Kobe Injured - How does this affect DHoward's Free Agency? Houston?

All they have to do is miss the playoffs and they will somehow end up with the first overall pick

 

His contract with us would almost certainly be a 4 year with a 3rd year option to further minimise his risk (and yes Morey would give him that) and allow him to Bird rights a bigger resigning by opting out after year 3 (year 4 would exist purely as an insurance year).

 

And with the first pick of the draft, the Phoenix suns select ?

 

As Bima has mentioned, I think Pau wouldnt be a bad one year stop gap to get us from point A to point B(Kevin Love??)

I think Dwight stays in LA...
and so does CP3...

The Lakers are going to look to fire-sell Pau...The Rockets should seriously consider picking him up on the cheap(not in terms of his contract, but in terms of his trade value)...It makes the Rockets better...I just have no clue how the Rockets can make that work...

Asik
Pau
Parsons
Harden
Lin

 

Dwight is hungry for a ring, that's what made him leave Orlando in the first place. He's not going to get one in LA. Unless his priorities have changed, he will be a Rocket. Just hope that he doesn't cause any drama in our locker room.

 

Dwight Howard strikes me like a guy who wants everything: money, popularity, winning, lack of responsibility, glory, everything. And he gets annoyed when he has to choose among the above.

Therefore I cannot say what he's going to do, because there's no option in which he can get everything. Last season, a trade to the Lakers make the best sense for him because he could basically have everything. But now he has to choose. In LA, he gets the most money, the most endorsement, most popularity, but has to go back to being the man again on what should be a .500 team. In Houston, Howard will enjoy winning, much less responsibility with Harden, much friendlier media, but less money and smaller market.

But regardless of what fans think, I bet anything Morey is at Howard's doorsteps at 12:00 a.m. the day of FA to offer him a max contract.

 

If the Lakers amnesty Kobe, does this reduce their payroll to the point where they can do sign and trade deals? I.E. Gasol to Atlanta for Josh Smith in a sign in trade. That would be a deal that could potentially placate Dwight.

 

Look, I love Asik. He's been awesome this year, and I'd be totally content hanging on to him for the long term. But Dwight is a no-brainer if you have the opportunity. Even in his injured, hobbled state, he's extremely effective. He has great hands too, and powers down when he can. He does everything Asik does, but much, much better.

 

Why would Howard leave a core that includes such young great as Steve Blake, Jodie Meeks, Robert Sacre and Jordan Hill?

 

Dwight was drafted as a power forward

 

from what I understand its not just based where you live the tax is based on where you play so its half nothing due to Houston then half other states taxes. And if he resigns the Lakers literally have just Dwight under contract in 2014. Nash will be cut with the stretch provision.
2014 is the year LeBron and many others are available. They could easily get 2 stars to come to los Angeles. Guys don't have to be traded there to play like in Houston , they will run to the opportunity to play .in los Angeles

 

I agree. I've also read that he's a total clown in the locker room, always wanting to play around and never ready to get serious about anything. It was really pissing off Kobe earlier this year.

Sure, Dwight's better than Asik, but I don't think he's enough of an improvement to warrant that max contract.

 

There was already tons of uncertainty in LA before Kobe's injury. How would the Lakers rebuild around Dwight if Kobe retired after next season? Now Kobe likely won't even play.

We have a shot at Howard, we're just not the frontrunner. And we can still make ourselves even more attractive. We have the pieces and flexibility to trade for someone Howard likes, should he decide to sign here. I've said before that we should SnT for Josh Smith, who is a good friend of Dwight's and only 27 years old.

Lin
Harden
Parsons
Smith
Howard

In our pitch to Dwight, we have to promise a championship contender for the next four years, not within the next four. The Lakers, even with all their money, don't have the flexibility to promise that.

 

This is what i was thinking.

 

If the coach gets fired after the season Howard stays either way Rockets Mavs and ATL are going after him hard

 

Man, I would love to get Howard AND Gasol. Not sure if that would be possible though.

 

I don't believe he does. In my opinion, dwight really isn't as hungry for a title as he makes it seem. He loves LA because of the whole Hollywood aspect to it. He wanted a big market team. He knows he has a better chance with Houston than LA to win the title in the near future, but he will still stay in LA.

If he really cared about winning like he says he does, he could have quite easily made it known that he would have been open to accepting a trade to the Bulls or Thunder. Bulls could have gave up Noah/Boozer and the Thunder could have and would have (would have last year) gave up Harden/Ibaka. Both those trades would have worked great for the Magic compared to what they actually got (especially the Harden/Ibaka trade).

Of course now, seeing how good Harden is, I would much rather keep Harden and Ibaka than howard, but at the time it was very much possible.

Howard will never win a ring in LA. Again, if he really wanted a ring, he could have teamed up with Rose in Chicago or with Westbrook/Durant in OKC. Too bad his ego got in the way of making that happen.

 

If anything, this will only solidify DHoward's staying with LA.

People forget that Orlando won quite a few playoff games with DHoward and a bunch of no-bodies. The Lakers didn't win anything with Bryant, until they had Shaq, then Pau.

The Lakers will be a better team without Bryant, they just need a couple average SG who can make outside shots, and slash to the hoop.

 

Howard is gonna stay in LA and Gasol is gonna be traded

 

Via LG:

Marc Stein: "Houston and Dallas are counting that if the Lakers don't make the playoffs they believe they have a better shot at trying to convince Dwight, and Houston has a young star in Harden to build around. But speaking with those around the league, the belief is that the Lakers are still the favorites to retain Dwight."

Chris Broussard: "Lakers can offer him the most, I also think Lakers are the front runners for Dwight."

Stephen A. Smith: "From what I know is that Dwight is happy in LA, he doesn't want to live in Houston. Dwight loves the city (LA), he loves the franchise, he believes in Mitch Kupchak, and everything points to the Lakers being Dwight's first choice."​