Dwight update: Not close to a trade with Rockets

That should be the Rockets' position, too. They would still have the superior offer.

 

See Donte Green

 

Funny thing is.

Most of the players who turned out well like Love, Blake, Eric Gordon, Aldridge
etc all did well in summerleague.

Donte Greene is not the only guy to have played well in summerleague.

 

Orlando can't be pleased that their leverage plot being outed by insiders.

 

Good post

 

by the way I meant this because his summer league play directly attributed to the artest trade.

 

My suspicion is that some of it may be Dwight's leverage plot and not Orlando's. We're now at basically the same point we were at in early July, but Brooklyn has been replaced by the Lakers (now that Dwight's preference has evolved). The one thing we know from truly connected people (Feigen) is that the Rockets are more interested in Howard themselves than in a 3-way involving Bynum, which Feigen said was "on the backburner".

The idiots at ESPN, who can't understand anything not directly fed to them by Dan Fegan, are making it out to be a competition between the Cavs and Rockets over which is the third-team facilitator. In reality, I think the competition is between the Lakers and Rockets for which team gets Dwight. Dwight, of course, prefers the Lakers. So his team is using the exact same playbook they did during the Brooklyn drama, only this time with LA-CLE-ORL as the alternative to Houston.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Dwight Howard hasn't personally informed the Los Angeles Lakers that he would re-sign next summer, but he's expected to do so very soon.</p>&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/226038439424954368" data-datetime="2012-07-19T19:38:58+00:00">July 19, 2012</a></blockquote>
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... and that changes what?

 

Jason Lloyd
@JasonLloydABJ
Cavaliers beat writer for the Akron Beacon Journal.

Jason Lloyd
David Lee, Bynum's agent, said he was baffled by the recent Yahoo! report that listed Cleveland as a potential destination for Bynum in free agency. "When I read it online I was in Alaska with Andrew and his family ... I was taken aback by the list considering there is nobody in anybody’s camp he could’ve been talking to. I have no idea where that came about."
40 minutes ago

Jason Lloyd
If a deal was close, #Cavs would be allowed (with permission from Lakers) to talk to Bynum's agent. David Lee said so himself. It's common in deals of this magnitude. There have been no talks between #Cavs and Bynum's camp. None

Jason Lloyd
Lee DID NOT say this, but after hanging up with him, I had the distinct impression Bynum is not interested in coming here long term. Again, that is strictly my opinion based on the phone call. The fact is he said they weren't in position to discuss it at this time.
29 minutes ago

 

^^This man knows what he's talking about.


and what do you know... the connected people in Cleveland back this up.

 

Varejao has 2 more years on his contract with a 3rd year team option

 

The Summer League is a showcase for young talent and a chance for marginal NBA roster fodder to try and catch on with a new team.

First round drafts picks had better show something against that level of talent and usually do because the talent level is similar to what they've faced in college.

Terrence Jones is a top recruit, a starter for a championship team, and a top 20 pick. He better put up some numbers.

Lamb is known as a scorer, he better put up some shots.

Now, I think we can all agree that the trained basketball eye learns to look for certain things. With Lamb, you can tell by watching him that his release is mechanical, he glides through the air on dunks, he's just one of those natural born basketball players.

That doesn't guarantee Jeremy Lamb will be the next Ray Allen. He could be a Nick Young who can score when needed but doesn't really add much else to the equation.

There are a lot of variables in play when trying to predict College > Summer League > NBA success.

Donte Greene's performance consisted of him hitting a lot of poorly contested 3s. In the Summer League you better make open jumpers.

That performance also probably played a major factor in Sacramento deciding to deal us Artest for Greene and a perceived late 1st round draft pick (Turned out to be Omri Casspi, who is just not good at all), and a fossilized Bobby Jackson.

So again, there is no exact science to correlating college or summer league performances to professional success because there are too many variables that can come into play during the transition.

Many of us groaned when we drafted Morris because he seemed to be another unfortunate tweener in the Michael Beasley mode, where the game's size and quickness make a transition tough.

Derrick Williams, Michael Beasley, Marcus Morris, Patrick Patterson, Eddie Griffin, Anthony Randolph, Donte Greene. Some of these guys are just too tall for their own good (Greene, Randolph). They're athletic but they can't get into any scoring rhythm or really ever be a go-to player offensively. Beasley was an elite rebounder in college but again... he has no position in the NBA. Williams won't ever be a star either, and neither will Marcus Morris. These types of players will be able to get by on pure talent for a while but eventually their physical tools won't get them where they need to go.

Patterson is a different story, he's a guy who could eventually develop into a starter even though he has a low ceiling. Why? Because he works his ****ing ass off. He's a hustler, a defender, a rebounder, always trying to get in good position. Despite his lack of ideal PF size he is the polar opposite of Marcus Morris.

Well then you have Kevin Durant. 6'10... wiry as ****. Some people said, tweener? But you knew by watching him he was just one of those special players.

Just blessed with an ungodly set of skills. A ridiculous jumper. Separation is simple for him, he can get a shot anytime he wants.

His rookie year wasn't easy though. He scored, but he was abused down low. I don't believe he even had a single double-digit rebound performance. Now he's still wiry but muscular. Now he can get to the rim or settle for the mid range fadeaway, he's got everything in his arsenal like the great ones do.

It really just isn't easy though. Nobody can really predict these things.

 

Andrew Bynum wants Houston moreso then Cleveland I bet. If he had to choose. Same with the Magic.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Even with Dwight Howard committing to re-sign with the Lakers next summer, the ball is still in the Magic's court. We'll see what happens.</p>&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/226039467042021377" data-datetime="2012-07-19T19:43:03+00:00">July 19, 2012</a></blockquote>
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Guys, there are arguments for both sides of the "it's just summer league" debate.

First, I agree that the BEST test is the eyeball test. It's true that we all see Lamb is extremely gifted and makes it look easy.

However, it's true there is VERY little defense played in the summer league.

Remember, Nikoloz Tskitishvili was the leading scorer one year at over 25 pts. per game and Lonnie Jones (who?... I didn't say Mike Jones!) was the leading rebounder with almost 13 a game.

No one knows for sure how our rookies will play when it's for real. Remember Patterson hit two or three 3's in his first summer league game. How many has he hit in "real games"?

Again, it's obvious Lamb, Jones, White and D-Mo are talented. Am I optimistic? Sure.

But, no one knows for sure just how they will pan out at this point.

I think we'd all like to hold on to Lamb and D-Mo. But, I doubt Morey fails to pull the plug on a Dwight or Bynum deal if he has to include ONE of them (also doubt he'd include BOTH in the deal though...lol).

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>It will probably be a few days before Dwight Howard is traded. The Magic will hire a coach (likely Jacque Vaughn) and then weigh options.</p>&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/226042073705480192" data-datetime="2012-07-19T19:53:24+00:00">July 19, 2012</a></blockquote>
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Plus, Orlando knows whoever gets DH instantly becomes much better. I think the trump card here is that toronto pick that is guaranteed to be a lottery pick.

 

So the Lakers trade Bynum and ????? for Howard and additional contracts? DOES NOT WORK. The Lakers probably can't afford to take on more than one bad contract from Orlando. And what does Orlando get out of this? A center with knee problems, no additional young talent, and no valuable picks.

 

I think you are exactly right.

And, when Morey made the move to acquire that, many of us were either screaming or at the least scratching our heads. (I'm pretty much support him, but know I was wondering what his plans were for the PG position when it went down)

 

Let's hope it's not Jeremy Lin. :grin: