@WojYahooNBA Y! Sources: As time's running out on a Howard deal for Brooklyn, Brook Lopez nears agreement on max contract with Nets. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--nets-near-contract-agreement-with-brook-lopez.html Restricted free-agent center Brook Lopez is progressing toward an agreement for a maximum contract with the Brooklyn Nets, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. Brook Lopez played in only five games last season for the Nets. (AP)Nets president Billy King and Lopez’s agent, Arn Tellem, are finalizing the length of the deal – four years for $58 million, or five years for $78 million – and ironing out protections on the back end to account for a right foot that Lopez broke twice in the past year, sources said. King is scheduled to travel to Los Angeles on Wednesday to work on completing the deal with Tellem. Brooklyn needs Lopez as the centerpiece of a sign-and-trade deal to acquire Orlando’s Dwight Howard, but is running out of time waiting for the Magic to make a decision on where they want to trade him, sources said. The Nets need to add four free agents into a deal for Howard, and convincing all of them to be a part of a complicated sign-and-trade deal much beyond Wednesday’s end to the league’s moratorium on transactions becomes increasingly more unrealistic every day. Once Lopez signs the deal, he can’t be traded until December. Orlando has refocused its trade talks for Howard with the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets, and the Nets are starting to believe that Magic general manager Rob Hennigan simply wants to do a deal elsewhere, sources said. Clearly, the Nets are pushing hard on Lopez’s deal to apply pressure to Orlando, but there’s nothing left for them to offer Orlando that they haven’t already made available to them. The Nets are offering the Magic three first-round picks, and a fourth that it believes it can gain upon moving guard MarShon Brooks in a trade, sources said. The Houston Rockets were aggressively shopping players on Tuesday, including forward Luis Scola, in an attempt to create more salary-cap space and gain another first-round pick to fulfill Orlando’s wants for a Howard deal, sources said. The Charlotte Bobcats had expressed interest with signing Lopez to a max offer sheet, but it was pointless for the center once the Nets were committed to giving him most of that five-year deal fully guaranteed. Another team could only sign Lopez to a four-year deal. The Nets have always planned to match any offer for Lopez. After not missing a game in his first three NBA seasons, Lopez played only five last season after breaking his foot twice. Nevertheless, doctors have fully cleared him to return for the start of training camp.
Nets' last desperate attempt for Orlando to bite ("last chance Orlando"). An attempt which would produce results they would be willing to live with.
An elite defensive player and rebounding center gets paid 8m in Asik while an only scoring center in Lopez gets paid 15m. Dang
This is why Orlando will trade Dwight soon. Teams pursuing Dwight aren't going to put the rest of their off season on hold. And as the remaining suitors make moves that cause them to drop out one by one, Orlando's ability to leverage one bidder off another starts to drop rapidly. That, and people who complain about Morey being a cheapskate need to see what profligate spending will get you - Brook Lopez at $15 Mil/yr. It is better to completely not have Brook Lopez, than to have him on your team sucking up all the cap space.
This x 1000. This is why the deal for Orlando was/is so, so bad in my opinion. If Brook Lopez was on a rookie contract with years to maximize and observe improvement it would be one thing, but what does having a maxed out Brook Lopez do for you and your future? It's not going to be so easy with bad contracts in the very near future... you better have a filthy rich owner who doesn't care about wasting millions, or you better manage the cap wisely.
I just want to say that while Lopez at $15mil is horrible for the Magic, for the Nets it's actually fine. In fact, if Morey had inherited the Nets right after they re-signed Wallace and traded for Johnson, I think he makes this exact move. The Nets have no cap space for the near future. They don't need capspace for the near future. Their owner doesn't give a flip about the luxury tax. Not a big deal whether Lopez makes $8mil or $15mil besides his tradability. To me, the most absurd thing about Lopez has always been why Orlando would want him at the centerpiece for a Dwight Howard trade when they are rebuilding. Lopez himself probably is a $10mil/yr player on the open market. Although I'd personally prefer more defensive centers like Asik or Hibbert if I were to dish out the big bucks.
