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I remember when he used to tell everyone that Reggie Bush was going to be the Michael Jordan of football.
Plashke is a notorious Laker hater working for the times, but he says it quite well imo.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basket...3744757.column
By Bill PlaschkeJuly 5, 2013, 9:24 p.m.
The Lakers didn't lose a center, they dodged a bullet.
Take a hike, Dwight, and don't let your cape hit you on the way out.
Dwight Howard has been formally chased out the door of basketball's greatest franchise by its legacy, its pressure, and, apparently, a rousing recruiting challenge from Kobe Bryant.
PHOTO GALLERY: Dwight Howard and the Lakers
Does a city of starry expectations want its favorite basketball team built around somebody who doesn't have the shoulders for it?
It's a good day for the Houston Rockets, but a great day for the Lakers, who will watch Howard walk to the Rockets for less money, lower expectations, and probably four more years of mediocrity.
All together now: Whew!
Gone is perhaps the biggest one-year disappointment in Lakers history, an All-Star center who arrived here last summer bearing a championship promise he quickly broke with a lack of consistent intensity, a shortage of compe ive focus and an absence of any sort of measurable refusal to lose.
His first play as a Laker perfectly summed up the dream that was D12. It was a thunderous dunk. His last play as a Laker perfectly summed up the reality that was Dwight Howard. He was ejected from the final loss in a four-game sweep by the San Antonio Spurs, abandoning his short-handed teammates and disappearing through the tunnel as an injured Kobe Bryant was hobbling out.
He spent much of the season recovering from back surgery, but even when he was close to 100%, his intensity was still 50-50. He played through pain, except when he didn't. He wanted the Lakers to be his team, except when it was his team. When Bryant suffered an Achilles' tendon tear, Howard also disappeared.
For two years, this column space pushed and prodded and finally begged the Lakers to acquire Howard, then celebrated when it did. The line for suckers starts here.
"The Lakers figured it out, they always do," I wrote after Howard's acquisition last August.
It turns out, I could write the same thing again with Howard's departure. Eleven months after the Lakers figured out how to trade for him, here's guessing they also figured out that he wasn't really worth risking a five-year le abyss to keep him.
Yes, they offered him the maximum contract of $118 million over five seasons, nearly $30 million more guaranteed than the Rockets' four-year offer. Yes, they put up these silly signs all over town and General Manager Mitch Kupchak said all these silly things about Howard being the franchise's future.
But in the end, it all seemed like an expensive game of chicken. For the sake of appearances, the Lakers had to make a very public pursuit of a player they really didn't want to catch.
There will be talk nationwide that the Lakers' failure to keep a star in the prime of his career for the first time in franchise history is indicative of the organization's dysfunction and eventual downfall in the wake of the death of Jerry Buss. And, certainly, there are huge front-office problems that sponsors and season-ticket holders will need addressed, such as, who is actually running this thing, anyway?
But don't kid yourself. If the Lakers really wanted to keep Dwight Howard, they would have kept him.
If they really wanted Howard, they would have fired Coach Mike D'Antoni instead of allowing him to sit in the room for their final pitch. That's right, the biggest barrier to Howard's re-signing with the Lakers was actually brought in to sell him on the Lakers.
If they really wanted Howard, Phil Jackson would have been the coach in that room, instead of escaping to Montana while communicating to Howard through Twitter.
If they really wanted Howard, they wouldn't have attempted to dissuade Kobe Bryant from telling him the truth. While the Rockets were undoubtedly convincing Howard of his greatness, Bryant was making a final pitch in which he challenged Howard to follow his lead and strive for that greatness. If Howard was truly fit to be a Laker, he would have grabbed at the shine of those five rings instead of cowering from it.
I remember when he used to tell everyone that Reggie Bush was going to be the Michael Jordan of football.
Wow what a ty article.
tl;dr
5 years of Dwight would simply extend the current problems of the Lakers. His only use in terms of improving the situation would be as a trading piece. Once rid of Kobe's contract, the healing may begin. Until then, I will take Dale's beatings in stride.
LOL all these Rocket fans with a 12 o clock boner. I understand the excitement, I was laughing at Magic fans too when they warned us.
Lakers are So, so irrelevant
Lakers are like a playa who gets rejected by a fine then says like "man, that had fat toes anyway."
Summary:
Sour grapes. The Lakers really didn't want to keep Howard. The public begging was to convince the fan base that they tried.
Tim cowlIshaw is better
actually i dont know, dont care for either
Sounds like a salty laker fan. LA times per par
And this is how really attractive women react when they are rejected in some form or another.
Yeah, but the Lakers put on 50 pounts at least since Jimmy took over.
i remember he wrote an article after Suns-Lakers in 2007 i believe Game 1 round 1 where he just kept saying "SHOOT THE BALL KOBE!"
LOL This is true. She didn't shed that baby fat. Better cut some El Bees before 2014.
no hes not. Hes a huge laker homer and that article is just another example of his ty journalism.
LOL at anybody calling Plashke a Laker hater. Biggest in homer on ESPN.
Has Simers weighed in yet? That oughtta be good
Be careful of what you wish for, Rocket Fan. When we got Howard, I thought the NBA would be grabbing their ankles and biting their bottom lips too.
Plaschke always has the worst takes, he is a clear Lakers homer.
Dwight made the right decision and he's butthurt as .
Looks like every already beat me to calling out the OPs stupidity
Howard is a , but of course the Lakers wanted him. They had billboards and a banner on the Staples Center. And Dwight already said that Kobe didn't challenge him like that.
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