http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/34685/what-will-magic-want-for-dwight "Marc Stein of ESPN reports that the Magic would prefer to receive "multiple established veterans" in any trade for Dwight Howard." "Yet I have heard from multiple teams observing the Dwight Sweepstakes suggest that the best offer Orlando is likely to see could be a three-way deal reminiscent of the trade construction that the Lakers and Houston Rockets hatched in their near-trade for CP3 that was ultimately vetoed by NBA commissioner David Stern in his role as the Hornets' stand-in owner. If the Lakers reach the point that they're willing to give up both Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol in a three-way Dwight deal with the Rockets, Orlando could conceivably come away with Bynum, Luis Scola and Kevin Martin, with Gasol landing in Houston as he would have in the original Paul trade. That would undoubtedly be a strong trio to start over with, in addition to shedding Turkoglu and perhaps Duhon, who are both signed through the 2013-14 season at a combined cost of roughly $45 million." "Marc Stein of ESPN reports that the Magic would prefer to receive "multiple established veterans" in any trade for Dwight Howard." Rather than us being the 3rd wheel, we would of course, prefer a scenario where we would land Dwight Howard. Will Dwight consider playing for the Rockets? That's the million dollar question. We all know Morey has the pieces for such a deal.
Morey's only way to get his "star" player is to be the facilitator in a 3 way deal. Although Gasol and Lee in place of Martin and Scola will make this team much more rounded, on both ends.
He really doesn't. As much as we'd like to think it Scola and Martin have nowhere near the trade value of a Gasol and Bynum. I really see no point in making the trade for Gasol now that there will be no Nene signing, no Chuck Hayes re-signing, and no other free agents tempted to join that big man combo. I'd rather keep those two and trade them for draft picks or young talent, if we end up bombing this season. Plus Howard would not wanna come to Houston, unless we have another established borderline star to pair him with and the Lakers still have that.
I dont know. Sammy is a way better defensive player then Nene and could make make for a strong defensive paint with Gasol.
Gasol again, no thank you. I hope Dwight will be different and remain in Orlando, at least he will have my respect unlike Carmelo, Chris Paul, Lebron, Bosh and whoever else. Joining other 'stars' just for a championship is a loser concept and comes with a loser mentality. Olajuwon, MJ, David Robinson and Kobe all did it the right way - let the team's build a squad around them.
Facilitate a Dwight trade to the Lakers? We're seeing how much of a difference maker CP3 is to the Clippers. The Lakers were better than Clippers even without Pau and Odom. CP3 was so underrated on this board.
I think it's unfair to compare Olajuwon, the admiral, MJ, etc... to the modern NBA star. I mean it's unfair, but today these players create a brand for themselves and can make a fortune in other avenues besides playing. Moving to a bigger market would only make the rich richer. I wouldn't fault Dwight one bit for wanting to bolt to LA.
See, this is what I've been saying all along. The Lakers are trying to get by with dealing Bynum and trash for Dwight and Hedo. Orlando knows that we would give them Scola, Martin, plus youngsters and picks and expirings (Dally/Thabeet/Dragic) and take back Duhon, JRich, and Hedo along with Dwight to get a deal done. The answer is obvious. Our deal would trump LA's deal.....unless LA adds Pau to the package and trades Orlando both Bynum and Pao. And then it's still questionable whether Orlando is better positioned going forward with those two or with our youngsters, cap space, and going to the lottery for a quick rebuild. By the same token, we should be able to field this team after we made a massive trade for Dwight Kyle Lee Hedo Dwight Motiejunas with a bench of Duhon JRich Parsons/QRich Greg Smith or some other vet like Dampier or Przybilla signed for the minimum whatever else and that's a worse case scenario if we threw everything but the kitchen sink at Orlando to get Dwight here. That's a pretty interesting starting 5. Hopefully Motie could come right back over from Europe and jump into the team. So, Orlando would have to choose between the Lakers offer and ours. That is.....if the Lakers were willing to give up both Bynum and Pau. New Jersey can't match either of those offers.
Yes - let's help the Lakers reload for the next title run while we gut the team for a Robin in search of a Batman.
IMO, Kobe, Pau, Bynum>>Kobe, Dwight, Hedo... Right now, the Lakers are second fiddle in the town until they land Dwight. They will lose both Pau and Bynum because they are attention whores. As far as I'm concerned, they aren't going to win squat as long as Mike Brown is their coach.
It is fair because in both cases it's indeed a case of being rich and wanting to be richer. I understand Howard wanting to leave, because like Lee recently said, they broke up that 2009 team that went to the finals. However to want to join Kobe in LA, Durant in Oklahoma, Nowitzki in Dallas, Stoudemire and Carmelo in New York or any other you can think of is weak. I would like Howard is doing, ask management to go for some good veterans so they make a serious playoff run. If management cannot pull this off I would go where I would be most needed and a team that is already good. Nobody would go to a bad team that needs at least a few more years to compete, he might as well stay in Orlando. Some teams that could use him and have some nice talent are teams like the 76ers, Kings, Twolves or Blazers (maybe Nuggets). All these teams have proven players, some great young talent and would become contenders within 1-2 years if he would join. I am a Rockets fan and even though he would go to a big city in Houston and have some nice young players around them, I would not join the Rockets as of right now. Maybe if Lee would become the starter, Williams gets his head on straight, Patterson becomes important off the bench like Landry and Lowry & Scola would have the same numbers as last year, I would consider. He knows Lee, would get a big man's coach in McHale though he would be a deal breaker right now since he hasn't proven anything, would get a great PG in Lowry, and a hard ass worker in Scola who I think everybody would love to play with.
If Atlanta is willing to trade Joe Johnson and either Horford or Smith for Dwight/Hedo without having Dwight signed long term, that's a very interesting proposal.
I agree with the Mike Brown comment (though he can be replaced if it doesn't work) and I can see what you are saying about the players but Howard is a superstar...a young superstar. Those are the players you build around. It's hard-to-impossible to get the Batmans. It's easy to get the Robins and Catwomans once you have the Batman (especially in LA). FAs would come calling. LA would be trading out a downside PF and an injury prone C for their new foundation while we get the downside PF to go with our 09ers. Not smart IMO.
It's Marc Stein's fault for writing this... Although, I wonder now that LA has gone through 3 of Bynum's 5 suspended games, this nightmarish proposal will pick up speed.
It's the same song with different words. The Clippers trade has proven otherwise. The Lakers would have gotten better with CP3 and would get better with Howard.
