<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dumpy @ Mar 3 2008, 09:16 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I hope Krstic starts the rest of the season. I want that #10 pick.
FOMW, I doubt Swift will be dealt in the off-season--the only player Memphis could get for him was Jason Collins, who doesn't even have an expiring contract. I doubt anyone would want him. Anyway, Swift hasn't been bad since he's become a Net, he seems like a quiet, good-natured kid, and the Nets obviously like him, since they've tried to acquire him several times before. They may see him as a reclamation project.
Anyway, I think you're being harsh on Boone. He is what he is--a solid contributor on a team where he doesn't have to be one of the first three options on offense. It's true that he can't create his own shot, but we knew that going in, and his defense has been getting better and better continually.
Back to Krstic. Talk about your damned-if-you-do-and-damned-if-you-don't decisions for team managment. Do you resign him in the off-season? No matter what they do, they have an equal chance of it being a good decision or a terrible one.</div>
On Swift, it obviously depends on several factors . . . whether they resign Diop, whether they end up doing something big in the offseason (e.g., Brand) where Boone and/or Marcus and other consideration wind up in a trade. If Diop is resigned and no other big is included in a trade, then if I am Thorn I try like heck to trade Swift and something else for a shooter with a decent all-round game. We might need a shooter more at this point than we need an inside scoring presence, and that's saying a lot. Since Swift will be in the last year of his deal at $6M, he will be good trade fodder in combo with another piece, if not over the summer then for sure by the next deadline. With Diop around, Williams to develop, and (hopefully) Nenad to get back to form, I just don't see that it makes any sense to keep Swift at that salary when the 6M could be used to acquire something the Nets need much, much more.
As for Boone, not trying to be harsh at all, just realistic about his limitations and what that means in terms of team needs. In addition to his steadily improving defense, he has a good nose for the ball, tracks it well off of penetration and seems to get in good position for putbacks. He's good enough at that to score his share of "garbage" points. But that is necessarily a derivative, less reliable, and less prolific type of scoring as opposed to even what Nenad was giving the Nets in 2006 before his injury.
The biggest adjustment Frank and management need to make in the offseason is deciding how they are going to get more high percentage inside scoring. If they can't get it through a trade for a big man with some inside moves, they really need to put at least two big time outside shooters at the wing and 4 positions next year so that they can post Vince and RJ more and spread the defense enough to give them a decent chance to operate.
I'm still disappointed that the Nets haven't used Vince in the post more this year, although I understand that with the lack of perimeter shooters earlier on, it was likely to produce more turnovers, bricks, and/or frustration than scores. But with Devin in the fold and Marcus getting more and more minutes (and shooting a nice percentage from 3 this year so far), the Nets should put their best post player to work, even if he is only 6'6".