Dwight Howard Aware That Houston Has Become More Attractive

Dwight wouldn't come here if it meant giving up the extra year and extra money.

 

Not true. Rockets aren't in the luxury tax. They're the one making the signing, so they can sign and trade if they wish.

They can afford him outright, so it doesn't make sense to give the Lakers assets when we can sign him for ourselves.

 

Why would Shaq trust Pat Riley? Why would Kevin Garnett trust Danny Ainge? Why would Lebron, DWade, and Bosh trust Riley? Why would Dirk trust Cuban? Why would DWill trust Prokhorav?

Need I go on?

Now...if you were Dwight....would you rather trust that Les and Morey are going to give you that 5th year knowing that Harden is already here and that if you come you have a great chance of getting Chris Paul to come with you..............or would you rather trust that Jim Buss is going to keep spending money and build a winner around you and make the moves necessary to get you into the same stratosphere with Lebron and Co.??????

These people's words do mean something. Do you really think Les and Morey could promise Dwight a 2-yr extension after 3 yrs and then not fulfill their promise to him????

Remember Dwight's words. It's not really about the money. Dwight knows the money is there. Dwight knows if he suffers a serious injury tomorrow that he's got 5 years of max contract locked up. Dwight also knows the difference between 4 yrs of max contract with 4.5% raises and another 2 years of 7.5% raises in Texas is more money than 5 yrs of max contract with 7.5% raises in California. And Dwight knows that James Harden is 24 years old and this team has plenty of assets to continue to build around him and Harden.

In the end, I think Dwight stays in LA. In my humble opinion, the one factor that will be the undoing of our chances of acquiring Dwight in free agency is not money, is not market, but rather it is the fact that Dwight is an emotional decision-making flip-flopping WUSSY. I think he'll wuss out and make the wrong decision for his chances to compete for multiple championships by re-signing with the Lakers because he simply doesn't have the stones to walk. I think Mitch and Kobe will pressure him and he'll fold like a cheap tent in a hurricane. I really think the only hope the Rockets have of signing Dwight is for Morey to get into the mind of Fegan and for Fegan to see what Morey can build and is going to build around Dwight and Harden and for Fegan to convince Dwight that he has to walk to Houston if he wants the opportunity to win multiple rings.

The whole idea that Lebron is going to walk to the Lakers in a year and a half....that's garbage. Never going to happen. And Fegan and Dwight should be able to see it. Lebron is not the slightest bit interested in teaming up with Dwight. He knows that won't build his legacy. Lebron is going to stay in Miami and ride out the wave of championships with the guys he committed to and then when he is going after his last contract he's gonna roll back into Cleveland and try to win a ring there for his hometown.

But power does strange things to people. In Dwight's case, Fegan holds sway with Dwight and both of those guys along with Mitch could pull quite the power play in the Laker organization. Agents love power and Fegan could indeed be blinded by the increased power he could have around the league by having him and Dwight basically running the show in LA and effectively de-powering Jim Buss. That won't happen in Houston. Dwight could wind up running the show with Jim and Mitch similarly to how he did in Orlando with Smith and DeVoss, making personnel decisions, getting guys signed and traded for. All the while to his detriment, locking him into teams that he can star on but not win anything.

Or Dwight and Paul can walk to a team that already has an established star, relinquish control over personnel decisions like Lebron had to do in Miami with Riley, relinquish control over how they were going to play like Lebron had to do with Spo and he could be a part of something truly great.

It's going to come down to these factors. NOT MONEY.

 

Anyone else watch the Lakers game tonight?

No defense.
No ball movement.
No flow.
No effort.
No life.

It's amazing to me how a team with so much talent just can't string together wins against bad teams. They looked bored and disinterested out there. I really can't see Dwight resigning with that team, especially if Mike D'Antoni stays.

 

D'Antoni is the worst.

 

The way the Lakers are looking I don't think Howard would want to stay. Nets is his destination and he will try to go there this off season, if not, Houston.

 

That ship has sailed. Nets are in the luxury tax and can't S&T. If he wanted to be a Net so bad, he shouldn't have opted in to the final year of his contract with Orlando.

 

So that means Houston has a chance to get him? I really don't see him re-signing with the Lakers. They're old and I don't think he would want to wait too long for the Lakers to rebuild around him if he wants to stay in L.A. He can win with Harden easily. And just "if" Howard comes here he would get Mchale fired and we get a new coach. :grin:

 

McHale is a great fit for a guy like Dwight Howard. Stop with the nonsense.

 

It's Dwight's own choice. He can be Kobe's b**** for 3 more years or come to Houston and be the man. If he wants to be the b****, he can stay in LA.

 

Dwight's in his prime for the next four years. If the Lakers can't promise him a competitive roster, he won't want to stay. No, having cap space for Lebron is not a promise. The last thing he wants is to be stuck on the Los Angeles Magic. At least he was loved in Orlando. In LA he's a scapegoat. That doesn't mean he'll sign here, but the Lakers can't just tell Dwight to re-sign and call it a day. They need to drastically improve or his eyes will wander. Count on some Dwightmare this offseason.

 

How is he a great fit?

 

I don't presume to know exactly what jacoby was thinking, but it might be because McHale is a Hall of Fame big man? Plus, Dwight is very impressionable, so if he took to McHale that could lead to great things.

 

Either he means Mchale can teach him some stuff and develop his skills...

Or he means he's a great fit in Mchale's offense, which I would agree with. Harden and Lin set up Asik for tons of layups and dunks, and Howard is much more coordinated that him. He could catch those tough bounce passes Asik usually bobbles.

 

I think P.Jackson will be asked to coach again this summer. Once that happens, Dwightmare will be over.

 

Personally, the way I see it, if Howard walks away from LA, the Mavericks are still a potential destination for him unless playing with Gasol has him soured on playing with other all star big men.

Brooklyn, I don't think has the money for him, unless the Lakers get them in a sign and trade. Which outside of Lopez I can't think what they have to offer.

How? McHale may have been a Hall of Fame big man, but who has he really developed with comparable skills? Garnett I believe he drafted as a GM he wasn't a coach and in his time as a HC he really never had the time to develop Kevin Love's game. His time as Rockets HC, none of our big men have really flourished much either, Asik came in with his defensive skills.

Maybe personality wise, McHale while he is snarky, McHale doesn't seem the type of hard nose pusher that Van Gundy was. But then again looking at how Howard has yet to reach his Magic level in LA with coaches that weren't the pushing type, I wonder how effective Howard can be without someone yelling at him.

 

Nice post but you can't really believe what you say. It's not about MONEY! REALLY?

It's always about MONEY!

Lebron left Cleveland knowing he would leave some money on the table but it was very little compared to what you seem to think Howard will leave plus Lebron made up most of it just on not paying a state tax and that doesn't even count the extra 12 million more in endorsement he makes since leaving small market Cleveland. he is know over 40 million in endorsement bucks. Lebron knew he wouldn't walk away from much and even then just a few days ago lebron was b****ing about the money he left on the table even he made millions more in endorsements he never would have got in Cleveland.

As for trusting management that is almost as rare. Barkley trusted les and got screwed. In God we trust all other pay cash.

It's the contract they trust all else is a crap shoot. All of those guys you mention have dumped players when it benefited them irregardless of how what they said. It's why Garnett and Kobe have a no trade clause. Even our on beloved Battier was dumped for convenience and desperately didn't want to move but Morey moved him without a second thought. It's business and your word is only as good as the contract you've written it on.

Yes there are exceptions.. not the ones you mention but I believe Duncan was made some promises but he has a history with San Antonio that goes a long way and I expect he does trust them and he is probably justified in doing so. They have 1 guy running the show for a long time. But that is a rare exception and not the norm.

Just for the record Howard signed an extension with Orlando because he stood to lose a lot of money if he just walked last summer and signed with Brooklyn. If Howard walks away from LA it will be an exception. I hope he does and I am wrong and ridiculed on this board for thinking he won't and being wrong. But don't act like what you are saying is based on some kind of fact based logic. You are just arguing a point that has little evidence to be true. And in the end you say you do not believe it will happen anyway because Howard is a wuss rather than the reality. PLAYERS rarely walk away from money and when they do they usually cry like little wusses in regret.

 

That would be a deadly pick and roll between Harden and Howard. McHale definitely knows how to coach that.

 

McHale could teach Howard a lot about the post.

I've always felt that Hakeem wasn't the right coach for Howard b/c Howard lacks the natural coordination/timing/finesse that Hakeem had. Even in their workout videos, Howard looked mechanical and rigid.

On the other hand, McHale was a dominant post player whose nickname was "Lurch". Seems like he'd be the perfect mentor for Dwight.

 

Lebron decided to leave Cleveland before he knew they were willing to do a sign and trade. If Cleveland said "Screw yourself. Sign with Miami outright and take one less year." do you think we would have changed his mind? He could have had a lot less money guaranteed if Dan Gilbert were truly that vindictive.

Dwight's situation is not comparable. He curently lives in the state with the highest tax rate. Has his endorsement money has dramtically increased from his time with the Magic? He'll have to give up an extra year to leave, but he'll get at least another big contract after this one, health assuming. I think he stands to lose less money than people think.