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Trying to Poach Howard: The New Jersey Nets put the hard sales pitch to newly acquired Deron Williams, trying to get the buy-in of their franchise face to a long-term vision that includes aggressive moves to acquire marquee stars.

That pitch was delivered personally by Nets owner Mickael Prokhorov, who pledged to spare no expense in building the Nets into a winner.

"He definitely talked about that and it gets you excited," Williams said to Al Iannazzone of The Record . "When your owner says he’s going to spend the money and put people around you, that’s definitely appealing.

"There’s a lot of stuff that appeals to me as far as my future here."

The name mentioned most in New Jersey circles is Orlando’s Dwight Howard, who up until yesterday had been very non-committal about his future in Orlando.

The hordes of New York media followING the New York Knicks couldn’t resist the chance to pepper Howard with questions about his future, to which Howard gave a tongue-in-cheek answer, but followed it with his most compelling statement about the Magic yet.

"Orlando’s the most attractive place for me right now," Howard said. "They have a sexy new arena, a beautiful franchise, nice banners around here and been in the top four in the Eastern Conference for the past four years. Yes, Orlando’s the most attractive place right now."

It’s OK to hang on to that last "right now"… because it’s the next statement that matters.

"For me, I just feel like there’s always going to be a dominant guy on the team, and then you’ve got role players," Howard said to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. "That’s the way [Michael] Jordan and his team won, and that’s the way Kobe [Bryant] and those guys won. They had two guys who could dominate, Kobe and Shaq, and then the rest of the guys were role players who knew their roles."

"I don’t want to say you have to team up with another great all-star in this league to win a championship. I think it takes a team to win. If you get hot at the right time, it doesn’t matter if you’ve got three all-stars or four. You can still get beat."

It’s interesting to hear Howard frame his mindset that way, because that’s the mindset of the entire Magic locker room.

It’s about getting into the post-season and playing well and at least for now Howard seems content with that situation, and is not counting the number of All-Stars surrounding him.

There is no doubting that Howard was upset that the Magic were not in the hunt for Deron Williams and Gerald Wallace at the trade deadline.

But to assume the Nets or any other second tier team can poach Howard out of Orlando because they have a star on their roster overlooks what Dwight cares about most – winning and competing in the playoffs.

It’s more likely Dwight poaches players to join him in Orlando than it is for players to poach Dwight out of a winning situation into one that’s outside the playoff picture looking in.

If Dwight leaves Orlando, it will be because he believes the team cannot win. As long as Orlando looks like a winner, they still have the best shot at keeping him long term.

No Buyout For Ford: The Indiana Pacers offered to buy out guard T.J. Ford. The deal was on the table, but ultimately Ford passed on the chance to be free of his situation.

Ford made it clear when the offer was made that he would not agree to a buyout unless he had another playing situation lined up, however when Mike Bibby got his release from the Washington Wizards this weekend and gave a verbal commitment to the Miami HEAT the options for Ford closed off quickly and he opted to stay in his existing deal.

"It’s definitely frustrating, because you thought you had some opportunities, but nothing happened," Ford said to Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star. "I just have to keep moving forward and see what the next step is. Miami was my best chance."

"I just want to play," Ford said. "I wanted to play last year, but the trade fell through (at the deadline), so I wasn’t able to move on. Same scenario here."

The Pacers have floated the idea of simply letting Ford return home for the balance of the season rather than forcing the veteran to take part in practices he has no role in or travel with the team he likely will not suit up for.

"It’s something we’ll have to talk about," Ford said. "I show up every day, but I’m not being used in practice. It’s hard when they’re working those guys in and getting those guys reps."

Ford is in the final year of his contract and is slated to earn $8.5 million this season. The Pacers were looking for a modest discount in a buyout agreement and now seem open to simply letting Ford walk away now.

Ford logged his last meaningful minutes on January 28th; the Pacers are 10-6 without Ford in the lineup.

Corey Brewer Ponders Offers: When Corey Brewer asked for his release from the New York Knicks, he had no idea what to expect. There was risk in leaving a team like New York, but it was clear he would get little playing time and for a player looking for his next deal he wanted a chance to play more than a chance to wave a towel in New York.

{AUTHOR_BOX}After gaining his release the unthinkable happened… his phone blew up… Team after team started reaching out, and before it was said and done at least 13 teams have tried to woo Brewer to their cause, some offering pro-rated minimum offers, some offering deals using un-used exception money, some offering deals using available cap space. Some are contending teams, some are non-playoff teams looking to do some early free agent shopping.

It’s been a very college-recruiting type experience for Brewer as he has talked with several team owners and coaches who are trying to convince Brewer to sign with them.

Unlike Mike Bibby who bought his way out of Washington and has clocked in more than $100 million in his NBA career, Corey has yet to land that big NBA payday. As attractive as situations like Boston, San Antonio and Dallas might be to Brewer there is a reality that there could be a work stoppage on the horizon and his choice today might have more to do with the future than with anything else.

Sources close to the situation say Brewer will meet with his advisors this afternoon and see where the offers stand today and possibly make a choice today.

With 13 teams at the table Brewer has his choice of situations, and with that kind of leverage on the table Brewer may end getting a much better deal than he ever envisioned when he asked out of the New York Knicks.

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