Seikaly Deal Good For Nets

The New Jersey Nets might have pulled off their third great trade in 367 days.

Rony Seikaly is a risky proposition, especially since he comes with a possible stress fracture in his ankle.

But there’s a reason why a smart organization like the Utah Jazz went after him in the first place, and it’s the same reason why New Jersey had to take him.

When healthy and content, Seikaly is a very good NBA center. And very good NBA centers are nearly impossible to get.

The Nets are showing themselves to be adept at the trading game. Last year, they made the major nine-player deal with Dallas to get rid of Shawn Bradley and acquire Sam Cassell and Chris Gatling.

With the extra chips they acquired in the Dallas trade (Eric Montross, Jim Jackson and a No. 1 pick they got by quickly rerouting George McCloud), the Nets made a draft day deal with Philadelphia to get No. 2 pick Keith Van Horn.

Trade tidbits

The aborted Seikaly-to-Utah deal raised plenty of eyebrows around the league because it was one in a string of instances in which players squashed trades and ended up getting their way.

Seikaly didn’t want to go to Utah, so he failed to report, sent the Jazz mixed signals and forced the trade to be voided. His agent, Steve Kaufman, had expected Seikaly to be traded to New York, New Jersey or Boston.

After the Jazz nullified the trade, Kaufman was involved in discussions that ended up with the trade to New Jersey. The Nets spoke to Seikaly after finalizing the trade and were assured that the player would report.

Earlier in the week, Kenny Anderson was rerouted by the Toronto Raptors after he refused to report. But after Anderson landed in Boston, word came out that the Raptors had waived the requirement that Anderson report within 48 hours - meaning Toronto had promised all along that it would find a taker after acquiring Anderson in the Damon Stoudamire deal with Portland.

Relative value

One other item from the Seikaly fiasco, as they’re calling it in Salt Lake City.

It became apparent that the Magic couldn’t get much in return for Seikaly when they made the trade with Utah and didn’t even get back their own upcoming draft pick.

The Magic and Jazz had traded together once before, and Utah was wise enough in 1996 to get an unprotected 1998 No. 1 pick from Orlando along with Brooks Thompson in exchange for Felton Spencer.

That pick looks like a lottery selection now, yet Utah was only willing to give its own pick - a very low first-rounder - to Orlando in the original Seikaly trade.

76ers waive new pair

The Philadelphia 76ers waived Herb Williams and Ronnie Grandison on Saturday, two days after acquiring them from the New York Knicks, and activated Kebu Stewart.

The 76ers traded Terry Cummings to the Knicks on Thursday, saying they wanted to send the 15-year NBA veteran to a playoff contender.

The move also freed room under the salary cap. Cummings has one year remaining on his contract.

Philadelphia said it planned to release Williams and allow the Knicks to re-sign him this weekend.