Why would Houston do a sign and trade for Howard when they can sign him outright? The 5th year doesn't come with the trade right? So unless Houston can't dump enough money for a max contract (which sounds like it can easily be done), then S&T makes no sense...
To make room for the next deal apparently. If we go for Josh Smith, I can't imagine why we wouldn't try to facilitate the S&T through Atlanta and avoid helping a western conference team. The best case scenario for us is to get 2 of Dwight, Paul, and Smith to commit to us, and use other teams as leverage to force a S&T. i.e. Dwight and Paul both want to be here, we call up both LA teams offering Asik + Lin to the first team that accepts, and the other team gets nothing. If we were to Sign Dwight and then afterwards try to get CP3 or Smith on board, their respective teams have a little more leverage (though not much because the players can just walk away).
DD you know that they got rid of the ability to get the 5 year deals in a SnT. Dwight does not benefit from this anymore.
Wow you're right. Because parsons is in Florida right now, of course he can't make plans to meet with Dwight in a few weeks! You know, because people can fly on planes.
Makes perfect sense since Harden/Parsons are probably the 2 most untouchable players on the roster. But i still have my doubts as to whether this guy is even legit.
Haha. I like this analogy. But I hope you're wrong cuz those girls never change, and you tell yourself if she was with me it would be different, but it never is.
There are tons of reasons for Howard to stay in LA... money, fame, attention... all that kind of stuff. But if he is just looking at it from a basketball perspective, and at a "I want to have fun again" perspective, than Houston makes the most sense for him. We have a young aspiring team with a legit #1 option. And if we sign him, we can use Asik in a trade for a great PF like J. Smith... The question is: how fast can LA rebuild? Next season it`s all up to Bryant - can he come back and can he come back as his old self? If yes, they might be able to contend. And after that, they have a ton of cap space - could LeBron, Bosh decide to take their talents there? It`s possible, but unlikely. I don`t really think Dwight will leave, but there is a good argument to be made here for him coming to Houston...
The tight lipped Rockets can't seem to keep anything from CyberX! They show him their revenue numbers (which the league has fought letting agents see for years) they leak their television negotiations, free agent plans, contract information for current players, etc.
In the end I see Dwight staying in LA. History has shown that players very rarely leave the Lakers on their own terms. To be honest I can't think of one worthy player who left the lakers. Could be wrong, didn't think about it much. Odom asked for a trade actually, but remember when he was a free agent with them before that? He could have gotten more money elsewhere and the front office publicly humiliated him and he went crawling back.
listen, we get it, at this point you're beating a dead horse. We get it, you don't think he's an insider, despite Dave2000 vouching for him and clutch leaving his threads open, as Rockets2k pointed out way earlier in the thread. Like it's cool we get it.
Bill Simmons made an interesting point in the player ranking article. It's not likely to happen although from a business standpoint one should look at it. http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9261768/nba-trade-value-part-3 Don't rule out Chris Paul becoming a Laker next year. Here's how they could pull it off: If they amnestied Kobe Bryant, then traded Pau Gasol to Houston for a dirt-cheap salary (say, Donatas Motiejunas), they'd suddenly be lopping close to $49 million off next year's cap, leaving them with commitments to Metta World Peace, Steve Nash, Steve Blake, Chris Duhon, Jordan Hill, and Gasol's cheap replacement for less than $30 million. That's more than enough to sign Chris Paul and re-sign Dwight Howard if they took a little less … which they might, since it's the Lakers and all.
LOL hey its all up in the air. These experts can speculate and start rumors all day long, dont mean it is going to come true. I dont recall anybody saying the Rockets were going to get Harden.
They just talked about it on ESPN. I guess posting here that basically they threw the idea out there that the Lakers could Amnesty Kobe and trade Gasol to sign Paul (which would likely keep Dwight in LA.) Then said that it would be better for Dwight basketball wise if he goes to houston. Should add that they all thought Paul wouldn't leave the Clippers any ways. So it takes a lot for that scenario to happen. *Chris Paul has to leave the Clippers. *Lakers have to Amnesty Kobe...which would be a stain on the new ownership there to just amnesty a guy that carried your franchise for over a decade. *Trade Gasol which would be the easiest thing to do.
LOL @ amnesty Kobe. Bill Simmon is a Lakers hater and he is just playing armchair GM. It will never happen, at least not for CP3. If you are talking about LeBron, maybe. CP3 never went beyond second round while Kobe is one of the greatest Lakers who is still a top 15 player.