Having seen Ed Stefanski leave to be General Manager of the 76ers the Nets apparently wanted to bring in more help for Team President Rod Thorn. Today the Nets named Vandeweghe special assistant to the team president in a role that will essentially replace Stefanski. As a Nets fan the question is clear, should you be happy or afraid?
The answer to that question is much less clear and quite frankly I don’t know how to react. Vandeweghe is the same man to draft one of the all time greatest draft busts Nikoloz Tskitishvili. However in the same draft he orchestrated a trade that brought them Nene, and Marcus Camby for a 25 th pick in that draft (which New York took Frank Williams) and Antonio McDyess. Camby being the reigning defensive player of the year you have to say that’s an unquestionably good deal.
He also drafted Carmelo Anothy which I don’t think anyone would question, but considering Anthony was clearly the second best prospect in that draft at the time I don’t know how much credit he gets for it. In 2004 he traded away the rights for Jameer Nelson to Orlando for a 2005 first round pick. The pick turned out to be a number 20 pick which they used on Julius Hodges who’s only claim to fame is having been shot. Not a great move but considering Orlando had won the lottery the previous year I guess the thinking was it would be a higher pick than number twenty.
You could blame him for giving Kenyon Martin a huge contract since Martin has been a bust, however Martin was 26 years old at the time coming off a season averaging 16.7 points and 9.4 boards a game. (nearly a double double) On top of that Martin had improved every season he had been in the league. Can’t really predict a player is going to end up needing micofracture surgery.
So welcome aboard Kiki let’s hope the good you bring to the team outweighs the bad… and stay way from those foreign guys.