Smell that? Smells a lot like trade winds to me.
Those winds are coming from the direction of Troy Murphy, who is a big expiring contract, is a stretch four that teams love, can’t crack the Nets lineup (he has been inactive for 11 straight games) and is feuding with Nets coach Avery Johnson. Take this from the New York Daily News as your evidence.“You have to ask (Johnson why he thinks I wasn’t in shape),” Murphy said. “I’ve been in this league for 10 years. I know what I do. I pride myself in all that. You have to ask him.”
Just minutes earlier, Johnson said he has held Murphy out of the lineup and off the roster “out of respect to him.”
“(It) was to let him get into better basketball shape. When we first got him back he just really wasn’t as strong and his shot just wasn’t going down,” Johnson said. “Getting him back now, no matter how many minutes he plays, he’s going to be much stronger than he was the first time.
“So maybe I rushed him back too soon.”
Feel the love? Yea, neither do we.
Kris Humphries and Derrick Favors have played well at the four for the Nets, meaning the Nets don’t really need Murphy.
What that means is expect Murphy’s name to come up a lot in trade rumors as we move forward (he was already part of the proposed four-team Carmelo Anthony deal that fell apart). The problem is, with a lot of trade exceptions and big expiring deals on the market this year, how much value the Nets get for him may be less than they are expected. But then, anything is better than a guy you sit every game and who isn’t getting along with the coach.