This is Dwight Howard we’re talking about. So the Nets will wait if they have to wait.
But so will the Orlando Magic.
The Magic temporarily cancelled trade talks concerning Howard, whom the Nets have been actively and aggressively pursuing as the centerpiece to the team they want to bring to Brooklyn with Deron Williams.
Orlando, first and foremost, wants to keep Howard in a Magic uniform. But according to a league source who has dealt with Magic hierarchy, the team brass simply doesn’t know if that’s feasible. And it knows the risk it runs if it doesn’t trade Howard: He could walk as a free agent. The Nets could wait for that, too.
“I think deep down they know he’s out eventually and they are trying to get the very best deal they can,” the source said. “But they don’t like the deals that are out there now. This is one of the best players in the league and Brook Lopez and Gerald Wallace (who would have come from Portland) isn’t going to cut it for them. This could go to the trade deadline.”
The Nets probably could have gone harder after Nene, who re-upped in Denver. That move signaled, perhaps, a belief the Howard scenario would work in their favor. So far the Nets have been on hold. Woefully lacking at forward, they likely will try to re-up Kris Humphries for one year and big bucks. Their targeted small forward of the moment is Andrei Kirilenko. There is also strong interest in Shawne Williams, who is still debating between the Knicks and Nets.
But the Magic will wait, too, perhaps playing hardball with their megastar. League sources contend it would still deal with the Nets, but are not overly enamored of Lopez, which would signal a multi-team trade.
Howard has asked for a trade to the Nets, but general manager Otis Smith reiterated the Magic’s wishes when he met with reporters in Orlando yesterday.
“We’re just at the same place we’ve always been. We don’t have a deal until we have a deal and he’s still in a Magic uniform. That’s where he’s expected to be until something changes,” Smith said. “We’re going to continue to talk to every team out there, but that doesn’t mean anything is going to happen.
“He has the opportunity to opt out at the end of the year. However, we like him in a Magic uniform and that’s where we’re going to try to keep him,” Smith continued, later adding some horrifying news. “I’m willing to keep him in this uniform as long as I possibly can … That may mean all the way up until the end of the season.”
Oh goody. A half year of this stuff, right up to free agency. Somebody somewhere is going to order hemlock. But the Nets could have as late as March to work a possible multi-team trade. Getting other teams involved is a specialty for Nets GM Billy King.
“I’ll definitely be all right. Before all these trade talks, my whole time here, I take it one day at a time. One day, weigh how I did, learn what I can from it and then move on,” said Lopez, whose name has surfaced in every trade scenario.
So the Nets, who were affected last year amid the non-stop Carmelo Anthony circus, said they are pushing things aside this time.
“It’s really out of my control, so I’m just playing basketball. That’s all we can do, focus on what’s going on here on the floor, and I think we’ve done a good job of that,” Williams said.
The Nets hoped for a long-shot chance that by Saturday’s preseason opener, they could have their Double-D (Deron to Dwight) connection. Instead, they will face the Knicks and their potentially dominant front line with former Knick Shelden Williams as the Nets’ likely starting power forward. He was signed Tuesday and impressed yesterday.
“The way he looked today and because you can tell at the four position, I don’t have a lot of options,” were Avery Johnson’s two reasons for starting the newest Williams. The coach also reported rookie Jordan Williams was sent to the doctor late Tuesday for dehydration.