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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Report: Phil Jackson Angling to Get Back With Lakers Through ‘Flirtations’ With Other Teams
Phil Jackson‘s name is coming up a lot lately. The former Bulls and Lakers coach was linked to management positions in Toronto and Seattle, and with all due respect to Jerry Sloan and Stan Van Gundy, Jackson remains the hottest ex-coach on the market.
All these nibbles from lesser franchises may come with a bigger goal in mind. Despite Jackson saying on “The Tonight Show” that he and Chris Hansen‘s Seattle group were in “serious talk” for him to take over basketball control of the Kings franchise before the NBA blocked the move, ESPN’s Marc Stein reports that Jackson’s end game is — and always has been — the Lakers.
“Some league observers, however, remain convinced that Jackson’s flirtations with teams are largely aimed at convincing Lakers lead basketball decision-maker Jim Buss to cede his organizational power to sister Jeanie Buss — which would theoretically enable Jeanie to bring in Phil, her fiance, back to Lakerland as L.A.’s next front-office chief,” Stein writes.
Everybod
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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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Comparing Mock Drafts for LA Lakers from Around the Web
After charging their way into the playoffs at the very end of the season, the Lakers can only expect to utilize their No. 48 pick and the Memphis Grizzlies‘ No. 60 pick (due to the fact that the Lakers’ rights to one of the Grizzlies’ picks are protected through the first 55) to rebuild their roster.
Starting with NBA Draft’s mock, it appears as if the best prospect the Lakers can hope to get from their draft position is Mouhammadou Jaiteh.
As scouted by Duane Causwell, Jaiteh is a large and imposing big man with broad shoulders and the ability to utilize his body to be a force in the paint. His ability to box out and his soft touch around the rim are definitely advantages that the Lakers need to shore up a front line that may or may not retain Dwight Howard‘s services.
However, Jaiteh is not the greatest athlete. He doesn’t have the fastest lateral quickness and isn’t a great leaper. He is also very raw in terms of post moves and can’t stretch the defense due to having poor shooting mechanics.
While Jaiteh could potentially become a big body in the paint for the Lakers to utilize against the other physical big men in the league, Jordan Hill already fills this role and is a much better athlete. However, with the 48th pick, Jaiteh may be the best big man available.
Draft Express has the Lakers selecting Alex Abrines, an international shooting guard out of Spain.
Abrines is a 6’6″ shooting guard who weighs in at only 190 pounds. Playing only limited minutes during his tenure with FC Barcelona and being quite small for his height, he won’t be much of a help shoring up one of the Lakers’ biggest weaknesses (their perimeter defense).
Walter Football’s mock draft has the Lakers taking Will Clyburn, a purported jack-of-all-trades who can score and hit the glass. His weaknesses revolve around a tendency to turn the ball over unnecessarily, and his ball handling needs some work.
It is clear that the Lakers’ most prominent problems cannot be solved through the draft, especially since they no longer have the rights to the 19th pick.
Perhaps Will Clyburn would be a better option than Jaiteh. He gives them a prospect at the wing position that could potentially mitigate the gaping hole that is their perimeter defense.
Outside of a DeJuan Blair-like surprise in the second round, there are very few big men this late in the draft that can yield a really productive player. Jaiteh is too big of a risk and an international guard such as Abrines is too unproven and small.
Drafting an athletic wing player or guard like Clyburn to supplement any moves the Lakers will make heading into next season would be he best course of action.
Before It’s News projects the 48th pick to be Erick Green, whose selection is intended to fill in the perimeter gap left by Kobe Bryant and his injury.
While his projected draft value is a little high according to NBA Draft and Draft Express, there is no doubt that the Lakers could use the scoring punch from the guard positions.
Leading the nation in scoring during his college career, the knock on Green’s explosive scoring and one-on-one abilities is the fact that his slight build and lean frame make him too small to be a 2-guard in the NBA. However, he isn’t a proven facilitator and has never had to respond to not being the primary option on offense.
However, it is clear that if Green is still on the board by the 48th pick, he would be a steal for the Lakers, who are in desperate need of some real talent at the point guard position.
Despite his upside, Green’s slight build will make him a defensive liability, which means the Lakers’ shoddy perimeter defense won’t see a significant upgrade with him on the floor.
While this may be an issue if the Lakers had a higher pick, drafting 48th means the Lakers must take the most talented player left on the board, regardless of position. If Green is still available, there are few players in the second round with his kind of scoring prowess and upside.
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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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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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LA Lakers Should Do Little or Nothing This Offseason
It seems that every article about the Los Angeles Lakers’ future must start with some analysis of last season.
The 2012-2013 Lakers were either snake-bitten or cursed by an old gypsy in a black and white horror movie. It may also be a case of karma coming back after all those lucky, injury-free years of championship seasons. It happened. So, get over it and stop blaming Jimmy Buss, although he certainly shoulders a large portion of blame.
Last year’s Lakers started with one foot in the bucket with Howard recovering from back surgery, a worn-out Pau Gasol and a slew of injuries that converted Showtime into an episode of M*A*S*H*. Then, in a moment of being shortsighted, D’Antoni played Kobe as if he were a common plow horse until, like a horse, he broke down in the home stretch.
Now, pundits, sportswriters and nearly every Angeleno in their car listening to talk radio are exercising their divine right to morph into a member of the cast of any of the CSI shows and do a lengthy autopsy on the nightmare season past. The operative question is whether the 2013-2014 Lakers’ team will suffer from the past season or find good health and an offensive system that fits their twin towers.
But, first and foremost, Dwight Howard will re-sign with the Lakers because he has nowhere else to go that can offer him the additional $29 million that the Lakers can offer, plus revenues from advertising and the other financial perks that go with living in Los Angeles or New York.
Lakers fans, on the other hand, need look no further than the NBA playoffs to see the importance of a “traditional” center who can defend, rebound and block shots.
Marc Gasol and Roy Hibbert have demonstrated the need for strong “traditional” center play in the playoffs when the game typically slows down and points in the paint are a premium. Both the Pacers and Knicks gave the Heat fits in the regular season, with more to come from Hibbert in the Conference Finals.
The Pacers took the Heat to a sixth game last year on the strength of Hibbert’s play. This year, Hibbert forced the Knicks into a jump-shooting team and beat them in six games, partly because of Hibbert’s 21 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots. Meanwhile, Marc Gasol turned the Westbrook-less Thunder into a mediocre jump-shooting team by shutting down the paint, rebounding and blocking shots.
A healthy Howard is as good, if not a better defensive player than both of them.
It should be noted that the weakness of the Miami Heat is at the 5 position, where Hibbert, Gasol and Howard excel. The secret to beating the Heat is at the center position, where good big men shut down the drives into the paint and control rebounds.
It also helps to have a strong 4, such as David West, Zach Randolph or Pau Gasol, who can match up with Chris Bosh. When Wade and James cannot drive to the rim, or shoot short jumpers in the paint, the Heat are just another jump shooting team, but with an effective bench.
While going small and spreading the court may produce results in the regular season, it is not a recipe for winning the NBA championships. Fans should look no further than the playoff losses by the Warriors and the Knicks to see what happens to jump-shooting teams in the playoffs.
Defense, rebounding and protecting the paint are the principal ingredients of a title-winning team. Without Howard, the Lakers have simply no chance of winning an NBA title while the Heat play their style of game and Marc Gasol and Roy Hibbert play theirs.
The first change the Lakers should make is to amnesty Metta World Peace. Any Laker fan who thinks that World Peace will opt out this summer fails to see how much he likes the “Hollywood” culture and that he has no place to go. He is now an old, slow one-dimensional player who is worth no more than the veteran minimum.
If the Lakers are going to keep Pau Gasol at the 4, then it is time to experiment by moving Earl Clark to the 3 and playing a power lineup. With Jordan Hill and Antawn Jamison as backups, the Lakers would have a tall, offensive-minded front line that could rebound and play defense. This front line could reduce easy baskets in the paint, rebound defensively and stop the opposing teams’ lay-up line that haunted last year’s team.
The next step would be to clean out the dead weight at the end of the bench and stop experimenting with Darius Morris at point guard. He is not that good a defensive player, cannot initiate the offense and is a horrible jump shooter. Every time he graced the court last season, the Lakers dropped further behind or lost a lead.
Mike Brown made a mistake picking Morris over Andrew Goudelock last year. At least Goudelock can score and is a competitive player. Chris Duhon was worthless on offense and defense, while Devin Eubanks has not panned out despite numerous opportunities.
The Lakers still need to improve their backcourt, where Kobe is now questionable, Steve Nash is entering his senior citizen, injury-plagued years, and Steve Blake, despite a terrific return to action from groin surgery, is another year older and another year slower.
The Lakers would have been better served signing Jarrett Jack as a free agent last year than trading for Nash. That mistake will haunt them for the next two years because of salary cap issues and the lack of availability of a good point guard in free agency.
If point guard is now a problem, then the potential loss of Kobe Bryant, or the Achilles injury turning him into an average player, is the greatest threat to the Lakers’ future. I saw what an Achilles tendon injury did to Elgin Baylor and Dominique Wilkins. It wasn’t pretty.
Kobe may be the only player I have seen with the mental and physical ability to come back from this injury. But he is not invincible, especially at his age.
This brings us to coaching. Mike Brown was horrible, and Mike D’Antoni should have never been hired. His foolhardy attempt to mold the Lakers into something they were not caused them so many losses that the team never recovered. It was obvious to Laker fans by March that the Lakers could go nowhere in the playoffs and it was time to play for next year.
Instead of a common-sense decision to wait until next year, D’Antoni played Kobe Bryant until he suffered an Achilles injury. Had D’Antoni listened for just one moment to James Worthy and Robert Horry on the pre-game shows, when they warned that Kobe’s minutes may lead to an injury, fans would not be worrying about Bryant’s health today.
Certainly Worthy knows a little about playing too many minutes. Playing the last part of a season with a bad leg, which doctors told him would not get worse, shortened his career by a few years and damaged the Lakers’ post-Magic Johnson transformation for several years afterward. No Laker fan wants to see a repeat of the early ’90s teams. They were ugly and not representative of Laker basketball.
The Lakers’ problems in 2012-2013 were simple. Howard returned to the lineup way too soon. He should have rehabilitated his injury until at least January before playing. Pau Gasol should have rested more after the Olympics and dealt with his knee issues sooner.
Furthermore, Mike Brown should have been fired in the offseason or the minute he decided to run the Princeton offense with the Lakers line up. Every Laker fan could see the Princeton offense was going to be a disaster.
Mike D’Antoni should not have been hired as a square peg being forced into the round Lakers roster. If D’Antoni is to remain the coach, as GM Mitch Kupchak says, then he needs to reinvent himself and fit his coaching into a style that fits his lineup, like George Karl and Larry Brown have done for years.
Any less will result in failure again. As they say, being foolish is doing the same thing over and over again in the face of failure.
The Lakers need to find a good young point guard to take over for Nash and Blake as soon as possible. Neither Jody Meeks nor Goudelock are tall enough to play the 2-guard position against most other 2-guards in the league. Look no further than Klay Thompson, a 6’8″ shooter, who could and would score easily over both of them.
Both could be good backup guards, with Goudelock a candidate to move over to the point guard position, where he could be a fruitful backup at the very least. He was a better candidate to become a point guard than Darius Morris. It is unlikely Goudelock can stay in the league if he must play defense on shooting guards.
The Lakers need to take some lessons from Greg Popovich and the Spurs by making small changes that allow its players to get healthy and play up to their potential, which can easily happen for a Laker team with a front line of Howard, Gasol and Clark.
Their inherent size must be peppered with younger, quicker guards who can shoot. It is the search for young point and shooting guards that will define the Lakers in years to come, or immediately, if Bryant is not effective upon his return to the lineup.
The Lakers succeeded under Jerry Buss by keeping their lineup steady while searching for the missing part. In the ’80s, those missing parts ranged from Bob McAdoo to Mychal Thompson. In the ’90s, it was Shaq and a teenage phenomenon named Kobe Bryant. A few years ago that missing part was Pau Gasol. Who will be that missing part now?
Who knows, but the Lakers better start searching far and wide, even across Europe, to find such a player. Until then, the Lakers will be close every year, but no cigars. Hopefully, Jimmy Buss will receive an apparition from his father and turn himself into the Lakers leader he has failed to be so far in his brief career at the top.
Though the Lakers have many good pieces in place, they need to amnesty World Peace and improve their guard position with younger, more athletic players this offseason in order to put themselves in a good position going forward.
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Phil talks Lakers choosing D’Antoni
It’s still shocking. A coach who was one 11 championships, five with the Lakers organization, asks Mitch Kupchak and Jimmy Buss to give him the weekend to decide if he wants to come back. They then call him Sunday at midnight to wake him up out of a sleep and say “We have hired Mike D’Antoni”. Why? “Because we think he is the best coach for this group of players.” Kupchak said. You got to be kidding me right? Well, we all know how that turned out. The Lakers had arguably their most embarrassing season in franchise history. Phil Jackson finally opened up on Thursday night on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. While we have all heard the story, it is still shocking to hear Jackson tell it. He also confirmed that Jeanie Buss was mad for two months after her brother (Jim Buss) decided to go with D’Antoni over Jackson. You can make an argument that the majority of Laker Nation is still mad. (ie. The “We Want Phil” chants all season long) The post Phil Jackson Talks About The Lakers Choosing D’Ant
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Phil Jackson Reveals True Story of Lakers Snub
After a miserable season for the Los Angeles Lakers following a huge offseason, many fans are left wondering what could have come of Phil Jackson coaching the team. Well, at the very least he’s finally telling us all why he didn’t end up back in LA.
On a tour to promote his new book Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success, Jackson showed up on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to talk about the Michael Jordan versus Kobe Bryant debate, and give his side of the story on why he didn’t end up coaching the Lakers.
Much as the story was told when it happened, Jackson recalls talking to Jim Buss for an extended period of time and telling Buss that he was positive that he could coach the roster that they had put together.
Jackson requested the weekend to think about it, but late on that Sunday night, Jackson got a call from Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak telling him that the team had decided to hire Mike D’Antonio.
The decision caused a rift between Jim and his sister (and now Jackson’s fiancé) Jeanie, the two not speaking to each other for an extended period of time.
You know the story from there. Los Angeles was barely able to squeak into the playoffs with a 45-37 record, they were swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round, and the words “fire” “Mike” and “D’Antoni” were used in some combination of at least 482,102 sentences over the course of the next two days.
Jackson is now looking for a job elsewhere in the NBA, either in a front office or once again as a head coach.
He’s currently advising the Detroit Pistons with their search for a new head coach, but his role in the NBA beyond that point is still up in the air.
I think we can rule out anything with the Lakers.
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