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

Is he the cybrex of LG?

 

How many times does Phil Jackson have to say he is done coaching before all of the Lakers fans just shut up about him? He's in bad health, he's old, and I bet he feels screwed by Jim Buss for hiring D'Antoni the first time around.

I don't get it.

 

Can't say I'm shocked. I had a feeling Howard was just using us as leverage. I mentioned it before that I thought Dwight was just trying to get Dan Tony fired, hire Phil Jackson as head coach/front office.

Some people didnt want to believe me. Some people went on a full on rant explaining the reasons why we werent being used as leverage.

Thanks to cyberx for confirming my thoughts.

 

By mentioning that Jeanie Buss is not interested in the basketball side of the business, this reassures her brother and helps in him save face when Jackson is brought back to the fold for the Lakers.

 

Well, if he stays in L.A. he knows what he is in for next season: An old team run by Nash with two elite big mean, that both prefer to work close to the basket and a pretty nice defensive wing man - later in the year Bryant may come back and may be back to his old self. The team will have lots of injury concerns from each major player, but if everything works out perfectly, they might have run at a title (pretty low chance...).

After that, there will have to be a rebuild. Those usually take time, but not necessarily for a team like the Lakers. Adding a player like Love ist very possible, but a player like Love wouldn`t make them contenders. Somehow getting Kyrie would help, but that is unlikely even for the Lakers (at least without giving up something really good, and they don`t really have that). Basically their only chance to stay relevant is to luck out and get a player like LeBron - and that seems to be basically impossible (I´m pretty sure he either stays in Miami or goes to a team that he can lead to a title by himself...).

So by staying in LA he bets on next season, and then hopes LA can somehow get 2 stars later - or they should be stuck in mediocricy.

By going to Houston he knows, that he has that legit second star already in place - and that the other star is a young player that perfectly fits Dwights playing style and is not injury prone. He also knows, that the rest of the team has perfect chemistry and some really good talent already in place, and a GM that is really good at collecting assets. So in Houston he is more than a step ahead of what he has in LA.

If he stays in LA it is not because of a coach and it is not because of basketball reasons (pun intended...) - it is simply because he wants to play for a big market city and a team with a great tradition and collect the most guaranteed money possible.

 

Nothing is truly confirmed one way or the other unless we hear it from Dwight himself, and who knows if Dwight even knows what he wants at this point in time.

 

It sucks to be played like this, again. But, it's okay guys we have a bright future with or without Howard. We will find our next Harden. Who knows maybe some GM will be dumb enough to trade us their superstar for peanuts.

I still feel strongly that D-mo and Jones will eventually turn out to be very good players. Potential all stars, in my opinion.

 

I think half the problem is that even Jeanie won't accept it, his mike on mike interview pretty much stated it in not so many words.

"She thinks I can, I know I can't", Dwight aside I think it's unfair to him, because it's like they expect him to save the franchise, but any additional coaching will probably shave years 2-3 years off his life per season.

 

Presumably, that someone else is her future husband and not her brother.

 

deja vu...

 

Look at Dwight's recent tweets. He's probably not even thinking about Houston.

Apparently all of those rumors are lies.

 

If Chris Broussard and Stephen A. Smith both make up something and agree on it, technically, it can qualify as multiple sources.

The Howard to Houston is yesterdays news...today he and CP3 are going to unite on the Atlanta Hawks.

 

and tomorrow it will be brooklyn

and the day after dallas

and then the lakers again

.....

 

This is hilarious. You guys will believe anything.

 

The only way that CP3 and Howard could end up on the Nets is if Prokhorov uses ex-KGB guys to take out Joe Johnson, isn't it?

 

i dont think they need cp3, but not far from it

 

Not sure why you are now sure that we're being "played." Sounds like we're just leverage. If LAL does not call his bluff, or does not acquiesce, I can see D12 still coming to Houston. It is so early -- everything is just "talks" or "discussions" and can change at any time. So premature right now for so many to have their hopes change from one thread page to the next lol.

We all knew Dwight would consider Houston this offseason (at least by the end of the regular season); we all knew LA still had the upper hand. Keep calm and move along guys, not much has changed so far.

Wake me up when Phil Jackson goes against his statements of not coaching again (could happen, but I still think more likely than not that he won't).

 

Yeah, like I said, nothing has changed. Houston is the better location basketball wise, LA is the better location money and attention wise. Dwight just needs to decide what is more important to him.

LA is probably the front runner, because it is the easy solution - and history has shown, that LA always attracts big stars, especially when one is already in place.

But at the same time, he alone would make Houston a contender, and here he is almost guaranteed to compete for a championship for the next 5 years (while playing on a team with a great chemistry).

 

Without players wanting sign and trades it's become infinitely more important, especially now teams no longer believe their free agents really will stay.