Even Dirk himself has been publicly questioning Cuban's decisions, he dumped a championship team to pursue future flexibility, and essentially pissed away the last good years of Dirk's career. Then came the whole amnesty Kobe.
Don't think Howard has had his fill of former stars now on their last legs getting injured all the time?
Even if they managed to get rid of Marion, they're still at $32m, if they somehow managed to get rid of everyone but Dirk, they're still at $27m
Like I said, it would be difficult. But teams have a way of making these things work. Brooklyn adding joe Johnson along with resigning Gerald Wallace and Lopez extension. Lakers getting Howard and Steve Nash didn't seem possible before they did. Again, I know it's a different situation, but with maybe each player giving up a little dough, (which can be offset by the Texas tax), it's not impossible.
Then I would say it is just as likely that we end up w/ CP3 and D12. At least I can plot a path there already, and I have like 1/1000th the know-how of Morey haha.
The amnesty Kobe comment I thought was quite fair. He wasn't saying LAL would do it -- he just meant, for financial and practical reasons, it was something they SHOULD entertain, if emotions were not a factor. Emotions are. He was simply pointing out the rather obvious, imo.
2008 http://sworlandoblog.com/2008/12/08/dwight-howard-leaves-windermere-behind/#more-1819 http://www.vrtourproductions.com/viewer/Default.asp?System=1&dbTourID=1497&ImageSize=1
I get people's skepticism regarding Dwight's attitude and injury issues, but I think he knows it's last chance saloon for him. Wherever he goes now, he has to commit and he has to find a way to make it work. He's already got a negative reputation as a whinger and this is going to affect his marketability and endorsements, and despite whatever you might have heard, players do care about how they are perceived by the majority of fans. I think this will force him to behave in a more team oriented fashion. I agree with those that say that we have to pull the trigger on Dwight, whatever the risks.
This rumor that Dwight wrote a $20 million check for a mansion in LA made the rounds pretty good last year but it was never verified. And it would be easy enough to verify. They know his address where he was living during the season. Look it up. So, I doubt it is true until proven otherwise.
I'd be excited to have Dwight come here, but In Morey I Trust. I.e, Dwight might cost $20 million a year. Maybe for the same money we can get two players at excellent prices, the equivalent of Tony Parker and Al Jefferson (were Parker available, of course). That would be keeping Asik, plus as many of our young PFs as we think we should.
That's grasping at straws. If he plays for the Lakers, 60% of his games (or more) will be in California, so he'll still have to pay the Cali income tax on all that income. Not only that if he actually stays in Cali for 9 months, he's automatically considered a resident there. Not only that, any other income he earns while in Cali (endorsements, etc.) is considered income taxable. Dwight's salary is $20 million and will go up from there. But that's just his player salary. When you consider all his endorsements and outside business dealings, that's where the big money is. Which brings us full circle to last year's discussions: ADIDAS The wild rumor was that if Dwight was in Brooklyn or LA, his Adidas contract doubled over any other place. If that is true, that is a substantial difference. The other part of the equation was that Dwight signed a 6-yr extension with Adidas in 2007. So if that was 6 years from 2007 then his Adidas deal is coming to and end now. And if that is so, then it could be a major she endorsement war emerging between Nike and Adidas for Dwight's services. Harden and Lin both endorse Nike as does Kobe. But Kobe is getting old. I can see Nike going after Dwight hard. Nike may be willing to pay Dwight what Adidas isn't offering to get Dwight away from Adidas. That would mean Dwight either staying in LA with Adidas......or ....... Adidas having to match a Nike offer with Dwight playing in Houston......or.....Adidas losing Dwight altogether to Nike. So, in my opinion, if Dwight's she deal with Adidas is actually done ending this year, then I can see that playing in nicely with Dwight coming to Houston. Nike's main basketball sponsor is Lebron and he ain't in NY or LA. LI-NING Straight out of China, they just signed DWade away from Nike last year. They gave him an equity stake. If they are successful, Wade could become earn almost a billion dollars. ANTA and PEAK Also Chinese up and comers. They signed players like Battier and Scola when Yao was here. Yao, of course, was tied to Reebok and his foot problems really didn't help Reebok sell shoes. I bring up these companies because one or more of them is going to succeed. China is 1 billion people folks. I kept trying to make this point about Dwight coming to Houston before. He's going to have a ton of opportunities GLOBALLY. That's way better than LA. And really those opportunities increase exponentially with winning. Here's the bottom line: 1. Dwight is going to pay his fair share of taxes no matter where he goes. 2. But he's gonna pay way more in taxes by working out of California. 3. He will have global opportunities no matter where he plays and those opportunities will increase exponentially the more he wins. 4. Because of Yao.....and now Jeremy Lin.....the HOUSTON ROCKETS are the hotbed of China. Sure, Kobe and Lebron are wildly popular over there. That's because they won championships. Yao, Lin, TOYOTA CENTER...don't forgot those things.
