Dwight Discussion: Dwightmare on Figueroa St. Part Boo

Weezy wrote:

borri wrote:To this day, I still can't figure out why D12 was so unhappy in ORL.

Only thing I can come up with is the obvious, it's Orlando. Look at his list of teams to be traded to, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Dallas, these are cities with stuff to do in them, not a swamp with nothing but Disneyworld.

At the very least, I could understand why Bynum pouted from time to time. Rising player having to share with the greatest of the decade.

In ORL, D12 got what he has moaned and complained about here in LA. Kid was the focal point of the offense. Got the touches he wanted. Adored by his fans. FO catered to his every whim.

I frankly don't know what it will take to make this kid happy. If he can't share touches with Kobe and Nash, how can he do it with any other superstar in the league?

He obviously can't do it alone. Rick Fox was 10000000000% correct in saying this. Kid lacks the skills to be dominant on both ends.

If Shaq couldn't do it alone, how the hell is this kid going to do it. Inevitably, the only conclusion i can come up with is this kid is just a spoiled brat with a primadonna attitude.

Weezy wrote:

borri wrote:To this day, I still can't figure out why D12 was so unhappy in ORL.

Only thing I can come up with is the obvious, it's Orlando. Look at his list of teams to be traded to, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Dallas, these are cities with stuff to do in them, not a swamp with nothing but Disneyworld.

LOL! That's part of it. Metta said something a couple of months back that has gotten glossed over about Dwight; he said he believe he loves being in the, "spotlight." I believe that's true. Dwight wanted a bigger market such as Brooklyn or even Los Angeles which was on his list of teams that he wanted to be traded too.

Now, more importantly, I truly believe Dwight's camp convinced him to force his way out of Orlando. I don't believe Dwight when he says he doesn't like the way Stan Van Gundy was using him; he was on record as saying that to Hakeem in response to him when Hakeem asked why he wanted to leave Orlando. The organization, coach & GM catered to Dwight.

I say all that to say this; the allure of playing in a bigger market being in the spotlight & the possibility of making tons of money from endorsements (Adidas for example) seem liked a win-win for Dwight when presented with the possibilities. Ultimately, he made the decision to leave and has to take responsibility for it, but I believe was extremely influenced in that process, IMO

Hey, Orlando isn't a swamp with nothing but Disney World. We also have Universal.

I don't know. I don't live near any even decent sized bodies of water. When I was staying in a local hotel I saw a stretch of water that could've been gator infested, but nothing materialized. Hasn't been a real concern of mine.

At the end gets asked "What makes you happy" he said "Having fun on the court"...hes really the manchild Lol

Looks like Dwight is safe according to WOJ

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--chris-paul-doesn-t-need-dwight-howard-now--or-in-the-future-075249498.html

When teams call to talk trade, they [rival teams] say, the Lakers' private message has been consistent with the public one: Howard isn't available, general manager Mitch Kupchak tells them.

^^Lakers gonna hitch their wagon to Dwight for the next 6 years...... unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a better option. The CBA is gonna kick us in the butt as well and we will not be able to realistically attract a second "max player" and still field a decent team around them......

Rooscooter wrote:^^Lakers gonna hitch their wagon to Dwight for the next 6 years...... unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a better option. The CBA is gonna kick us in the butt as well and we will not be able to realistically attract a second "max player" and still field a decent team around them......

why not? there will always be ring chasing vets. willing to take min i.e. Jamison, Battier types. Obviously it'll be quite impossible to get another BIG 3 like Mia though.

khmrP wrote:

Rooscooter wrote:^^Lakers gonna hitch their wagon to Dwight for the next 6 years...... unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a better option. The CBA is gonna kick us in the butt as well and we will not be able to realistically attract a second "max player" and still field a decent team around them......

why not? there will always be ring chasing vets. willing to take min i.e. Jamison, Battier types. Obviously it'll be quite impossible to get another BIG 3 like Mia though.

Why not what?..... why not sign Howard? I think they will and it's probably the best move

or

Why are we not going to get a second Max Player? That won't happen because of the way the new CBA is structured. The only way to do that is trade a number of pieces for said player.... we don't have pieces or picks..... or anything even signed beyond next summer.

So in 14-15 we will have the CAP plus a MLE to field a team. If Howard in 20 million of that we have the rest to spend on 13 positions..... Maybe Kobe re-signs for 15 million or something.... then even less to average over 12 positions..... I might see a vet or even two joining us for a little IF we were on the brink, but I'm not sure how we are going to be even close when we have to start from scratch in 18 months. Not trading Pau for a younger, athletic player or two is going to kill us going forward I'm afraid.

Rooscooter wrote:

khmrP wrote:

Rooscooter wrote:^^Lakers gonna hitch their wagon to Dwight for the next 6 years...... unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a better option. The CBA is gonna kick us in the butt as well and we will not be able to realistically attract a second "max player" and still field a decent team around them......

why not? there will always be ring chasing vets. willing to take min i.e. Jamison, Battier types. Obviously it'll be quite impossible to get another BIG 3 like Mia though.

Why not what?..... why not sign Howard? I think they will and it's probably the best move

or

Why are we not going to get a second Max Player? That won't happen because of the way the new CBA is structured. The only way to do that is trade a number of pieces for said player.... we don't have pieces or picks..... or anything even signed beyond next summer.

So in 14-15 we will have the CAP plus a MLE to field a team. If Howard in 20 million of that we have the rest to spend on 13 positions..... Maybe Kobe re-signs for 15 million or something.... then even less to average over 12 positions..... I might see a vet or even two joining us for a little IF we were on the brink, but I'm not sure how we are going to be even close when we have to start from scratch in 18 months. Not trading Pau for a younger, athletic player or two is going to kill us going forward I'm afraid.

yes why not quesiton was to field a good team after 2 MAX guys.......everybody questionned Mia depth afer the big 3 but their role players stepped up very well over the 2 years so far. Great players can make players better, although I dont see Love/Howard duo making others better, we need a PG like Cp3 to do that. But still some ring chasing vet added with some luck in the draft maybe another lucky throw guy in trade ala Hill/Clark and we could manage a pretty strong contender even w/o Kobe.

LTLakerFan wrote:

Rooscooter wrote:^^Lakers gonna hitch their wagon to Dwight for the next 6 years...... unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a better option. The CBA is gonna kick us in the butt as well and we will not be able to realistically attract a second "max player" and still field a decent team around them......

That's depressing. You sound finally resigned to that.

I'm no "capologist" but it seems like in 14 we will have Howard (assuming we re-sign him) and maybe Kobe at a lower one year deal. Combine that with the fact we will be under the cap.....meaning that the most we could spend is the Cap plus the MLE and that means we will have A LOT LESS to spend on the roster. Not sure we can get another top tier player and put together a roster of any level.

there's not a better option, and miami's got the deck stacked in their favor for the next two years. after that, i think the owners might regret leveling the playing field and making it to where teams can't afford multiple stars. because if someone can realistically be had, the lakers can get him. especially if it's at the same price others can offer.

now: will it be kyrie irving? no. but the last cba prevented that, too. how many superstars switch teams prior to their first max deal? near zero. it will continue that way. but when the james hardens of the world have to be offloaded or set free, the lakers are going to look pretty enticing. don't know who will be available when the time comes, but all things being equal, i'd bet on the lakers legacy and location against pretty much any other FA destination.

just have to be patient. i do think that, for better and worse, locking up dwight with all his flaws beats waiting for superman (rimshot). but if he were to walk: imo, it's 1 or 2 bad years at best. sucks that it's at the expense of kobe's twilight, but if you want to be mad, be mad at stern for nixing the paul deal.

Rooscooter wrote:I'm no "capologist" but it seems like in 14 we will have Howard (assuming we re-sign him) and maybe Kobe at a lower one year deal. Combine that with the fact we will be under the cap.....meaning that the most we could spend is the Cap plus the MLE and that means we will have A LOT LESS to spend on the roster. Not sure we can get another top tier player and put together a roster of any level.

howard and nash would be near 30 million. i'd imagine if kobe returned, he'd want to contend, which should mean he'd settle for leftovers after they use some of the 20 million or so (after cap holds) that they'd have to spend in the FA market. that will be awkward, though.

i truly think Kobe is done after next year. The amount of energy it takes to be this great at his age is just incredible. He probably doesnt want to play if he cant bring his best because he doesnt know any other way around it & what if his best is not good enough any more? He cant see himself playing a complete backseat role..Team USA is different its just for 1 month of fantasy hoops or something, cant do that in LA His daughters are gettin older too I think he'd want to spend time with them. Enjoy this year and next year

it's probably too early to speculate, but i have a hard time seeing him retire after next year.

Its just like Phil he wouldn't say something negative of himself unless he truly believed it, he kept saying hes gonna retire and he really did. I think same is gonna happen to Kobe.

LTLakerFan wrote:

abeer3 wrote:it's probably too early to speculate, but i have a hard time seeing him retire after next year.

Yeah, I don't see D12 hanging up the sneaks after next season either. He's still relatively young.

abeer3 wrote:

Rooscooter wrote:I'm no "capologist" but it seems like in 14 we will have Howard (assuming we re-sign him) and maybe Kobe at a lower one year deal. Combine that with the fact we will be under the cap.....meaning that the most we could spend is the Cap plus the MLE and that means we will have A LOT LESS to spend on the roster. Not sure we can get another top tier player and put together a roster of any level.

howard and nash would be near 30 million. i'd imagine if kobe returned, he'd want to contend, which should mean he'd settle for leftovers after they use some of the 20 million or so (after cap holds) that they'd have to spend in the FA market. that will be awkward, though.

Since we own Kobe's Bird Rights, I always thought we were able to use what's left of our cap to sign up to 20 million and then use whatever we have before the luxury tax on Kobe.

For instance in 2014 if we've got just Nash and Howard on the books that gives us 30 million or so. That leaves 20 or so before we're over the cap (somewhere around 50 million), right? Then once we're over the cap we can't sign anymore free agents. However we'd still have about 20 more before the luxury tax (somewhere around 70 million). Kobe would take a chunk of that 20 million since he'd be signing a new contract.

We could realistically field a team that features Dwight on a max contract, a free agent on a max contract, Kobe on a smaller deal, and Nash on his 9 million dollar deal. Along with some other guys like Clark and Hill if they're willing to stay for around the mini-MLE. By my estimation we'd end up somewhere around 80 or 90 million range.

can't do that. bird rights involve cap holds. in order to use any of that money, they actually have to renounce kobe's rights.

it's got to be kobe/nash/howard/whatever is left over from the discount kobe decides to give/room exception/minimums

this is, of course, assuming howard stays. if howard leaves, i wouldn't be shocked to see kobe and gasol both take less money to stay around a year or two and split the rest on two or three good players.

the larger point is that as much as i think it's best that howard stays, it's not the end of the world if he doesn't. just a bad year next year. and to be quite honest, could it really be worse than this year?

*cue ominous thunder in distance*

I see.

Well then it'd be 9/20/12ish which puts us at 31 or so. We've still got a good 19 million before taxes even kick in. If we're holding onto Hill/Clark that's probably another 6-7 million or so. That's probably putting us at 37-38 million, so still a good 12-13 million before the cap of roughly 50 million. That's a lot to spend.