Or, maybe Dwight is hearing rumblings Doc Rivers could be the Clippers coach next season and is intrigued.
nom noms. I would be estatic if this happened! Asik is my fav player, to get paul, and Howard and keep asik, wow!
After this news my enthusiasm has waned a bit. Of course, tomorrow we could get news that Dwight is more interested in playing with Harden than Paul and all hell breaks loose.
Morey- Yo, kuppy. Kupcheck - Ya dural Morey-I give u one chance to take asik and lin, or im trading them to #*@& and &^^%@. Kupcheck- I dont belieb you, gimme parsans, beberly, asik, and lin....deal? Bussard* Houston rockets have traded Asik to ($*@! and Lermy Jin to @($*! Kuppy-Gud Lawd almighty dont mess wif da moreyz!
Ken Berger: I don't see how Dwight Howard gets to the Clippers. I don't find that feasible at all. The only way would be a sign and trade and he would get four years, the same money he could get in Houston. I don't think the Clippers are realistic at all and I don't see the Lakers doing that. I don't see Chris Paul going anywhere either. ... The fact they did make a coaching change and will have a new coach in place and Paul will have input on that, I don't see why he would go somewhere else at this stage as opposed to getting a five year max deal in LA. I don't find a whole lot of traction on this but when it involves Dwight Howard, no one will know for sure until it happens.
Count me as officially worried - about the clippers. If Paul tells them trade griffin would they do it? In a vacuum they would say heck no griffin is worth more than Howard. But what if the threat is to lose Paul? So Howard and Paul say trade Blake or we both walk to Atl/Hou. Then the clippers are faced with trading griffin so that they still have Paul and Dwight instead of having only griffin. The irony is that the rockets can be used as real leverage to force clippers to trade Blake. Making things worse is possibly doc rivers waiting in the wings, and maybe Garnett or Paul pierce somehow going over to the clippers (not sure if Boston would do that deal for JordAn). But the idea is the same - if Dwight is willing to take a pay cut to go to clippers (since he has to pay state taxes), they could force a Paul Howard Jordan Crawford team with pierce looking to come over if Boston waives him to save $10m.
I believe it would be Garnett and not Pierce that would come over. He'd need to fill the PF spot left by Blake Griffin. Both already live in LA, but I don't think Clippers have room for both. For some reason, the Celtics do like DeAndre Jordan. It would just be super-ironic if he ended up getting traded to Celtics only to find that Vinny Del Negro will be coach there.
If Paul & Howard say trade Griffin, then the Clips have to trade Griffin to the Lakers. The Lakers ain't gonna do dat!! They'd rather wait & clear up cap space for 2014's FA class...IMO. Paul wants to stay in LA & doesn't want to go to Atlanta (according to "sources"). Howard doesn't like the situation with the Lakers, likes LA though, isn't thrilled with the Atlanta situation & is interested in Houston. Looks like Howard's coming to Houston IF he can say "adios" to Kobe & Lakerdom, otherwise, he'll be a Laker next year.
Well I was a big believer in Howard 2 Houston for a while now but im jumping ship to whats plan B lol which SUCKS if we miss out on Howard again we gonna look like some damn fools
Not only that. Their team will be horrible if Howard just walks. No Kobe until the all-star break (and with their record by then they will tell him to just stay out for the year) and they will have a chance at a top 5 pick in one of the strongest drafts ever. The Lakers are in this thing to win rings. Not get moderately better and I don't think Blake is a guy they will be willing to bet their future on. Once Howard leaves they'll be looking for cap-space and young prospects. They aren't going to make trades to make themselves mediocre.
I don't really think it hurts our chances... I think it helps our cause a little bit, knowing this. Realistically, if we had never signed Asik and Lin, we prob. would have never gotten James Harden, as we would have had no one else but Parsons as the main cog, but who knows.
Plan B = wait for 2014. If the team can't get any better now, why sacrifice your flexibility for 2014? Dwight is just one opportunity. Can't cry over spilled milk. If Dwight doesn't come then Rockets will just move on.
it just feels like plan B is always the case getting Harden was awesome but damn seems like Rockets do is wait and wait and wait again and if 2014 comes and we miss out we gonna wait again lol TIRED OF WAITING
Lakers won't agree to Dwight Howard sign and trade So what if Dwight Howard leaves? Here’s one thing you won’t see: the Lakers helping him find his dream team, or trying to salvage something for him, with a sign-and-trade. Barring a bonanza they don’t expect to be offered, insiders say the Lakers’ fallback position would be to bring back this team and bank the savings—almost $50 million in salary and luxury tax. They would then drop under the luxury tax threshold after next season–a Laker priority after paying the tax for as long as there has been one, with new, ever-escalating repeater penalties. In the key, it would give them $55 million worth of cap space for the 2014 free agent class, which could include LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. The Rockets, thought to be the Lakers’ leading challenger for Howard’s hand, could open up a maximum $20.5 million slot. However, the Rockets’s dream of a bigger haul—Howard and the Clippers’ Chris Paul—would depend on their ability to off-load $16.8 million in salary gue Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik. The Lakers, however, have no intention of taking Lin and Asik, or any two Rockets with the possible exception of James Harden and whomever. Knowing they had to rebuilt in the face of a financial doomsday, the Lakers acquired Howard, knowing they would have to pay him $23 million per, if they could get him to take it, because of his unique value. If they lose him, the Lakers would only pay that much for someone else they think has unique value. Coming off back surgery in a bumpy transition that isn’t over, Howard’s value wasn’t all the Lakers hoped for. Of course, there’s always next season, wherever he is.
That's why I will not get my hope high, lol. I will just have to see to believe. But it seems like Howard to Houston is a certain thing, but in my mind, it will be speculation.
Steve Kyler (10:13) (Chris & Dwight wanting to play together?) Not news. Chris has told other players in his circle he's coming back to the Clippers but it's not signed until it's signed. It's not done until it's done. Atlanta feels like they have an opportunity to offer both to come Atlanta and play with Al Horford. Dallas feels like they have a situation. Houston feels like they have an enticing situation. These guys will be just as coveted free agents as Dwyane Wade & LeBron James were.
I said a while ago that if Howard came to Houston (or somewhere else) Chris Paul would want to join him. The only places where the two could team up are Clippers, Atlanta or Houston (to a lesser extent) Clippers Unlikely to happen here even if both like LA. Must involve a trade including Griffin (16.4, 17.7, 18.9, 20.0 over the next 4 years) Highly unlikely Lakers want to make a long term commitment to Griffin and eat up their cap room in 2014. Lakers probably don't want to deal with their city rivals in their division at all. Atlanta All the talk of cap space to sign two stars means nothing if pairing them together gets you no closer to being a contender. After trading away Lou Williams (5.2m) for a future pick, Atlanta will have enough cap room to sign both CP3 and D12 to max deals. Then you are left with Howard, Horford, Paul... Jenkins, Scott, Mack +7 more roster spots you can only fill with room exception 2.6m and minimum contracts. Atlanta cannot offer Dwight and Paul a chance to win. Houston Dwight is the main target. Without Dwight in Houston, there is no Paul. Let's assume Houston waive all non-guaranteed contracts and trade T-Rob for a future draft pick to free enough cap room to sign Dwight or Paul. This means we have to S&T or Trade somewhere enough players to acquire the 2nd of the two stars. Given that Howard is the prize, this basically equates to: Asik, Lin, White, T-Jones or D-Mo = Chris Paul. Clippers and Sterling will not do a S&T, absolutely no need for those players. Lakers will not do a S&T, they want to keep their cap room for 2014 and save paying luxury tax this year. We could try and trade all those pieces to other teams to make room for Paul OR we could just convince Dwight to come by himself and keep those pieces to play with. I think Houston would rather not blow up the team again to bring Paul and Paul's camp knows this that's why they leaked the story to Broussard to see what options are out there. Houston FO will just say, there is a possibility, we'll try our best but 20+ things have to go right to make it happen. When it boils down to it, the likely considerations for Dwight is... 1) Play in Houston surrounded by great young talent... Harden, Parsons, Asik, Lin (bench) 2) Play with Paul in Atlanta with Horford + 7 scrubs 3) Try and force a trade to the Clippers and be on a team with no Griffin (and likely no Bledsoe and others). You will also be under the spot light with more scrutiny and pressure than ever before. I still like our chances of signing Dwight outright without Chris Paul.
The interesting part is that we don't "have" to make any goofy moves to make it happen. We could EASILY trade ASIK if we had to (would have teams lining up), and then make whoever takes him eat another contract (Lin, Robinson). Then Dwight & CP3 will have to take a little less cash (ala Lebron & Bosh). I think it can be done if these guys truly want to play together and build a "Superteam". Name a better landing spot. Not many other teams have as much cap space and a young up and coming Superstar that doesn't play either of their positions.
