there is a difference between those guys and this situation. Miami had the open cap space, and the guys had already decided to be together no matter what. Howard doesnt have that luxury, the main places he would want dont have the ability to sign him outright, if he goes it is in a SnT. Sign and trades are also different now with the new CBA, when James and CO did what they did, they could get the max years with their shiny new signed and traded deals. Howard can not do that now, he can only get 4 years and reduced raises versus 5 years with a 3% higher yearly raise for signing with the team he is currently on. The new CBA changed the playing field, and you really can't compare past FA movements to the situation as it stands now.
Sign and trades are different as is the Miami situation, but you can't say a player won't leave money on the table. Wade, James, and Bosh all took less money; technically they don't have max contracts. But then again that situation is different. On a side note, Eric Gordon would have left New Orleans if he wasn't restricted; in turn losing the extra money he could have made with NO. I'm assuming this based on his wishes that NO would not match the PHX offer. The point is, if you're saying you should call Dwight's bluff, then why isn't Orlando making him leave the money. Superstars make plenty of money. I believe the exact number is an extra guaranteed 25 mil if the max player signs with the original team; that is including the extra year. If you take into account the year of pay he will get on his next contract after 2013, the amount the max player makes goes to roughly an extra 6-8 mil rather 25 mil. Of course injuries happen or he could lose his talent, but I'm assuming Dwight will get another max or near max contract after the one that is due next year. If we get Dwight we will have no one around to trade or compete to make convince him to stay. So the argument now comes to whether we should call his bluff and bet all our chips. But in this case, when we lose we don't start out with nothing; we start out with nothing on bad contracts.
