The NBA free agency period has started and all of the focus is planted squarely on Dwight Howard. After a saga that has spanned several seasons and included driving Stan Van Gundy out of Orlando and acting like a petulant child because he feels he’s owed the right to contend for a championship, Dwight finally gets to choose the team that can hopefully carry him to the promised land. The Lakers are trying to convince him to stay, but Howard still set up meetings with a few teams, and yesterday met with the Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks, and Golden State Warriors.
Today’s meetings are the Dallas Mavericks, as well as the Lakers, who have already made a few quick plays at Howard. There are currently billboards all over Los Angeles begging Howard to stay and be the star to carry the Lakers into the future as Kobe Bryant’s career winds down, but if Howard has any sense at all he will bail on Tinsel Town.
Other teams can offer Howard a 4-year, $88 million deal, but the Lakers can tack on another year as well as another $30 million. Word is that Howard’s prime focus right now is winning, and if that is the case then he needs to forego that extra 30 mil and sign with Houston, or maybe get the Lakers to work a sign-and-trade with Golden State.
Leaving Los Angeles is at least what Howard has to do. Howard does not like playing in Coach Mike D’Antoni’s system and he wants to contend for years to come. D’Antoni does not understand defense and has never been able to make a team that didn’t have Shawn Marion and Steve Nash look like a legitimate threat. And the cast around Howard is not built to contend next year or really probably any year soon. Kobe Bryant’s contract is an albatross that hinders LA’s ability to make any good moves to put up a supporting cast, and the team desperately needs one.
Kobe Bryant has played 17 seasons, and adding in playoffs and international play we’re looking at roughly 20 seasons. He has a ton of mileage on his body, and who knows how well he will play coming back from his torn Achilles this year. Mike D’Antoni has a history of not resting players, and when Kobe was essentially playing entire games when LA made the hard push to get into the playoffs, he got hurt badly. That is not a situation that inspires confidence.
Steve Nash is going to turn 40 during the ’13-’14 season, and his bad back isn’t going to magically improve as he keeps getting older. Factor in his hip and hamstring issues and again this is not a situation that inspires confidence in the Lakers as contenders. And Pau Gasol is 32 with bad feet, and Ron Artest is 33 and insane. The Lakers are not exactly spry chickens prepared to go hard into the future. And there is essentially no bench other than Steve Blake and the 37-year-old Antawn Jamison. But the Lakers are looking into bringing back Jordan Farmar for what that’s worth.
Old age and poor coaching are going to keep the Lakers from being a legitimate threat in the West. And even if D’Antoni doesn’t suck or the Lakers fire him and get Phil Jackson, how long are they realistically going to compete at the highest level? Next season maybe, and then where do they go? You need them to make big free agent plays to keep contending. There is a lot of risk involved with staying in LA.
Houston, however, is a young and exciting team that people have high hopes for already, and the addition of Dwight Howard would make them pretty devastating now and in the future. If the Rockets added Howard outright a starting lineup of Jeremy Lin, James Harden, Chandler Parsons, Howard, and Omir Asik would be pretty nasty. Granted Howard and Asik would be the worst free throw shooting tandem ever, but that defense would be unstoppable.
Even though that line up would be solid, the Rockets are currently exploring trades for Lin and Asik in order to add another star to join up with Howard and Harden. Howard and Harden together already makes your team pretty awesome in the NBA 2K games, but if they can add another star to the mix they would be set to contend for a while. Either way, a Howard-Harden combo in Houston with a good supporting cast would have potential to be a big threat in the West for years to come. And Kevin McHale coaching that team would be solid since the Hall of Fame big man would have a better understanding on how to use Howard than D’Antoni.
Then there is Golden State. The Warriors became the darlings of the NBA Playoffs this season behind exciting offensive weapons like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Harrison Barnes. Even Andrew Bogut played well during that playoff run and didn’t get injured somehow. Golden State even had a good regular season and is an up and coming team, and adding Dwight Howard would only mean good things. The Warriors apparently want to offer a sign-and-trade with the Lakers where they would give up Bogut and either Thompson or Barnes, though rumor has it the Lakers are not interested.
While it would be unfortunate to lose Thompson or Barnes, adding Howard to the mix would make the Warriors a massive threat. Then you’ve got Curry, one of those two aforementioned guys, David Lee, and Dwight Howard. Much like Houston, that is a young and exciting team that could contend for a long time. If Steph Curry stays healthy and David Lee plays up to the money he has been owed, the Warriors may be the best destination for Howard. They are already a tough team that can give anybody a scare, and putting in the best center in the league elevates them to elite status, and Mark Jackson is a total upgrade from Mike D’Antoni.
The Mavericks and Hawks have the cap room to sign Howard but there is not much else going on. Atlanta is losing Josh Smith, and while an Al Horford-Howard front court would be pretty good, are they realistically going to beat Miami or Chicago or Indiana? Dallas is in a similar boat as they have cap room to make some moves, but there isn’t much there right now. Dallas wants Rajon Rondo, but all in all there is too much uncertainty surrounding the supporting cast whereas Houston and Golden State are ready to add him in right now.
We’ll soon know where Dwight Howard wants to ply his trade for the next several years, ending a free agency debacle that has been even crazier than what LeBron James put the sporting world through three years ago. If his head is screwed on right he will get out of Los Angeles, even if Steve Nash is tweeting that they will build him a statue in 20 years. The Lakers are one of the legendary franchises in sports, but realistically if Howard wants to start playing for championships he needs to ride the wave of youth and better coaching and play for a team that can last for years to come.
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