What a really exciting night for Rockets fans. Seems like the Rockets were well prepared made a good presentation. The key takeaways for me: - DR34M being hired as Dwight's personal coach - McHale talking about how the system will be centered around Dwight (not Harden) - Yao giving Dwight the China marketing angle (not JLin) - Drexler talking up how Dwight and Harden could be a legendary combo - Les saying he will spend the dosh to chase a ring - Morey explaining how he's going to build the team - Parsons and Harden talking about the great locker room chemistry - was the J.Smith rumour true? Surprises: - Robinson trade. Yeah! - Dwight will be the center piece of the team, not Harden. Probably better as he will be the best player. - Rockets chasing shooters to surround Dwight. Inside outside game with lots of post touches? - Mitch Kupchak meeting Dwight first at 9pm. What did he tell him, Phil Jackson coming back? - Atlanta want a straight sign and trade if Houston get Howard, Asik for J.Smith. Has this been confirmed? Feeling pretty good about Dwight coming now.
^Where did you read about dream being his personal coach? I may have read past it but I didn't see anything like that
Can we pull a trade like: Asik + R.white for Jsmith + picks? We could sign jsmith outright anyway, by sending out asik for picks
Made it up. But now a thousand people will read it here and it'll be trending on twitter in a few minutes.
They wont take the risk as Lakers may not agree to a S&T. Sign Howard outright first, then S&T with Atlanta who are keen on Asik. Asik + R.white + cash for Jsmith is a possibility. Atlanta have heaps of cap room to absorb White if neither D12 or CP3 go there.
are there any pictures or videos of Dwight in this meeting? What did he wear? A T shirt with jeans...or did he decide to show up in a professional manner etc? That could also give us hints on how serious he is about coming here....
JA Adande: They let him know why the Rockets are a good fit and why they are the best fit to compete for a championship. He did hear from all those legends. It apparently went well. That's what they always say, right? The surgery went well. It was a productive meeting. Houston is seen as the front runner for Dwight Howard's services right now. Today - Atlanta and Golden State. Warriors are a long shot due to (lack of) salary cap space. Lakers don't want to do a sign and trade, in part because they don't want to take on long term salary. They can clear the decks in 2014. Mitch Kupchak was the first to meet with Howard. A quick hello, good luck, we are interested, we hope this works out for you, and we hope you end up a Laker. Lakers can still pay him 30 million more. There is a factor of playing in Los Angeles. The problem is, he sees it as additional pressure. He is doing his due diligence. Heard he spent time on the phone with Jack Nicholson.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>If the Lakers decide to add some luminaries to Tuesday's meeting w/ Howard, one guy who won't be there is Magic Johnson. He's in Europe.</p>— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mike_Bresnahan/statuses/351689593302679552">July 1, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Olajuwon's role in all this, source says: Mentor, work with him before practice, talk w/him & basically be another coach for Dwight Howard.</p>— David Baumann (@DavidBaumann33) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidBaumann33/statuses/351050336980578305">June 29, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Yeah I wouldn't have expected to see magic. Especially since a couple of weeks ago he said on national tv that Houston was the best place for Howard to go.
Anybody know the schedule for all the meetings? Or more specifically, when they will be over so I know how long I will have to wait? 9 days of this will be rough.
He's done that for half the league during the offseason. Unless he's hired by the Rockets or plans to live in Houston throughout the season, he's not a personal coach. From what I've read recently, real estate and religion (lives in Jordan?) take a priority. http://www.ibtimes.com/hakeem-olajuwon-why-does-nba-legend-live-jordan-1309785
