Paris is supposed to be wonderful this time of year. The Caribbean, too. But Moscow?
“No sunshine but still beautiful,” Nets point guard Deron Williams posted on Twitter this week.
Williams and wife Amy posted pictures of themselves and Red Square Wednesday as the offseason’s most intriguing vacation continued in Russia, home of noted billionaire and NBA owner, Mikhail Prokhorov. Though there has been no evidence of Williams and Prokhorov holding serious talks, the two had a casual discussion in Turkey where two other entries in the storyline, Nets general manager Billy King and former Williams Jazz teammate Andrei Kirilenko, also emerged.
King was scouting, and Kirilenko was playing in the Euroleague championships. During the tourney, Kirilenko’s wife, Masha, blogged the two couples were flying to Moscow together. Kirilenko, known as a versatile and stout defender, long has been rumored as a Nets target and would be a perfect piece for the Nets’ bench.
All of this foreign huddling did not go unnoticed in Dallas, where Williams is rated as the Mavericks’ chief offseason priority but the fear is “if Williams is all about the money, he won’t be leaving Brooklyn,” the Fort Worth Star-Telegram wrote.
The Nets can offer five years at $109 million compared with four years, $81 million elsewhere. Dallas is a threat for Williams because of owner Mark Cuban, but in February, Cuban said he is never about just one guy while noting luxury tax concerns.
“We’re the last organization to get one thing in our mind and that’s the only thing we’re going to do,” Cuban said then. “The CBA changed. You can’t look at things the exact same way you did before. Before, if you went to the luxury tax, you paid dollar for dollar and there were no competitive issues. Now, you get up there it’s a lot more expensive, but more importantly, you’re limited on trades, on ability to add players.”
The Nets want to add players. They want to keep Williams (there is certainly ample reason to believe they will). They want to keep Gerald Wallace (who can opt out of a $9.5 million payday). They want to keep Gerald Green, their terrific D-League find.
One website rates Williams as the top available free-agent point guard, Wallace as the top small forward, Green as the fifth-best available two guard (yeah, he’s more small forward) and Kris Humphries as the fifth- best available power forward. The Nets, though, seem to want Boston’s Kevin Garnett or Milwaukee’s Ersan Ilyasova for their starting four.
Restricted center Brook Lopez, coming off a broken right foot and additional foot injury, wants to stay. If the pursuit of Dwight Howard, recovering from back surgery, fizzles, the Nets could do far worse than having Lopez with Williams running the show. Remember, the two have played just 17 games together.
So with selective addition for their current stockpile, the Nets are more than playoff worthy, and maybe part of the plan has been unfolding in Moscow.
fred.kerber@nypost.com