[CBS Sports] Howard no lock for Lakers; interested in Rockets

Lin is not Yao. His popularity in China is no where NEAR that of Yao. The dude matters far more for Asian Americans and Taiwanese people than the Chinese.
To be a popular athlete in China you need to be 1) Chinese or 2) a super star at your sport. Lin is neither
When Yi Jianlian joined NBA he was far more popular than Lin's currently in China. If Yi's popularity can get his team mates back than endorsement deals with Chinese companies what makes you think Lin will fair better? The US media constantly use data such as Lin's 3 million fans/followers on Weibo (Chinese Twitter) as proof of Lin's popularity in China, but to put things in perspective Yi Jianlian have 11 million fans/followers

 

Dwight's much lower endorsement is probably a result of all that dwightmare bad publicity.

 

Max Luckan ‏@MaxLuckan 5m
At least one person involved with Dwight Howard believes that Howard will decide between the Lakers and Rockets sooner rather than later.
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10:14 PM - 21 May 13 · Details

 

Howard will need a few years in LA with positive feedback before large companies will be willing to fork out a big endorsement deal for him in the same vein as CP3's State Farm campaign. Not sure the Lakers fans have accepted him yet as a Laker let alone his celebrity status in a big market.

In the meantime, Howard has filmed tons of local commercials on the Time Warner Lakers channel and that's as far as his endorsement deals have gone...oh, and his lame ass Adidas commercial about being a Ghost Hunter on the side.

 

Los Angeles Times:

Phil Jackson skeptical that Dwight Howard has reason to return to Lakers


http://www.latimes.com/sports/laker...howard-resigns-lakers-20130521,0,150740.story

 

Here's your Multiple Sources reporting on all these rumors:

 

Phil Jackson is still mad that they hired Mike D'Antoni. It's funny that he makes a point that it's not Mike D'Antoni's fault either, but the front office. Definitely wants to take a few more shots at Jim Buss when he gets the chance.

 

Given the friction between the junior Buss and Jackson last season, I don't think Jackson is exactly an unbiased observer. He very clearly felt that Buss intentionally showed him up in the way that he hired d'Antoni.

 

Wow!

Oh...that's it... I don't like him but this is certainly the end of an era.

 

I realised Phil felt a bit burnt by the D'Antoni hire but thought it was all water under the bridge when he made that speech at halftime of Shaq's number being retired.

Now, I realize Phil really is still bitter about the whole thing.

Lakers are a mess. No wonder Dwight wants to bolt.

 

Even if it could be settled, coaching isn't enough for the ego formerly known as Phil Jackson, he wants control of the franchise.

 

I don't know if you watched that interview, but did you notice when he started talking about coaching this year? it sounded like he spent the weekend trying to figure out if he could beat Miami (and probably didn't figure out how), with the whole, i think we could have come out of the west, but i'd hate losing in the finals.

 

I don't agree. Saying that everything is fine and that they are happy with D'Antoni lets them keep the upper hand in possible negotiations with Jackson (not talking $$ wise but more function-wise).
If they go out and say "We don't believe that Dwight and D'Antoni can co-exist" (this of course is an exaggeration meant to prove my point) then Jackson see's that they need him more than he needs them, thus giving him the upper hand.
He (Jackson) already has the upper hand (knowing that Dwight would stay if he was there), so they are trying to do some damage control and not lose all power in possible negotiations.
So the Lakers are saying all the right things here. The only negative impact of this statement is towards Dwight (if he really hates D'Antoni). But then again, we don't know what has been said behind closed doors.
I play football (soccer) at a fairly high level here in Europe and I've seen throughout the years coaches get sacked because of key players, etc, and though some of it always gets leaked to the "public", there are a bunch of things that stay in between the people who discuss the matter.
Bottom line is, we as fans often know nothing, and are blinded by the media which most GM's use as tools very intelligently. Morey is a great example.

 

That would be epic!!!

 

it's a struggle power for the organization after the death of the owner in my opinion. I just hope Phil wins and we get Howard