Dwight Howard or bust?
That could be a fair assessment of the situation the Nets currently find themselves in after their top free agent target, Denver center Nene, re-signed with the Nuggets.
But don’t burn down Prudential Center or the Barclays Center just yet as the Nets continue to be active trade pursuers for their prime target, Howard. And they do so with an air of optimism.
The Nets entered free agency hoping to improve their roster as part of their ongoing efforts to convince superstar point guard Deron Williams to re-sign with them next summer after he opts out of the final year of his contract.
But after seeing their top two free agent targets — Tyson Chandler, who signed with Knicks, and Nene — go off the board, the Nets are now left to try to swing a trade for Howard, the player who has been their true number one target the whole time.
League sources maintained the Nets are still actively pursuing a trade for Howard in a possible multi-team deal. Nene no longer being available would mean the Nets could use their cap space to take back the remaining three years and $34 million on Hedo Turkoglu’s millstone of a contract, while sending a package including Brook Lopez and a pair of 2012 first-round picks to Orlando.
So far, the only move the Nets have made in free agency came yesterday, when they announced the signing of veteran center Shelden Williams. But with his roster still in flux as general manager Billy King continues to try to make improvements, coach Avery Johnson said yesterday he’s doing his best not to worry, and let the process play itself out.
“I’m trying not to go toward the side of anxiety,” Johnson said. “I’m trying to operate with patience.
“It beats the alternative. It beats being somewhere outside of Houston, waiting for my son to get out of school, and then figure out if he wants me to work him out or whether he wants to go with his friends.”
As the Nets have chased after big men since free agency began, they spent the first several days of training camp practicing with only two true bigs — centers Lopez and Johan Petro — on their roster. That has left Johnson scrambling to find options to fill in at power forward next to either of them, as the Nets prepare for their preseason opener at home against the Knicks on Saturday.
“We have our [Dennis] Horner playing some four, we have Damion James playing some three and four, and even Stephen Graham has had to play some four,” Johnson said. “Jordan Williams is still getting there physically, but our numbers are really low with our big guys.”
To help address that problem, the Nets added Williams, who worked out with the team yesterday for the first time.
“Shelden is an experienced player,” Johnson said. “He’s come in [here] in pretty good shape, he runs the court well, and he’s picked up on our offensive and defensive techniques pretty good … he’s been around the block a few times and he knows what he’s doing.”
For Williams, who spent last season playing for Denver before being shipped to the Knicks in the Carmelo Anthony trade, the Nets’ lack of frontcourt depth was a good thing.
“I thought there was an opportunity for me to actually play, so it’s just a matter of me getting an opportunity, and we’ll go from there,” Williams said.