I wonder what Hakeem thinks Dwight will do now that the season has ended and all the reports have come out regarding his interest in Houston, (which first came from cyberx). Someone should ask him again.
Speaking of leverage..... Now rumors are coming out that Dwight is considering the Warriors. He obviously can't sign there out right so he would have to leverage his free agency to convince the Lakers to sign and trade him to the Warriors rather than lose him for nothing. So, I'm wondering what GS would offer and what LAL would take. I'm going to assume GS would offer just about anything for Dwight outside of Steph and possibly Klay. So, I'm going to assume they would offer up DLee and Harrison Barnes, which is enough salary to get the job done. Of course if the Lakers wanted somebody else besides these two that didn't include Steph/Klay, then I think GS would do it. The question is...would the Lakers do it? Lee would be a great fit there with D'Antoni's system. And Barnes is on a rookie deal and has shown a lot of promise. So, I suspect there's a deal there to be made if Dwight wants GS. This leads to speculation about Brooklyn...which is where Dwight ultimately wants to go. I think a lot of his thinking and what he is asking Fegan to do for him is to explore every possible avenue to get to Brooklyn. That is going to require that Brooklyn get under the luxury tax apron after the trade for Dwight and it is going to require that LAL not take back any signed and traded players unless somehow they get below the threshold by amnestying Kobe. The problem Dwight has is a PR problem. How can he work a sign-and-trade deal privately with the Lakers without it becoming public knowledge until it is done? He doesn't want to go through all the public bashing. So, with that said, very simply, the apron is most likely going to raise to around $76 million based on a salary cap of $60 million for 13/14. So, Brooklyn would have to trade more salary out to get under that $75-76 million figure after the trade for Dwight. How can they accomplish that? Here's an idea: LA takes back Lopez/Brooks/Humphries, Dwight to Brooklyn, and around $5 million in salary from the Lakers sent to a third team who has the cap space to swallow it up along with a monetary incentive of $3 million from each of Brooklyn/LAL to get the third team to take on the salaries. Players from the Lakers that would potentially be good enough to warrant a 3rd team taking them on with their cap space. Players like a re-signed Clark, perhaps Hill's expiring deal, perhaps a re-signed Darius Morris, or Jodie Meeks, may have enough value to a third team that they would take them if they got the money to pay their salaries. This type of deal would leave the Lakers with a young SG behind Kobe that could play some valuable minutes developing while Kobe is sidelined with the Achilles and coaching him up. It also gives them a long term center in Lopez, and an expiring contract in Humphries that they possibly could move later in the season. It also puts them waaay deeper in luxury tax...so deep that they would almost have to trade Pau away for little to no salary at all. So essentially they're moving Dwight and Pau for Lopez and Brooks. I just think it is a very, very, very long shot at best that Dwight can generate a trade to Brooklyn. It is possible. Just highly unlikely. However, the GS rumor. That makes a lot of sense. Mark Jackson is a terrific young coach. He gets it. He's a hit with his players. And Curry running the show out there is a great fit for Dwight. (As long as Curry's ankles don't blow out.) Oh, David Lee and Harrison Barnes...don't know how much better the Lakers could do than that. Lee fits D'Antoni. Don't know if the group of Nash, Kobe, Barnes, Pau, Lee fits D'Antoni offensively although defensively they'd be like his Phoenix teams......except worse. So there are two questions regarding Dwight to GS: 1. Would LAL take Lee and Barnes for Dwight? 2. Does Dwight like Curry/Thompson/M.Jackson and GS's cap situation (the ability to add another premier player after 13/14 through free agency after a trade of him for Lee/Barnes) better than joining Harden/Parsons/Lin/Asik/McHale and the Houston cap situation going forward?
Unbelievable. It really was naive of me to think that Dwight was past all of the Dwightmare nonsense. He and Dan Fegan have formed one of the most caustic player/agent pairings I can remember. They absolutely give zero ****s about public perception, basically are willing to use any and all teams as leverage to get what they want.
The Warriors thing is just smoke. Fegan throwing his net wide. According to Shamsports, Golden State has $75,680,088 in committed salary next year. Bogut's $14,000,000 is expiring. So is Biedrins' $9,000,000 (ignoring the early termination option). The Warriors would have to piece together quite an elaborate trade, maybe even a 3-way trade, and probably with Eastern Conference teams. Hell, if I were Dwight, I'd want in on that team, too. Rabid fans. A coach the players love and vice versa (we might not like the "old school" posturing, but his players do like playing for him). But I just don't see it.
The Warriors thing may be smoke. But it would not have to be an elaborate trade to do a S&T with the Lakers for him if the Lakers wanted what GS offered. It could probably be a simple two-team deal. The apron is most likely going to be around $76-$77 million next season. Landry opts out, they renounce his rights and Jack's rights. Trade Barnes and one of Bogut/Lee for Dwight. That's a very feasible trade. The questions are: 1. Does Dwight like the GS situation better than the Houston or Lakers situation? 2. Would LAL take back Barnes and one of Bogut/Lee for Dwight?
What's the over/under on the number of teams this off-season that Dwight Howard is supposedly interested in? As I understand it, he's still fishing in Lake Tahoe right now. Is he texting these intentions directly to Stephen A or are they spread by osmosis?
