CBS Sports: Rockets the most serious "rental" team pursuing Howard

That hurts, Broussard. That hurts.

 

Mannnnnnnnnnnnnnn.. This hurts

 

Still don't quite buy that he's going to sign it. Why wait until 12:30?

 

I guess there is no chance they would trade him anyway? I would definitely at least be thinking about it if I were them... not wanting to go through this again next year...

 

Where do you guys find these, and how do you paste them? Do they paste to FB?

Offtopic...but always have been curious.

 

GM's have staffs and they are all working 20 hours a day. Howard's waffling will not keep deals from being done. It just postpones them.

Dragic to the Lakers for one of their first round draft choices at the deadline. Positives: Nets a first round choice; Almost guarantees a mini tank giving us a 10th - 13th pick in a very deep draft.

I wish

 

So, Orlando shouldn't keep him around b/c they'll have "this" to deal with again next year.

But the Rockets SHOULD go after him on a pure rental in hopes he changes his mind..............for next year.

Got it.

 

Orlando Execs: Dwight, here's the deal. I know you really want us to trade you to New Jersey. But we're not going to trade you in-conference. Its looking like Houston.

Dwight: Houston? Uhm ... you know what. I love my teammates and this city. I think I'll go ahead and opt-in for next year.

Orlando Execs: Sure, Dwight. Sleep on it and we'll get it done tomorrow morning.

 

Why are you telling me this?

 

The Lakers are also said to be in play offering Bynum. The Rockets intrigue with Gasol also is intertwined here because if Howard signs his "opt in" for the final year this morning at 11:30AM CST, then its believed that the Lakers have a fallback offer for Gasol from the Rockets. At least yesterday, Chris Mannix said that is the case and he seemed pretty sure about that.

So heres the likely scenario from each teams perspective-

Lakers- the Lakers want Dwight, if no Dwight is off the table, then I think they trade Gasol right away to Houston. If Dwight decides to opt out, then they will offer Bynum, picks., etc. and try to make a run with Howard, Gasol, Kobe. If they cant get Howard, they need pieces for Gasol, and Houston is there to ablige.

Houston- If Dwight is still on the table, they have a competitive offer out there they can live with. As soon is Dwight is off the table, they have an agreement with LA to move quick on the Gasol deal. Thirdly, I would assume would be secondary small moves to get rid of the 09ers to random teams for picks. I would highly doubt that Martin gets moved. Not enough time to get to the table with another team if the Gasol deal doesn't happen.

 

Rockets have an actual NBA team

Orlando doesn't. They have Dwight Howard and scrubs.

 

If the Rockets pulled off a rental, than we'd be Dwight Howard and scrubs.

 

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WWaLxFIVX1s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

We'd still have a better supporting cast than Orlando's.

 

Did any of you read this article on RealGM about Dwight's Adidas shoe bonus money being tied to making the playoffs?

http://basketball.realgm.com/wireta...as_Bonuses_For_Howard_Tied_To_Making_Playoffs

If this is true, no wonder he doesn't want to be traded, especially to NJ. Their full intent is to lose as many games as possible.

Correction, Adande broke this.


http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/38836/magics-best-way-to-keep-dwight-try-to-trade-him



Magic's best way to keep Dwight? Try to trade him
March, 15, 2012
Mar 155:39AM ETEmailPrintComments18 By J.A. Adande
ESPN.com
Archive As the Dwight Howard saga took one last lap along the curvy road course, with a declaration to RealGM.com of his intent to sign off on a return to Orlando for the final year of his contract (backed up by a source who has spoken to Howard), it turned out that the Magic’s best shot at keeping him was intensifying their efforts to trade him.

That was the Magic’s response to Howard’s statement Tuesday night that he wanted to spend the rest of the season in Orlando and that the Magic should “roll the dice” afterward. Or, perhaps, that was their strategically leaked response. Whatever the actual means, the end was the intended effect.

The Magic forced a resolution by calling Howard on his season-long signals of yearning to make his future home with the Nets by threatening to send him there right away…and letting him watch the playoffs from home. Moving up to New Jersey would move Howard down nine spots in the Eastern Conference standings. He would go from four games behind the Miami Heat for the No. 2 seed to 4 ½ games behind the Milwaukee Bucks for the final playoff spot. And a league source said that missing out on the playoffs would cost Howard significant bonuses from his Adidas contract.

What a great play by the Magic. It seemed to drive home the point they were trying to make all along, that if Howard wants to win a championship the Magic are about as good a short- and mid-term option as he’s got. It didn’t hurt that the Magic racked up victories against the Bulls and Heat in a recent six-day span.

So all of a sudden Howard was willing to consider opting in for the final year of his contract and spending another season in Orlando. That was the only realistic expectation the Magic had. They just wanted to buy some time to see if they could convince Howard to stay even longer. The public waffling by Howard this week is the same sort of alternately encouraging and discouraging signals he’d sent to them in private discussions throughout the season.

With the moment of truth drawing near, Howard says he will sign the waiver of the early termination option on his contract. You can debate whether this whole affair has diminished Howard’s value as a franchise player, but the Magic see him as one, and they have wanted to keep him. It’s looking like they have reached their goal.

 

What exactly do you think Houston would have after an acquisition of Howard?

(answer: Dwight Howard and scrubs)


EDIT: beat to the punch

 

Of course. Because now that he's going to sign the waiver the only team still trying to make offers is probably the Rockets. Everybody else has accepted he isn't going anywhere and has moved on. By default that means if the Magic make the decision to trade him anyway (which I doubt they will) the Rockets are the only ones left crossing their fingers.

 

Yeah, still not true.

I would take any of our rotation players and a couple of our non-rotation players over any of Orlando's barring Howard. They wouldn't all be going out in a trade.