NJ/BKN Nets ~ Tampering? Say It Ain't So

From the desk of:  THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH




NJ/BROOKLYN NETS:  Camp Chaos Open for Business.



With abbreviated Training Camps about to open, the Nets' start their final season in New Jersey with this; Chaos.


Can Billy King be that stupid?  That is the $64,000 question.  Mikhail Prokhorov, I'll give him a pass. A rich cat like that just wants what he wants and for argument's sake, let's just say he doesn't know any better...  But if GM Billy King, along with Prokhorov, were stupid enough to hold a not-so-secret midnight meeting with Dwight Howard, then the Nets deserve everything they get in the way of consequences and repercussions. 

However, I don't believe the rumor is true.  Because if it is, this would be a most blatant disregard in the highest order of one of the most basic tenets of NBA protocol; TAMPERING.  And c'mon, I may not like Billy King to a certain extent, but he wasn't born yesterday. That I do know.

Rather I think this was someone planting a seed or some team exec wagging the the dog.  Dwight Howard has made it clear he isn't going to stay in Orlando.  And there are perhaps some owners, to include Orlando's, who feel like the players are still manipulating the "system" and that these players are still colluding to saturate big markets.


But why should the NBA be upset after the owners agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement that in it's infancy, has proven to have accomplished nothing.....except allow the owners to shave some money off the top?  The owners ultimately played themselves and quite obviously, the players have just picked-up where they left off last season and continue reshuffling the NBA landscape on their own.


With rumors of tampering swirling and the reports that Orlando is considering filing tampering charges with the Commissioner's Office against both the Nets and Houston Rockets, the word on the street is that the New Jersey Nets are still considered the primary landing spot for the League's most sought after Center.


The thought of Dwight Howard and Deron Williams opening up the Barclays Center next season is a most thrilling prospect.  I couldn't script a better beginning.  Dwight Howard in a Nets uniform would almost certainly convince the other 10% of Deron Williams' mind to stay-on and play in Brooklyn.


For now, all we can do is wait and hope the Nets can land the premiere Center; and the rumors of tampering aren't true.  Dwight Howard has already gone on record and said no meeting ever took place between him and Net representatives.  Riiight.   Again, I hope that's true....or if need be, un-provable.  Whatever it takes man.





Mike.BTB