Where do you guys think Dwight Howard will lean toward?

Another summer of Dwight... Lets hope it's the last one.

 

rockets 75%

lakers 20%

other 5%

 

Finally, a fresh new thread on a fresh new topic.

 

I think he will lean in front of Asik.

 

I think Lakers are gonna fire MDA before FA so Howard can stay in LA and maybe run by some coaches that he and Kobe would like ......but if none of that happened then Houston

 

Lakers will not fire D'Antoni. Will look like a fool.

If they were, they would already be interviewing candidates as a back-up option.

 

How it possible to get both Chris Paul & Dwight Howard

The bigger fish (Dwight Howard) will be hooked first. All indications are that Houston will use cap room to sign Dwight outright. Before that can happen, Houston will have to free up the cap room to sign Dwight to a max first year amount of $20,513,178.

The cap has been estimated to be somewhere in the region of $58,455,000 (current) to $65,000,000. The latest opinion from capologist Larry Coon predicts the cap to be around $60m http://www.hoopsworld.com/nba-salary-cap-chat-with-larry-coon-52413

Let's work with a conservative salary cap estimate of $60 million.

Houston cap room after waiving Garcia, Delfino, Brooks and Anderson

01) Harden 13,668,750
02) Asik 8,374,646
03) Lin 8,374,646
04) Robinson 3,526,440
05) White 1,719,480
06) Jones 1,551,840
07) Montiejunas 1,422,720
08) Parsons 926,500
09) G.Smith 884,293
10) Beverley 788,872
11) Cap Hold 490,180
12) 2nd Rounder 0
*Honeycut 100,000

Total = 41,828,367
Cap room = 18,171,633
Need to free extra 2,341,545 to give Dwight the max.

*Honeycut has been waived but has a partial guarantee for 2013/14.

How to free cap room to offer Howard the max

Trade Robinson + White + $2,000,000 (cover White's contract) to ??? for future first round pick = $5,245,920

Cap hit with Howard onboard

01) Harden 13,668,750
02) Asik 8,374,646
03) Lin 8,374,646
04) Howard 20,513,178
05) Cap Hold 490,180
06) Jones 1,551,840
07) Montiejunas 1,422,720
08) Parsons 926,500
09) G.Smith 884,293
10) Beverley 788,872
11) Cap Hold 490,180
12) 2nd Rounder 0
*Honeycut 100,000

Total = $57,585,805

Trade for Chris Paul

Chris Paul max contract is worth $19,136,250
This is difficult because we cannot sign Chris Paul without a Sign and Trade with the Clippers and there is no incentive for the Clippers to help us.

Trade:
Asik + Lin = $16,749,292
Chris Paul = $19,136,250

Cap Hit with Chris Paul onboard

01) Harden 13,668,750
02) Paul 19,136,250
03) Cap Hold 490,180
04) Howard 20,513,178
05) Cap Hold 490,180
06) Jones 1,551,840
07) Montiejunas 1,422,720
08) Parsons 926,500
09) G.Smith 884,293
10) Beverley 788,872
11) Cap Hold 490,180
12) 2nd Rounder 0
*Honeycut 100,000

Total = $60,462,943

Filling out the roster with role players

Hopefully we can use the room exception 2.6m to sign either Garcia or Delfino back. I prefer Garcia if he's willing to come back for 2.6m.

Vet min. exception to bring back Brooks at $1,352,181

Second Rounder should be a SG/SF swingman maybe on a similar contract to Beverley at $788,872

Same with Aldemir from Turkey $788,872

Final Roster

01) Harden 13,668,750
02) Paul 19,136,250
03) Brooks 1,352,181
04) Howard 20,513,178
05) Garcia 2,600,000
06) Jones 1,551,840
07) Montiejunas 1,422,720
08) Parsons 926,500
09) G.Smith 884,293
10) Beverley 788,872
11) Aldemir 788,872
12) 2nd Rounder (SG/SF) 788,872
*Honeycut 100,000

Total = $64,522,328

Depth Chart

Paul / Beverley / Brooks
Harden / Garcia / 2nd Rounder
Parsons / Garcia / 2nd Rounder
Jones / Montiejunas / Aldemir
Howard / G.Smith

That is a reasonable team that could go far.
Unfortunately, I really doubt we can pull off the sign and trade to get Paul
Moreover I think he's going to stay with the Clippers and get the extra year max because of his knees.

Another problem with this scenario is what team would trade with us for Robinson + White + $2m for a future first round pick?

 

How did Clippers get in the poll? No Mavs, Warriors, or Hawks?

 

Yeah, not sure the Clippers will be sign + trading CP3 for Lin and Asik. If that happened though, it would be Donald Sterling's masterpiece if his goal was to continue to ruin the Clippers franchise. And I would demand my money back (they raised my season ticket prices 30% too). But they would do Eric Bledsoe and DeAndre Jordan for Lin and Asik if that's an option. They pretty much need to shop the Bledsoe and DeAndre package if they have any hope of moving DeAndre's horrible $10 mil per season deal.

 

Lakers said they won't fire D'Antoni. Could it be that Phil Jackson is getting revenge by trying to destroy the Lakers franchise by forcing the Lakers to stand by MDA, which he hopes is going to cause Howard to bolt?

 

I don't think Rockets would trade Lin and Asik unless its for a superstar like CP3. I think Lin and Asik > Bledsoe and Jordan

 

I don't believe Rockets are letting T-Rob Go. Rockets are very high on Roberson and see him as a future star in the making.
I see Dwight signing here for less and Rockets letting R.White and Greg Smith go.
Probably trade our #34 pick and future picks for Cash.

 

Phil Jackson is just mad because he wanted to coach this team and they went with D'Antoni. I don't blame the Lakers in making that decision though. With Phil Jackson, every season will be a circus as to whether Phil is coming back. Laker fans are totally finicky...in Jackson's last season, tons of Lakers fans thought he was finished and wanted fresh blood as their coach. Then after not winning a title after Jackson left, everyone seems to want him back. With D'Antoni, its a move to turn the page from Phil Jackson and get going on the future.

 

What about Lin and Asik to Clippers for Bledsoe only. You get a point guard of the future and can dump some salary too. I believe the Rockets and Clippers are both playing below the cap right now. Once we agree, we can get Gary Sacks and Daryl Morey on the phone to work the details out.

 

No wonder Dwight and CP3 are thinking of walking away from LA. Do you blame them with the LA fans the way they are. Kobe's probably wishing the Fakers would amnesty him.

 

What future would Dwight have in LA?

 

http://www.latimes.com/sports/laker...xplore-opportunities-20130529,0,2731605.story

If Dwight were to sign with a team today, Rockets. Some of these rumors are probaly from Dwight's camp so that the Lakers are prepare to lose their center. I don't think he can endure the enormous pressure after Kobe retires and I don't think he believe the Lakers have what it takes to maintain it (with too many aging players). I think he should know that Rockets will have more patience than the Lakers, we kept Hakeem longer than it should, as well as Yao. Look at how many times Lakers have tried, or attempted, or talked about trading Pau Gasol. Given Dwight's flip-flopping tendency, I won't be confident until signing date though.

 

Thanks so much for providing the video link.

That's the first time I heard Mitch Kupchak speak apart from last season's exit interview presser.

What struck me is he couldn't say Dwight Howard's name. He referred to him as "you know we have a marquee free agent we'd like to resign... Los Angeles is a great city, the lifestyle is good... I hope when it becomes time, we'll be in the running..."

He didn't sound too confident at all and I think not being able to say his name means there isn't a warm relationship there, but rather a very cold one.

 

Dwight is leaning toward the largest pile of money.