We are the only real bidders in a preseason Dwight Howard sweepstakes

If they wait till the deadline, I think their leverage will be gone. Teams will be unlikely to overpay for just half a season. If no one bites, they get nothing and he expires. I think if it happens, it will soon. Just like we traded Lowry.

 

But this isn't supposed to be a rental. If you thought it was just going to be a rental, you wouldn't get much to begin with unless he's the missing piece for 1 more run. If you think he's going to stay for the money then you don't care about this season 1/2 or whole. However Orlando probably knows him better than anyone and if they don't think they can get him to stay on that team and Morey thinks he can get him to move and stay on this team, then I think his ego needs to be checked.

 

The longer they wait, the more likely that teams drop out of the bidding and chase other options in free agency and trades. The Nets have already done this to some degree making a trade to them very difficult. Besides if you are doing the rental, you want as long as possible to negotiate and try and convince Dwight that this is a good place to play. Certainly they COULD wait, but they also risk the chance that if one of our rookies is playing like a rookie of the year candidate, that we decide to just keep him rather than trade for someone who doesn't want to be here. Plus their team will have to deal with the distraction all season long and I think they want to avoid that if there is any way they can.

The reason Dwight MIGHT stay here on a much worse team for a season and still come back, beyond the money, is that we should have the cap space to bring in another star, like CP3 to come join Dwight, where Orlando will not. Just like Deron Williams stuck with the Nets who have been terrible up to this season, rather than leaving for Dallas as many assumed he would.

 

We'd only have cap space next year if we don't take on bad contracts. I'm all for that but is Orlando? Rumor is we'd have garbage to take back that would keep us from doing such.

And again if any GM see's him as a rental, they won't give much unless he's the missing piece for a final run (Boston - though they have nothing that would interest ORL). I think the calls for Howard are really pretty limited. I'm not even sure the Lakers are calling anymore. Hence the OP's title. I dare say it's Orlando or the Rockets that will be his 2012-13 home. If a team thinks they can get him as a long term player, you open you're wallet like Morey is and let them pick the bills they want (like my parents do when they travel abroad...Americans...SMH). And I while I like our players and look forward to watching them play, doubt we have any ROY players. But even if we did, I'm not sure Morey still wouldn't make the trade.

 

Hope remains for the Brooklyn Nets in their pursuit of Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard.

A source with knowledge of the trade talks with the Magic said Thursday that they continued without any major progress or regress, which was more than had been expected after the Nets' flurry of moves in recent days had appeared to take them out of the running for the three-time Defensive Player of the Year. But by persuading Bosnian forward Mirza Teletovic to sign for the taxpayer mid-level exception (three years, up to about $9 million) instead of the nontaxpayer mid-level (four years, about $20 million), as was originally reported this week, Brooklyn avoided the no-exceptions hard cap of $74.3 million and thus remained in the Howard race.

So with the Nets still in play and Orlando reportedly having had recent talks with the Lakers, Houston, Atlanta and Dallas as well, the question is which team has the most appealing deal to new Magic general manager Rob Hennigan. At first glance, it would seem to be the Lakers. As I wrote in late May, Lakers center Andrew Bynum is the most valuable piece that the Magic could receive in a deal for Howard, and any trade centered on the 24-year-old All-Star would be as palatable as it might come for Orlando fans.

But in acquiring free-agent point guard Steve Nash on Wednesday, the Lakers may have simultaneously hurt and helped their chances of landing Howard. By giving the Suns two first-round picks (2013 and 2015) and two second-round picks (2013 and 2014), they dealt the sort of assets that interest Hennigan, whose roots with the Oklahoma City Thunder taught him the value of building through the draft. The source said the Magic have made it clear that they want multiple first-round picks in any deal for Howard, even if they're late first-round picks like the Lakers' are almost sure to be.

The irony is that while nabbing Nash cost the Lakers pivotal picks, adding him may have a ripple effect on the other relevant component to the Howard equation: his willingness to stay beyond next season. Howard, who requested a trade to the Nets last week and said he'd re-sign with only one team that dealt for him (believed to be Brooklyn), is known to have been wary of the notion of teaming up with Bryant. The 33-year-old future Hall of Famer remains one of the most ball-dominant and strong-headed players in the game, but Nash is the kind of selfless point guard who could tweak the style of play and team dynamic enough to make Laker Land more amenable to Howard. That is, of course, if the Lakers are still eager to make the move at all.

Howard is still recovering from surgery to repair a herniated disk in late April, and Lakers officials are reportedly concerned about whether he would be ready for the start of next season. They wouldn't be eager to take on additional salary like the Magic want teams to do, either, with one of the possibilities involving Orlando's Jason Richardson (three years, $18.6 million left on his contract, including a player option in the third season) trading places with the Lakers' Metta World Peace deal (two years $15 million remaining, including a player option in the second season). All of which would seem to increase the Nets' odds of winning the Howard sweepstakes.

The Nets' likely package would send several draft picks, center Brook Lopez, shooting guard MarShon Brooks and power forward Kris Humphries to Orlando, though numerous reports have said a third team is needed to take Humphries in a sign-and-trade deal because the Magic have no interest in the free agent. The core of Howard, point guard Deron Williams, shooting guard Joe Johnson and small forward Gerald Wallace would then begin its attempt to unseat Miami as the Eastern Conference's newest power, and Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov would have Teletovic to thank for allowing him the freedom to take his payroll deep into the increasingly punitive luxury tax.

A source with knowledge of the discussions between the Nets and Magic said one of two scenarios appears likely now: either there's a deal "within the next week" in which Howard heads for Brooklyn, or the talks are tabled until after Dec. 15. Players who were signed as free agents this summer can be included in deals at that point, expanding the possibilities and proposals leading up to the February trade deadline. Whether the Magic could stomach going nearly two months into the season with this drama defining their team yet again is another story altogether.

Hope remains, then, for the Nets and for Howard.

 

Nets don't have a first round pick they can trade this year. If their package includes "several draft picks" it would have to be from 2014, 2016, and so on.

 

Yeah, that's what they planned on doing. '15, '17, etc

 

What's nasty is the owner of the Nets is so filthy rich, he won't mind paying more than a hundred million in luxury tax.

 

Houston can trump that offer at any time. If LA stays true to Bynum, then Orlando would be out of their minds to take that offer. Those picks will be crap if Howard is aquired, Lopez is sure to be overpaid any day now, The Nets have NO CAP SPACE to absorb a bad contract, and nobody is going to sign and trade quality assets for Humphries. Brooks is the only player with marginal upside that is comparable to any one of Houston's prospects.

This tells me one of two things if accurate-

-Morey is trying to play hardball in order to preserve assets for a second star in trade. He's not just going to hand over his full deck right now. He's going to take the next few weeks see how negotiations work out between the Nets and Orlando to give just a little bit more than the other guy. The Toronto pick is his ace in the hole now.

-There might be issues with a pre-physical agreement that the Nets are willing to waive. That might be their only trump card since they know they can sign him long term even if he doesn't play a minute this next season. Houston does not have that luxury. If they land him, he needs to play, and play well.

 

Echoing Sam Amick:

Marc J. Spears ‏<s>@</s>SpearsNBAYahoo Nets have "30 percent chance" of landing Dwight in trade but likely would turn attention to FAs if it cant be done in a week,source tells Y!