Vince Carter Is Cheaper By The Hour

Don't know if anyone has posted this anywhere but just skimming through the morning news, I ran into this article.

Maybe a deal could be done without including ARTEST AND BATTIER?

I think with some patience, we may get that second scorer to take over the late, great T-Mac.

http://www.nj.com/nets/index.ssf/2009/02/with_trade_deadline_looming_ne.html

DALLAS -- As the trade deadline enters its final hours Thursday, there are numerous factors working against the Nets' bid to shed Vince Carter's salary -- which has become their primary objective, because they can't actually find a deal that will improve their roster.

The greatest factor is perception: Every GM in the league ended their business day Wednesday believing that Rod Thorn has no other choice but to go into dump mode, and that he'll be willing to take back virtually nothing but expiring contracts in exchange for Carter.

An ESPN report even quoted two of these executives, each of whom stated that the Nets are trying to "give Carter away."

Remarkably, Thorn didn't exactly deny it when asked to comment on that perception, but he gave it his own spin.

"I've always said you do trades for two reasons," the Nets president said Wednesday night before the Nets faced the Mavericks. "You do them for the present, or you do them for what's best moving forward. Those are the only two reasons, as far as I'm concerned."

In other words, you can dump salary, for the sake of putting the franchise on more solid financial footing and in a better situation to compete in the 2010 free-agent market.

"You could look at trades in a different light," Thorn said. "But with anything we're trying to do, we're looking at what's in the best long-term interests of our team."

At the same time, Thorn does not want to give his peers the impression that there is a fire sale going on, so that he can get a better return for a 32-year-old who has $33 million in guaranteed salary the next two seasons.

As of Wednesday night, he was failing in that bid.

Thorn will only admit to this much: He has nothing that he would consider promising, and still doesn't expect any deals to emerge before 3 p.m. Thursday.

"We have nothing at all happening -- just a lot of conversation," Thorn said. "I can't describe it in any way -- it's just normal talk for this time of year. A lot of chatter, and that's all it is."

But much of that chatter pertains to his team.

Thorn's peers claim that all the reported trade permutations of the last week are as archaic as the steam engine. The reason: Forced by their owners to slash payroll or face Draconian measures, GMs have taken another look at their long-range financial projections and have found religion.

And those projections have no place for Carter, who will make $16.1 million next season and $17.5 million in 2010-11.

The Nets themselves can no longer afford him, as long as the team is stuck in the lottery. Their arena doesn't generate enough revenue, Brooklyn is years away, the improvement is coming too slowly to satisfy the small fan base, and their own financial losses figure to be in the same $30-35 million range this season.

So even as Thorn asks teams to take Carter's salary, they are getting cheeky: In some cases, they're asking for draft picks to sweeten the package.

Even the most recent development didn't pan out, because everyone is looking to shed big salaries as soon as possible: Whereas the Nets thought they could send Carter to Portland for Raef LaFrentz and spare parts, they are only one of a dozen teams in play for that expiring contract.

The discussions they've had over the last few weeks are almost moot.

According to general managers who request anonymity because they don't want to speak ill of Carter, the Nets cannot get a valuable piece from anywhere.

To wit: Dallas, under no circumstances, will give the Nets Josh Howard. Houston, under no circumstances, will give the Nets Shane Battier.

The only thing Thorn has left, these GMs believe, is the nuclear option -- dumping Carter's salary for pennies on the dollar -- and hoping the fans understand that it's all about clearing cap space for 2010, when the Nets hope business will pick up.

Thorn, however, is a competitive man who isn't ready to do that. He could get Tracy McGrady, but that would constitute a salary dump. He could get Jerry Stackhouse and Erick Dampier, but that too would constitute a salary dump.

Unless owner Bruce Ratner directs him to do otherwise -- which some team officials fear could happen -- Thorn will resist that option until 3 p.m. Thursday.