Howard is just a kevin willis with longer arms playing in an era without dream,mermaid, diesel, ewing and zo. not impressed with the drama queen but he should stay in L.A. What else does he want? NWA formed in L.a.
What does the city of Houston have to offer for the "stars' to come to Houston? All I can think of is.. 2 championships.. Galleria Mall area.. Hakeem.. what else?
I agree that hiring Olajuwan would definately would help us in recruiting and developing our big men. Personally I think if he wanted the job he would already have it by now. The story mentions him spending half his time in Houston and Amman Jordan, I guess that where his buisness ventures are located. Maybe Less Alexander can make him a minority owner thus making him more inclined to help the Rockets with our front court. ............... ............... ...............
I believe in Hakeem to always come through. He's just saying these comments now to make it sound like he's impartial so Dwight will value his opinion more, come ASG though Dreams gonna be quietly convincing Dwight to join the Rockets. He's a conniving b*stard.
It sounds like Olajuwon is reinforcing a conceit in Howard that he is some kind of offensive force who should be a first option, forgetting he's just as blessed as Olajuwon as an offensive player. He's not even Yao Ming. He's going to keep running into these problems feeling like he's not getting used correctly by his coaches and wanting to be the first offensive option. Those who want him in Houston, do you want to see our offense change to an inside-out game run through Dwight Howard, with Harden taking a back seat? Because that's what Howard wants. My guess is that Howard is going to try to push Kobe Bryant out of LA, which will be hard because Kobe is an LA icon and has a no-trade clause. And, he'll leave if he can't get Kobe to leave. But, obviously the Lakers at this point will want Howard more than Kobe, with Kobe so close to being done anyway, so maybe he'll succeed. Further, I think it'll be hilarious if Kobe insists on his no-trade clause and forces the Lakers to choose between losing Howard and simply cutting Kobe. Then, Kobe can get cut and go sign a minimum deal with the Clippers or something so he can kick the crap out of LAL for a couple more seasons.
Back during the Howard-SVG-Orlando crap, and all that "Duh-wight wants the Nets" crap, I had put 2 and 2 together and came up with 4. I'd read the article about Olajuwon saying Howard favored a team that wasn't the Nets, and I mentioned how the Nets was a long shot anyway.... So, after basically saying that Howard's Brooklyn talk was all agent-induced Wizard-of-Oz smoke so that Howard wouldn't get Lebroned for pulling a "Shaq-from-Orlando-to-LA" move, and getting more than a few posters here basically saying I was "out there like Pluto", I do feel more than a little vindicated. Problem is, Howard won't look happy until he's healthy. Add his health plus having to play 3rd fiddle at best---1st shot selection? Kobe; 2nd shot selection? Kobe---makes it seem he wants out. Don't think so. He just wants to get well. I've been well less than 100% healthy. It ain't fun. I still think he needs a sidekick to keep him focused. He's too much a clown. But when healthy, he's a top 3 player in the NBA.
The article would've been better if it ended with. "Hakeem will be in Houston, working with Asik and Smith during next offseason."
The reporting on the "Will he stay or will he go?" saga is horrible. Dwight Howard will either re-sign with whoever has his Larry Bird Rights, because this team can offer him a) more money per season and b) one additional season (at over $20 mil!) than any other team, OR he will be signed and traded this summer. And he will very likely only get signed and traded this summer if the team that has his Larry Bird Rights (right now, that team is obviously L.A.) decides that they don't want to bother with the guy, and that he isn't worth the $100+ mil contract that he wants. L.A., right now, wants to re-sign him and keep him for themselves. If he wants that big money contract, then he, like all free agents, lacks leverage. If he wants that big money contract, he will re-sign. Plus, his agent and the teams that he has marketing agreements with are going to overwhelmingly in favor of him re-signing with the Lakers, because the Lakers are very obviously the marquee team in the league. One outcome that is not outside the realm of possibility is that Howard delivers a "Pick Me or Him" ultimatum to management and insists that he will only re-sign with the Lakers if they trade Kobe Bryant, who is obviously all over his ass and not exactly a joy to play with. Kobe himself pulled this trick with management several years ago, which resulted in Shaq getting traded to the Miami Heat. It may be hard to imagine Kobe in another uniform, but it was also hard to imagine Shaq in another uniform several years ago, but that is exactly what happened. The problem Howard has is not with L.A., the city, or the Lakers organization. It's with Kobe. And I seriously doubt that he's the first guy who has ever hated Kobe as a teammate. In any event, it appears unlikely to me that Howard winds up getting signed and traded to Houston, so maybe we should stop dreaming up Howard-to-Houston trades.
Oh... I forgot that Kobe has a no-trade clause. There may well be a 0% chance that Kobe agrees to any trade, to any team. That means that Dwight Howard can't insist on a Kobe trade, after all. Howard's agent is presumably explaining to Lakers management that there will need to be an agreement that Kobe gets jettisoned when he becomes a free agent after the 2013-14 season. And I can see Lakers management going along with this. I believe that the plan in L.A. is to re-sign Howard and clear enough 2013-14 cap space to sign Lebron James, who obviously would replace Kobe. Kobe may be willing to settle for a dirt-cheap contract with the Lakers, if only to tag along and win a sixth and seventh championship with the Lebron-Howard Lakers, but I can see the Lakers telling Kobe that they don't want him anymore. So what you may see here is Howard re-signing with the Lakers (obviously a five year contract for the maximum amount of money possible under the CBA) but with a player option for 2014-15 and beyond. This allows Howard to opt out prior to the 2014-15 season in the event that he isn't happy with the (Kobe-less) roster that management can assemble during the summer of 2014. I think that the Lakers have a much better shot at signing Lebron that summer than people realize.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Been saying for months that the Lakers should trade Howard. Best for BOTH sides. No playoffs this season. Don't shoot messenger. <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23NBA">#NBA</a></p>— JALEN ROSE (@JalenRose) <a href="https://twitter.com/JalenRose/status/300049916502364160">February 9, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Apparently Jalen Rose had inside info on the Harden trade two weeks prior: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QyQvVX7TVAw?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Not to bump old news, but this is a perfect example of how these NBA rumors are totally fabricated. I totally believe that Howard never wanted to go to Brooklyn, but the rumor of the week back then indicated that was his first and only choice. As opposed to story the media has painted, Howard has had nothing but a big smile on his face all year being on the Lakers and all the Time Warner behind the scenes footage. Part of the problem, from the Lakers standpoint is that he probably is having too much fun hanging out at premiere parties, clubs, etc...and playing the role as the next Lakers great big man that he really hasn't focused on getting better at basketball.
