Deron Williams Says ‘Don’t Wait on Dwight’

Added by Deshawn Jelani on October 11, 2012.

Deron Williams, 8, does not want the Nets to wait for Dwight Howard before building a championship roster. (ABACAUSA.COM)

The Brooklyn Nets point guard Deron Williams tells general manager Billy King that the Nets should not wait to add all-star center Dwight Howard to the roster to seek a NBA championship.

“One thing Deron did say to me, he said, ‘Please, just don’t wait on Dwight. We can’t wait and not have a team,’” King said during the debut of the program “The Association:  Brooklyn Nets.”  The program is set to air on NBA TV on October 16^th.

“The team of Brooklyn is bigger than one person. I owed it to the organization, I owed it to our fans, I owed it to Deron and the players that we have to build for Brooklyn, and we went forward and built our team.”

A proposed Howard trade developed during the summer when the Nets offered the Orlando Magic four future first-round picks, center Brook Lopez, power forward Kris Humphries, and $3 million to acquire Howard, Jason Richardson, Earl Clark, and Chris Duhon. 

However, the Magic rejected the trade offer because they did not want to receive Humphries due to his heavily proposed front-loaded multiyear sign-and-trade agreement, which had the first years salary fully guaranteed.  The proposed trade would have required a third team to participate, and one could not be solidified.

It is still possible that the Nets can acquire Howard, who could sign a deal with the team during the 2013 summer signing period.  Signing the big man would cost the team a fortune (and go over the salary cap by tens of millions due to the new luxury tax rules), but billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov needs to reach deep into his pockets if he wishes to attain a championship in the next three years as he’s proclaimed.

Although D-Will does not want the Nets to wait to acquire Howard, they need to sign Howard at least by the offseason next year in order to compete for a title.  Howard adds a tremendous physical inside presence and the defense that the Nets need to compete for a championship next year and years to come.