Carmelo Anthony won’t be a New Jersey Net, but that doesn’t mean the team that’d chased the Denver Nuggets’ All-Star for five months will stay on the sidelines going forward. Nets general manager Billy King told WFAN on Thursday that he believes the Nets can land a superstar player despite the missed ‘Melo connection. From Sports Radio Interviews:
Despite Carmelo Anthony Failure, Nets Believe They Can Still Land A Superstar
Kevin Durant is a superstar and he’s in Oklahoma City, Reggie Miller was in Indiana, when Michael (Jordan) went to Chicago, the Chicago Bulls were a franchise where you could just walk on the street and get a ticket for. He turned it into that. Sometimes you develop your own star and I don’t foresee players looking at this and saying I don’t want to play in a billion dollar building in Brooklyn at the Barclay Center. I think they’re going to be saying they’re in the Barclay Center playing there and I want to be a part of that.”
The Nets clearly have some great assets in Derrick Favors and a bevy of first-round draft picks should an opportunity for a major trade present itself. It remains unclear whether veteran teams with high payroll obligations will freak out at the deadline and ship off star-level players with a new collective bargaining agreement coming down the pike. The institution of a hard or smaller salary cap could leave teams making tough roster decisions once the 2011 free agency period begins, and some teams, predicting that, could seek to make moves early to avoid the bumrush.
By not trading for Anthony, New Jersey maintains flexibility in both spots. Favors, as it were, projects to be a very good big man down the line, and could become the Nets’ de facto star, even if it isn’t a magical scorer like ‘Melo. Barring a trade, the Nets also figure to have a top-six pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.
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