If "everything about the Nets is targeted toward the future," then Brook Lopez's foot injury cannot be good news

In his 12/22/11 Grantland article, A Week With the New Jersey Nets: Our man in the Tri-State Area spends some time with Avery Johnson and his team, Jonathan Abrams explains:

Everything about the Nets is targeted toward the future: next year's move to Brooklyn, the retention of Deron Williams past this season, the luring of Dwight Howard, even majority owner Mikhail Prokhorov's bid to become the future president of Russia. Looking over the current roster, it is hard to imagine who, exactly, might be present after the move. Williams, certainly and hopefully. Rookie guard MarShon Brooks will probably be there as well. The rest of the roster is subject to being traded at a whim, having their contracts expire, or being cut before the end of camp.

How's that going? In recent weeks, there have been more than a few stories and tweets indicating that the Nets were Magic center Howard's first choice, part of a trade that had to include Nets center Brook Lopez. But Magic brass chose not to make a deal, so Nets strategists--who do have cap space and draft picks--must wait.

And, as No Land Grab's Eric McClure noted, the bad news for the Nets this week was not the booing of forward Kris Humphries (whose hoops skills far exceed his judgment in participating in for-the-camera weddings).

Rather, it was Lopez's stress fracture in his foot, which the Times deemed "a twin blow to the Nets’ prospects this season and their hopes of landing Dwight Howard."