Watch paint dry, grass grow, chrome rust. Or interview candidates for the team’s president and general-manager’s jobs.
There are many things Nets could do while waiting for LeBron James to announce his decision. So the Nets have talked with Hornets GM Jeff Bower as a possible replacement for outgoing president Rod Thorn.
“I can’t tell you a whole lot about it other than confirm that I have spoken to the Nets,” Bower said last night from Las Vegas, where he is preparing the Hornets’ summer-league team.
One source termed Bower’s talks with the Nets as “serious on both sides.”
And while Bower’s candidacy was confirmed, another candidate in whom the Nets had definite interest, Detroit president of basketball operations Joe Dumars, last night took himself out of consideration. Earlier, Dumars denied reports he already interviewed for the job.
“In response to today’s media reports … I can say that I do not have any interest in a basketball operations position with the Nets,” Dumars said in a statement. “My priority is to continue leading the Pistons’ basketball operations efforts and putting together a team that is ready to compete and get back on track next season.”
So the main candidates remain: Bower and Oklahoma City GM Sam Presti. Another one in the mix for at very least an assistant GM’s job is Nets’ current VP of basketball operations Bobby Marks, described by one opposing team exec as “a GM-in-waiting.”
Thorn, who texted there was “nothing new” on the free-agency front and that he is “waiting to hear” what James, Miami’s Dwyane Wade and Toronto’s Chris Bosh decide, is expected to step down as Nets team president as early as July 15. He has been a part of the replacement search.
Three other names linked to the job have been discounted by various team sources — former Suns owner and Team USA chairman Jerry Colangelo, ex-Charlotte Executive VP Bernie Bickerstaff and fired Portland GM Kevin Pritchard.
So the Nets await word from the free agents. They met with James, one of six teams to do so, and then Bosh and Wade Thursday. There were no return meetings with James, who attended a Nike basketball camp yesterday in his hometown Akron.
“We made our presentation and we’re waiting,” said one Nets team exec who indicated the Nets would likely wait for next year’s attractive free agents, rather than overpay mediocre talent this year.
The Nets, if they draw a blank in the Big Three, will look at Carlos Boozer or David Lee.