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NBA Training Camp Notes: Dwight Howard To New Jersey?

Dwight Howard: Heading To New Jersey? The Dwight Howard rumor mill is turning yet again. This time, John Ireland, Lakers play-by-play man is turning the wheels: tonight on ESPN 710, the Lakers' play-by-play man said he expects the Nets and Magic to complete a trade involving Howard by tomorrow. The Magic recently rejected a trade in which they would send Howard for Brook Lopez and five first round picks (every other year from 2012 through 2020), so one would imagine the Nets would somehow have to sweeten that deal, and I'm not quite sure what kind of asset New Jersey can dangle there -- they already traded most of their young assets to Utah to acquire Deron Williams. We'll see if Ireland was right or if this is just another loud rumor.



But if Howard does end up in New Jersey, the partnership with Williams could yield great dividends for Howard's fantasy owners. Despite middling point guard play over the past few years (sorry, Jameer Nelson), Howard has managed to keep his shooting percentage around 60|PERCENT| and points per game around 20 despite the general lack of offensive help. With a player like Williams -- probably one of the top three point guards in the NBA -- Howard's game could reach new heights in New Jersey (and later, Brooklyn).



Arron Afflalo: Five years, $43 million from Denver. The Nuggets reached a deal with Afflalo to keep him in Denver until 2017 Monday night. The restricted free agent put up his best season yet in 2010-11, scoring 12.6 points per game with 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game as well. Make no mistake: Afflalo is a specialist, and his game is the three. He average a three-pointer ever 22 minutes on the floor and does so extremely efficiently. For the third straight season, he drilled over 40|PERCENT| of his three-point attempts and now owns a career mark of 40.8|PERCENT|. His fantasy value for anything other than threes is marginal -- he shoots too many threes to have a good overall field goal percentage and he doesn't get to the line enough for his excellent shooting to help much there. But he'll serve you well if you use him for his specialty, both on the court and on a fantasy roster.



Bismack Biyombo: Out of Spanish contract. Biyombo had yet to join Bobcats camp due to an ongoing dispute with his Spanish team, which claimed his contract with them was binding. The team and Biyombo have reached a settlement in which Biyombo will have to pay the club $1.5 million dollars for the right to break the contract. As such, Biyombo joined Bobcats camp Monday but was held out of Charlotte's preseason game. The missed training camp will likely hurt the young rookie's chances of big early minutes, but it's a far sight better than the initial prediction of 18 months out of the NBA.



Baron Davis: Officially signed with Knicks The addition of Boom Dizzle AKA BDiddy is now official, but due to a herniated disk he won't be able to play for eight-to-ten weeks. Toney Douglas and Mike Bibby will retain the point guard duties for now.



Kemba Walker: 18 points in debut. Although Bismack Biyombo wasn't able to play, the Bobcats' other top pick was in action and led all scorers in Monday's game against the Hawks. Walker struggled from the field, only hitting 4-of-13 shots, but he managed to get to the line 11 times in just 19 minutes of action, hitting nine of the free throws. An ability to consistently draw fouls would be huge for Walker's scoring ability in the NBA -- the rookie shot 82|PERCENT| in his final season at UConn and should be able to do similarly well at the NBA level.