NET NOTES
“We’re still looking at ways to improve our team.”ROD THORN
The shopping wish list has been formulated and calls have been made by the Nets, who hope to flesh out their roster with a free-agent big body.
Team brass have spoken with the agents for the Sixers’ 7-0 Todd MacCullough, the Sonics’ 6-10 Jelani McCoy, the Hawks’6-10 Nazr Mohammed, the Suns’ 7-1 Daniel Santiago and their own 6-10 Evan Eschmeyer, it was learned.
“We’re still looking at ways to improve our team. We’re happy with what we’ve done so far, but we’re still looking for a big player. That’s what we’re going to put our energy to now,” said team president Rod Thorn, who declined to identify any Net targets and who is armed with the salary average exception of about $4.5 million to lure prospects.
MacCullough, over whom Philadelphia owns the right of first refusal (but could have trouble keeping with the re-signing worries of Dikembe Mutombo and Aaron McKie), averaged 3.9 points and 2.7 rebounds and raised his stock immensely in the playoffs.
The averages for the others: McCoy (4.5 and 3.6 in 16.3), Mohammed (12.3 and 9.0 in 25.6 for Atlanta) and Santiago (3.1, 1.9 in 10.8).
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Big man. Check. Help at off guard. Check. Back up point. Check.
“We covered everything we needed,” Kenyon Martin, the Nets’ prized No. 1 pick last year, said of this year’s four draftees. “We needed a big man [Jason Collins]. We needed an athletic two [Richard Jefferson] who can defend in case something doesn’t go right with Kerry [Kittles]. We needed a back-up point/shooting guard type guy [Brandon Armstrong]. We got it all.”
And they will be a nice complement to a team that will have Jason Kidd coming in and Martin, who stressed his broken leg has healed with no complications, running the wing looking for Kidd’s assist passes.
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Retired Net Jayson Williams insists his buddy, Charles Oakley, would like to play for the Nets and would take less money for longer years. Could be a problem: Oakley is 37. But Thorn didn’t rule it out.
“I love Oak as a player, he brings an attitude and a toughness to a team that not a lot of people do,” Thorn said. “At the present time, the way we’re constituted, we need a center type. But who knows as we go along in the process?”
CENTERS OF ATTENTION
The Nets are seeking help in the pivot from the free-agent market. Although the salary cap will keep the Nets from going after some of the bigger names, the following are the NBA centers currently available:
NETS – Evan Eschmeyer
KNICKS – Felton Spencer
ATLANTA – Nazr Mohammed
CHARLOTTE – Otis Thorpe
CLEVELAND – Chris Gatling
DALLAS – Calvin Booth, Shawn Bradley
DENVER – Terry Davis, Dan McClintock
GOLDEN STATE – Marc Jackson
HOUSTON – Hakeem Olajuwon, Carlos Rogers
INDIANA – Zan Tabak
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS – Cherokee Parks
MIAMI – Duane Causwell, Todd Fuller
MINNESOTA – LaPhonso Ellis
ORLANDO – John Amaechi, Andrew DeClercq
PHILADELPHIA -Todd MacCulloch, Dikembe Mutombo
PHOENIX – Daniel Santiago
PORTLAND – Antonio Harvey, Arvydas Sabonis
SAN ANTONIO – David Robinson, Shawnelle Scott
SEATTLE – Patrick Ewing, Jelani McCoy
TORONTO – Antonio Davis
UTAH – Danny Manning, Olden Polynice
