Woj: Rockets "frontrunners" for Dwight Howard, Lakers "desperate" to keep him

This.

But for this to happen, Jim will have to take a backseat in Basketball Ops and his in his ego on the basketball side, and even personal side.

Not only is this dude stretching out his sister, he's also stretching their wallet, destroying his authority and completely owning him on his own damn family business. Jim can say what he wants, hire who he wants, but when his own players text the man that rails his sister AND heed advice from...you gotta recognize.

This is where personal feud meets business feuds. Dwight is their resolution or just their victim.

 

As Phil is married to Jeanie Buss it does seem likely that he would come back eventually. I think he would only go back to the Lakers if Dwight agreed to stay and Dwight would only probably stay if Phil coached there. I wonder if he dislikes playing with Kobe enough to leave. I hope that he does.

 

The D'Antoni part doesn't surprise me. Things have been kind of going this way since the recent Phil Jackson (being informal consultant and what not) reports came out.

They will probably tell Dwight that they would fire D'Antoni if Dwight stays-- and actually fire D'Antoni in such an event. They are probably keeping D'Antoni if Dwight leaves, though, as they don't really want to pay a third coach (in addition to what they D'Antoni and Mike Brown).

The Lakers don't seem confident of re-signing Dwight even if they do fire D'Antoni and even if they hire Phil Jackson-- there's that whole other "poor relationship with Kobe" thing and the "aging roster without flexibility" thing which Woj mentioned.

 

I would do this except LA wouldn't lol They won't trade Nash.

 

This has been my feeling all along. Dwight realizes this too. When the Lakers ask him what it would take to re-sign, they will cut D'Antoni if Dwight makes that a condition.

But he won't because he doesn't want more blood on his hands after the SVG debacle. If the Lakers were "all in" to bring Dwight back, they would have fired D'Antoni after the Spurs series to take the pressure off him.

The Rockets going first gives them the opportunity to nuke the competition and make the other presentations mere formalities.

Guys, Phil won't return to the Lakers as head coach. That ship has sailed. He's done.

 

Yeah but they're expendable.

 

Sounds like Dwight wants OUT of LA. I'm more concerned about Cuban.

 

Lakersground is starting to psychologically minimize the impact of the loss of D12 and the team they think the Rockets will be with D12.

What struck me that I didn't know for sure.....300 million viewers during the regular season?!?! MAN there's like 320 million people TOTAL in the US. That's ridiculous.....serious market opportunity out there.

 

I want Dwight on this team badly, but I'm curious if some people will think it a HUGE failure of Morey if Dwight stays a Laker or goes somewhere else. I think it would be bad but not that big a deal if Dwight isn't a Rocket. Where ever he goes Dwight will take years to be in contention again while the Rockets will/could scoop up any number of high profile free-agents in the coming years to make the Rockets contenders.

Morey has done everything but be a used care salesman in his pitches to high-profile targets.

 

Woj updates Rockets as for sure front runners.

Spoiler

 

We are looking good.

James Harden, Chandler Parsons and Dwight Howard... :grin:

Choose the next few rotation players carefully. I, for one, would like to keep Omer Asik for the inevitable playoff battle where we will NEED another stud paint defender off the bench. I would also love to see Terrence Jones and Thomas Robinson running amok and holding down our PF spot. Defense, Rebounding, and running the floor like beasts on Dwight outlet passes. A stretch four is nice, but I am more a fan of the Otis Thorpe style PF.

Interested to see If Lin/Bev have made any improvements. If not, I can't help but look over at one of those Raptor guards (Calderon/Lowry) that are ready for this kind of situation.

 

Exactly. My feeling for weeks is that the "demanding Phil" rumor is a bit of a red herring -- a way for him to exit while making the Lakers organization look like the bad guys. Even if Phil returns, the situation isn't appreciably different. They're more than "Phil magic" away from consistent title contention. They're not a contender next year, Gasol is still probably gone (due to financial reasons), and Phil won't be able to stay with the team in its next phase due to health. It's a convenient excuse.

 

Honestly, I think it's likely Dwight stays in LA and the Lakers fire D'Antoni right after the pen hits the paper.

 

Someone from our PF stock has to be out to make room for Dwight.

 

Woj is reporting it. This is the first time I've felt confident about this.

 

Lin going nowhere.

 

I bet all 300 million viewers wonder why McHale don't like Lin lol

 

Or Jeremy Lin.

 

Idk I just thinks it's our year the stars have finally aligned *knock on wood*