The New Jersey Nets were one of the major players in Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes. The Nets wanted Melo to upstage New York and Mikhail Prokhorov wanted to make his stamp on the NY-NJ metro area. After the Knicks took Melo, the Nets got laughed at like the red-headed stepchild they have always been. But then today, they land superstar Deron Williams.
At the gym today, I saw this news broke and couldn't believe it. I knew the Jazz figured to have a hard time signing him. Sports fans knew they could have be going through the same thing with Anthony for the last seven months. That role belongs to Chris Paul and maybe Dwight Howard. I couldn't believe the Bond Villain pulled it off. The Nets get a monster deal one and this is a better deal than Melo's if (big if) he signs an extension.
Williams cannot sign an extension until July 8th under the former CBA, and according to the Salt Lake Tribune, he is devastated. DWill got completely blindsided by management making this deal. I cannot think of any player who would be excited about going to New Jersey. The franchise known for having the duo of Kenny Anderson and Derrick Coleman on the same team. But the Nets have a good amount of cap room to spend more money in the following years. Prokhorov and Jay-Z will convince Williams that this will be a good thing for him. Additionally, Brook Lopez will become such a better player with DWill, maybe he will remember to rebound again.
As for Utah, I don't know where to begin because they have been one of the most stable franchises in the NBA, which is rare to find. The NBA doesn't have many of them, only the Spurs, and Lakers come to mind. No Jerry Sloan, no Deron Williams, and no combination like Stockton-Malone. Granted, they have developed a nice front line with Derrick Favors, Paul Milsap, and Al Jefferson but nobody is a star on that team. I doubt Ty Corbin stays on as coach unless he takes this ragtag bunch to the playoffs. The Jazz need to find an identity, something they haven't had to do in 25 years.
The final storyline is the budding rivalry between the Nets and Knicks. They play against each other on March 30th, and I will bet the house,it's a very chippy affair. The NBA is back having rivalries again- Heat/Celtics, Heat/Magic, Bulls/Celtics, Lakers/Spurs to name a few. I love it and will enjoy watching these two teams battle it out for free agents and Metro dominance for years to come.
-Charlie.
