The Nets knew they were going to have an uphill climb in trying to convince Kyle Korver to come to Brooklyn, a theory that came to fruition last night when Korver agreed to re-sign with the Hawks.
Korver agreed to a four-year, $24 million contract with Atlanta, ending the Nets’ gambit to add one of the league’s elite shooters to their already impressive haul this offseason.
After Kevin Martin (four years, $28 million) and Chase Budinger (three years, $16 million), J.J. Redick (four years, $27 million) and Martell Webster (four years, $22 million) signed lucrative deals, the chances of convincing Korver to agree to sign with the Nets for the mini mid-level exception — three years for roughly $10 million — clearly had dwindled.
It was clear Korver would have to leave significant money on the table to join the Nets. ESPN, which first reported Korver’s re-signing with the Hawks, reported the Bucks were prepared to offer him a three-year deal for $20 million — twice what the Nets were capable of offering — while the Spurs were also reportedly interested.
With Korver off the board, the Nets could turn to Bojan Bogdanovic, their 2011 second-round pick who averaged 15.9 points and shot 40.5 percent from 3-point range in 21 Euroleague games for Turkish power Fenerbahce Ulker.
* Coach Jason Kidd indicated even with a veteran roster, he still wants to speed up the pace the Nets played at last year.
“We’ve got to go north and south. I don’t know what speed we’ll go on the treadmill,” Kidd said. “We’ll see. But we do have to go north and south, and I don’t know if it’s going to be at a level of 10, but hopefully it will be above a five.”