NETS ON POINT
Rose deal has B’klyn searchin’
The Knicks’ trade for Derrick Rose may help the rival Nets get a point guard of their own, edging Rajon Rondo that much closer to Brooklyn.
The draft-day deals that landed Caris LeVert and Isaiah Whitehead are risks, but calculated ones. Teams at the top can afford to gamble, and teams at the bottom can’t afford not to. But though both LeVert and Whitehead will be groomed to play the point, the Nets still have glaring questions at the position. Rondo could be the answer. “Well, if you look at the roster, we need a few things. We know who we’re targeting out there and we’ll see where it goes. [Thursday] we got to put some building blocks on the Nets roster and we’ll see where it goes from here,’’ said general manager Sean Marks, convinced the Nets can lure top-tier free agents to Brooklyn.
“I’m not going to comment on who we’re going after and so forth. We’ll get the right people. We’ll get the people that want to come here.’’
Is the volatile Rondo the right people? The fact he is an unrestricted free agent coming off his third league assist crown should raise alarm bells. But with new coach Kenny Atkinson likening point guard to quarterback and talking about the need to add one, the Nets may ignore those alarms and pursue Rondo, with the Knicks’ deal for Rose taking away Brooklyn’s biggest competitor for his services.
Memphis’ Michael Conley is clearly the cream of the crop on the free-agent market, but he is a long shot at best between the Nets’ firing of coach Lionel Hollins (whom Conley has credited for shaping his career) and interest from both San Antonio and Dallas. That leaves Rondo next in the queue.
Rondo ran the point for years in Boston — even winning the 2008 title — but wore out his welcome in Beantown, and took just two months to run afoul of Dallas coach Rick Carlisle. He rehabilitated his image in Sacramento, averaging 11.9 points, an NBA-best 11.7 assists and six boards. But with George Karl gone and the Kings in flux, Rondo is available.
Kings GM Vlade Divac intimated he would want Rondo back (“Yeah, Rajon had a great year for us last year,” he said at the draft), and the guard is open to returning, according to ESPN. But he also was interested in the Nets and Knicks, and with the latter now out of the picture, Brooklyn could take advantage of Rondo’s market, which has collapsed as suddenly as the post-Brexit British pound.
Brooklyn will be flush with cash when free agency starts on July 1, joining the 76ers and Lakers as the teams with the most cap space. They could have as much as $55.2 million according to Basketball Insiders — enough to sign two max free agents — even if they keep injured point guard Jarrett Jack. But one way or the other, the position needs addressing.