Dwight Howard Aware That Houston Has Become More Attractive

The Rockets can only offer him 4 year contract. Also, he's not going to suck for all 4 years even if he has injury issues. Even Yao had both nice regular season runs and post-season runs after his injury issues started. You are overhyping his issues to absurd proportions.

A lot of players develop a post game mid-career. Hakeem would be the ultimate example of that, bu there are many others. And McHale, who may be the best post player in NBA history relative to his athleticism, likely can help a lot in this regards.

Every star has personality issues. This isn't even worth discussing once he's on a long term contract.

Because you need stars to win in the NBA. You either get them in FA, wait years for a chance to trade for one with tons of prospects(took Morey 5 years), or develop them through the draft. The next time the Rockets will get a chance to get another star? Yao 10 years ago. T-Mac 7 years ago. Harden this year. I don't like those odds to take it slow, and T-Mac was as big a gamble as Howard.

So Howard is gamble upon gamble, but we can ignore Love's injury issues and him throwing his team under the bus? And DMC? Seriously? And if Lebron wants to team up with a young superstar, there's one in Cleveland.

 

The downside to the Howard gamble would be that you would essentially destroy any chances the Rockets have of ever making a run if you get Howard and he stays hurt or he screws up the team chemistry.

 

I prob am a bit more wary of the health issue than some - dunno about "absurd proportions."

Hakeem is a bad example simply because Akeem always had great footwork. Same for Kobe, another player who developed a post game. The same could be said for LBJ, but not Dwight Howard.
Your point about McHale stands - if anybody can teach him, it'd be McHale (and/or Hakeem who seems to be very supportive of Dwight).

Every star has personality issues. But not every star has problems getting along w/ arguably the "perfect teammate" Steve Nash. And no "star" player creates two untenable situations in back-to-back years (not even Melo did that). I don't think it'd be quite as easy as you make out for Dwight to sublimate his ego into team play.

Of course, you need stars to win in the NBA. This is a star-driven league. I'm just saying it doesn't have to Howard.

Those players I named weren't specific examples. I was just saying that it doesn't need to Howard - there are other "star" players down the line. But to address your points, the relative "size" of the gamble comes into question here.
- Love - his hand injury is minor compared to back surgery - name one player that's recovered fully from back surgery.
- DMC - merely personality issues (not a double gamble) which can largely be attributed to being on bad team under bad ownership with a terrible coach.
- LBJ - he could go to Cleveland if he can bury the hatchet w/ Gilbert, not likely.

 

You guys don't seem to understand. Morey's whole play is not for Howard. It is for Howard and CP3. Don't tell me you wouldn't take Howard if Paul came with him.

 

Another thing is, why can't we go after a star at a position of weakness rather than one that is locked down pretty solidly? We don't have a PF worth a damn right now, we should look for a star at that position rather than at the position where we have one of the lead leading rebounders who is in his first year as a starter.

 

In what universe is that possible? What is the code to turn the salary cap off?

 

All my arguments aside:

#1: the injury really makes me wary
#2: CP3 is not leaving LA; nor is Dwight. CP3 is having the time of his life on a team where he basically runs it. And Dwight isn't leaving the money.

 

It is very possible. It's a matter of if those 2 want to team up with Harden here.

 

Even though he might never be Orlando Dwight again, a happy Dwight playing with Harden would still give us 21/12.5/2.7 and still be the best C in the game.

Not to mention the FA's we'd be able to pull in afterwards.

 

So a scenario where HOU asks them to take less money than max? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

 

No. We can pay them both the max.

 

Chris Paul is already on a playoff team, there wouldn't be much incentive for him to make a hell of a lot less just to team with Howard. Chris Paul stays in LA, Howard leaves the train wreck that is the Lakers, but hopefully he doesn't get an offer to come here.

 

Only if we trade away Asik, Lin, and Harden for expiring deals.

 

I don't get it, first you say he'll never be the Orlando Dwight again, then you say he'll score more than he averaged in Orlando and get more blocks than he's averaged in his career and only get .5 a rebound less than he did in Orlando....

 

So 78 and 79 games are unacceptable but 80 is ok? You're an idiot

 

My issue is this: if you pass on Howard, what other star type player can we get instead? And that soon? I'm not waiting yet another season for Love or a by then a 30 year old lamarcus Aldridge. Rockets should want their team ceiling raised ASAP and Howard would do that. Good balance with a talented SG, PG, and C.

In any case, id bet theyre going to go after him hard no matter any of our opinions. I think it's gonna come down to LA and the rockets. Should be interesting.

 

this. If Dwight comes here, he has to take a pay cut. And given his injury, he is going to milk all the money he can. The only logical reason DHo, or CP3 come is that they want to live in a mundane lifestyle and I don't think that fits their profile. CP3 bought a very pricey mansion before the season, so it is even less likelihood he leaves. Both will be using other teams to get more money from their own teams.

 

We can't even offer one of them the max without some maneuvering - both is pretty impossible. To put it in perspective, to get one of them we would have to get rid of Delfino and 1 or 2 other small contracts. To get both, we would also need to get rid of Lin and Asik and then clear another 2-3 millions. So the only slim chance to get both is, if we can get a sign and trade for Howard and very carefully work the cap... So basically, that is a pipe dream - and for all the fans of Dumb and Dumber, maybe a 1 in 10000 chance...

You basically have to call Lin and Asik together our 3d piece, at least salary wise. And both Howard and Paul demand a higher max salary than Harden did.

I think the more possible scenario would be signing Howard and then trade Asik for a PF like Millsap, or maybe we could get a package together to get Josh Smith.

But in the end, I think it is unlikely that we can sign either Howard or Paul...

 

We have enough flexibility that we could create enough space top sign both guys outright our the more likely scenario trade for one of them while signing the other. Yes, it is a long shot but it appears Morey is going to take a shot at both of them. It would not surprise me if at midnight of first day of free agency that Morey, Harden, and Chandler are knocking on Dwight's door.

 

Care to explain how we could sign both outright?