Darren Collison put up 20 and 8 while playing plus defense as a starter for half a season last year. He is a star talent. Giving him up for anything less than a youthful star talent in return is a mistake.
Troy Murphy can't defend his own shadow. The Nets already have two better power forwards on their roster with Favors and Humphries. Paying $10+ million to a guy who makes you worse + losing a very good young and cost effective role player like Courtney Lee is a very poor move.
True but isn't Troy Murphy an expiring contract maybe that's all it is and they didn't see a long term with Lee.
The Nets already had cap space (about $15 million prior to trade).
They didn't gain any cap flexibility by taking on Murphy's deal. They didn't move any long term deals here (only a rookie scale contract). They just cost themselves $10 million and gained nothing of value while also losing a valuable young player in Courtney Lee.
Avery Johnson is convinced that Derrick Favors can not give the team real minutes this year because he is just not ready. Murphy is a rent a player for a year to eat up minutes and give the team a veteran presence while it develops Favors slowly. Most importantly, Murphy doesn't cost them future cap flexibility and becomes a nice expiring contract trade asset for a team looking to dump payroll in February, if something comes up for NJ to grab at.
The only thing I would quibble with is the last thought. They could turn around and trade Murphy as an expiring contract, but if they just had the cap space they could absorb salary without sending ANYTHING back. That would have made New Jersey the preferred trade partner for anyone looking to shed salary at the deadline.
Don't really like the deal for Jersey. Troy Murphy's proven that he can put up good numbers but isn't a building block. Give up Lee AND trade flexibility (and have to pay him)? Still, he'll probably help them inch up a couple of wins.
Topic: Hornets, Nets, Rockets, and Pacers working on deal (Read 10691 times)