With reports circulating that Alonzo Mourning will refuse to report to Toronto , the NY Post’s Peter Vescey reflects on the former Georgetown center’s unfortunate tenure as a Net.
If Vince Carter never plays a game for the Nets, it was still a great trade.
Deporting Alonzo Mourning, out-and-out the most selfish player I’ve ever covered, and his contaminated contract/attitude is reason enough to celebrate.
Not only did Spruce Bruce Ratner save $6 million ” the buyout recently rejected by ‘Zo to go away, please.
Not only won’t the rookie owner have to pay the infamous ingrate another penny of what’s remaining ($5.4M/$5.9M/$6.4M) on the obscene, uninsured pact.
But Ratner also got poetic justice. Ably aided by GM Ed Stefanski, VP Rod Thorn earned his fresh $4M per long-term extension by toe-tagging the Organ Groaner to Toronto, far away from his home in Miami, where he’s been angling to relocate since preseason, on a team going nowhere worthwhile any time soon.
At last, a happy ending; whew, I thought the guy would never leave!
As far as reporting to the Raptors, the NHL has a better chance of playing in Canada than Mourning does. If he wants to rejoin the Heat so bad he’ll have to take whatever compensation package the Raptors are bound to offer. His only other option is to quit.
I’ll make sure the necessary papers are on his desk in the morning.
On the off chance the Organ Groaner actually shows up north of the border, I’ve got two words for him . . . socialized medicine.
Oh, yes, the trade. What a difference some ingenuity and chutzpah can make. No wonder I can’t get a job as a GM. It never would have dawned on me to make such an insulting proposal. Isiah Thomas, John Nash and Jerry West, I suggest, should take notes.
Killed in New Jersey by everyone short of Tony Soprano, the terms of Ratner’s role as a villain are hereby completed. After months of open season on him for allowing Kenyon Martin to get away and cutting corners, while his lame team was playing the part of lame-duck tenant, the Nets’ boss funded a $27M move (owed Carter over the next three seasons) that should propel his franchise to genuine playoff status, if not transform it into legit Eastern Conference title contender.
Muzzling Kidd is the second biggest benefit to banishing Mourning. That Carter has been delivered, regardless of whatever physical condition he’s in, means the Nets are back in the business of competing so Kidd has nothing to complain about, that is, until the team’s already seriously flawed power forward position (now minus Eric and Aaron Williams) becomes the next hot topic of conversation.