Deron Williams Stays With Nets; Jason Terry Signs With Boston

A picture can say a thousands words. But in some cases, all you need is six, and people all over the 30-mile radius in the Northeast United States that constitutes the range of the only Nets fans in the world were hyped after Deron Williams took to Twitter last night. His words, “Made a very difficult decision today …” were followed by a picture of the Nets logo. The contract will include $98 million over five years, a chance to pair with Joe Johnson and possibly Dwight Howard and his binky, as well as a lifetime supply of Mikhail Prokhorov‘s angry Russian bodyguards (okay that probably wasn’t in the deal). Why’d he spurn his hometown contenders? More money (Dallas could only offer $75 million over four years), and Williams has also been impressed with what Brooklyn has done so far this summer. They’ve re-signed Gerald Wallace, added Joe Johnson and Reggie Evans, and reached a verbal agreement with talented Bosnian stretch forward Mirza Teletovic. While the return of Williams wasn’t exactly a surprise, the fact that Jason Kidd isn’t following him to Brooklyn is somewhat surprising. The two have been inseparable for the past few weeks, with Kidd trailing Williams like paparazzi. For some reason, he seemed very excited about being D-Will’s GA assistant for the upcoming season. Instead, ESPN reports his decision will likely come down to New York and Dallas … You know who feels really awful about this? Toronto. The aftershock of Williams’ choice means that Dallas now shifts their focus completely to Steve Nash. If you’re the Canadian, how can you turn down a chance to go back to the Mavs and help them make a deep run in the playoffs? Nash is sure to get Dallas’s best pitch as they’re reeling a little bit right now. Last summer, we spent time up at Reebok Headquarters with a bunch of their pro guys like Jameer Nelson, John Wall, Ramon Sessions and Jason Terry. Everyone had some interesting things to say, but what stuck with us was how much Terry wanted to finish his career in Dallas. He talked about the rafters, retired jerseys, championships, and how rare it is for one player to spend the majority of his career with one team. Of course, this was immediately after Dallas busted out the George Foreman Grills, laced the kabobs with a little bit of Heat and some Thunder and then proceeded to completely devour everything in sight. Maybe he was on a championship high, still drunk off a mix of champagne and LeBron James failure? But we never thought we’d be seeing Jason Terry’s annoying “JET on the runway” dance anywhere outside of Big D. The Mavs have basically already wished him good luck on the way out the door, and Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski reports the team is thinking about taking a step back this year, clearing cap space and going after Howard and CP3 next year … Keep reading to hear where Jason Terry is going …

It was reported yesterday that Jason Terry is closing in on a deal with the Boston Celtics for three years, and it is believed to be for the full $5 million mid-level exception. During his career in Dallas, Terry had a ton of memorable moments (we have his top five plays by the way). But how many people forget the time he got himself suspended for one pivotal playoff game (Game 6, 2006 Western Conference Semifinals) because he punched Michael Finley in the man region? Hilarious because it was just so unnecessary … This doesn’t mean Ray Allen is out though. Boston still plans on offering him a deal to get Jesus back in the fold, and if they do that, all of a sudden their bench is pretty dangerous. A backcourt of Rondo and Bradley, with Allen and Terry off the bench? That’s about as good as you’re gonna get … Who wants to talk Dwight Howard? No one? As sick as we are of the whole situation, it appears talks with the Lakers are circling back around again. Andrew Bynum is the one player Orlando really covets, according to Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, and the Lakers believe that once they got Superman involved in their culture, their history and Hollywood, he wouldn’t ever want to leave for less money. It’s still a long ways off, but we’re betting Dwight Howard is in one of two places by this time next year: Brooklyn, or with the Lakers. Okay, moving on … Landry Fields agreed to a three-year, $20 million deal with the Raptors. Fields is a decent player, but we have a feeling there’s more to this than just his jumper. Jared Zwerling of ESPN New York reports this drastically hurts New York’s chances of getting Steve Nash because they apparently can’t trade him once they match (if they do) the offer sheet. Fields was one of the players most often linked in a sign-and-trade with Phoenix. Put two and two together? The Raptors are trying to pull a fast one on the Knicks to knock them out of the Nash sweepstakes … Brandon Roy is still angling to get back into the NBA, and after we broke down the five places we think would be the best fits, Cleveland is now looking like a possible destination. Nothing is imminent, but the two sides are interested. Could this work in a backcourt with Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters? … And ESPN’s Marc Stein reports that Houston withdrew their qualifying offer to Courtney Lee, which makes him an unrestricted free agent and immediately thrusts him into the center of the “most likely to be grossly overpaid” clan … We’re out like Dallas’s title aspirations.