Bobcats Don’t Make a Trade: Nets Decide to Deal Jackson to Hornets Instead of Charlotte

By Rick Bonnell, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Feb. 24–PHOENIX — The New Jersey Nets decided adding Bostjan Nachbar’s contract was more palatable than losing a first-round pick.

That was the difference in the Nets dealing power forward Marc Jackson to the New Orleans Hornets, rather than the Charlotte Bobcats.

The Bobcats would have absorbed Jackson’s $4.55 million this season and $4.875 million next season in order to acquire one of the Nets’ two first-rounders in June.

Bobcats coach-general manager Bernie Bickerstaff said that was the only deal he would have made, with the NBA trade deadline expiring at 3 p.m. Thursday.

According to Bickerstaff, the Nets were determined to move Jackson to avoid future luxury-tax implications. The Nets have their own pick, plus one the Los Angeles Clippers owe them.

The Bobcats had some use for Jackson, to help fill in while Emeka Okafor and Sean May recover from injuries. But the Hornets have been leveled by injuries and suspensions for various big men, recently losing forward Jackson Vroman (broken wrist) for the rest of the season.

So the Hornets needed Jackson enough to absorb his salary without compensation.

Bickerstaff said several teams called looking to acquire Melvin Ely or Brevin Knight, but none of those offers was worth considering.

“Everything else, in the end it wouldn’t have made us any better now or in the future,” Bickerstaff said.

Ely seemed a possibility to be traded, in part because he becomes a restricted free agent in July. Ely wants to re-sign, but it’s questionable whether the Bobcats can justify paying him big money, having already committed to Okafor and May at power forward.

Bickerstaff said he felt no special urgency to trade Ely now because the team can still re-sign him or pursue a sign-and-trade over the summer. Bickerstaff believes NBA rules still protect the team’s interests.

Those rules included restricted free agency and Ely’s Larry Bird rights, which are voided if he signs elsewhere.

“In order for him to maximize his value, he has to go through us,” Bickerstaff said.

“What we told his agent is, ‘We’re going to negotiate hard (to try to re-sign him) and if that doesn’t work out, it’s best to use us as a conduit.’ “

Sign-and-trade deals have become fairly common in the NBA. Probably the most famous sign-and-trade involved Grant Hill going from Detroit to Orlando in 2000.

The Pistons ultimately got the better of that deal, acquiring eventual All-Star center Ben Wallace.

Note

— The Bobcats had a day off from games and practice Thursday, so they’ll wait until today to test the right ankle sprain Ely suffered in the second half of the victory in Portland.

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