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January 28, 2008
Nuttin' But Nets
While Bruce Ratner has been laying waste to properties he owns in the footprint of his Atlantic Yards megaproject, things haven't been going that well with the basketball franchise he bought to front his mammoth real estate scheme:
amNY, Nets' Big Three on downward spiral
The Nets stink. Even more stunning, a sound argument can be made that they're in worse shape than the Knicks.
...
Meanwhile, Thorn remains blindly loyal to coach Lawrence Frank, whose concepts are fine but whose substitution patterns and in-game adjustments are as brutal as you'll see. That's partly a nod to owner Bruce Ratner, who has been charmed by Frank the way James Dolan has fallen for Isiah Thomas.Thorn also is believed to have been following Ratner's marching orders when he re-signed Carter after the 31-year-old shooting guard opted out last summer. Knowing he still had at least two or three seasons left in New Jersey before moving to Brooklyn, Ratner didn't want to show fans in the swamp the surrender flag by breaking up the Big Three. Now the Nets are paying the price - both on the court and in the diminished trade value of those assets.
Yahoo Sports, Bryant gets nod over James for first-half MVP
And speaking about Bruce's "favorite son," Jersey sportswriter Adrian Wojnarowski just dubbed the flagging Vince Carter the league's LVP:
Least Valuable Player: Vince Carter, New Jersey Nets
Nothing predicts a Nets freefall better than a comfortable, well-paid and unmotivated Carter. Half-man, half-hearted. They are in the middle of a coach-killing, eight-game losing streak, and no one is playing softer than Carter. He has stopped going to the rim, stopped risking life and limb and declared his new four-year, $62 million contract fit for a suburban jump shooter.
As badly as Rod Thorn would love to trade him, there are no takers. Ownership wanted to overpay Carter last summer – not the basketball people – and they’re stuck with him.
NoLandGrab: Forest City Enterprises has experience in weathering market downturns, but company execs gotta be pissed off by the sound of the NJ Nets' giant money-sucking vortex and the effect that it has on the company's balance sheet.
Posted by lumi at January 28, 2008 5:31 AM