Good trade for the Nets. Mutumbo is old, but he has been old for a few years and never needed to get much off the ground to be effective--strength, height and length last a long time. KVH and TM--while not terrible players, were the defensive weaknesses on that team. Plugging in Mutumbo and RJ makes them solidly the best defensive team in the east, and they don't lose that much offense. The Nets still do need offense, but KVH and TM showed last year they could not provide it at the level they need, and both have expensive contracts. Now if the Nets could only upgrade their 2 spot, they would be a force. I am telling you, if they had a Mobley-level SG who could score when the offense bogs down and Kidd is missing his shots--that team could be the 3rd or 4th best in the league. Funny trade for Phily. Having AI plus a defenisve anchor (Ratliff then Mutumbo) plus other role players focused on defense and rebounding AI's misses (Hill/Lynch) worked well for them. The last 2 offseasons they have only weakened what AI needs around him.
Good trade for the Nets. Mutumbo is old, but he has been old for a few years and never needed to get much off the ground to be effective--strength, height and length last a long time. KVH and TM--while not terrible players, were the defensive weaknesses on that team. Agree totally. The Nets have one thing on their mind (right or wrong): a championship. They just got their asses kicked by Shaq and probably expect that they are going to have go through him to win it next year. If you accept that premise, you go out and get one of the few guys in the league that actually will fight Shaq and make him work for his points. Losing MacCollough is irrelevent since they got a better option in Mutumbo. Losing KVH is bad offensively, but if Jefferson develops, it may not be quite as big a deal.
