The Melo Backpedal

After nine straight losses, apparently New Jersey Nets point guard Jason Kidd has seen enough. Kidd has confirmed reports that his agent, Jeff Schwartz, has talked to the Nets’ front office about moving him to a title contender, preferably by the leagues February 21st trade deadline.

“We tried to make this work. We’ve found out it doesn’t. It’s time for us all to move on,” Kidd recently stated.

Though he could just blowing off steam after the ninth loss came at the hands of the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves, most of us have been waiting for Kidd to say those words for quite some time.

Some of you might remember when we wrote about this very same scenario back in early December. We talked about missed opportunities the Nets had to move both Vince Carter and Jason Kidd while they still had a high amount of value, but instead chose to continue to move forward with their current roster even though few outside of the organization actually believed they’d be a playoff team — even in the Eastern Conference.

Now that Kidd has come out and officially said that he wants to be moved, you’d think they almost have to accommodate his request. The problem, however, is finding a taker. Sure, he’s still an All-Star, but he does have two more years left on his current contract at roughly $19 million per season, and most contending teams either won’t mess with their current chemistry or won’t want to take on such a bloated salary for a 34-year-old.

While initial reports believed Kidd insisted on being sent to a contender, he is said to have back off that a bit stating that at the very least he wants to play for a team that can compete every night and utilize his talents.

If that’s the case, there are at least a few teams who would be interested in his services. It’s widely believed that both the Dallas Mavericks and the Denver Nuggets have already contacted the Nets, with more inquiries certain to come. The catch, however, is finding out exactly what New Jersey is looking for in return. The Nets will most likely want to keep enough talent on their roster to stay competitive, in order to keep fan appeal high, as they’re planning to relocate across the river to Brooklyn in 2010.

With that in mind, here are a few trades that would allow the Nets to move Kidd, still stay relatively competitive, and move towards rebuilding:

Denver Nuggets trade Nene ($8,840,000 thru 2012), Eduardo Najera ($4,952,380 thru 200 and J.R. Smith ($2,134,067 thru 200 to New Jersey in exchange for Jason Kidd ($19,728,000 thru 2009).

Here’s a trade that brings back instant benefits for the Nets as well as future cap relief. J.R. Smith is a New Jersey native and Nene and Eduardo Najera would be welcome additions that could help solidify the frontcourt. If they were looking at freeing up some cap space, Smith and Najera would also become free agents this summer, instantly freeing up over $7 million dollars per season. That would certainly keep the Nets competitive, albeit, with a much cheaper payroll.

The Nuggets may have a hard time parting with a young player like Smith, and Najera and Nene are valuable pieces of their frontcourt, but reuniting Kidd with Kenyon Martin and having a true point guard who can make life easier for Iverson and ‘Melo would certainly make the Nuggets one of the favorites to win it All this summer. It would also give the Nuggets the most formidable starting lineup in the league, with Kidd and Iverson in the backcourt, and Anthony, Martin and Camby up front.

Cleveland Cavaliers trade Drew Gooden ($6,453,416 thru 2009), Ira Newble ($3,441,900 thru 2008), Donyell Marshall ($5,566,065 thru 2009), Eric Snow ($6,703,125 thru 2009) and two future first round draft picks to New Jersey in exchange for Jason Kidd ($19,728,000 thru 2009) and Josh Boone ($1,133,040 thru 2009).

Cleveland is another team that should have some interest in Kidd, but they may not have they assets to get a deal done with New Jersey. With trade restrictions on the contracts of Sasha Pavlovic and Anderson Varejao, Cleveland may have to entice the Nets into taking Larry Hughes’ contract off their hands in order to getting a deal done. Since that’ll never happen, we substituted Drew Gooden and Eric Snow to see if the Nets bite.

With this move, the Nets would get a halfway decent immediate return with Gooden, Snow and Marshall, plus future draft picks to help with rebuilding. For salary purposes, Newble’s contract comes off the books this summer, giving the Nets instant, albeit minimal, cap relief.

Cleveland would obviously get Kidd, while parting with lesser players and basically keeping their core intact. Marshall has slowed down a bit this year and Gooden is expendable because of Varejao resigning. Boone is a good frontcourt player who can help fill Gooden’s void at forward. This move would give Cleveland an even better lineup than they had last year when they made it all the way to the Finals.

Los Angeles Lakers trade Kwame Brown ($9,075,000 thru 2008), Jordan Farmar ($1,009,560 thru 2009), Luke Walton ($4,000,000 thru 2013), Vladimir Radmanovic ($5,632,200 thru 2011) and a future first round draft picks to New Jersey in exchange for Jason Kidd ($19,728,000 thru 2009) and Antoine Wright ($1,680,600 thru 2008).

If they Lakers are still interested in acquiring Kidd, but don’t want to dismantle Kobe’s supporting cast and kill team chemistry in order to do it, here’s what they can do. Having Brown’s expiring contract is a huge asset, so they don’t necessarily have to part ways with either Odom or Bynum, who’ve been instrumental in the Lakers success so far this season.

Moving Walton (who appears to have lost his starting gig to Trevor Ariza), Radmanovic and Farmar may be tough to swallow, but Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak would be completely insane if he didn’t take the opportunity to acquire Kidd and not have to give up any starters. The Lakers would still be covered at point guard, despite the loss of Farmar, with Derek Fisher playing a sixth man role behind Kidd and Javaris Crittenton, last summers first round draft pick, could be the Lakers point guard of the future.

On the part of the Nets, this would be a great opportunity to get near equal value, while not taking on any huge contracts. Farmar, who’s been playing great for the Lakers this season, could compete with Marcus Williams as the teams point guard of the future and Walton and Radmanovic would be instant difference makers, despite playing the same position as Richard Jefferson. Considering the draft pick and the salary cap relief, this is a deal that would have to be considered.

UPDATE: A source out of the New York City area has stated that a three team deal could be in the works involving the Mavericks and Blazkers. In return for Kidd, the Nets would get back young players (Jarrett Jack and Travis Outlaw), expiring contracts (Devean George, DeSagana Diop), Jerry Stackhouse, draft picks and cash. More players, including other Nets, would be involved.

In my opinion, however, I don’t see the Blazers messing with their young core, especially Travis Outlaw, who has been instrumental in their recent success.

If Dallas really is the front runner and can’t get anybody else involved, here’s a deal that may not be ideal for either team, but would work under salary cap rules.

Dallas Mavericks trade Jerry Stackhouse ($6,750,000 thru 2010), Eddie Jones ($1,830,000 thru 2008), Sagana Diop ($2,146,000 thru 2008), Devean George ($2,369, 111 thru 200 and Jason Terry ($8,898,000 thru 2011) to New Jersey in exchange for Jason Kidd ($19,728,000 thru 2009), Malik Allen ($776,000 thru 200 and Jason Collins ($6,100,000 thru 2009).

Here’s a deal that may be tough for New Jersey to swallow because of the longer term contracts of Terry and Stackhouse, but both are still solid players who’ll help the team stay afloat, while the other players will instantly free up roughly $6-7 million in cap space this summer. Plus, if Dallas really wants Kidd badly enough, New Jersey may be able to bait them into taking the remaining two years of Jason Collins’ deal as a aqcuirement. That may be the best deal the Nets are going to get now that it’s out in the open that Kidd wants out.

As for Dallas, they’ll have a big three that includes Dirk, J-Howard and Kidd, plus they’ll have better long-term cap flexibility if they don’t re-sign Kidd in 2009.