Curry, Lee and Howard seems good to you? Because they're already lost their bench and the Lakers if they even considered a s&t would take both Klay and Barnes.
I wouldn't want Smith coming here firing up stupid shots either but let's be honest. How many "missed 3's" did Lin fire up last year? Could it be any worse?
Morey doesn't wait for declines..buys low...sells high, so there will still be movement, but the core pieces are in place for years to come is DH decides to pick Houston... Howard/Harden/Parsons(if Smith).... That's all you need and the supporting cast can be replaced when needed.
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9448261/dwight-howard-hopes-decide-friday-source Check out the video, LA vs. Rockets checklist, guess who comes out a winner and based on what
Golden State doesn't have a shot unless they send Harrison Barnes and a first round pick along with the Aussie's expiring. Klay Thompson isn't gonna do the trick. Even then, L.A. would have to amnesty Gasol (possibly) to avoid the repeat-offender tax or whatever they call it. Probably just Jerry West muddying the waters with the media, who'll report anything for website traffic/viewership.
You shuffle the team until you find the right players. If DM had kept our core, we would be stuck in mediocrity. The whole point is to be able to win a ring, not keep a team of largely role players happy.
ESPN is just being butt hurt because they don't want him to go to Houston, so they would just make up ANYTHING to alter the inevitable: Dwight Howard in a Houston Rockets Uniform!
TO CLARIFY FOR EVERYONE THE LAKERS CAN SIGN-N-TRADE DWIGHT AS LONG AS THE PLAYERS THEY RECEIVE ARE ALREADY UNDER CONTRACT. FOR EXAMPLE NY CANT SIGN & TRADE JR SMITH TO LA BECAUSE HE IS NOT UNDER CONTRACT BUT WE CAN SEND ASIK AND LIN TO L.A FOR HOWARD (oops just noticed the caps)
It would probably make more sense to just sign outright with those teams. Not sure why either one would need to do a S&T.
Adam Schefter reporting on the NBA. ****ting me? Free-agent center Dwight Howard is hoping to make a decision on which team he will sign with by this Friday, a source close to the talks told ESPN's Adam Schefter. The source also told ESPN that Howard's final decision is "totally up in the air." Howard spent the past few days meeting with teams who are courting his services, including the Los Angeles Lakers, whom he played for this past season, and the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors and Atlanta Hawks. Perhaps the most surprising development of the week, sources briefed on the meetings told ESPN.com's Marc Stein, is the strong impression that the Warriors made in their presentation to Howard on Monday. The Rockets and Mavericks are widely considered the only teams capable of stealing Howard away from the Lakers -- and Golden State would need to construct a complicated sign-and-trade deal to have any shot at actually acquiring the center -- but sources say that the Warriors indeed got his attention with their pitch. The Warriors would have to find a way to shed some salaries to accommodate Howard in a sign-and-trade and would likely be restricted in who they could add to the roster after completing that transaction, but sources say that Golden State is factoring into the center's thinking. The bigger threats to the Lakers, though, remain Houston and Dallas, sources say. The Rockets offer the immediate lure of playing alongside James Harden and a promise from Houston's front office to keep adding championship-level talent, whereas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is urging Howard to join proven ring-winners in Dirk Nowitzki and Rick Carlisle -- with Nowitzki also vowing to take a significant pay cut in the summer of 2014 that creates the needed salary-cap space to sign another star.
Also when is the last time the Lakers made a trade with any of the other california team? A major trade like that? Teams don't give their star players to a division rival.
Exactly what I said in my post. They've been trying to trade Pau, Nash is the only one on contract for 2014, pick up team option on the rookie scale for one or the other, and Bogut is an expiring (or trade him). Lakers come out with cap space and a promising player in Thompson or Barnes. 2014 comes out to be Nash, Thompson/Barnes, resign Kobe, and another superstar.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Dwight has to tell the Lakers they've been ruled out and it is either HOU/DAL if they don't do Warriors' S&T to even get started.</p>— RealGM (@RealGM) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealGM/statuses/352500993268776962">July 3, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
and i can find 2-3 sources at least who insist otherwise. who say the fact that they can only acquire him through sign-and-trade means it's a non-starter.
