NBA Trade Rumors: Brooklyn Nets Must Find Way to Land Dwight Howard
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports says that, "It's Dwight Howard or bust" if the Brooklyn Nets are to have any hope of keeping Deron Williams.
Deron Williams of the Brooklyn Nets says that Adrian Wojnarowski's "sources" have no idea what they're talking about.
"I would love to know who Adrian Wojnarowski source is [because] he knows more about what I'm thinking then I do. Maybe they can help me decide?
— Deron Williams (@DeronWilliams) May 30, 2012"
In any case, one thing remains clear: If the Nets want to have at least one superstar on hand for their move to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the 2012-13 NBA season, they'd be well-advised to have two on hand.
Because, in all likelihood, one won't stay without the other, and one won't come without the other.
While Williams has publicly dismissed any assumptions that he's signed, sealed and delivered to his hometown Dallas Mavericks or that he has his sights set on a sign-and-trade move to the Los Angeles Lakers, it stands to reason that he wouldn't be particularly thrilled with the prospect of playing in Brooklyn with the Nets as is.
At 27, the three-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA performer is in the midst of his athletic prime, the time when he might be best suited to competing for championships and when he can do the most, physically and mentally, to contribute to a team's title run.
Yet, the Nets have won just 29 of 91 games since GM Billy King boldly shipped Devin Harris, Derrick Favors, two first-round picks and $3 million in cash to the Utah Jazz to bring D-Will to the East Coast after trying so mightily (but failing) to acquire Carmelo Anthony from the Denver Nuggets.
And they haven't done much to upgrade their roster since, save for promoting a rejuvenated Gerald Green from the D-League and plucking an aging Gerald Wallace from the Portland Trail Blazers.
It'll take more than piling up Geralds to convince Williams to stick around and, in turn, Howard to join him. As Wojnarowski notes in his latest report, Dwight still wants out of Orlando, to the point where he regrets having opted in to the final year of his contract. The Magic have allegedly resigned themselves to moving him once they've found a new GM.
In the meantime, King and majority owner/James Bond villain Mikhail Prokhorov are left with the NBA equivalent of the chicken-egg conundrum. On the one hand, they probably need to talk Williams into re-signing after free agency opens on July 1st if Brooklyn is to remain a desirable destination for Dwight.
On the other hand, Williams isn't likely to do so unless the Nets show him some tangible proof of playoff-caliber improvement, most obviously by bringing Superman to Metropolis.
If the Nets play their cards right and are able to maximize what few assets they have (i.e. Brook Lopez, MarShon Brooks, current and future draft picks) on the trade market, then they may well have a dynamic duo around which a championship-caliber club can be built.
If they don't...well, you saw what happened to the Charlotte Bobcats. No stars, no assets, no hope and a long, painful rebuilding process.
All while trying to sell season tickets in a brand new building.
The Nets can only hope, then, that Wojnarowski is wrong and Williams knows what he wants, and that it isn't a Dwight-or-bust situation.
The last thing this NBA doormat needs, at this particular point in time, is another bust.
