FanHouse NenadKrstic

The market for restricted free agent Paul Millsap was expected to be robust in theory, if not in actuality. This is to say Millsap is a highly desired fellow, given his proclivity to rebound like a champ, score efficiently, and defend his tail off at the power forward position. However, as always, a limited pool of clubs will head into July with cap space for next season.

The Thunder is one team with space to sign a free agent like Millsap. The team currently falls about $15 million under the cap, and Millsap has been pegged to pull a starting salary around $7-8 million. Oklahoma City can certainly afford to get into that ballpark, should Sam Presti desire to. Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune seems to believe OKC, in fact, desires Millsap.

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

Mr. Pollakoff told you all about the ridiculous efforts of Misters Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, who faced off in Miami. But there's a whole 'nother galaxy of awesome out there. Its leader is ... Marvin Williams.

Marvey Milk had 28 points on 11-of-15 shooting, hitting four of six threes and adding four boards and a couple steals. Who did he do it against? That, that's not important. What is important is that, thanks in part to Marvelous, the Hawks were able to escape an awful shooting night from Mike Bibby. (Someone's always gotta clean up after that guy.)

FanHouse's NBA Guide gives you a daily look at all the games that matter ... and some that don't.

HEADLINER
New York at New Orleans, 8PM EST

We have an iffy slate of games, with most shaping up as uneven affairs. This contest -- the slouching Knicks visiting the searing Hornets -- seems no different. BUT! there's salvation in them there sneakers.

The Oklahoma City Thunder signed Nenad Krstic to a three-year, $15.8 milion offer sheet today.

The Nets technically still own Krstic's rights and have until Dec. 30 to decide whether they want to match OKC's offer, but they'll almost certainly decline -- not only do they already have 15 players under contract, but the team is also trying to preseve as much cap space as possible for the summer of LeBron 2010.

Krstic was one of several proven NBA veterans to spurn the NBA in favor of signing overseas this summer. But as Tom Ziller reported last week, his presence hasn't elevated the fortunes of his Russian team, which was why they decided to let him out of his contract to return to the NBA.

Assuming the Nets pass on Krstic, don't be surprised if the Thunder figure out a way to thin out a crowded front court. Between Chris Wilcox, Joe Smith, Robert Swift and Donyell Marshall, the team has plenty of guys with expiring contracts who shouldn't be too hard to move.

That headline is terrible/terribly tongue-in-cheek. There should be no shame in Nenad Krstic's aborted European move, as impeccable Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress reports the Serb is signing a three-year, $16 million contract with the Thunder.

Krstic will bail out on Triumph Moscow, the Russian team he took a two-year deal with last summer after NBA offers fell short of his desires. According to Givony, Triumph was knocked out of the ULEB Eurocup qualifying by one of the worst Belgian clubs (!) and hasn't even qualified for the Russian league tournament. This isn't Euroleague we're talking about -- Krstic's Triumph cannot even compete at the lower levels of European ball.

As such, Triumph's owners aren't happy and Krstic isn't happy. Givony reports Nenad will pay back all he's made just to get out of the contract ... and Triumph won't be fighting him. OKC is the facilitator, and this where the NBA angle gets interesting.

The afternoon news cycle places Nets power forward Nenad Krstic in Moscow negotiating a contract with Triumph Lyubertsy of the Russian Super League (the third best team based in Moscow last season). NetsDaily has the best status summary: in short, Krstic left the Serbian national team (on its way to Beijing for The Games) to negotiate his deal with Triumph. It seems (based on translations) the national team preferred Nenad to sort this contract stuff out before competing, lest Krstic re-injure himself and lose money on the market.

The idea of international players turning to Europe these days is not nearly as attention-grabbing as seeing a domestic-bred baller move east. But Krstic, like Andris Biedrins, is a strong NBA player (when healthy), someone who had once been called New Jersey's "power forward of the future." Nenad's a good scorer in the post and on set shots from the elbows, and has a good feel for the game. His rebounding is anemic and his defense unspectacular, and he just turned 25.

This is not a player who'd be expected to receive so much as $6 million a year in the NBA, so I'm eager to see what Triumph will pay out. (The New York Post's Fred Kerber says it will be $10 million over two years, and these figures are typically net instead of gross, so let's call it the equivalent of $7-8 million per year in the NBA. That seems more than any NBA GM would be willing to pay.)

Krstic's basically the only draft success for Rod Thorn since Kenyon Martin. It has been said, but needs to be reinforced: the worst part of this restricted free agent struggle is that teams can end up getting nothing for their prized prospects. It's definitely a swig of power juice for the players and agents, which is a monumental step considering how bleak things looked for RFAs a year ago.

New Jersey has issues, as no one will argue. Jason Kidd has gotten into the habit of blaming everyone, and that's likely the proper stance. If he pays attention to West Coast press, maybe he'll add another reason to place fault in Rod Thorn's lap.

Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee reports the Nets personnel boss made only a nominal attempt to re-sign Mikki Moore, the big man who filled in for Nenad Krstic and performed admirably well.

Moore said Chicago offered him three years for $12 million, while Thorn called with a three-year, $10 million offer that was contingent on a quick response – "like 30 minutes," Moore said – that came before the Kings' proposal.

This isn't to say signing Mikki to a three-year, $13 million deal would have made things perfect in Jersey. But you know, Malik Allen and Jason Collins are combining for 36 minutes a night. Allen and Collins are combining to give Kidd and Friends 6.2 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Moore's dropping about 8/6 in 27 minutes for Sacramento -- not tremendous numbers, but consider how good he was when running with Kidd (he led the league in both FG% and post-dunk screams)... you can imagine the upgrade over the current scenario. (He's also hilarious entertainment on the court, which the Nets could probably use.)

It seems Lawrence Frank is coming around to realize how terrible his frontcourt has become, as Sean Williams and Josh Boone seem to be getting longer looks. But it's going to take a lot more than that to make Kidd happy again.

I mean, he didn't say it in as many words, but actions speak louder than words, my friends, and Chris Bosh launched that bad boy from at least three-quarters court. My favorite part? Check out Nenad Krstic's reaction from the reverse angle: it's like he knows it's going in before the ball even starts coming down.

And, because I mentioned Bosh, here's the obligatory dinosaur reference.