The Brooklyn Nets have waived Andrea Bargnani, the team announced on Saturday. Bargnani, 30, signed a two-year deal with the Nets last July and he has averaged 6.6 points and 2.1 rebounds in 46 appearances this year.
Brooklyn tried to trade Bargnani for a second-round pick before Thursday's deadline, but that proposal was "met with ... disdain," according to the New York Post's Fred Kerber.
Bargnani's seven-year tenure with the Toronto Raptors ended poorly, and in the three years since he left, he has struggled to stay on the floor for both New York franchises. Strangely, while perimeter-shooting bigs are everywhere these days, Bargnani has only taken 16 3-pointers this season and made three of them.
As always, the idea of Bargnani -- a 7-footer who can stretch the floor -- will remain appealing to some people. The reality, though, is that the flaws in his game are extremely difficult to mask. It's not clear if any NBA team is going to talk itself into signing him now. Here's how Phil Jackson described him last year, via ESPN:
"AB was and still is a big tease. When he was injured he refused to do simple non-contact activities like dummy our offense in practice. He seemed to be a malingerer and this had a bad effect on the team, and also on the way the Knicks fans reacted to him. When he was on the court, he had a hard time staying intense, didn't hustle back in offense-to-defense transition, wasn't active enough in defending screen-rolls. Still, his offense is perfectly suited to the triangle because he really doesn't have to work very hard to get shots. He's another guy we renounced, but whether we can agree on financial terms for his return, or he winds up someplace else, AB will always be somewhat of an enigma."
Jackson was not the first person to refer to Bargnani as an enigma. I'm not sure the term still applies, though, as the league seems to have figured him out.
