Deron Williams traded to the Nets!

[Ridders]

Unf**kingbelievable.

Sources: Nets to get Deron Williams

By Marc Stein and Chad Ford
ESPN.com

Trying to rebound from the disappointment of their failed pursuit of Carmelo Anthony, the New Jersey Nets have agreed to a blockbuster trade with the Utah Jazz for Deron Williams, sources said on Wednesday.

The Nets will send Derrick Favors and Devin Harris to Utah for the All-Star point guard.

The deal, scheduled for completion later Wednesday after a trade call with the league office, would also involve the Golden State Warriors and bring multiple draft picks to Utah.

Just Tuesday night, the Dallas Mavericks were talking to the Nets about re-acquiring Harris, according to sources. The Mavericks had shown interest in the point guard in January and told the Nets the sides should talk again if New Jersey didn't ship him out in a Carmelo Anthony trade.
Sources said Dallas turned down a New Jersey proposal of Harris for Caron Butler, Mavs rookie Dominique Jones and a first-round pick.

Williams took some heat this month for the retirement of Jazz coach Jerry Sloan. The two had disagreed during halftime of a home loss to the Bulls on Feb. 9. Sloan retired the next day.

"Maybe arguing was the last straw, so there I am, guilty of that," Williams said at the time. "But I think anybody who believes I could force coach Sloan to resign is crazy. He's stronger than that and personally if I said that to him, he'd probably go tell me to go do something."

More critical to Williams situation is the fact that he can become a free agent after next season and hadn't made headway with the Jazz on a new deal. Utah could have faced the same kind of circus atmosphere that the Nuggets encountered with Anthony this season.

Williams was an All-Star the past two seasons. In his sixth year in the league, the 26-year-old is averaging a career-high 21.3 points and 9.7 assists per game.

Harris has played three-plus seasons in New Jersey after starting his career in Dallas. He has made one All-Star team and is averaging 15.0 points and 7.6 assists this season.

Favors, who was the centerpiece of the Nets' proposal for Anthony, was the third overall pick in the past NBA draft. He's averaging 6.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in 19.5 minutes per game this season.

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nba/news/story?id=6150419

Melo traded one day and now this. f**k me.

Apparently there will be some draft picks involved also. I guess that'll determine how good a trade this really is.

 

[Ridders]

This feels so surreal. Almost like it's not real. Especially so soon after the Melo trade. This is like the Pau Gasol trade deadline on steroids.

Nets come out of nowhere with a great trade. Why would Utah do this? They must have felt that Deron wasn't re-signing with them at the end of next season. Then that leads into the whole issue with Sloan and his canning so soon before Deron being shipped out.

Poor Knicks lol. They just gut their roster for Melo, and their overshadowed a day later by the Nets! Nets get the better deal, as well as the better player.

f**k the East is starting to get loaded now.

Only problem for the Nets I guess is that they have to worry about Deron's free agency next season (if there is one).

 

[Ridders]

From what I'm reading, one of the picks that Utah will supposedly be getting is the unprotected first round Nets pick for the 2011 draft.

Depending on what record the Nets end up with, could be a useful asset.

The days of the West dominating seem to be coming to an end. Balance of power is definitely with the Eastern conference atm.

 

[Big Mick]

I woke up and saw this and just thought it was unbelievable.

The Nets were very desperate for a star...and while Favors and Harris are nice players...Deron Williams is top 3 PG in the NBA...and he is worth it.

Now they have a building block...they have Lopez who hopefully comes out of his slumber....and now they have Williams.

 

[Tiger Hawk]

WOW! Everyone knew Melo would be traded sooner or later - this was just so unexpected.

This 2011 draft is looking like it's going to be fairly weak, so whilst a couple of picks would be good, I'm not sure this trade is by any means a good deal for the Jazz. Williams is hands down the best player in this trade. Of course with the interest in Harris, if the Jazz can move him for another player and a pick then they're looking better.

 

[Tiger Hawk]

So it looks like the other parts to this deal are Brandon Wright, a top 7 protected pick and Dan Gadzuric to the Nets for Troy Murphy.

The Jazz then get the Nets' unprotected 2011 pick and Warriors' top 7 protected 2012 pick (top 7 protected in 2012 and 2013 and top six protected in 2014. If Utah has not received the pick by the 2014 draft, then the Jazz will receive Golden State's own 2014 and 2016 second-round picks.)

Big risk for the Nets that Deron will want to stay in Jersey for the next 18 months....listening to Avery and playing next to some absolute stiffs....big risk.

 

[Ridders]

From all reports Deron seems to be pretty pissed by the whole thing, mainly because he was in the dark the whole time.

Such a contrast to the Melo saga!

 

[Tiger Hawk]

I would be too - certainly a lot less to work with in Jersey than Utah! Other than Lopez, I'm not sure there's another player on that squad that would start on most other teams.

I've always liked Brandan Wright so I'm hoping he can shine in Jersey.

Great pickup by the Nets. If Knicks were raped though, what happened to Utah?

Also can't wait to see who else from the Jazz are traded. Kirilenko's expiring contract ($17m I think) seems obvious to bring back a decent (smaller value) contract plus a pick. And what do the Nets do? Need to keep spending.

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Wow, this is a major bombshell and so unexpected the only rumours about Williams were where he would end up in the 2012 FA.

How much of an impact has LeBron not re-signing with the Cavs has this had on other teams not wanting to let their stars go for no return and what will the Magic do with D12?

Wow. I guess Ridders you may be right maybe the Nets played the Knicks with this deal in mind.

 

[Special K]

I think it is a pretty big FU from the Jazz.

Look at what he has to work with(with no lotto pick this year).. Williams/Morrow?/Outlaw/Humpries/Lopez

Yuck... Hopefully Wright can step up but isn't he a FA this year? How much do you pay for his potential? Williams is awesome and to get him for Harris and Favors you do it but I hope they have some protection on that pick. Will they have cap room this year?

 

[applesauce]

Nets come out of nowhere with a great trade. Why would Utah do this? They must have felt that Deron wasn't re-signing with them at the end of next season. Then that leads into the whole issue with Sloan and his canning so soon before Deron being shipped out.

The owner of the Utah Jazz said in a telephone interview that he decided to OK the trade of All-Star guard Deron Williams to the New Jersey Nets because of his increasing belief that the Jazz could be caught empty-handed in the summer of 2012 if Williams decided not to re-sign in Utah, as other teams have found themselves in the past year.

“The concern that we as a franchise have had all along is if you look at what happened with LeBron James in Cleveland, and Amar’e Stoudemire in Phoenix, and Chris Bosh in Toronto, there seems to be a trend developing where those marquee players get away,” Miller said. “In the case of those three teams there was very little at the end to show for it. I was very concerned that the same thing would happen to us if Deron left.”

http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2011/02/23/utah-owner-no-hard-feelings-d-will/?ls=iref:nbahpt1

Talk about glass half empty.

 

[Tiger Hawk]

They'll have somewhere around $16m - $17m of cap space this year (IF the CBA / cap doesn't change). So theoretically they could make a strong pitch to a couple of mid-tier free agents to come and join (or a single near-max FA). If they're able to move Morrow or Outlaw (particularly Outlaw), then they could free up over $20m and target a max FA.

Likelihood of moving Outlaw - zero. Nobody is touching that contract.

 

[Big Mick]

I think its a good move by the Jazz.

They get a decent PG and a good PF to use to compliment Al Jefferson.

They have Millsap and Kirilenko as well.

I think they shop Favors and Kirilenko to the Nuggets for a 2nd rounder, JR Smith and Gallinari...

I think that is great for Jazz and Nuggets.

They get a good piece in Favors so they have Nene and Favors to build around.

Jazz get a SG and good young SF.

Jazz would then look like:
PG - D. Harris
SG - J.R. Smith
SF - D. Gallinari
PF - P. Millsap
C - A. Jefferson

I think that's a good looking and balanced team that can go very well!

 

[Nth-Qld-Raider]

SH#T, that came out of the blue, nice work Nets, i like this deal more than Melo, now they have a quality PG to hopefully build the team around.

 

[Tiger Hawk]

Imagine if a Franchise Player tag is introduced in the next CBA:

* Utah will be KICKING themselves;
* NJ will be doing cartwheels.

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

If there is a franchise tag then wouldn't the salary cap become a hard one with little room to move? Utah, with some large contracts, can shift those out and start all over again which looks like that's what they are doing.

 

[Tiger Hawk]

Who knows?

But they've said the reason they've traded D-Will is because they were afraid of losing him in FA in 2012. If there's a franchise tag then there's no issue?

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Well apparently he wasn't too happy in Utah so he'd probably leave anyway wouldn't he? I don't follow the NFL so I'm not sure how a franchise tag works but from what I have read today he'd probably leave them in 2012.

Given that this has really come from nowhere it's all speculation, nothing you could see coming like Melo or Lebron or even Chris Paul.

 

[ByRd]

This came out of nowhere, if Utah knew he wouldnt stay, then they got a decent deal out of this.

 

[Nth-Qld-Raider]

How long till D-Will gets the sh#ts with losing at the Nets, they will need to hit the free agent market in the off-season thats for sure, the need a 3 and a 4 of decent quality.