MILWAUKEE (AP)—The Milwaukee Bucks have traded the draft rights to 2010 second-round pick Jerome Jordan to the New York Knicks for cash considerations.
The 7-1, 253-pound Jordan averaged 15.4 points and 9.4 rebounds in his senior season at Tulsa.
Jordan was the No. 44 overall pick and one of three second-round draft picks made by the Bucks. Milwaukee also took guard Darington Hobson and forward Tiny Gallon. The Bucks took forward Larry Sanders with the 15th overall pick in the first round.
PHOENIX (AP)—The Phoenix Suns have locked up one of their top offseason priorities, signing center Channing Frye to a five-year deal.
Terms were not disclosed, but Frye and the Suns agreed to a deal worth $30 million last week. Phoenix also agreed to a four-year, $18 million contract with free agent forward Hakim Warrick on Friday after being unable to reach a deal with Amare Stoudemire, who signed with the New York Knicks.
Frye developed into a solid 3-point shooter with Phoenix after rarely shooting from beyond the arc in four seasons with New York and Portland, leading the Suns with 173 his first season in the desert.
The eighth overall pick out of Arizona in the 2005 draft, Frye averaged 11.2 points with the Suns and shot 43 percent from 3-point range.
The stars of this summer are almost all committed to new contracts, if they haven’t signed already. Only two remain: LeBron James, who you’ve probably heard of, and David Lee.
Lee is an odd case. He is a seriously productive power forward (or center, if you’re Mike D’Antoni) who averaged 20.2 ppg and 11.7 rpg with efficient percentages. Not a lot of players can put up those kinds of numbers in any system, yet Lee has his detractors because of perceived stat inflation in D’Antoni’s system.
Still, he is a desired commodity. And it appears that he has a new team so long as LeBron James does not sign with the Knicks. Marcus Thompson of The Contra Costa Times broke the story:
The Warriors are close to a sign-and-trade with the New York Knicks for their All-Star power forward David Lee, according to multiple sources. The Warriors would send forward Anthony Randolph — not guard Monta Ellis as previously rumored — along with a few other pieces to New York. But, like the rest of the universe, they are waiting on LeBron James.
If James announces he’s decided to play anywhere but New York, the Warriors are in play for Lee. The Warriors are one of a few teams in the mix for Lee via a sign-and-trade with the Knicks. And the Warriors have an offer the Knicks favor, a team source said. Randolph could be joined by center Ronny Turiaf or swingman Kelenna Azubuike, and an expiring contract such as forward Vladimir Radmanovic.
The Warriors won’t offer Lee a max deal, but one source suggested Golden State’s ceiling is a six-year deal starting at about $13 million. New Jersey is still an option, also the Minnesota Timberwolves — who Lee visited earlier this month and was reportedly impressed.
It’s hard to know if this is a good deal for either side. With Amare Stoudemire in New York, the Knicks don’t exactly need Lee at a high salary figure. Plus, Randolph is a unique talent with nearly unlimited potential, and D’Antoni seems like the kind of coach who can put him in a situation to succeed. It’s easy to envision Randolph in a Boris Diaw-type role as combination facilitator/scorer/rebounder/defender. The Knicks could form a bizarre, compulsively watchable frontcourt, even if there would be likely growing pains. And Turiaf and Azubuike can be valuable role players.
For the Warriors, I am just working under my usual assumption that things would work out poorly. Lee would surely put up gaudy stats in Don Nelson’s fast-paced system, but he wouldn’t bring the defense the Warriors sorely need (although his rebounding would obviously be welcome).
Then again, no one said the current Warriors’ management was particularly interested in building a winner. This is the same team that never gave Randolph a fair shot to prove himself even though he has more potential than anyone on the roster. Their interest in Lee could be as much about having an All-Star to promote as getting a productive player. It’s hard to know with Chris Cohan, Robert Rowell, and the rest of the bunch.
The good news for the Warriors is that Lee can be a valuable part of another style of team, too, if such a thing arises after Cohan sells the franchise. It’s just hard to know if he’ll be overpaid or not with another system in place.
NEW YORK (AP)—The NBA salary cap for next season has been set at $58.04 million, a higher number than projected that could help the Miami Heat fill out a roster around Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and perhaps even LeBron James.
The cap goes into effect on Friday, ending the league’s moratorium period and allowing free agent contracts to be signed.
It’s a slight increase from this season’s $57.7 million cap, a surprise for teams considering what they were bracing for last summer.
Teams were warned in a memo last July that the economic crisis could send the cap spiraling to somewhere between $50.4 million to $53.6 million, some $10 million below what teams were once anticipating.
Apparently, the league underestimated its revenues.
Commissioner David Stern said in April the league was projecting the cap to come in at $56.1, a result of creative work by teams in selling tickets and sponsorships that drove up revenues, and the number announced on Wednesday even surpassed that.
The nearly $2 million more could be key for the Heat if they are able to persuade James to join Wade and Bosh, who announced on Wednesday they plan to sign with Miami. The cap has no bearing on their first-year salaries in a maximum contract, which would be $16.6 million.
It means the New York Knicks have about $36 million to spend before contracts are signed, leaving them about $18.9 million left after Amare Stoudemire signs an expected five-year, $99.7 million deal.
The midlevel exception is $5.8 million and the tax level is $70.3 million. Any team that exceeds that will have to pay a $1 tax for every $1 it is over.
The minimum team salary is $43.5 million, 75 percent of the cap.
AKRON, Ohio (AP)—More than two years of hype, drama, conjecture and expectation have dwindled to a few more hours.
LeBron James’ big moment is here—not as an NBA champion but as a free agent. There will be no parade, no ring ceremony, no banner raising.
Instead, on a prime time made-for-TV special his handlers contracted with ESPN, James will announce Thursday night where he’ll play next season and beyond. Fans from coast to coast will tune in to watch, with the ones in his home state of Ohio praying they won’t have their hearts broken again.
The Decision, it’s been dubbed.
In Cleveland, they can only hope it doesn’t join The Drive, The Fumble, The Shot and The Move in the lexicon of sports misery.
James has kept everyone waiting. It’s time to come clean.
“I’ll be watching,” said fellow free agent superstar Dwyane Wade, who agreed to re-sign with Miami on Wednesday and may be trying to recruit James. “We’ve scheduled it. I’ll make sure I’m in front of the TV tomorrow at 9 to watch like everyone else.”
James will announce his plans within the first 10 minutes of the special, Norby Williamson, ESPN’s vice president of production, told The Associated Press. He said sportscaster Jim Gray, who was hand-picked by James’ team, will handle the introduction, announcement and initial questions. A person familiar with the plans tells the AP the interview will take place at the Boys & Girls Club of Greenwich, Conn.
Not everyone plans to watch the big announcement by James. The story has dragged on and dominated the headlines for months. It’s no wonder some have been turned off by his need for the spotlight and consider him a bit of a drama King.
“It’s gotten ridiculous,” Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said. “It’s almost like a parody of itself this whole situation now. Come on, an hour long? It takes 15 seconds to say I’ve decided to stay in Cleveland but we’ve got another 59 minutes and 45 seconds to, what? Promote LeBron James?
“As if we don’t do that enough. Look, the guy’s a great player and wherever he goes, my bet would be Cleveland, that place will be excited. But an hour-long special?”
James offered no hints about his plans on his final, full day of free agency. His secret remains safe, despite an information frenzy and growing speculation the 25-year-old superstar might join Olympic teammates Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, a move that would rock the league.
That’s exactly what new Cavs coach Byron Scott doesn’t want. He showed up unannounced at James’ summer camp at the University of Akron and spent an hour watching the two-time MVP and Cleveland players Jamario Moon, Danny Green, Christian Eyenga and assistant coach Chris Jent scrimmage.
Scott, who was part of the Cavs’ presentation team that wooed James last week at the megastar’s business office in downtown Cleveland, said he did not speak with James but was keeping his fingers and toes crossed that James’ loyalty to his home state will sway his decision.
“I’m always hopeful,” Scott said.
Hope and home are what’s sustaining Cleveland’s die-hard fans. Although the Cavs could offer James $30 million more on a maximum-length contract than any other team, money might not be enough.
James wants to win championships. Without any salary-cap space, the Cavs, who also could try to swing a last-minute trade to make their roster more appealing to James, don’t have enough money to acquire the Robin to his Batman.
But in Cleveland, this goes deeper than dollars.
James is one of their own. Although he led the Cavs through the most successful stretch in their 40-year history, the Akron native came up short in winning a championship and snapping the city’s pro sports title drought dating to 1964. In Clevelanders’ minds, James has unfinished business. If he decides to leave them dry, he will be viewed as a villain on equal footing with Art Modell who packed up the Browns and bolted for Baltimore.
In the other NBA cities where James’ courtship has dominated the summer’s headlines, fans will hope their teams did enough to land LeBron:
— The New York Knicks are counting on the magic of Manhattan, Madison Square Garden and their recent agreement with Amare Stoudemire.
— The New Jersey Nets appealed to James’ global ambitions with Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, rap mogul Jay-Z—a close friend of James—a young roster and their planned move to Brooklyn.
— The Chicago Bulls, who at one point looked to be at the front of the line for James’ services, have rising stars Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, money to spend and just secured free agent forward Carlos Boozer, who played with James in Cleveland.
— And then there’s the Heat. Miami’s now got two All-Stars and is eager to make room for a third. It’s assumed Wade, Bosh and James all would have to take less money to play together, but the chance to win one, two, three or more titles might be enough to convince them to join forces and build a dynasty under president Pat Riley, who might even wind up as their coach.
There have been signs James is preparing for a new chapter in his career.
In recent days, he has relaunched a website that was dormant for two years and opened a Twitter account, which drew more than 250,000 followers in first two days of existence. Now, he has scheduled a TV special to tell the world what he’s doing next.
It’s a new LeBron, one moving faster than ever.
And maybe moving on.
AP Sports Writer Antonio Gonzalez in Orlando, Fla., contributed to this report.
NEW YORK (AP)—A day before LeBron James’ decision, the New York Knicks believe they still have a chance.
A team spokesman says the team has not been told it is out of the race for James, who is set to announce where he will play next season during an ESPN special on Thursday night.
The Knicks made their pitch to James last Thursday in Cleveland and believe they became even more attractive to him when All-Star forward Amare Stoudemire agreed to sign with New York on Monday.
Stoudemire said he would try to recruit James to come along. He wrote a message to James on Twitter on Wednesday, telling the MVP to join him in New York and saying “Oh let’s do it!!”
New York has enough salary cap space to sign two players to maximum level contracts, and learned Wednesday it will even some money left over. The salary cap was set at $58.04 million, nearly $2 million higher than the $56.1 million that was projected.
That means the Knicks will have about $18.9 million left after Stoudemire signs an expected five-year, $99.7 million deal. The team will introduce him at an afternoon news conference, then turn its attention to James’ announcement planned for 9 p.m.
A person familiar with the plans told The Associated Press the interview will take place at the Boys & Girls Club of Greenwich, Conn., not far from where the Knicks practice in Westchester County, N.Y.
If they don’t get James, the Knicks will begin turning their attention to other players, with point guard being one of their biggest needs. Chris Duhon, the starter most of the last two seasons, has agreed to sign with the Orlando Magic.
AP Sports Writer Tom Withers in Cleveland contributed to this report.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)—The lifelong basketball journeys for Hall of Fame center Patrick Ewing and his son, Patrick Ewing Jr., are at a crossroads this week at the NBA’s Orlando summer league.
They’re both leading the Orlando Magic’s squad—one on the sideline, the other on the court—and making strides toward their ultimate goals.
Father and son.
Coach and player.
Two dreams so close to reality.
“Wouldn’t that be great? I’m waiting for the day we do it,” said the elder Ewing, now 47. “I’m chomping at the bit.”
The former New York Knicks great, Ewing heads into his sixth season as an NBA assistant coach. The last three have been with the Magic, helping mold Dwight Howard into an All-Star center who has won two straight defensive player of the year awards.
Ewing is still hoping to land his first head-coaching job, believing it’s only a phone call away and he merely has to pay his dues as an assistant. Despite several openings this offseason, though, that call didn’t come again.
“I’m waiting,” he said, smiling.
Ewing Jr. has never shied away from his father’s shadow.
His dad wanted him to play football—he chose basketball. He went to Georgetown, where his father once anchored those legendary Hoyas teams. And after being drafted in the second round by Sacramento in 2008, he was traded to Houston and later New York.
Yes, the Knicks.
But he never played in a regular-season game, was sent to the NBA Developmental League and tore a ligament in his right knee in March 2009— originally misdiagnosed as a sprain—and hadn’t played an organized game again until this week.
So fate would have it that the Magic would give him a shot, and that his father would be the one coaching him to reach his goal.
He led the team in scoring in its first two summer league games with performances of 17 and 15 points, and had 11 points and seven rebounds in the Magic’s 94-91 loss to New Jersey on Wednesday as his father roamed the sideline.
“I always wanted to be just like him,” said the 26-year-old Ewing. “I developed a post game because he was a post player. I’m sure if he was a point guard, I would have tried to be a point guard.
“He was such a great player. I never expect to be a top 50 player of all-time, but I’m going to strive for it. It’s something that’s making me work harder.”
Growing up in NBA locker rooms didn’t hurt.
Ewing Jr. had a chance to watch Pat Riley coach. Or shoot with Allan Houston and Larry Johnson after practices. Or even meet Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson before games.
Even though his dad was often traveling, he still managed to watch his son from afar and keep in touch by phone. When Dad was home, basketball always came first.
“I remember him getting very upset after losses, especially in the playoffs,” he said. “I would make sure to stay out of his way and not get in trouble in school those weeks.”
They kept in touch by phone when Ewing Jr. was playing at Georgetown, too.
While Ewing was traveling as an assistant coach, father often watched game tapes and coached by phone. It wasn’t until this week that Ewing finally got to coach his son.
“It’s good, but it’s different,” he said of coaching his son. “I thought it would be a lot harder, but he’s been working and he’s played well for us. Sometimes I think he’s too unselfish and I get on his butt about passing up open shots. He can shoot the 3 better than people think.”
Both have shown progress toward their goals.
Ewing Jr. has been one of the best players on the Magic’s summer squad— that includes draft picks Daniel Orton and Stanley Robinson—but has no contract for this season. He said he won’t go back to the developmental league, and would instead go to Europe or somewhere overseas if he doesn’t make an NBA roster.
“He’s not that far away from being an NBA player. He’s shown that in the last few days,” Magic general manager Otis Smith said.
His father believes he’s ready for the NBA—and now.
“I don’t subscribe to the patience theory,” said Ewing Sr. “I’m not into that Aristotle philosophy that patience is a virtue. I see the talent in the league today, and there’s no way my son shouldn’t be in the league. He’s talented enough. There should be a job in the league for him now.”
The 6-foot-8, 240-pound small forward appears athletic and strong enough to match NBA-caliber players. And he may very well get a chance to play in the NBA one day.
For now, he waits for a chance.
Just like Dad.
LOS ANGELES (AP)—Wall Street’s bulls are betting that LeBron James ends up playing basketball in New York, not Chicago.
Despite President Obama’s hope that the NBA free agent will leave his native Ohio for the Windy City, traders are betting that the superstar will announce on Thursday that he’s leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to play for the New York Knicks.
Shares in Madison Square Garden Inc., the owners of the Knicks, jumped $1.30, or 6.4 percent, to close at $21.57 Wednesday, adding 3 cents in extended trading. Volume was up dramatically at 1.7 million trades, more than five times the daily average of 311,000.
The basketball star is set to announce his decision during a one-hour special on ESPN at 9 p.m. Thursday.
James’ potential arrival in New York would boost the value of the franchise by “hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Gabelli & Co. analyst Christopher Marangi.
The team could see about 10 percent more revenue, while the MSG network could get 10 percent more advertising revenue, he said.
“Would landing LeBron add to the economic value of the enterprise? The answer to that is unequivocally yes,” he said. “The second question is what are the Knicks’ chances of actually getting him? The market is saying it thinks better of the chances today than it did yesterday or before the weekend.”
Adding to the speculative chess board was Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh’s announcements Wednesday that they would play for the Miami Heat.
Marangi said those decisions instantly made Chicago a less attractive option for James while Miami’s chances of winning the NBA Finals would go up dramatically with all three stars on the team.
But the Knicks entered the free agency shopping spree with the most salary cap room in the league with $34.1 million—enough for two players earning the maximum salary. After the team’s acquisition of Amare Stoudemire from Phoenix, it still had $17 million to spend on James.
An ESPN executive says James will announce his future NBA plans within the first 10 minutes of Thursday night’s hourlong broadcast, hosted by Jim Gray.
ESPN says Gray and James will be in one location. A person familiar with the plans, however, tells The Associated Press the interview will take place at the Boys & Girls Club of Greenwich, Conn.
The broadcast also will include a long-form interview with ESPN personality Mike Wilbon and others via satellite from ESPN’s studios in Bristol, Conn.
The Championship of Me comes crashing into a primetime cable infomercial that LeBron James and his cronies have been working to make happen for months, a slow, cynical churning of manufactured drama that sports has never witnessed. As historic monuments go, this is the Rushmore of basketball hubris and narcissism. The vacuous star for our vacuous times. All about ‘Bron and all about nothing.
James is throwing a few foosball tables at Boys & Girls Clubs, an empty gesture out of the empty superstar. He’s turned free agency into the title of our times, a preening pageant of fawning, begging and pleading. Hard-working people are dragged into municipalities and told to hold signs, chant scripted slogans and beg a diva who doesn’t care about them to accept a $100 million contract.
Privately, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh weren’t pleased on Wednesday morning with the belief that James’ camp was responsible for leaking their plans to a television partner, but then again it makes perfect sense: This isn’t about Wade and Bosh choosing the Heat. It’s about LeBron getting the stage to himself on Thursday night.
One front-office executive whose team made a presentation to LeBron James told Yahoo! Sports that he believes James is choosing between Miami and Cleveland. And yet, if James wants to deliver the biggest kick in the gut to his hometown, he’ll pick the flat-lined New York Knicks. Whatever the decision, he’s made clear that the teasing and tormenting of the loser isn’t his concern.
Team LeBron is having the time of its life, but has no idea the repercussions of what it’s done here. All that comes to James now is the biggest burden to win a championship that sports has ever seen. They aren’t making James a bigger star with this big-top, but a bigger target. All those teams that marched into the presentations and listened to some of the foolish and naive questions asked of them believed these kids had no idea what they were doing, or what they had gotten themselves into. They’re all feeling more validated every day. From beginning to end, this process has been a farce.
[Photos: See images of the coveted NBA superstar]
On James’ new website, under the headline dubbing this TV debacle “The Decision,” there come these words: “Maverick Carter, CEO of LRMR Marketing said…” This explains everything. Carter’s marketing company isn’t doing so well trying to get its one client Jonny Flynn a used-car dealership endorsement in the Twin Cities, and now Carter’s going to try to justify all that plush office space, staff attorneys, private planes and resort hotels by translating the Championship of Me into the making of his reputation.
Carter’s pushed one agent – Aaron Goodwin – and one advisor – William Wesley – aside because he wanted to be the voice in James’ ear and the one getting credit on the masthead. So far, Carter’s been a superstar at spending James’ money on LRMR, but now he’s getting the company name out there and turning LeBron into Mr. July after LeBron didn’t have the stomach to be Mr. June.
Team LeBron had discussed a documentary on the free-agent process, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported, but the narrative changed after James’ Game 5 meltdown in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Carter says there was never a plan for a free-agent tour, but this is what he means: There was never a plan for James to get held accountable, to have his motivations and priorities called into doubt. There was never a plan for the blame to shift from Danny Ferry, Mike Brown and his Cavaliers teammates. There was never a plan that real-world rules applied to the self-proclaimed King.
They scrapped the tour, the documentary and set sights on hijacking the network for an unprecedented special they believe will elevate James’ brand. Only, James has never looked smaller, never more insecure and unsure of who he is and what he wants to be. He won’t look so much like Kobe Bryant and David Beckham, but rather a three-star linebacker from Shaker Heights picking Bowling Green over Kent and Ohio U. on local access television.
Team LeBron has known all along it was going to do this, and the cushy, protective relationship with that television network culminates with a basketball player commandeering his own coverage on his own terms. Now James and his buddies spoon out misdirection plays on his possible destination – feeding everyone for days and weeks that the Knicks were dead, only to say now, “Well…who knows?” – to build back drama for the infomercial.
This is some plan they’ve hatched and some game they’re playing with those Cleveland fans who’ve been so relentlessly loyal to James. First, he marched the biggest suitors in the sport to come court him in downtown Cleveland with those pointless presentations. He wanted those people out there creating a visual public push-and-pull for him, and because James needed to be told something that probably isn’t completely true anymore: Cleveland loves him.
Well, Cleveland craves him. Love is a strong word, and it ought to be unconditional, but loving a sports hero is the most conditional kind of love there is. Only, it was different with Cleveland. He’s one of them, but you still have to wonder: Are they one of him?
James never shared that town’s angst with the Browns and Indians. He wanted winners in his life, and rooted for the Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees. He doesn’t feel the pain of a city’s broken heart. Shaquille O’Neal leaving the Orlando Magic for the Los Angeles Lakers 14 years ago was a hard hit, but LeBron bailing on Cleveland is far more devastating on a different level.
Everyone ridicules Cleveland, makes it a butt of jokes, but LeBron James has the chance to change all of that. And even then, it has to crush Cleveland’s sporting psyche that James could still walk out. If one of our own won’t stay, what does that say to the rest of the country?
That’s the hardest part here, and that makes the possibility that James would go on national television – with those split-screen shots of stunned fans in Akron and Cleveland – and completely crush those people so impossible to believe. He couldn’t be that cold, that callous, that cunning? Or perhaps, maybe this is all a rollout – the website, the Twitter page and the infomercial – to introduce a new LeBron, a new city, to the world.
Whatever happens, James and the television network will hide behind some money going to the Boys & Girls Clubs. But this isn’t about kids and sports, and it sure isn’t about the credibility that comes with winning championships. Something’s changed here, and LeBron James has gone a long way to devaluing winning and losing in the NBA. David Stern has long pushed the individual over team, marketed showy over substance, and LeBron James represents the manifestation of it all.
Greatest talent to ever walk into this league, the self-proclaimed King, and now everyone gets a front-row, primetime seat for how it means to live without self-awareness, without restraint. The vacuous star for our vacuous times, live on Thursday night and fitting himself for a ring as the undisputed Champion of Me. All about ‘Bron and all about nothing.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP)—The New Jersey Nets have a Plan B in case LeBron James rejects their offer.
The agent for New York Knicks forward David Lee says the Nets have talked to him several times since free agency began on Thursday.
An official within the league who is very close to the Nets’ management team said the team would also consider going after Utah Jazz forward Carlos Boozer if James rejected the offer that was presented by new owner Mikhail Prokhorov and a team that included hip-hop mogul Jay-Z.
Nets president and general manager Rod Thorn said in a text message on Tuesday that there was nothing to report on the free agency front.
It’s the same message the 69-year-old outgoing executive has given out for past five days as the Nets and the rest of the NBA waits for the two-time MVP to decide whether to remain with the Cleveland Cavaliers or to accept one of the offers from the Nets, Knicks, Clippers, Heat or Bulls.
ESPN reported Tuesday night that James will announce his future NBA plans during a one-hour special on its network at 9 p.m. Thursday.
James visited his summer camp in Akron, Ohio, earlier in the day and, appropriately, kept everyone waiting four hours for his arrival.
Asked about the Nets’ options if The King nixes their overtures, Thorn wrote:
“We will look at other options if we don’t get one of the top guys.”
The other top players left in free agency are Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
Amare Stoudemire has agreed to sign with the Knicks and Rudy Gay, Dirk Nowitzki and Joe Johnson have decided to remain with their teams.
That leaves Boozer and Lee for the Nets to go after if the top three reject the offer to come to New Jersey and play for a team that won a league-worst 12 games last season.
Mark Bartelstein, who represents Lee said the lines of communication have been open between him and Thorn about Lee, who averaged 20.2 points and 11.7 rebounds this past season.
“We’ve talked a bunch,” Bartelstein said in a telephone interview. “There is not a day that goes by that we don’t talk. They are kind of waiting now on Wade and LeBron and once they decide, we’ll go from there.”
Bartelstein said there are a lot of other teams actively pursuing Lee and there is a chance that he might be signed before James makes a decision.
“If he is available when the Nets know where they stand with LeBron, we’ll be happy to talk to them,” Bartelstein said. “They’ve got a lot of great things going on in the organization and, you know, David loves New York and the area, but I don’t know if David will still be there when they have an answer.”
Rob Pelinka, Boozer’s agent, did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment on his client.
The Nets official who requested anonymity said the team would not overspend this year just to sign someone, noting they would rather wait until next year.
In the past two days, two men mentioned as possible successors to Thorn as the Nets general manager both said they were happy where they were. Joe Dumars of the Detroit Pistons and Jeff Bowers of the New Orleans Hornets issued statements saying they would not be coming to New Jersey.
