Dwight Howard is unlikely to re-sign with the Lakers, sources tell Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (via Twitter). The Mavericks and Rockets are now D12’s favorites as he looks ahead to the July 1st kickoff to free agency.
The big man’s main issue with the Lakers is said to be with Mike D’Antoni‘s system. There have been rumblings all year that Howard felt out of sync with the coach’s unorthodox offensive gameplan. While the Lakers are said to have little chance of re-signing Howard, Broussard (link) cautions that they can’t be completely written off thanks to Howard’s notorious indecisiveness.
The Rockets’ summer pursuit of Howard has been the worst kept secret in the NBA for quite some time now. Houston enters this offseason with the cap room necessary to give Howard a four-year, max contract while also offering a team that could be one elite center away from being a top force in the Western Conference. On top of that, Howard has a strong relationship with Rockets star James Harden and coach Kevin McHale is being pitched as the guy who can help round out Howard’s offensive game.
While Houston can be a contender right off the bat with Howard in the middle, the same can’t be said for the Mavericks. The Mavs, who missed the playoffs last year with a 41-41 record, have an aging roster headlined by Dirk Nowitzki. The biggest factor going for the Mavericks could be owner Mark Cuban who can sell Howard on a two-year plan to get back to prominence.
He’s better off signing in Houston. Pair him and Harden and a somewhat decent Jeremy Lin and they will be a tough team. LA was never really a good fit with Kobe. Unlike Kobe, James Harden dishes the ball often.
but some how kobe always leads sg in assists
I don’t care about overall stats. Look at individual games. Some nights he does not have it, but strictly goes for his shots and that’s all. It’s awful.
So you don’t care about what actually happened just your interpretations of what happened? That’s basically what you just said.
I explained my thoughts, but I can’t understand them for you.
I comprehend what you said but what your saying isn’t objective analysis. Even if you take Harden’s number from last year per 36 minutes, and use AST% for this year, he still ends up behind Kobe in assists two years running. Kobe is a very good passing guard and in fact ran the offense as PG for a large part of the season. If you look at all the information saying your original statment is wrong and still come back with
“I don’t care about overall stats. Look at individual games”
You are ignoring what actually happened during the season and instead relying on your false interpretation of what happened to make an opinion. It’s neither correct nor objective.
Yeah Harden had 5.8 APG this year, Kobe would never match that, Kobe only had 6.0 APG this year… Oh wait 6.0 is higher than 5.8 huh? Must be non sense then.
If Houston is really “one elite center away”, what does signing Howard get them?
Yeah clearly Howard isn’t an elite Center, he’s only by far the best Center in the NBA and coming off of back surgery and playing through a torn shoulder labrum put up 17.1, 12.4, 2.4 on a .578 FG%.
Everyone says Howard wouldn’t want to re-sign with the Lakers because he doesn’t want to be the second option behind Kobe, which team is he going to as the first option again? In Houston clearly Harden has established himself as the go to guy and in Dallas Dirk would still be the man, if he teams up with Paul in Atlanta he’s the number one guy in terms of shots but the ball is still going through CP3, they won’t be just posting up all day long. He wants to team with another superstar, combine that with him being a more effective pick and roll guy than postup player, and his poor free throw shooting and no matter where he goes he’s the “second option” behind someone in one sense or another.
In Houston he wouldn’t behind behind Harden. They would be important to the team. There’d difference being Kobe and being a go to guy. A go to guy isn’t necessarily the team’s leader or star attraction like Kobe was for the Lakers. Also Harden does not hog the spotlight like Kobe does. In Houston he wouldn’t be the “second option.”
I don’t know what “They’d be important to the team” has to do with anything, Harden, Kobe, and Dwight are important to whatever team they are one.
However in Houston Harden will be the number 1 scoring option, he’s a high scoring guard who can handle the rock, run the pick and roll, and pass. They aren’t going to limit Harden by just posting Howard up, they are going to let Harden run the offense and run pick and rolls with Harden/Lin and Howard much more often than posting him up. Besides that come fourth quarter Howard is still a sub 50% free throw shooter two years running, Harden will be by far the first option in all crunch time scenarios.
So yes Howard will be a star, he’ll be the defensive anchor, and he’ll be celebrated upon signing, but he will be the second scoring option. BTW I live in Houston so this isn’t Rocket hate.