Dwight Howard reportedly frustrated with Mike D’Antoni
The latest news surrounding Dwight Howard and the Los Angeles Lakers should come as a surprise to no one. While most people feel that Howard will return to LA next season if for no other reason than the Lakers can offer him over $30 million more than any other team, the decision may not be that simple. According to ESPNLosAngeles.com’s Dave McMenamin, Howard is reportedly frustrated with Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni. Howard was one of several Lakers to hold a personal meeting GM Mitch Kupchak after the season, during which sources say he discussed his relationship with D’Antoni. According to sources with knowledge of the situation, part of the discussion between Howard and Kupchak centered around Howard’s frustration with D’Antoni — particularly how the center felt marginalized as the coach looked to (Kobe) Bryant and Steve Nash for leadership and suggestions and discounted Howard’s voice. Kobe Bryant is obviously the leader of the Lakers, but apparently Howard felt that his influenc…
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Dwight Howard torn between Lakers and Houston Rockets
Howard has a history of being indecisive and is torn between the two teams
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Dwight Howard Reportedly Voiced Frustrations With Mike D’Antoni To Lakers GM
Dwight Howard reportedly voiced his frustrations with Mike D’Antoni to Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak during his exit interview after the Lakers first round playoff exit. Howard becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
According to ESPN Los Angeles:
According to sources with knowledge of the situation, part of the discussion between Howard and Kupchak centered around Howard’s frustration with D’Antoni — particularly how the center felt marginalized as the coach looked to Bryant and Steve Nash for leadership and suggestions and discounted Howard’s voice.
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Kobe Bryant Tweets About Lakers Offseason, Wants Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol in LA
Kobe Bryant has a plan.
With the Los Angeles Lakers approaching their most pivotal offseason in years, the Black Mamba has every intention of ensuring that his will be done. And that will includes convincing Dwight Howard to remain in Hollywood and persuading the Buss family to hold on to Pau Gasol as well.
What, you didn’t think Coach Kobe was going to sit this summer out, did you?
The Lakers have a lot riding on this offseason; Kobe has a lot riding on this offseason. Though he’s previously said he’s not ready to retire, his ruptured Achilles serves as a reminder that time is running out.
If Kobe wants to get that sixth championship ring of his (and he does), he has to make a play for it now, not later. He might not be around for “later.”
Naturally, he’ll then want a say in how the roster is assembled. Knowing how financially strapped the Lakers are, he understands that they’ll have to make the biggest splash by swimming in their own pool.
Los Angeles cannot go out and offer stacks of cash to free agents of its choosing. That’s why retaining Howard is so important. If the Lakers cannot sell him on staying, they don’t get to take that money and give it to someone else. They’ll simply be down one superstar.
But not if Kobe can help it.
Although the two have admitted they’re not “best friends,” they’ve reached a mutual understanding. Or at least Kobe has. For him to win now, he knows he needs Dwight. And Pau, too.
Gasol is coming off the worst season of his NBA career and will likely never be the four-time All-Star he once was, but Bryant sees the value in his presence.
The two are incredibly close. Emotions then have stand to cloud Bryant’s judgment. At the same time, Gasol is worth more to the Lakers than they whatever they would net in any trade for him. Kobe gets this as well.
These Lakers are headed for an inevitable overhaul—a rebuilding project that Kobe will do everything he can to delay at least one more year.
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Dwight Howard Proves Again That It’s All About Dwight Howard
Very rarely do I find myself siding with Mike D’Antoni.
His core principles as a coach go against everything I believe is essential in winning a championship.
His disregard for defense and propensity for relying on the three-point shot have ensured defeat endless times throughout his career.
Yet still I find myself siding with him. It’s a strange feeling. One that only a player as entitled and selfish as Dwight Howard could push me to.
What on earth happened? In less than a year, Howard has destroyed his reputation, possibly beyond repair.
We saw signs of this type of behavior during his time in Orlando. The endless waffling of whether he’d stay or go. The silly squabbles he had with Stan Van Gundy. His propensity to throw teammates under the bus. It was never Howard’s doing in defeat yet the praise was always there in victory.
We thought a change of scenery was all he needed. That a move to a storied franchise like the Los Angeles Lakers would push along his maturation. We were wrong.
The waffling has returned, this time with his statement that he is intrigued by the prospect of starting over (again) with the Houston Rockets, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles. The squabbles have remained, D’Antoni replacing Van Gundy in the coach’s role. The excuses remain, this time with his declaration that he was used improperly.
The Rockets better think twice before dishing out a big contract to Howard. The Magic and Lakers should serve as cautionary tales about the perils of employing this one-time superstar.
When the going gets tough, Dwight Howard checks out.
For a man who is only a few years removed from garnering praise as the perhaps No. 2 player in the league, it’s been a long fall from grace.
The smiling superstar with the bubbly personality still remains. Yet the smiles are now through clenched teeth, the bubbly personality only surfacing when he is the focal point.
Dwight Howard has proven one thing throughout his career: If it’s not all about Howard, then you won’t get all of him on the court.
It’s not as if the skills that made him renowned throughout the league have left him. Even through injury, we saw glimpses of his brilliance.
It’s the baggage that he puts upon himself and those around him that have made him poisonous to a winning culture.
It really is sad. Howard has turned himself into the NBA’s version of Alex Rodriguez. Two supremely talented athletes who have destroyed their relationships with the fans and their teammates by putting themselves above all else.
We all know what Howard is: the most destructive defensive weapon the NBA has to offer (when motivated). We also know of his limitations on the offensive side of the ball.
Unfortunately for Howard, he craves the glory that offense brings and in the process diminishes what he does best.
It’s not Van Gundy’s or D’Antoni’s fault that they understood exactly what they had in Howard. They saw a player that could lead a team to a championship by being the anchor of the defense. They also saw a player who could make an offense better by staying within himself.
Howard, however, overestimates his offensive abilities. He sees his coaches’ acknowledgments of both his strengths and limitations as slights to him as a player. To quote the great Jack Nicholson, he can’t handle the truth.
The draw to Howard is obvious. He is an absolute force of nature. That is why someone, maybe the Lakers, maybe the Rockets, will throw him a max contract in the hopes that he realizes his potential.
For those that miss out on the Howard sweepstakes, they will eventually consider it a victory in defeat. For the team that does secure his abilities, well, the warning signs were there.
Unless Dwight Howard matures overnight, failure is inevitable. Fortunately for that team, he’ll probably ask for a trade after a year or two.
Whether or not there will be any takers at that point remains unknown.
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Report: Dwight Howard Favors Rockets or Mavericks, Plans to Take His Time Deciding Whether to Stay With Lakers
Dwight Howard has said he doesn’t want a big, circus-like atmosphere surrounding his free agency decision this summer. But a small circus may do.
While the Lakers reportedly want to figure out quickly whether Howard will return, Howard “has privately indicated he plans to give strong consideration to multiple teams,” Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reports league sources as saying. “Howard re-signing with the Lakers is far from a done deal,” Berger says.
The Lakers’ ability to bring Howard back is hampered by the amount of money they have available — not for him as much as for his supporting cast. While Howard can get a larger contract by staying in Los Angeles, which can offer him a max deal, the Lakers may not be able to get other key players due to the large contracts the team has already handed out.
A couple of other teams, however, already have good pieces in place if they want to add Howard. Berger says Howard is most interested in the Rockets, who have a good core as well as Kevi…
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Report: Dwight Howard interested in joining Rockets
Daryl Morey’s master plan may be coming together after all.
According to a CBS report, free agent center Dwight Howard is no lock to re-sign with the Los Angeles Lakers and is most intrigued by playing in Houston, where All-Star guard James Harden led the league’s youngest team to the playoffs, where it was eliminated in six games by the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“With six weeks to go before Howard becomes an unrestricted free agent, the team that is said to intrigue him the most is theHouston Rockets, according to multiple people briefed on internal conversations surrounding Howard’s free-agent decision,” CBS reported. “The Rockets have a young star,James Harden, who has proved himself worthy of playing the leading role for the franchise; a budding 3-point shooting threat inChandler Parsons; a defensive-minded coach in Kevin McHale; andOmer Asik, the kind of 7-footer Howard is believed to want next to him in the frontcourt.”
If this is true, it gets the Rockets’ roster a
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Will Dwight Howard Spurn Logic, Lakers for Houston or Dallas?
The money, power and attention Dwight Howard so desperately wants are all there for the taking if he re-signs with the Los Angeles Lakers. So why isn’t he shouting from the rooftops that L.A., and not Houston or Dallas, is where he longs to be?
According to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, Howard is in no rush to commit to a Lakers return, and in fact, he’s apparently giving some serious thought to a few other teams, particularly the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks.
Though Howard is adamant his free agency not be marred by the circus-like environment that surrounded his departure from Orlando last summer, word already has spread to multiple levels of his support staff that Howard re-signing with the Lakers is far from a done deal.
Howard can talk about avoiding a circus all he wants, but if we’ve learned anything from the way he’s handled virtually every public decision of his basketball life over the past couple of years, it’s that he craves the attention that comes with situations like this one.
If we step back and look at the situation logically, it seems like Howard can’t possibly be serious about leaving Los Angeles, can he?
For starters, Howard can make about $118 million on a five-year deal if he re-signs with his current team. Moving to another team as a free agent or as part of a sign-and-trade deal would limit Howard to “just” $88 million on a deal that could only span four years.
The NBA set up its collective bargaining agreement to encourage star players to remain with their teams, and by looking at Howard’s situation as an example, it’s pretty clear that there are some serious financial incentives to staying put.
And in theory, Howard’s Los Angeles income wouldn’t just be limited to his salary. Everyone knows that the endorsement dollars are bigger where the market is more robust, and L.A. gives D12 the opportunity to make a mint away from the basketball court.
In addition, Howard loves the bright lights and attention in Los Angeles. A place like Houston hardly provides the media exposure Howard seems to prize so highly.
Finally, we learned during the year that Howard and Kobe Bryant clashed more than once over the alpha-dog issue in L.A. The two of them never got along because both believed they were the Lakers’ best player. Well, that was one issue. The other one had to do with Howard’s apparent inability to conduct himself like an adult.
With Bryant recovering from a ruptured Achilles, Howard should be free to take control of the team. (God help them.)
The dollars and the attention are in Los Angeles. That’s beyond doubt.
But there are a couple of positives about leaving L.A. that we’ve got to mention for the sake of objectivity. For one thing, there’s a case to be made that wins might not be so easy to come by if Howard sticks around in Los Angeles.
With a high profile, a championship legacy and an apparent willingness to laugh as the luxury-tax threshold recedes in the rear view, the Lakers have the ability to turn things around in a hurry. But Mike D’Antoni certainly hasn’t proved that he’s capable of leading a winner, and based on some of his recent personnel decisions, GM Mitch Kupchak may have lost his touch.
The problem with that line of thinking, though, is that we’ve never seen any evidence to support the notion that Howard actually cares about winning. Sure, there were a few crocodile tears after L.A. bowed out of the playoffs, but we’ve seen far too much selfish behavior from D12 to believe that he was really all that distraught over being eliminated.
The case for the Rockets is pretty simple: They’ve got more young talent, lots of cap flexibility and a home state whose tax situation would ease the blow of the $30 million Howard would leave on the table by abandoning L.A. And for what it’s worth, it seems as though at least one current member of the Rockets is interested in the idea of luring the big man to the Lone Star state.
Dallas has Dirk Nowitzki and the same tax break, but Howard has already tried his hand at joining up with an aging star in L.A., and that turned out to be an unqualified disaster.
Logically, it’s difficult to imagine what Howard could want that the Lakers couldn’t provide. But maybe, what Howard really wants—attention—is at the heart of this latest report.
So if you’re sickened by the idea of dealing with yet another offseason in which D12 is a daily news item, you’re going to need something to distract you. Well, either that, or you could take more drastic measures.
Look, Howard hasn’t handled a single public relations move or career decision well since leaving Orlando. So it shouldn’t be a shock that he’s already mucking this one up. If reason prevails, Howard will be back in a Lakers uniform next season.
I guess the only problem with that thinking is that Howard hasn’t done much lately to prove that he’s a reasonable guy.
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Dwight Howard Reportedly Will Give Multiple Teams Consideration in Free Agency
If you tend to grow tired of news headlines constantly surrounding Dwight Howard, you might want to disappear this summer.
According to CBS Sports’ Ken Berger, the upcoming superstar free agent won’t immediately re-sign with the Los Angeles Lakers. Instead, he will “explore all such options”:
With the Lakers hoping for a swift decision from Dwight Howard on his free agency this summer, the All-Star center has given no indication he will rush the process and has privately indicated that he plans to give strong consideration to multiple teams, league sources told CBSSports.com.
Let the “Summer of Dwight” begin.
Many fans quickly became annoyed with Howard’s off-the-court antics when he was with the Orlando Magic. He seemingly went back and forth between wanting out and being perfectly happy on countless occasions, and when he was finally shipped to L.A., it seemed as though the media circus was over.
Just one year later, and it’s back on.
That’s not to suggest Howard isn’t worth all of this attention.
Despite recovering from major back surgery and never really looking 100 percent, he averaged 17.1 points on 57.8 shooting to go with a league-high 12.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per contest this season.
When he was on the court, the Lake Show scored 3.4 points per 100 possessions more than when he was off it.
Even during a perceived down year, Howard, who is still just 27 years old, showcased what makes him one of the most dominant forces in the league down low.
As such, the interest in him once free agency starts on July 1 will be overwhelming.
According to Berger, teams such as the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks—who both made serious attempts at a coup last year when he was on the trade block—will be in contention for the big man’s services. The Atlanta Hawks also jump out as a team with potentially oodles of cap space.
However, as Berger also points out, the Lakers may still have the clear advantage. Because of the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, they are able to offer the superstar bigger annual increases and a longer deal—if that is indeed what he desires.
Either way, there figures to be much speculation and a slew of questions surrounding Howard’s future in the coming months.
And as we currently stand, those questions won’t be answered anytime soon.
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Can the Clippers Get Dwight Howard And Chris Paul?
via 5thquartermag.com Recently, I have been wondering how the Clippers are going to improve their roster to appease Chris Paul. I think if they got Dwight Howard to join with him and Blake, then the Clippers big 3 would be on par with the Miami Heat. Yet is this possible? Eddie Sefko brought up that the Clippers are trying to do it, but how would they? Lets look at the salaries. Right now the Clippers salary for 2013/2014: Blake Griffin: $16,402,500 DeAndre Jordan: $10,986,550 Caron Butler: $8,000,000 Jamal Crawford: $5,225,000 Eric Bledsoe: $2,626,473 Grant Hill: $2,045,065 Willie Green: $1,399,507(Team Option) So the total salary is: $46,685,095 The salary cap for the 2013/2014 season is $58,044,000 so that means the Clippers will have $11,358,905 in Salary Cap. How much salary cap will the Clippers need to be able to sign both Dwight and CP3? According to HoopsRumors, the max Dwight can make is 20,513,178 and Chris Paul can make 18,668,431. I am not exactly sure how the bird exc…
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