« Nets going 'international' | Main | Dave Chappelle Fundraiser Turns Out Even Worse Than You Could Imagine »
July 10, 2008
LEBRON-TO-NETS IS MATTER OF WAIT-&-YI
NY Post
by Jay Greenberg
Why, if you bought the spin, you'd think that Yi was Yao, and the Nets weren't the also-ran franchise they've become under the stewardship of Bruce C. Ratner.
Rod Thorn brought the Nets out of the wilderness once, so is trusted by Bruce Ratner to do it again. But it's not the owner, actually LeBron James, who will be the ultimate judge of Yi Jianlian, Devin Harris, Sean Williams and whatever other pieces Thorn has in place by 2010.
Whether from Brooklyn, Manhattan or Oklahoma City, the free-agent-to-be James will get his basketball money to the max. Hardly does LeBron need to play two blocks or one borough away from Madison Avenue to be any more the recognizable pitchman he already is.
If James's good buddy Jay-Z is part-owner of a bad team because Yi hasn't amounted to much more than a 7-foot hill of string beans, the Nets will pay big time for not having made a better trade of a valuable commodity like Richard Jefferson.
In the meantime, with groundbreaking at the Atlantic Yards scheduled for November and court challenges being knocked down like Yi does 15-footers, it's mostly Vince Carter vs. the wolf at the door at the Meadowlands. Although the wolf, like the patrons, must first find the door through Xanadu construction.
NoLandGrab: It's all about the basketball. It's all about the basketball. It's all about the basketball. It's all....
Posted by eric at July 10, 2008 4:18 PM