NEW YORK—The New Jersey Nets stirred the pot by trading long-time stalwart Richard Jefferson to the Milwaukee Bucks Thursday afternoon.
In return, the Nets receive the potential of last year's sixth overall pick, Yi Jianlian, and the contract of Bobby Simmons, which has two years remaining.
Yi, the six-foot-eleven forward from China with long-distance shooting range, gets the wish he made prior to the draft last year to go to a large-market team. Yi is only 20 years old. Some have likened him to Dirk Nowitzki at the same age, who had a shaky early career before blossoming into an All-Star and MVP.
Simmons, 28, won the Most Improved Player award in 2005, but injuries have stalled him since.
Jefferson had a career year for scoring at over 22 points per game during the 2007-08 season. The small forward had teamed with Vince Carter and Jason Kidd as an exciting, talented Nets trio for a few years, but the vision of NBA playoff success never was realized. The trio broke up when Kidd was traded in the middle of last season.
The Nets began to look for a different combination when it became apparent that Kidd was irretrievably disillusioned with losing. Like the New York Knicks and a few other teams, the Nets may be rearranging salary commitments to put them in a position to bid on LeBron "King" James when he becomes a free agent in 2010.
In the evening, the Nets selected top-rated center Brook Lopez from Stanford University with the tenth pick of the 2008 NBA Draft. The seven-foot, 260 pound sophomore averaged 19.3 points and 8.2 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game during the 2007-08 season.
The offensively-gifted Lopez should immediately contribute for the Nets with scoring in the low post. While not incredibly athletic defensively, Lopez has soft hands and a shooting touch. He joins Josh Boone and Sean Williams as 7-footers taken by New Jersey in the past two drafts.
Lopez's brother and former teammate Robin Lopez went five picks later to the Phoenix Suns.
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