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Thorn's moving, shaking made sudden impact By Mitch Lawrence Special to ESPN.com |
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After pulling off the Dikembe Mutombo deal, someone asked New Jersey Nets president Rod Thorn, "What are you trying to do, win the Executive of the Year Award two straight years?" Thorn laughed and in his high-pitched West Virginia twang replied, "I'm just trying to get by." You've got to admit. He's not doing too badly in that department. Name another basketball executive who's had this big an impact with such a short tenure, and you can't. More than anyone else, Thorn has helped changed the culture in Jersey, where losing was as much a fixture as the Turnpike.
With his trade for Jason Kidd, Thorn turned the Nets from annual laughingstocks into the 2002 Eastern Conference champions. But the NBA's former VP of Operations isn't resting on his laurels as he enters Year 3 in the Meadowlands. He could have brought back the same Nets team from last season and would have had just as good a chance of winning the East. But he refused to stand pat, instead making a series of bold moves in an attempt to make the Nets the first repeat champs in the conference since the vaunted Chicago Bulls. "We were a pretty good team last season -- we won the East," Thorn said. "But I just think these moves give us an even better chance of getting back to the Finals and winning the championship." Thorn earns high marks in this corner for attempting to swing a blockbsuter trade back in July for Kevin Garnett. Although he later admitted it was "an exercise in futility" because the T-wolves would never accept Keith Van Horn in any deal, he showed the kind of aggressiveness that has marked his tenure as the Nets' top basketball man. It started with the Kidd deal in the summer of 2001, when Thorn got rid of a major chemistry problem by dealing off Stephon Marbury. Kidd turned out to be the right player at the right time for a team that had not won a playoff round since 1984. While Marbury's me-first approach made his Jersey teammates bitter, Kidd made them all better. A team that had season tickets at the draft lottery, they already had some talent before Kidd and Thorn arrived. But with Kidd, who finished second in the MVP balloting, it all came together when they won 52 games, and the East for the very first time. Turns out, Kidd's addition is similar to Thorn's most famous draft pick -- he selected Michael Jordan for the Bulls in 1984, when he was GM in Chicago -- in one respect. He didn't think either would have such an enormous impact. "I never thought Michael would go on and do what he did -- but who did?" Thorn said. "And the one thing about Jason that surprised me is that he was able to step up and make so many big shots for us. For whatever reason, he didn't have that track record in Phoenix." So the last thing Thorn wants to see is Kidd packing his bags after this coming season when he can opt for free agency. That's why he went right back to work after the Nets were devoured by L.A. in the Finals, first placing calls to Kevin McHale in an attempt to get another marquee talent into Jersey. "If we had could have gotten Garnett," Thorn said, "I think that Jason definitely would have committed to us long term." Thorn still holds out hope that his star playmaker will re-sign for the long-term in Jersey. But just to make sure, he spent all this past offseason making moves that Kidd strongly favors. Those were:
When you consider that the Nets added those three playoff-tested vets and only had to part with Van Horn, Todd MacCulloch and Anthony Johnson, Thorn looks as if he upgraded his team. But he was set to make big changes anyway, even if Kidd had a long-term deal. While Nets fans were savoring their trip to the Finals, Thorn was a hard-core realist throughout their historic playoff run. More than once, he admitted that if Reggie Miller had made his wide-open shot to end Game 3 of the Indiana series, the Nets probably wouldn't have gotten out of the first round. He also knew Jersey lucked out when it didn't have to face Jamal Mashburn in Round 2. So it was no surprise that Thorn came out dealing this past offseason.
"If I was a betting man, I would say they'll run through the East this season," said Kenny Anderson, the ex-Celtic who went to Seattle in the Vin Baker deal. "The Nets are going to be better. That's what you do when you go to the Finals. You get close and then continue to build. Instead of subtracting, which I think is what Boston did, they added to their team. Before, you could get into the middle against them. But Mutombo is still a great defensive player and he'll stop that. Rodney and Chris are solid veterans who know how to get things done. And Richard Jefferson isn't a better shooter than Van Horn, but he's more athletic and very good around the basket." While not every move, other than Jordan, worked in Chicago for Thorn, he's had the Midas touch in Jersey. Starting with his hiring of Byron Scott as coach. The two share the same view that it takes at least two marquee players, defense, rebounding and teamwork to win championships. Other than Kidd, that second marquee talent is still a problem. But of a more immediate concenr, Thorn admits he just doesn't know how all the changes will work out. "On paper, we look better," he said. "We've added playoff-tested players who have played in big games. But until you start playing, you don't know how all the different personalities will mesh and what your chemistry will be like." Thorn watched the chemistry very closely last season. The Nets had a chance to bring in Charles Oakley at one point. But he turned it down, because, privately, he wondered if the opinionated Oakley would cause turmoil in the locker room. He turned down other moves -- the Nets had a chance to trade for classy Tony Delk -- because he wanted the team to continue one of its very few friction-free seasons. Nets fans were rewarded with their greatest season since the days of Dr. J. Thanks, in large part, to someone "just trying to get by." Mitch Lawrence, who covers the NBA for the New York Daily News, writes a regular NBA column for ESPN.com. |
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