Would you trade Dwight Howard for Kevin Love? (The question assumes that Dwight will opt-in if given the option to play his contract year with LeBron James, including a likely trip back to the NBA finals.)
56% would trade Ariza/Dwight for Love Cavs, however, would not make that trade. They have no use for Dwight Howard.
I'll go out on a limb, and say that considering that most (if not all) are hoping that D12 opts out - and walks away for nothing... yeh, I think people would be ok getting Love for virtually nothing... lol
I would disagree. It is easy to forget the days of Chuck Hayes and Kelvin Cato - and I LOVED Hayes. I believe Dwight is harder to replace than Kevin Love. Now, does that mean I think Dwight is the answer? No. But, Kevin Love is strange because he requires the same kind of offensive problem that Dwight does without the defensive presence.
I voted yes cause Dwight is leaving but I don't think KLove makes us a better team and I do think he makes far too much money Rocket River Can I change my vote. .
Not sure why any team in the NBA would want Dwight Howard. His main selling point is supposed to be defense, and the Rockets were a bad defensive team while paying him 22 million to 'anchor' their bad defense. When you add in his deficiencies on offense, drama, and mental weakness, why would any team want this guy? As far as Love, he seems like an obvious target for the Rockets. Maybe try to sign Horford and trade for Love using cap space and Ariza, etc. Love and MDA seem like a great match.
I'd prefer the flexibility to sign multiple players than trading for love who's been a non factor on team with other stars when it matters most.
I forget that Beverley, harden, Ariza and the shell of Dmo were all NBA defensive players. Oh wait they weren't? The rockets had bad team defense and depending on one person to 'anchor' the defense is stupid for any team. Who anchors san Antonio? Who anchors Dallas? Who anchors golden state? The rockets defense was very bad collectively. Switch on everything? That allowed the opponents to get every matchup they wanted. Harden certainly isn't going to chase a jj redick or Thompson through any screens. It ended up being wing loses his defensive assignment and expects Howard to cover both his man and wing man. If you think Howard can guard a center/forward and a guard then you simply have unrealistic expectations. With a better defensive system we wouldn't have been so bad. We still have a huge hole at the 4. If Durant leaves and doesn't join us then I'd love to steal Ibaka. Depending on what we do this off season I'd certainly do what I could to get him. Howard and Ibaka in the front court would be absolutely brutal. Ibaka could play center in small ball lineups with maybe Jared Dudley at the 4. I can't wait to see how it all plays out. Also I think Howard stays because he's not going to get $23mill anywhere else. Unless these supposed changes to hacking turn out to be super beneficial.
Who is paid 22 million on those teams predominantly for defense? If you're spending that money and your defense is terrible, you're wasting your money, period. You've done a bad job at selling Howard as a player to be acquired in trade.
I'm not that big of a fan of Love for the Rockets. He makes too much money and his defense isn't very good. He just doesn't seem, IMO, to be a good counterpart to Harden. That said, assuming Dwight would just walk away for nothing, I would trade him for any other asset.
