Now that Dwight Howard has opted in to the Magic for one more season, the biggest story of the summer is going to be where will Deron Williams go.
He’s having a weird season in the sense that sometimes it looks like he doesn’t care, often times he’s playing dinged up and still he’s capable of dropping 57 points on any given night. His importance to the Nets organization isn’t lost on anyone, including Williams’ coach and teammates.
According to Stefan Bondy with the New York Daily News, DeShawn Stevenson and head coach Avery Johnson both know keeping Williams is crucial and probably going to be tough to do.
“With a roster full of expiring contracts, the fear is that the lineup from Monday’s loss to the Heat will too closely resemble opening night in Brooklyn. Avery Johnson understands it’s going to take more than a shiny new building to resurrect the franchise – “if we can get healthy, get Deron re-signed and add some veterans to help out team. ….
Stevenson agreed, and then emphasized, “the key is that we get D-Will back.”
Well I’m glad no one in soon to be Brooklyn are taking Williams for granted. Now the problem is getting him to stick around. As Bondy points out, the Nets have a ton of cap room, especially if Gerald Wallace opts out of his contract. Brook Lopez has been injured all season and you figure a summer off to get healthy will do him some good. Still, keeping Gerald Wallace and getting Brook Lopez healthy is most likely not enough to keep D-Will. To make matters worse, the Nets likely have lost their lottery pick in this year’s draft in the aforementioned Wallace trade.
Still, getting a top three pick in the draft would definitely help keep Williams around. Getting the first pick in the draft and drafting Anthony Davis would definitely help keep Williams around. Say what you want about Lopez, but putting him next to Davis would be an awesome big man duo moving forward. Thomas Robinson won’t be as awesome, but it’d still be a strong pick up.
Essentially, the Nets need to do this summer what they’ve tried to do the last two summers and failed: get a superstar or two to commit to them long term. Getting Williams to commit would be a great first step, but recent history shows that’s a tough sell. Maybe they should give Stern a call to get him to rig the lottery in their favor. That’ll kick start the keep D-Will push.
