwight Howard over the past season, to no avail. Sensing an upgrade from Gerald Wallace and Kris Humphries was necessary after getting upset by a depleted Chicago Bulls lineup in the first round, King went after Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce when the two recently became available. On Thursday, he got what he went after, from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:
The Brooklyn Nets have reached an agreement in principle with the Boston Celtics to acquire future Hall of Famers Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce after Garnett agreed to waive his no-trade clause, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
Garnett waived his no-trade clause after the Nets agreed to fully guarantee the $12 million owed him for the 2014-15 season, the third year of his contract. The Nets could have bought out Garnett for $6 million.
Garnett also was swayed by the chance to join his close friend, Pierce, in Brooklyn where they could play for longtime rival Jason Kidd.
The trade can’t be made official by the NBA until July 10.
The trade comes with a heavy cost for the Nets: They face a luxury-tax bill of nearly $80 million.
The deal centers around a package that sendsGerald Wallace, Tornike Shengelia, the expiring deal of Kris Humphries and three future first-round picks (2014, ’16 and ’18) to the Celtics, sources told Y! Sports.
Celtics guard Jason Terry joins Garnett and Pierce in the package going to the Nets, sources said. The Nets also will send back Reggie Evans and do a sign-and-trade involving Keith Bogans and one more minimum-level player as part of package, a source said.
A starting lineup of Williams, Johnson, Pierce, Garnett and Lopez? That would have been an epic team a few seasons ago, but still sounds exciting enough. With Terry, Andray Blatche and MarShon Brooks coming off the bench, there’s plenty of fire power on the roster to combat just about any team in the league. *Update: full details of the deal has yet to be released and some believe Brooks may be a part of the deal.
If you’re not completely impressed by how this team will look next season, consider the fact that they had nine less wins this season (49) than they had in the previous three seasons combined (58) with a team that looked nowhere near as good as it will next season. If that’s not a turnaround, I don’t know what is.
The challenge now is to pick up a wing and an extra big that can play some defense. Something tells me some combination of Pierce and Johnson is not going to be the solution to containing that dude in Miami. The Nets need to get this thing right because the window of opportunity is not going to be very long, especially with all the picks they were forced to give up in the trade. With such a formidable team, solid veterans will probably line up to help this newly formed squad. It should be one hell of an opening act for Kidd, who now gets to coach some of his long-time rivals and recapture the magic he instantly brought the team as a player.
As for the Celtics, if Rondo was constantly moody with Doc Rivers, KG and company… good luck to him with whatever is left of the roster come next season. If Rondo was a cooler guy, maybe none of this happens. In the long term, Boston has this to look forward to, from Tom Haberstroh of ESPN:
If KG approves, the Celtics will have a pair of 1st-rounders in 4 of the next 5 drafts after tonight. 4 OF THE NEXT 5.
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) June 27, 2013
Onto other news from around the league:
- Gery Woelfel of Racine Journal Time reported that the Bucks are making Brandon Jennings available for trade, along with a possible deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves:
Bucks are letting it be known that Brandon Jennings is available for the right price.
— Gery Woelfel (@GeryWoelfel) June 27, 2013
I proposed this trade at the trading deadline – Luke Ridnour for Ekpe Udoh – now I’m hearing it could happen.
— Gery Woelfel (@GeryWoelfel) June 27, 2013
Joakim Noah admit that he was unhappy to see the Miami Heat win the championship, from Laken Litman of USA Today: “Joakim Noah isn’t much of a Heat fan. So watching LeBron James and Co. celebrate a second straight title stung a little. “At first I said I didn’t care, but I was lying to myself,” Noah told For The Win at The Steve Nash Foundation Showdown in New York City Wednesday night. “I was driving in my car and I just didn’t feel good about it at all after they won. “Well you know what? It’s going to be extra motivation to work extra hard in the offseason and I feel like we’ll be the team that beats them next year.”
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