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

Good thing Steve Kyler is the only one that sounds like Houston is not the best place cause I have read a sh** load of articles that Houston is the place that makes the MOST SENSE so im sure Dwight can see what this team can be with a guy like himself part of the team so I aint so lets just wait till July 1st

 

Kyler is actually a good guy. Easy to talk to. He communicates. That's more than I can say for a lot of the media types.

However, sometimes he comes up with some off the wall bull.... I just call him on it. Tell him he's way off. Which he is in this case.

 

No but i did watch every game this season and the coaching was pretty much the same between the two. No real difference in play style, production, or wins. Not sure what else you can base it on.

 

Ok, so Kobe has done it for a bit longer than Harden...and he can play some D as well unlike Monta Ellis or James Harden.

If we are talking best shot of winning a title next year, then Dwight should sign for league minimum and play with the Miami Heat. If it's within the teams that are consistently listed as his possible suitors, I still believe the Lakers are the best choice. If it means best shot of being on a good team that is young and will grow together, then I think Howard should give up the glamor of being on the Lakers and sign with the Clippers. But that said, in 2014/2015, assuming they don't beat the Heat in the Finals, the Lakers will likely reboot. Unlike most every team in the league, the Lakers don't spend much time grooming young players. They let one of the other teams do it and then pick them up when they are ready to compete for an NBA title.

Not that I think the Lakers will win a title next season, but lets just say they bring the band back together next season and Kobe can get into playoff shape by February or March, then they do have a chance to go all the way. Remember after the trade broke last year? Vegas Oddsmakers were picking them over the Thunder to win the West. Obviously injuries stopped that, but if they are to make a title run, they will need health to play a major factor. So besides bringing back the band, the Lakers could use the spare change to bring in some hanger on'ers that want a title. Guys like Elton Brand, Nate Robinson, Martell Webster, and maybe even a JJ Reddick or Kyle Korver. This would give them a roster that looks something like this:

PG: Steve Nash, Steve Blake, Nate Robinson, or Darius Morris
SG: Kobe, Jody Meeks, Martell Webster
SF: Metta World Peace, Kyle Korver, Earl Clark
PF: Pau Gasol, Elton Brand
C: Dwight Howard, Jordan Hill

If healthy, and that's a huge if, they would compete for the title with this team. And if it don't work, then blow it up and bring in the mercenaries in 2014.

If, however, Dwight Howard wants to be on a team with all the pieces for a long era of competing, then getting on the Clippers would be the best option. If they can shed Jordan's toxic contract, then they could sign Dwight first to 4 year max and then sign CP3 to his max deal immediately after. With Paul Pierce getting bought out...supposedly, he can join the mix too for the first couple years of this dynasty. Anyway, the Clippers have a lot of missing pieces right now, but if they do that, they would at least have this going forward. They can also consider signing a Kyle Korver or JJ Reddick:

PG: CP3, Eric Bledsoe
SG: Jamal Crawford, JJ Reddick
SF: Paul Pierce (or Caron Butler), Matt Barnes (likely to re-sign) or Korver
PF: Blake Griffin
C: Dwight Howard

CP3, Blake Griffin, and Dwight Howard would all be signed for 4 years and they are all young and improving. Granted, they will still probably lose to the Heat (assuming they keep all their pieces), they can make the finals with this roster.

I will admit that joining Harden, Lin, Parsons, mystery PF, and Dwight would be a better fit than the Dallas Mavericks with an aging Dirk and nothing else, but the Rockets would only have 2 all stars and a bunch of good players surrounding them. The Lakers and Clippers rosters above have more star power and playoff experience to go with it. And I sort of read through some of the remarks about having nothing to back it up, well, how the hell can you backup that the Rockets will get past the second round next season with Dwight? So every post that says that Rockets will be contenders if they get Dwight should be challenged by me to prove it? If I knew this information for real, then I would be making big bucks come NBA playoff time. I can only use Vegas oddsmakers as a compass and I'm pretty sure the Rockets, with Howard, will be worse odds to win the Western Conference than the Thunder and Spurs. The Lakers last year were second to only the Miami Heat to win the NBA championship. It will just require as much luck health-wise of the players as they had bad luck last season though. It really was a nightmare season for all of the Lakers.

Oh, by the way, why hasn't Dwight changed his Twitter picture yet? I thought he hated the Lakers?

 

Long post slestack and I have to head out so can't respond to all of it. I think you aren't too familiar with either human nature or the cba, but some things you listed just aren't possible.

Example: LAC shedding Jordan's $11M contract -- as you admit, this is TOUGH to do because who has the cap room AND wants it AND can allow the Clipps to take next to nothing back? Second, even IF they somehow can move it for nothing or next to nothing (a VERY big IF), they'd still have a GUARANTEED salary of $34M for just 5 players. Sure that gives them enough room to sign D12 to his max, but you can't just sign D12 then sign CP3 and go over the cap. Yes they have CP3's bird rights, but you'd have to relinquish them when you're doing this whole process or else every team would take advantage of this move (they don't).

Also, mind you, they'd be NEARLY AT the cap by just signing D12 alone...with only 6 roster players. That is a lot of ground to cover. No way they can re-sign all of those players you named...Heck, Reddick alone will go for $8-10M prob. And they'd rather take CP3 for obvious reasons, so it ain't happening.

 

From Coon's CBA FAQ:

36. Can a team with cap room sign all the free agents it wants (up to the salary cap) and THEN re-sign its own free agents using the Bird exception?

A team's ability to do this is very limited. The team's free agents continue to be included in team salary. This charge is called the "free agent amount," which is a form of cap hold. There may not be enough money available under the cap to sign another team's free agent, because the team's own free agents are taking up all its cap room.

http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q36

 

Haha...touché. Man, they thought about everything. This new cba is gonna ruin the nba.

 

Is anybody else worried that the way the Rockets play will make him think about joining the Rockets cause they run up and down the floor and would we have to change the way we play for D12 if he comes to Houston

 

I'm pretty sure the rockets will change their offense with Howard. They likely won't tell Dwight that he will be clearing out the lane so harden can ISo on majority of plays. So mchale will need to figure out a second play to call.

 

If the Lakers keep all those guys then there is no spare change. All they would have is the mini-MLE ($2.5M) and the rest would be minimum salary. So you're going to get Brand, Robinson, Webster and Reddick or Korver for that? You're dreaming.

Unfortunately there's a thing in the CBA called cap hold so that scenario doesn't work. If the Clippers don't pick up the option year on Willie Green then they are sitting at $44M in committed salary for next year. Now lets say they can trade Jordan and take zero dollars back. They would then be sitting at $33M.

As a free agent Chris Paul would have a cap hold of 150% of last years salary. So, let's add that additional $27M in salary to their cap and now they are sitting at $60M.

That would leave them either right at the cap or just over the cap. So how in the world do you plan to get $20.5M in cap space to sign DH12?

Since Paul's cap hold is counting more against the cap than his actual salary would then they'd be better off signing Paul first. That would free up somewhere between $7M and $9M in cap space but that's obviously not enough to sign Howard.

The Clippers could renounce Paul's rights and they'd then have enough to sign Howard but they wouldn't then be able to sign CP3.

The whole purpose of cap hold from free agents is to prevent the very scenario that you suggest.

I'm not sure where you think that they'd get money to also sign Paul Pierce, Korver or Reddick.

 

This provision existed in the old CBA too. But then again, I don't expect much from a Laker fan.

 

Except that rule was also in the two prior CBAs. It's been that way for a very long time.

 

Why would we change? Howard seems like he would do well in transition.

The only difference in our half court offense is we now have a legit post player to throw the ball to.

 

LMFAOOOOOO this is just hilarious...salary cap be damned!

 

because in LA they said he didn't like the pace of how they played and he didn't like that pace he sure as hell aint gonna like the Rockets pace lol

 

Not really... just big market team such as LA and NY...

 

He did? I don't remember hearing that.

But that seems a little silly. Transition usually ends with a dunk or lay up, which are the only things Dwight can make.

 

that's what I heard which is why at the end of the season they changed how they played and started getting the ball down low to Dwight and Pau and went on that run

 

Was the complaint about pace or moreso about touches? Because he'll get plenty of touches here.

 

Regarding slestack11....