Both the Dallas Mavericks and New Jersey Nets were looking to shake things up, and they engineered a major trade during the 2007/08 season that essentially swapped Point Guards: Devin Harris for Jason Kidd.  In his first full season with the Nets, it looked like the Nets got the better end of the deal as he was named to the All-Star Game and he had career highs in Points per Game (21.3) and PER (21.6), but he wasn’t able to get the Nets into the playoffs.  New Jersey would then jettison Vince Carter, who would then suffer ankle injuries, reducing his effectiveness.  He was still good, but he was traded to the Utah Jazz when the Nets decided to rebuild again.

If this list were about popularity and excitement, then “Chocolate Thunder” would have been at the top.  Prior to his arrival with the Nets, Dawkins made a name for himself with his glass-shattering dunks, and people legitimately paid for tickets with the hope of seeing the big man cause a mess around the paint. 

Jayson Williams rode the pine in his first two seasons in the NBA as a Philadelphia 76er, and not much changed in his first three years in New Jersey, where he averaged under 14 Minutes per Game.  Something changed in 1995/96, where he had an 80 Game season with 23.3 Minutes per Game, yet had an even 10 Rebounds per Game, which was astounding considering he didn’t even average half of the game!

Nicknamed “The Hammer”, Armen Gilliam signed with the Nets before the 1993/94 Season, where he would be an efficient bench player over the next two seasons.  Gilliam was used in every game of his first two years in New Jersey, where he posted a PER over 18.  He was moved to the starting rotation in what would be his third and final season, where he would post 18.3 Points and 9.1 Rebounds per Game while keeping his PER near 18.