[Sean Deveney] Will Dwight Howard force a Lakers sign-and-trade?

1) This is a Bleacher Report article. Linking to Bleacher Report articles is like linking to my drunk Uncle Frank while he's sitting on the crapper ranting about when we had real Presidents like William Howard Taft.

2) This was posted on May 22, 2012

3) This is about James Harden looking to join the Lakers after he hits free agency. Which wasn't even a possibility last year because he never hit free agency to begin with. Which goes to show you how horrible Bleacher Report articles are.

 

Knicks vs lakers, Yankees vs dodgers, but it would be cowboys vs ny giants only after the cowboys miraculously move to la. Sounds like a dream scenario to me, but I think the celtics can get in there every other year as a change of pace. And in MLB, maybe a combination of dodgers, giants, Yankees, and Red Sox every year. The Brits do it with Man U and the spaniards with Real Madrid and fc barcelona...why not here?

 

Ok pal, first of all, if you're not a LOF, you should become one and be their leader because you're really good at twisting the numbers to show Lin in the best light.

Anyone that has played basketball or knows anything about it, understands that players statistics are really dependent upon the system that they play in, the quality of players that they are playing with, and what their particular role is.

Jeremy Lin was great when the system was built around him in NY and pretty awful when Carmelo came back from being hurt. This year he was given a fair opportunity to be the full time starter and he was good but honestly just an average point guard. Probably would have been much better without Harden, but I have to tell you that Harden isn't going anywhere, so I wouldn't expect any big increases from Lin while he's a Rocket, and especially if we add even more stars.

Aaron Brooks on the other hand, was behind Nash in Phoenix and in a train wreck called Sacramento with about fourteen other guards. Any numbers from those teams are irrelevant. However, the one year that Aaron Brooks got a fair chance to be a full time starter, he was one of the best scoring guards in league and performed exceptionally well in the playoffs against Portland and LA. He did not crumble under intense, playoff style pressure like Jeremy Lin has to date. He scored primarily as a three point shooter and shot almost 40%. You said well it was only 5% better than Jeremy Lin which is hilarious. Dude, do you realize how big a difference 5% is in 3 pt shooting? And good three point shooting is exactly what a team with Harden, Smith, and Howard will need.

Brooks lost his starting job only after getting injured and because of the emergence of Kyle Lowry, who's also better than Lin. The fact that he got pissed and had an attitude is somewhat warranted because the Rockets really screwed him and handled the situation with Lowry very poorly. I liked Lowry better but felt bad for Brooks because he really got the shaft. To say that his stats from 4 years ago are irrelevant is unfounded because he is still young and still the same player, he's just been in really bad situations. And he did manage to play better than Lin in this years playoffs even though he didn't get to play all year in the Rockets system. Finally, for you to make the comparison between Brooks and T-Mac is absurd. Brooks is still in his prime and is the same player. T-Mac declined very rapidly and is nowhere near what he used to be. But as a closet LOF, I guess you need to twist and turn the facts to make Lin look better.

In closing, I'm not sure how this turned into a Lin vs Brooks argument. My posts have been about a hypothetical scenario where the Rockets sign Smith and Howard to go with Harden. I couldn't care less who plays PG as long as they are a good fit for the team and there's money available to sign solid supporting players. Although I like Lin and think he has a ton of potential, I don't think that he is a good fit with Harden or for a team with three max/near max contracts. Now, if the Rockets don't sign Josh Smith, then it's a different story. You have to at least keep Lin as a developing asset and hope that he meshes with Harden or have him as a trade asset for later.

 

Brother, I don't have any hate, you LOF's are just so damn sensitive. Me trying to explain basketball to you is like you trying to explain advanced mathematics and the challenges of having a small penis to me. We just don't get it

 

It's real sad. I'm sorry to hear that your racistic hatred had spilled from directed towards the player, towards his fans, towards another race and ultimately towards your own race. You just validated the Bell Curve and are proud of it. It's a grave day for internet posting.

I don't think it is good to validate, be happy about and be proud of something like this:

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215079

You can't just drop your pants when you're losing an argument. I would just think you are a savage instead of a hero.

I've never seen anything like this after more than a decade of internet posting, anyone else find this disturbing?

 

He was fine when he started in the playoffs...

 

He wasn't scouted in the slightest, and by the end, he was taken to the cleaners by a 4ppg backup.

He can't create on the offensive end, so his defensive advantage over Lin becomes irrevelant as a starter, because he both lacks the energy for the full court defense and lacks the ability to penetrate to make his opponent work on that end.

 

Parsons handles the ball as well and Beverly can handle the ball himself also. It's funny how a certain group of fans think Beverly can't start with Harden but yet they complained about Lin with Harden all year.

I'm sure Lin will get the opportunity to start because his contract warrants it at this point but Beverly will get every opportunity and McHale will make sure of it.

 

So you're saying Beverly can't create at all on the offensive end or drive to the basket...? That's an untruth Sir. He may not be flashy but he can make plays. No need to lie on the kid...

 

Everybody can drive to the basket in the right circumstance (except for maybe some of the clumsier centers), Tony Allen does it pretty well, but I'm certainly never asking him to run an offense.

However he has very very limited play making ability especially in the primary pg role (a whopping 7 assists to go with 44 shots when he became the primary point guard in that series, 1 assist in his last 71 minutes, i'm not even sure how that's possible in our offense as a pg) which isn't exactly something that screams "starter!".

Harden having the highest usage rate and the primary play maker is one thing, but being the only play maker is a whole load of fail waiting to happen.

I'm usually quite critical of Lin, but to have him below Beverley both under rates him as a player and over rates Beverley, and in at least one case, it's pretty severe.

Maybe if Lin doesn't improve this year (Lin is clearly more talented than Beverley), we need another starting pg, but Beverley isn't that guy.

 

Howard sure but I won't be so sure Morey absolutely wants Smith; what is this obsession with Josh Smith? Lin + TJ at 10 mil > J Smith + Brooks at max. He is a good shot-blocker but so is TJ. He is mediocre at everything else and doesn't worth near max. He doesn't make good decisions, has never been a winner and is going to be declining soon.

 

I don't know if you noticed but both Harden and Parsons spent a lot of time with the ball when Beverly was starting (Parsons contributes in the playmaking department as well, it's not just Harden). And when you have a team where the point guards primary job isn't to get assist and players share the ball handling duties then having high assist numbers isn't a high priority for the point guard.

And I'm not saying Beverly is a better point guard than Lin, I'm saying Beverly is better starting with Harden and Parsons... Harden, Parsons, and Lin are high turnover guys and Beverly is not. When You factor in Lin's high turnovers and limited point production the assist aren't that big of a factor, just pretty to watch. And also Lin is kinda lost at times when he doesn't have the ball and he's not a very good catch and shoot player _ opposite of Beverly.

And maybe Beverly is that guy and maybe he isn't _ but Morey has been trying to get Beverly over here for a few years so obviously Morey thinks the kid can do something so I can't take your word that Beverly can't be the guy and or can't get any better.

 

Josh Smith is one of the best if not the best perimeter defenders in the game. He can guard all positions on the court. But his shot selection...Smh.. But Smith said he wasn't demanding a max contract so if Morey could get him for $15 million a year he may would jump on it.

But I'm a big TJ fan. I really want to see him get a shot.

 

WTF? He wasn't Linsanity good but he certainly wasn't awful.

Well, his stats increased a great deal from the beginning of the season to the end of the season. It wasn't bad at all towards the end.

Ya right, Lowry is really doing great in Toronto. 10 ppg, 31%3pt post all star, he is definitely better than Lin.

 

I meant near max. (+Brooks if he plays well) 15 mil is still too much for a defender.

 

Parsons strengths are cutting and catch and shoots, you don't want him with ball handling duties, his production plummets (we're talking 1.1ppp to 0.7ppp here, and his turnover to usage rate was awful, we're talking a fair bit worse than Harden's who had that had absolute shocker game 3...)

 

38% post all star isn't that poor.

He did play badly in his first playoff game but many others did also. It's normal.

The second game he played fine in the first half then got injured.

 

I would rather pay Josh Smith $15 million a year to guard Durant and or Westbrook instead of paying Howard $22 million a year to hold Perkins... And Smith does a lot more than defend. He may would score 18-20 ppg with this backcourt that would create shots for him and like to pass. He gives them someone to throw lob passes to and they can use him in the pick and roll all over the court (not just under the basket).

But I think it's a mute point because a team like Phoenix will offer him the max.

 

Because we won the Revolution and threw their effing tea in the Harbor

 

Parsons' production didn't drop during the playoffs when he had more ball handling duties (he actually scored more points). And McHale and Morey told him to work on his ball handling last year because they wanted him to handle the ball more (according to Parsons), so....