There were some surprises yesterday as the Nets completed the trade for Kris Humphries, who came from Dallas with Shawne Williams, for Eduardo Najera and a $2.9 million trade exception.
The first surprise is that the Nets will keep Williams. It was widely expected that they would waive the troubled 6-foot-9 forward, but the Nets waived only Sean Williams. So Shawne, a 2005-06 Memphis teammate of Chris Douglas-Roberts, will stay.
The second was team president Rod Thorn admitting his belief some pre-deadline trades could involve the top half dozen or so free agents. Thorn said the Nets, while not a lock to be in discussions for those types, will continue talking "on a daily basis, to see if there's other things we can do [to] help, whether short term or long term" before the Feb. 18 trade deadline.
The third was how highly they think of the 6-foot-9 Humphries, who had little impact in Utah, Toronto or Dallas, but has been a favorite of the 3-34 Nets for a while.
"Most people would say he's athletic, he takes it to the basket, shoots it OK, not great," Thorn said of the Minnesota product picked 14th by Utah in 2004. "Maybe he has made too many mistakes to play a lot of minutes on the teams he was on."
The trade is a no-lose for the Nets. They pay more this year (about $1.325 million pro-rated for Shawne Williams and $200,000 more for Humphries over Najera), but neither Najera nor Sean Williams would be difference makers. Last week the Nets waived Rafer Alston and Thorn said "players used in transactions weren't going to be with us next year." So they're holding tryouts.
"We've liked Humphries, his rebounding potential. He's still relatively young (25 next month)," Thorn said. "Essentially we obviously need help rebounding . . . that had more to do with it than anything.
"Whether a second-round draft pick or younger players, we'll take a look at for the rest of the year, we're trying to build up as many assets as we can."
Shawne Williams' troubles caused him to be run out of Indiana (marijuana arrest for one -- and that was pretty much a highlight). In Dallas he was told to stay away for undisclosed transgressions. Owner Mark Cuban told Dallas reporters "we put him out to pasture." Thorn called the 5.2 ppg career scorer "a talented player who has good size, [is a] good all around type player."
It just never clicked for Sean Williams in New Jersey despite his athleticism.
"You'd think that by this time he'd establish himself as an NBA player," Thorn said. "Maybe it was us. Now we'll find out."
⇒ Devin Harris (wrist) is expected to play tomorrow against Boston after a one-game absence. . . . Shawne is the 12th Williams in Nets' NBA team history.
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