Nets Are Scorching

via the beat reporters on Twitter:

Deron Williams: “David Stern is a bully. ..He knows he’s a bully. Every CEO of a big company is a bully. That’s how they got successful.”

December 11, 2011 12:02 pm via Twitter for BlackBerry®ReplyRetweetFavorite

@NYDNInterNets

Stefan Bondy

Deron Williams was asked what he thinks about Dwight Howard requesting a trade to the Nets:”It makes me smile a little bit.” Then he smiled.

December 11, 2011 12:03 pm via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@andy_vasquez

Andy Vasquez

The Los Angeles Lakers have pulled out of the three-team deal with New Orleans and Houston that would have landed Chris Paul in L.A., according to sources close to the talks.

…

The Lakers are now expected to turn their full focus to obtaining Dwight Howard, who has asked the Orlando Magic to trade him.

One source close to the process said that the Lakers will instead trade Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks.

via Marc Stein — Los Angeles Lakers pull out of trade talks for Chris Paul, according to sources

CBSSports.com notes that his ties to Los Angeles are strong, and a trade to the Lakers — or the Clippers — shouldn’t be ruled out. Meanwhile, Yahoo!’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Howard “prefers the Nets over the Lakers, but hasn’t ruled out the possibility that he would sign a long-term extension with L.A. if he is traded there.”

The one constant: each source confirms Howard requested a trade to the Nets.

As far as potential deals, the Lakers would be able to send Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum to the Magic straight up for Howard and Hedo Turkoglu, without needing to add any pieces on either side. That’s a far more appealing trade in terms of pure value for Orlando than Brook Lopez plus two draft picks.

While I’m more than willing to admit some bias here — and I’m really trying to avoid it — I think that deal also leaves Orlando in the same type of limbo that the original Chris Paul deal left New Orleans in (though with better players); a lineup of Nelson/Richardson/blank/Gasol/Bynum isn’t good enough to compete in the East and isn’t bad enough to rebuild with for at least three to four years.

But of course, this all amounts to little more than wild speculation.

As I’ve said before, more bulletins as events warrant.

Considering what we all went through as Nets fans last season with the Carmelo Anthony shenanigans, or rather the “Melo Drama,” it’s been hard to fully feel 100% about anything. So, with the current Dwight Howard situation, what the Orlando Magic media are calling a “Dwightmare,” the last couple of days has been a rollercoaster to say the least.

The high we must have all felt a couple of days ago with the information from ESPN’s Chris Broussard about D12 wanting to come to the Nets was quickly mucked up. Revelations of possible tampering charges and the Los Angeles Lakers keeping enough away trade pieces (specifically Andrew Bynum) from their three-team trade involving the Houston Rockets and New Orleans Hornets that would send Chris Paul to L.A. had to temper, if not totally dissolve any joy we might have all felt about the tangible possibility of Superman coming to town.

Well, it’s been tweeted by one of the more reliable, if not the most reliable, NBA writers that Dwight Howard does indeed want to come to the Nets. Tweet from Yahoo!’s Adrian Wojnarowski:

Dwight Howard has requested that the Orlando Magic trade him to the New Jersey Nets, league sources tell Y! Sports.

December 10, 2011 6:02 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@WojYahooNBA

Adrian Wojnarowski

That tweet was soon followed by confirmation from the Orlando Sentinel‘s Joshua Robbins that Magic GM Otis Smith acknowledged the trade request:

Orlando GM Otis Smith told @JoshuaBRobbins today that Howard has asked for a trade. Sources tell Y! Sports that request is for the Nets.

December 10, 2011 6:05 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@WojYahooNBA

Adrian Wojnarowski

So, have hope once again Nets fans! Woj’s information is usually rock solid and he has a strong track record in his reporting of various NBA news. Personally, I’m at about an 85 out of 100 right now. If D12 signs, I’ll be at a 1,245,493,309.7.

Update: Net Income of NetsDaily reports on Twitter that the offer for Nene is for four years and $64 million. Still doesn’t make much sense, but it makes more sense. A deal for Nene at this price would hinder the Nets’ ability to trade for Dwight Howard, as the Magic are also trying to dump Hedo Turkoglu’s contract. If the deal is just for Howard, the Nets only need to include around $11.9 million in salary, which would be covered by Brook Lopez and a sign-and-trade for Kris Humphries, provided that Humphries’s contract starts at around $9 million.

A straight-up deal for Turkolgu and Howard would require the Nets to send at least $19 million (or $22 million, depending how you interpret the rule) in salary, which would be nearly impossible. But if anyone can put together a multi-team trade, it’s Billy King. Then again, if anyone can wildly overspend on a guy they had the highest offer for already, it’s also Billy King.

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Nene, the top center left in free agency, is reportedly pushing for a max contract and could get the most money by re-signing with the Nuggets. But after the Nets missed out on free agent Tyson Chandler, who agreed to a deal with the Knicks, they upped the offer for Nene to four years, $70 million, according to a source.

via Stefan Bondy — Dwight Howard rumors continue to swirl around New Jersey Nets training camp, as Nene talks heat up

Let me start by saying: this is only a rumor, from an unnamed source, buried in page 2 of a Nets story.

But if true, let’s get this straight: The Nets, having already out-priced their competition for Nene at $60 million, decided that Nene deserved an extra $10 million once another center came off the market? This seems too ridiculous to be true, but bidding against no one in an attempt to destroy his cap room for a pretty-good-not-great player is classic 2001 Billy King.

I don’t understand this at all. This doesn’t make sense as a smokescreen for Dwight Howard. This doesn’t make sense organically. The only thing I can imagine is that Dan Fegan — the agent for both Nene and Howard — told the Nets to bid high on Nene and that’d help in the pursuit for Dwight. But even that makes little sense to me, and Billy shouldn’t let an agent toss him around like that.

More bulletins as events warrant. Hold on tight.

Here’s what we do know:

• Chris Mannix of SI reported on Twitter that Dwight Howard’s agent Dan Fegan was given permission by the Orlando Magic to speak with three teams about Dwight Howard, and that the New Jersey Nets were one of those teams.
• Sam Amick, also of SI, cited new Orlando Magic CEO Alex Martins, who said that the Magic did not give express permission to Howard or his representatives to speak with anyone.
• Meanwhile, Ric Bucher reports that Magic GM Otis Smith confirmed to ESPN the Magazine that he had given permission to the Nets and Dan Fegan to have discussions about acquiring Dwight Howard.

Never a dull moment.

Fegan later says (via Mannix) that he “most definitely” spoke with teams that he had been granted permission to speak with, and that any allegations of tampering are “undeniably false.” Adrian Wojnarowski confirms Mannix’s report that Orlando has granted permission for three teams to speak with Howard, and Amick confirms that the other two teams are the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks.

This comes as fantastic news for the Nets, who just this morning faced allegations of an illicit meeting between Mikhail Prokhorov and Billy King with Dwight Howard without permission from the Magic in the hopes of bringing him to New Jersey. Such a meeting would have constituted tampering. No more.

Today has been a perfect 24-hour encapsulation of a Nets offseason: wild speculation, rumors of ridiculous proportions, potential offers for players far above market value, and outside of the rookie signings, not one official transaction.

Can’t wait for tomorrow.

Svg: “I don’t know who ‘the source close to the Magic’ is, but that guy’s an idiot.”

December 9, 2011 8:30 pm via txtReplyRetweetFavorite

@BQRMagic

Evan Dunlap

CEO Alex Martins denied reports that the Orlando Magic were looking into filing tampering charges with the NBA for alleged contact by other teams with superstar center Dwight Howard.

But Martins did say that the Magic planned to investigate ESPN reports that multiple NBA teams met with Howard Thursday night in Miami about his future with the Magic. At this time, Martins said there is no concrete evidence to prove that tampering occurred.

via John Denton — Magic Deny Filing Tampering Charges

Denton writes for official website of the Orlando Magic, so I’m inclined to believe this convtroversy will slowly melt away. As for the Nets, Billy King issued a short, clear statement: “Contrary to published reports, the New Jersey Nets did not meet with Dwight Howard.”

The New Jersey Nets are preparing to offer a four-year, $60 million-$65 million contract to free-agent center Nene, aggressively pushing to steal him away from the Denver Nuggets, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Nets general manager Billy King was expected to present the offer to Nene’s agent Dan Fegan on Friday.

via Adrian Wojnarowski, Marc J. Spears — Free-agent buzz: Nets pursue Nene

The rebound rate of a Nene + Lopez frontcourt in 2011: 24.4%. Dwight Howard’s rebound rate alone in 2011: 21.8%.

That’s the last I’ll say until more information is made available.

I thought yesterday was weird.

In a news cycle that just gets more and more ridiculous, David Aldridge now reports that the Orlando Magic are considering filing tampering charges against two unnamed teams for illicit contact with center Dwight Howard. Sam Amick of SI.com reports that the New Jersey Nets are one of those teams, and that the other — the Houston Rockets — aren’t expected to be charged.

This isn’t the first time that the Magic have considered tampering charges in order to keep their star center. Orlando also asked the league to investigate potential tampering in 1996, when Shaquille O’Neal left the Magic to join the Los Angeles Lakers. Nothing came of the investigation, and the Lakers won three titles with Shaq in Los Angeles.

The bombshell:

The root of it on the Nets side, according to two sources, is alleged meeting between Dwight and Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov on Thursday.

December 9, 2011 12:19 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@sam_amick

Sam Amick

Chris Broussard later added that the alleged meeting included Nets GM Billy King.

Let me start by saying: if true (and it is only alleged at this point), this is simultaneously amazing, ludicrous, ridiculous, fantastical, and brain-shattering. If this meeting is indeed confirmed, not only will I be drowning myself in the finest Russian vodka known to man tonight, the Nets could face front-office suspensions, fines, and/or loss of draft picks.

In a phone conversation, Howard simply said, “there was no meeting.”

Aldridge also notes that according to his source, the package of Brook Lopez and draft picks is “not at all interesting to the Magic,” and that if they’re forced to make a deal, they will dictate where Howard is dealt:

“This will not be another Shaq situation,” the source said. The Magic will “do what’s in the best interests of the organization” and will not be left with nothing.

Meanwhile, another potential free agent match for New Jersey is off the market: Grant Hill has signed a one-year contract worth $6.5 million to stay with the Suns through 2011-12.