Jefferson sought return to Nets

[duncan228]

Jefferson sought return to Nets (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/rumors/post/Jefferson-sought-return-to-Nets?urn=nba-304195)
By Mark J. Miller

Richard Jefferson spent his first seven seasons with the New Jersey Nets before leaving for a season apiece with the Milwaukee Bucks and San Antonio Spurs. He became a free agent last summer and tells the Bergen Record that he had a lot of interest in returning (http://www.northjersey.com/sports/112992184_Iannazone__Richard_Jefferson_should_have _talked_to_Nets.html) to the dismal Nets to help them get it back together.

"Having roots there, just respecting the organization and wanting to help bring them back to a level in which they had been accustomed to for most of the [last] decade, I explored that," Jefferson said, according to the Record. "That was something they really weren't interested in."

The 30-year-old Jefferson, who is averaging 13.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 31.7 minutes per game with the team he re-signed with, the league-leading Spurs, says that "disappointed" isn't the word he'd use for the rejection. "It was more funny than anything in the sense that, OK, I respect that if you guys want to move in a different direction. I think I'll stay with one of the best teams in the league and take what they're offering."

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/rumors/post/Jefferson-sought-return-to-Nets?urn=nba-304195

[DieHardSpursFan1537]

Why would he even bother going to the Nets right now?

[DMC]

LOL what if someone posted at your work, your name and "explored going to work for our competitor"....

Not that anyone cares about lowlies like us, but it would be amusing.

No one would care. I don't care who RJ talked to. Not that I didn't like the article, but RJ can talk to whomever he likes I suppose.

[HighLowLobForBig-50]

lol RJ wanting to feel "needed" after last season and getting rejected

[Mugen]

RJ is a real gossip queen this year.

[tp2021]

RJ is a real gossip queen this year.

If it also keeps him playing like he's been playing this year, he can go right ahead and be a queen if he wants.

[greyforest]

If it also keeps him playing like he's been playing this year, he can go right ahead and be a queen if he wants.

he's not lebron james, and even then the diva shit fucks up teams.

[WeNeedLength]

He just wants some lovin'. Jersey would have welcomed him with open arms. Instead Spurs fans drilled the shit out of him and rightly so after his price tag and performance from last season.

[ohmwrecker]

he's not lebron james, and even then the diva shit fucks up teams.

What?!

This place has turned into a henhouse. What a bunch of clucks.

[frodo]

need to involve a 3rd team imho. NJ have no asset spurs want imo

[PM5K]

lol, yeah I'm sure he would have turned it all around in NJ.

[DPG21920]

He wanted to go to a place with no expectations.

[ohmwrecker]

need to involve a 3rd team imho. NJ have no asset spurs want imo

You do realize that this bird hath flown, right?

[DPG21920]

I don't think he doth realizes that.

[ohmwrecker]

'tis a pity . . . raiseth thine bar perchance?

[DPG21920]

Nary a chance.

[yavozerb]

Can we start up another Forum and call it "Dumb ass spurs fans" so these guys can have there own place to go...Have no idea how a thread about a FA looking at all his options (wow, thats hard to believe) in the offseason turns into a trade thread or bitch session..

[duncan228]

For the right price, Jefferson could have been a Net (http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/01/07/for-the-right-price-jefferson-could-have-been-a-net/)
Rob Mahoney

Richard Jefferson didn’t have to play for the Spurs this season. He didn’t have to accept an offer that would pay him $8.4 million this year to play for the team with the league’s best record. He didn’t have to work personally with one of the best coaches in the NBA over the summer, or agree to play again alongside the premier big man of this NBA generation.

After all, he could have been playing for the New Jersey Nets.

From Al Iannazzone of The Bergen Record (http://www.northjersey.com/sports/pro_sports/basketball/nets/112992184_Iannazone__Richard_Jefferson_should_have _talked_to_Nets.html):


After Jefferson became a free agent last summer, he wanted to return and help the Nets get back on track. “Having roots there, just respecting the organization and wanting to help bring them back to a level in which they had been accustomed to for most of the [last] decade, I explored that,” Jefferson said. “That was something they really weren’t interested in.”The Nets appreciated everything Jefferson did during his seven years and considered reuniting with the one player who seemingly always wanted to stay with the franchise. But if Jefferson really wanted to rejoin the Nets, he — not his agent — should have called to try to work out a deal.

It’s hard to blame Jefferson for not going the extra mile when the Nets didn’t reciprocate interest, particularly with the Spurs knocking on his door. Additionally, there’s a minor detail that doesn’t really surface in Iannazzone’s story: in order to become a free agent in the first place, Jefferson opted out of a one-year salary of $15.2 million. Best guess is that he didn’t do so with at least some indication that the Spurs would be interested in making it worth his while to do so with a long-term contract, the very kind which Iannazzone acknowledges the Nets would have been reluctant to offer.

The five-year, $50 million offer Jefferson’s agent supposedly sought was awfully high given both Jefferson’s worth and the Nets’ current situation. It should surprise no one that New Jersey didn’t jump at the possibility of inking the aging wing for that sum. However, that’s the cost of prying a competent player away from a contender, apparently (or at least this competent player away from that contender). I’m sure Jefferson would have been compelled to play for the Nets again if he could pull that kind of salary, but it wasn’t in the cards. Jefferson didn’t “really” want to re-join the Nets — at least not to enough to leave the Spurs with the amount they were willing to pay him – and that’s quite alright.

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/01/07/for-the-right-price-jefferson-could-have-been-a-net/

[WeNeedLength]

Can we start up another Forum and call it "Dumb ass spurs fans" so these guys can have there own place to go...Have no idea how a thread about a FA looking at all his options (wow, thats hard to believe) in the offseason turns into a trade thread or bitch session..


Well you just contributed to the "bitch" part of this bitch session. Keep it up! :rolleyes

[SenorSpur]

RJ should've appealed to the Nets BEFORE they went out and threw ridiculous midlevel-exception money at Travis Outlaw.