Not that there was even the slightest doubt for the past six weeks or so, but the Nets again are assured of a losing record. Official playoff elimination could come as early as this week, although realistic exclusion long has been apparent. And so with many of the tangible goodies teams play for removed, the Nets now compete for reasons such as pride and respect and the future.
And it’s a future that Keith Van Horn says is “99 percent sure” to include him for the long term.
“I haven’t really thought about it a lot because I really have just been focusing in on this year but if things continue to progress, I’ll have an offer on the table, hopefully,” said Van Horn, the Nets’ leading scorer at 21.1 points and the guy they mortgaged the future for two drafts ago. “I’m 99 percent sure [to stay].”
Van Horn can become a free agent after next season when the third leg of his rookie deal is completed but the Nets – as any team with its own player would – have a window to re-sign him. To keep him in the fold Van Horn would require a six-year, max-out offer of $70.875 million, the same Stephon Marbury received. And while the Nets don’t have to make the offer until after 1999-2000, why wait? That Y2K bug could strike or something.
“I’m basing this [desire to stay] on the assumption that things continue to improve as in the past couple of weeks and I think they will,” said Van Horn, who is not hedging on who coaches the team – in fact, he said the current staff led by interim Don Casey is fine with him. “I would be satisfied with them. I think they do a good job.
“I feel good about where the team is headed, especially when someone goes does like Jayson [Williams] it enters your mind,” Van Horn continued, addressing the negativity that could so easily take hold. “But when you get back to winning, you don’t worry about it so much.”
And that’s what the Nets hope to achieve on the three-game West Coast trip that commences tonight in Los Angeles against the Clippers and includes the Nuggets tomorrow and the Sonics Friday. It would have been nice to leave with a wave and a smile and all sorts of happy thoughts. But instead the Nets headed out with the immediate image of a burning wreck in mind.
The Nets (10-26 in 50-game season) suffered a 93-78 defeat Sunday at the hands of the Knicks, who brutalized them inside and ensured New Jersey (not that there was the slightest doubt of this) would complete the campaign with a losing record for the fourth time in five years and the 16th time in its 23-season NBA existence.
“We’re still going through our own metamorphosis with this team,” said Casey, whose gang is 7-9 on his watch but could pull off something even the Knicks haven’t accomplished with a victory tonight – three straight road triumphs. “My concern is stepping off like this [after a numbing defeat] on this road trip, which is very important for us. We have three winnable games and it’s important to just do and compete on the road.” *David Vaughn officially signed his 10-day contract with the Nets yesterday. Hardly came as a surprise. Vaughn was on the bench Sunday and flew with team to LA … Marbury’s eight points Sunday against Knicks represented his first non-double figure scoring game as a Net … Kendall Gill continues to lead league in steals at 2.47. Gill has 89 on the season but 30 of those have come in his last six games.
