Leon Black
02-15-2013, 04:45 PM
Sheridan: Dwight Howard, clearly unhappy, can still get to Brooklyn
2 Comments (http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2013/02/15/sheridan-dwight-howard-clearly-unhappy-can-still-get-to-brooklyn/#comments)http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/5ebaae9006d36bfe4af3897f8df57e89.jpg
By Chris Sheridan (http://www.sheridanhoops.com/author/chris-sheridan/)
February 15, 2013 at 4:20 PM
http://www.sheridanhoops.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Dwight-All-Star-2013-e1358473760599-183x300.jpgHOUSTON — Dwight Howard wasn’t playing ball with the reporters who tried Friday to pin him down on his future, which was no surprise given his reluctance lately to discuss anything about his future.
And the future of the NBA’s best (?) big man is one of the top topics around the NBA as All-Star Weekend arrives, because nobody knows what that future might hold. Will he stay with the Lakers? Will he leave El Lay in a lurch by leaving as an unrestricted free agent to sign with Dallas or Atlanta.
Will be even make the playoffs?
“I didn’t expect for it to as go as sour as it’s going,” Howard said at All-Star weekend. “Guys getting injuries, us not winning, the drama on the outside of the locker room. We’ve had to deal with a lot.”
Will he have to keep dealing with that drama in the years ahead as the Lakers turn over the majority of their roster?
Does it make any sense for him to do so?
If you think not, then how about this question, which is the one folks should be asking themselves: Does Dwight Howard have a secret plan to get to the Brooklyn Nets, the team that has been his No. 1 choice for more nearly two years?
“There’s no need for me to talk about what happens at the end of the season. There’s no need to go back and forth about it. I just feel at the end of the year I should have the opportunity to make my own decision, and I shouldn’t be pressured or criticized for waiting til the end of the year,” Howard said.
Check out the most significant part of that quote — “ I should have the opportunity to make my own decision.”
Those are similar to the words LeBron James spoke when he was getting ready to leave Cleveland, and there are those around the NBA who are convinced that James knew months in advance that he’d be taking his talents to South Beach.
Secret plans are as much a part of the NBA as dunks and irascible commissioners, and if a secret plan exists for Howard, it is not all that difficult to figure out how it would unfold. Further, after speaking with Dwight at All-Star Weekend, I walked away more convinced than ever that Howard is as unhappy as he has ever been in his career, and he is going to find a way to fulfill his ultimate goal and end up at the Barclay’s Center next season.
Here is our back-and-forth.
DH: “I’ve got to do what makes me happy. That’s it.”
CS: “What makes you happy? What has made you the most happy over the course of your career?”
DH: “Having fun on the court. That makes me happy.”
CS: “Are you having as much fun as you used to have on the court?”
DH: “At the present time, no. Hopefully it gets better.”
So let’s get back to that secret plan. I’ll break it down nice and simple for you.
Step 1: Howard remains with the Los Angeles Lakers for the entire season, which jibes with the Lakers’ plans. Howard said Friday that Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak has already told him he will not be traded.Step 2: Howard becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1, meets with potential suitors that have max cap room, including Dallas, Atlanta and Houston, yet doesn’t tip his hand.
Step 3: Howard, after one unhappy and unsuccessful season in L.A., tells the Lakers he is leaving $30 million on the table and is leaving Hollywood to seek his fame and fortune elsewhere. He then tells the Lakers they have two choices: They can watch him leave and get nothing in return, or they can work out a sign-and-trade deal with the Brooklyn Nets that will at least get them something in return. And do NOT expect that something to include Brook Lopez.
Step 4: Sit back and enjoy the leverage he has waited his whole career to wield. And by the time the signing moratorium ends in the second week of July, have his agent call whoever is running the Lakers at that time and ask them one question: “Whatcha gonna do? I need to know right now.”
The place where everyone has Howard fooled. He is the guy holding the strongest hand.
“Whatcha gonna do, Lakers?”
Would they let him walk away and get nothing in return?
Maybe, but that would be a tough one to stomach. They’d have a core of Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Steve Nash with which to move forward, along with a dearth of draft picks and an absence of talented young players.
They’d be as bad next year as they are this year, and they’d have little with which to rebuild — other than the promise of cap space in the summer of 2015.
Dwight would have to end up in a “B-list” destination rather than in Brooklyn as he has always desired, but he’d once again be the alpha dog with a chance to resurrect his career and his reputation. One of the few times Howard did not mumble Friday was when he was making the case that his struggles can be attributed to playing with a torn shoulder muscle while also recovering from back surgery and playing at 80 percent.
And Dwight spelled it out quite clearly: Unless someone has had back surgery and knows what it is like to come back from the pain associated with back surgery, they have no right to judge him.
So to review … he’s playing at 80 percent, he is seeking a place where he can be happy, and he is clearly unhappy where he is now.
Put the pieces together.
“Whatcha gonna do, Lakers?”
So let’s fast forward to the second week in July, and Howard has made it known he plans to leave. Dallas, Atlanta and maybe even Houston are all waiting, believing they have a chance.
Howard gives no clue as to which way he is leaning.
The Nets call the Lakers.
They tell the Lakers that Lopez, an All-Star, is not available, and they plan to move him to the 4 spot if Howard becomes their center. They express their sympathy with the Lakers’ plight, and then they tell L.A. what they’ll give up in a sign-and-trade.
It won’t be someone the caliber of Josh Smith, who Atlanta would be willing to yield in a sign-and-trade. But it would be a collection of young players and possibly draft picks that would speed the rebuilding process in Los Angeles by 2-3 years.
http://www.sheridanhoops.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/BillyKing-e1351547055717.jpgThat consolation package would ultimately included a banger (Kris Humphries) on a short contract, a young, talented point guard (Tyshawn Taylor), a pair of excellent Eurostash prospects in Bogan Bogdanovic and Ilkan Karaman, along with a future first-round draft pick (if Billy King is inclined to be generous to include one of those) or a player like MarShon Brooks.
Not a whole lot. But again, better than nothing … which would be the alternative or the Lakers if Howard chose the Mavericks.
Again, it’s a leverage game. People need to understand that.
Howard is sitting on a king-high flush in this game of leverage poker.
“Whatcha gonna do, Lakers?”
Dwight Howard will be in position to ask L.A. that question in the second week in July, and you can be damn sure he knows it. That’s part of the reason why he’s keeping his mouth shut.
Brooklyn not only remains possible, it is actually plausible.
2 Comments (http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2013/02/15/sheridan-dwight-howard-clearly-unhappy-can-still-get-to-brooklyn/#comments)http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/5ebaae9006d36bfe4af3897f8df57e89.jpg
By Chris Sheridan (http://www.sheridanhoops.com/author/chris-sheridan/)
February 15, 2013 at 4:20 PM
http://www.sheridanhoops.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Dwight-All-Star-2013-e1358473760599-183x300.jpgHOUSTON — Dwight Howard wasn’t playing ball with the reporters who tried Friday to pin him down on his future, which was no surprise given his reluctance lately to discuss anything about his future.
And the future of the NBA’s best (?) big man is one of the top topics around the NBA as All-Star Weekend arrives, because nobody knows what that future might hold. Will he stay with the Lakers? Will he leave El Lay in a lurch by leaving as an unrestricted free agent to sign with Dallas or Atlanta.
Will be even make the playoffs?
“I didn’t expect for it to as go as sour as it’s going,” Howard said at All-Star weekend. “Guys getting injuries, us not winning, the drama on the outside of the locker room. We’ve had to deal with a lot.”
Will he have to keep dealing with that drama in the years ahead as the Lakers turn over the majority of their roster?
Does it make any sense for him to do so?
If you think not, then how about this question, which is the one folks should be asking themselves: Does Dwight Howard have a secret plan to get to the Brooklyn Nets, the team that has been his No. 1 choice for more nearly two years?
“There’s no need for me to talk about what happens at the end of the season. There’s no need to go back and forth about it. I just feel at the end of the year I should have the opportunity to make my own decision, and I shouldn’t be pressured or criticized for waiting til the end of the year,” Howard said.
Check out the most significant part of that quote — “ I should have the opportunity to make my own decision.”
Those are similar to the words LeBron James spoke when he was getting ready to leave Cleveland, and there are those around the NBA who are convinced that James knew months in advance that he’d be taking his talents to South Beach.
Secret plans are as much a part of the NBA as dunks and irascible commissioners, and if a secret plan exists for Howard, it is not all that difficult to figure out how it would unfold. Further, after speaking with Dwight at All-Star Weekend, I walked away more convinced than ever that Howard is as unhappy as he has ever been in his career, and he is going to find a way to fulfill his ultimate goal and end up at the Barclay’s Center next season.
Here is our back-and-forth.
DH: “I’ve got to do what makes me happy. That’s it.”
CS: “What makes you happy? What has made you the most happy over the course of your career?”
DH: “Having fun on the court. That makes me happy.”
CS: “Are you having as much fun as you used to have on the court?”
DH: “At the present time, no. Hopefully it gets better.”
So let’s get back to that secret plan. I’ll break it down nice and simple for you.
Step 1: Howard remains with the Los Angeles Lakers for the entire season, which jibes with the Lakers’ plans. Howard said Friday that Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak has already told him he will not be traded.Step 2: Howard becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1, meets with potential suitors that have max cap room, including Dallas, Atlanta and Houston, yet doesn’t tip his hand.
Step 3: Howard, after one unhappy and unsuccessful season in L.A., tells the Lakers he is leaving $30 million on the table and is leaving Hollywood to seek his fame and fortune elsewhere. He then tells the Lakers they have two choices: They can watch him leave and get nothing in return, or they can work out a sign-and-trade deal with the Brooklyn Nets that will at least get them something in return. And do NOT expect that something to include Brook Lopez.
Step 4: Sit back and enjoy the leverage he has waited his whole career to wield. And by the time the signing moratorium ends in the second week of July, have his agent call whoever is running the Lakers at that time and ask them one question: “Whatcha gonna do? I need to know right now.”
The place where everyone has Howard fooled. He is the guy holding the strongest hand.
“Whatcha gonna do, Lakers?”
Would they let him walk away and get nothing in return?
Maybe, but that would be a tough one to stomach. They’d have a core of Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Steve Nash with which to move forward, along with a dearth of draft picks and an absence of talented young players.
They’d be as bad next year as they are this year, and they’d have little with which to rebuild — other than the promise of cap space in the summer of 2015.
Dwight would have to end up in a “B-list” destination rather than in Brooklyn as he has always desired, but he’d once again be the alpha dog with a chance to resurrect his career and his reputation. One of the few times Howard did not mumble Friday was when he was making the case that his struggles can be attributed to playing with a torn shoulder muscle while also recovering from back surgery and playing at 80 percent.
And Dwight spelled it out quite clearly: Unless someone has had back surgery and knows what it is like to come back from the pain associated with back surgery, they have no right to judge him.
So to review … he’s playing at 80 percent, he is seeking a place where he can be happy, and he is clearly unhappy where he is now.
Put the pieces together.
“Whatcha gonna do, Lakers?”
So let’s fast forward to the second week in July, and Howard has made it known he plans to leave. Dallas, Atlanta and maybe even Houston are all waiting, believing they have a chance.
Howard gives no clue as to which way he is leaning.
The Nets call the Lakers.
They tell the Lakers that Lopez, an All-Star, is not available, and they plan to move him to the 4 spot if Howard becomes their center. They express their sympathy with the Lakers’ plight, and then they tell L.A. what they’ll give up in a sign-and-trade.
It won’t be someone the caliber of Josh Smith, who Atlanta would be willing to yield in a sign-and-trade. But it would be a collection of young players and possibly draft picks that would speed the rebuilding process in Los Angeles by 2-3 years.
http://www.sheridanhoops.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/BillyKing-e1351547055717.jpgThat consolation package would ultimately included a banger (Kris Humphries) on a short contract, a young, talented point guard (Tyshawn Taylor), a pair of excellent Eurostash prospects in Bogan Bogdanovic and Ilkan Karaman, along with a future first-round draft pick (if Billy King is inclined to be generous to include one of those) or a player like MarShon Brooks.
Not a whole lot. But again, better than nothing … which would be the alternative or the Lakers if Howard chose the Mavericks.
Again, it’s a leverage game. People need to understand that.
Howard is sitting on a king-high flush in this game of leverage poker.
“Whatcha gonna do, Lakers?”
Dwight Howard will be in position to ask L.A. that question in the second week in July, and you can be damn sure he knows it. That’s part of the reason why he’s keeping his mouth shut.
Brooklyn not only remains possible, it is actually plausible.