Moderators: Rich Rane, NyCeEvO
624 wrote:There's no way we would eliminate the possibility of Howard for Teletovic. Billy's not that stupid.
Nanogeek wrote:I think I've spotted an error in Hollinger's math that could mean the Nets are still ok. I've emailed him and will let you know if he responds.
Nets improving digits for Dwight?
Possible change to Teletovic contract could keep Brooklyn in Howard hunt
Updated: July 4, 2012, 6:44 PM ET
By John Hollinger | ESPN.com
Brooklyn hurt its chances of getting Dwight Howard with all the other deals the Nets made, as I wrote yesterday.
That part remains true, but they may not have damaged their odds to quite the extent we previously thought. As a reminder, none of these contracts we're hearing reported are on paper yet (moves can't be made official until July 11), and until they are there's always room to wiggle.
Well, something could be wiggling. A source close to the negotiations tells us that Bosnian forward Mirza Teletovic might not sign with Brooklyn for the non-taxpayer's midlevel exception, as originally reported, but for the taxpayer's midlevel, which is a smaller contract with a maximum of $3.09 million for the first year.
This development would leave the door open for Howard, if only slightly. If they use the full non-taxpayer MLE for Teletovic, the Nets would face a hard cap of $74.3 million this season; it would be impossible to slot Howard's contract into that constraint given the deals to which they've already committed. But if they use the taxpayers midlevel, they are free to build up as big a payroll as they choose this season, limited only by the league's other salary rules.
The Nets, I am also told, will not be using their biannual exception at all. Again, using this exception would have yielded a $74.3 million cap for them this season.
With this constraint aside, a potential Howard trade wouldn't be the only benefit. The Nets wouldn't be constrained in what they can offer free agents Kris Humphries and Brook Lopez, so Brooklyn would then be a heavy favorite to keep both and, in Howard's absence, send out a potent starting five of Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Gerald Wallace, Humphries and Lopez.
Operating this way would also allow the Nets to use two small trade exceptions they still have on their books, one of which they will partially use to acquire forward Reggie Evans from the Clippers.
As for Howard, this scenario would remain unlikely, but it would open up the possibility of the Nets sign-and-trading additional riffraff from the end of the roster to swallow an additional contract or two from the Magic. Brooklyn could include the likes of Sundiata Gaines, Armon Johnson, Shelden Williams, and perhaps Gerald Green; individually they don't add much salary ballast, but together they help offset the base-year compensation issues with Humphries and Lopez and allow the Nets to take back another salary besides Howard's.
Alas, huge obstacles remain: Orlando has no want or need for Humphries, other teams are likely to offer better young players and/or more cap relief, and there's the little matter of six different players having to agree to sign-and-trade deals.
But with the possibility that Teletovic will take the taxpayer MLE, they're still in the conversation. It didn't look that way 24 hours ago.