Rod Thorn - Worst GM in the NBA over the last three years

I wrote this on 7/8 (Link)
Why does this man still have a job? Since the 2002 draft, he has made a series of moves that have destroyed the Nets. The '01-'02 club had a 52-30 record and lost in the NBA Finals (to the Lakers). It had a rotation 9 players deep - Jason Kidd (28), Keith Van Horn (26), Kerry Kittles (27), Kenyon Martin (24), Richard Jefferson (21), Lucious Harris (31), Todd MacCulloch (26), Aaron Williams (30) and Jason Collins (23). Brian Scalabrine (24) was on the bench but hadn't broken into the rotation. In 2002, he drafted center Nenad Krstic (24th overall pick), who has become a decent player for them.

But from there, it's been all down hill. On 8/6/02, he traded forward Keith Van Horn and center Todd MacCulloch to the Philadelphia 76ers for center Dikembe Mutombo. Mutumbo played 24 games for the Nets in the '02-'03 season and was waived afterwards. Mutombo's monster contract ($16.1 mil, $17.9 mil and $19.7 mil) would be a serious financial drain on the team and cause painful cost-saving moves. On 8/14/02, he signed forward Rodney Rogers to a three-year contract. Rogers' shooting average plunged while at New Jersey from 47.1% the prior season to 40.2% and 41.0% in the two seasons he was there and then Rogers exercised his option to bail before season #3. In the 2003 draft, he selected guard Zoran Planinic (22nd overall pick) and forward Kyle Korver (51st overall pick) and then traded the draft rights to forward Kyle Korver to the Philadelphia 76ers for cash considerations. Planinic has been a scrub for New Jersey, averaging 9.7 mpg and 12.0 mpg in his two seasons there. Kyle Korver developed into a starter this year for Philadelphia. On 7/16/03, he signed center Alonzo Mourning to a guarenteed 4 year, $22.8 million contract after Mourning recovered from his kidney transplant. Mourning played 12 games for the Nets, retired, unretired, played 18 more games for the Nets, became an outspoken critic of the club and was eventually traded. In the 2004 draft, he selected forwards Viktor Khryapa (22nd overall pick) and Christian Drejer (51st overall pick) and then traded the draft rights to forward Viktor Khryapa to the Portland Trail Blazers for guard Eddie Gill and cash considerations. Eddie Gill was waived about a week later.

On 7/15/04, he did a sign-and-trade with All-Star Kenyon Martin to the Denver Nuggets for three first round picks. Apparently, Thorn felt that the Nets couldn't afford to pay an All-Star PF $82 million over 6 years. This is after agreeing to pay Mutombo $63.7 million over three years and Alonzo Mourning $22.8 million over four years. Those picks turned out to be the Clippers 2006 pick, the #16 pick and Denver's 2006 pick. Three mid-first round picks is not a lot for an All-Star power forward. He then thinned his bench some more by trading Kerry Kittles to the LA Clippers for a future second-round pick and cash. In 2 years, Thorn had transformed a 9-deep, young championship contender to a team of little talent beyond Kidd and Jefferson. The Nets started the '04-'05 season with Kidd injured and suffered a 4-12 record without him.

On 12/17/04, Thorn made the trade that would save the Nets' season by trading forwards Eric Williams and Aaron Williams, center Alonzo Mourning and two first-round picks to the Toronto Raptors for guard Vince Carter. Carter had been dogging it in Toronto and revitalized his game playing with Kidd. Carter brought with him a contract for $57.9 million over 4 years. The Nets were 4-12 before Kidd returned, 5-4 with Kidd and before Carter, and 33-24 after Carter started playing for them. On 2/14/05, he traded second-round picks in 2005 and 2007 to the Golden State Warriors for forward Clifford Robinson. Normally, trading away two second round picks would not be a big deal, but the Nets were desperately short of young bench players and giving up the picks to rent a 38 year old for 29 games at 20.7 mpg seems to me quite stupid. The Nets made the playoffs and then lost four straight to Miami.

In three years, Thorn turned Keith Van Horn, Kerry Kittles, Kenyon Martin, Lucious Harris, Todd MacCulloch, Aaron Williams, two #22 picks, two #51 picks, a 2007 second round pick and two MLE free agents into Vince Carter, Zoran Planinic, Christian Drejer, the Clippers 2006 first round pick and a future Clipper second round pick. Amazing. This ranks up there with Jerry Krause's performance after Jordan retired.

Coming into the 2005 draft, the Nets had Carter at SG and Jefferson at SF and only 2 guys taller than 6'7" signed to contracts. Given that this draft was heavy-and-deep with swingmen and lacking in bigs, I would have thought that Thorn would have traded the pick, possibly trading down for more picks. Instead, he drafted with the #15 pick Antoine Wright, a 6'7" swingman. I will discuss Wright in a bit. The Nets have also let their only true PF, Brian "Veal" Scalabrine, get away as a free agent to Boston. Scalabrine may only have been a back up PF, but the Nets have no depth at that position and the Celtics offered him only $3 million a year for 5 years.

How bare is the Nets' cupboard? Well, most teams have 2 to 3 players from their roster play on their summer league team in addition to their draft picks. For example, the Lakers have Vujacic and Bobbitt playing on their summer team. New Jersey has no one from the roster on their summer league team and the only draft picks on the team are Wright and their 2004 second round pick, Christian Drejer. The Nets are getting trashed in the summer league, losing both of their games by over 20 points and getting outrebounded by almost 20 boards per game. Antoine Wright has been unimpressive in summer league play, shooting just 27.6%. 6'9" Christian Drejer is shooting even worse - 25.0% - and has averaged only 1.5 rpg. It is really hard to learn anything when your team is losing badly, so the summer league is going to be a waste for Wright.

What is the results of Thorn's last three disastrous years? Kidd is 32 and is what keeps the Nets above .500 in the weakest division in the NBA (and probably in the history of sports). The Nets probably have three years until his retirement. My guess is that once Kidd retires, the Nets will revert to their perennial lottery ways that Kidd broke when he came there.