Deron Williams Will Become A Free Agent; Caron Butler Wants the Bulls

Deron Williams is probably feeling mad lonely right now over there in Jersey. Dwight Howard this, and Chris Paul wants to go here and everyone wants to team up. Well Williams is sort of stuck in a weird spot in Jersey: He’s with a team in transition, a franchise that has a future but aren’t quite sure what it is yet and while he holds a lot of power, his situation isn’t as sexy as CP going to the Big Apple or Dwight moving to Hollywood. He does have the game to back up any talk, and yesterday he made it perfectly clear: He will play out this season in Jersey and then take his chances as a free agent. So the Nets better get spending. Last summer, the Nets swung for the fences in a market for the ages and missed pretty much everything. This year, we’re starting to get the feeling they’ll miss out on their main targets again. Dwight Howard doesn’t really want to play there. Chris Paul wants to be in Manhattan. Now with Deron Williams putting the pressure on by saying he will opt out of his deal to become a free agent (business-wise, it makes sense for him anyways), the Nets know they can’t come away empty-handed. That leaves them with a lot of money and only a few options. Marc Gasol is expected to stay in Memphis, but Tyson Chandler and Nene are two available big guys who would have to appeal to Williams. Nene will command at least $13 million a year annually, according to Yahoo! Sports, and the teams who have already reached out to him include the Nets, Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers. Nene has stated all along he wants to play for a contender. No one on that list is winning anything soon, so he might as well take the cash and roll the dice that New Jersey can land a star like Howard to propel them forward. At the same time, he could be dealt in the process so you never know … We’re nearly a week into the post-lockout period and hardly a word has been spent on Caron Butler. This is a player that dropped 15 a night last year for the defending champs. He’s also a 31-year-old swingman coming off a major injury, and someone who had a slightly fluky year last season. But not everyone is overlooking him. Butler is seriously considering both the Bulls and the Clippers, two teams who need wing help. The Clippers have solid starters all over the court, basically everyone except for small forward. And while the Bulls have Luol Deng, they lack wing scorers who can take the pressure off the MVP. They also wouldn’t be able to offer him the most money. But Butler isn’t the only one the Bulls will be after. We’ve heard Arron Afflalo, Shane Battier, Jamal Crawford, Nick Young and even Tracy McGrady. Even as Thibs and Derrick Rose play the PC game, saying Keith Bogans is their guy, you know they’ll start opening night with someone different … David West is another big name who’s become lost in the shuffle so far, but he has two teams who seem to be obsessed with signing him. The Pacers and his old team in New Orleans are both extremely interested. The Pacers desperately need another low post scorer, and would love to add a veteran along that frontline. The Hornets simply need him back if they want to hold onto anymore of Paul’s trust. But if he’s on his way out, you might as well let the 31-year-old forward go as well and start completely over … Since he’s been mentioned a few times on here lately, here’s an update on Gerald Green: after two weeks in China, he was let go by Foshan Longlions because he “failed to fit into the tactic system of the whole team.” Sounds like something was going on behind-the-scenes because Green was averaging 26.5 a night … If you need to stay up to date on what’s going on with every free agent in the league, we have you covered. Our free agent tracker will stay updated as players and teams agree to terms within the next week or two … Keep reading for: Josh Smith wants out, and check out how much weight Kevin Love lost during the Lockout…

Josh Smith is still ready to move on. The relationship has run its course in Atlanta, just as the team has. With that, the forward has lost 30 pounds in an effort to showcase himself, and to alleviate the problems he had with his knees this summer … You might not recognize Kevin Love when he hits NBA floors this season. The dude lost 25 pounds over the course of the lockout (he’s 240… so much for all these guys being out of shape), and attributes most of it to just eating healthy. Funny what that can do for anybody right? Some fans might be nervous: less weight could mean worse rebounding position. But we’re betting this is just the start; Love will pack on some muscle to get back up over 250. We can remember back when he used to be a chubby teen looking like a little kid in an oversized body … If you really want to get technical with the new CBA rules about sign-n-trades, extend-n-trades and all the rest, check out this briefing obtained by SI.com. All Knick, Laker, Hornet, Net and Celtic fans should be reading this … So Danny Ainge is telling anyone who’ll listen that he isn’t trying to trade Rajon Rondo. We’ll take his word for it, despite knowing they’ve had issues at times with Rondo’s attitude and have talked about dealing him in the past. As Ric Bucher tweeted: Any coincidence Rajon Rondo’s agent parachuted into Boston today, cranky from Asian jet lag no doubt, and Cs expressed undying love for RR? Hmm, maybe because they found out Paul refuses to play anywhere but New York and figured they’d better get Rajon Rondo back on their side before he holds his own mini-stakeout and tells them he’ll play for anyone but them? … By the way, there are still a few reports that Paul’s reps have not told New Orleans he wants out. Believe them if you wish. There are also reports Paul’s camp told the team last summer that he would be out … St. John’s has some really nice young players. They just aren’t as nice as Kentucky’s. The ‘Cats destroyed the Red Storm by 22 and set a school record in the process with 18 blocked shots. Anthony Davis nearly had a triple-double (15 points, 15 rebounds and eight blocks) and Terrence Jones exploded for 26. At this point, we think we can officially say it: If Calipari is ever going to win a championship, this is the year to do it … Hollis Thompson beat No. 12 Alabama with a three-pointer with 1.8 seconds left, giving Georgetown its second huge win in three games (they beat Memphis last week). They held ‘Bama to a pathetic 16 points in the first half … LeBron‘s ridiculous “Cannon” edition of the Nike LeBron 9s just dropped at midnight. Did anyone cop? … And one thing we were reminded of yesterday that only enhances the package the Clippers can offer for Howard is the fact they own Minnesota’s first round pick in next summer’s draft… and it’s unprotected. That means a pick that could very realistically be in the top 3-5 of a completely loaded draft is either going to the Clippers or perhaps to someone in a deal to get Howard … We’re out like Kanye West‘s Album of the Year Grammy nomination.

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