Lakers fear Dwight Howard will do the Unthinkable

^^

Alex Kennedy ‏@AlexKennedyNBA

Is Dwight Howard happy in L.A. or not? This quote doesn't provide much clarity: "I'm in the right place and I have to make the best of it."

Doc Brown wrote:Lakers fear D12 will the do the unthinkable and retire after playing 12 seasons in 1 calendar year.

He was much better 3 seasons ago..... he's starting to age pretty quickly compared to bigs on other teams.....

Battle Tested20 wrote:^^

Alex Kennedy ‏@AlexKennedyNBA

Is Dwight Howard happy in L.A. or not? This quote doesn't provide much clarity: "I'm in the right place and I have to make the best of it."

to me that's a pretty clear "no" haha. "make the best of it" is something you say when you've settled on something you don't want.

Unthinkable is no longer the right word, now it's "practical" or "wise".

Depends on what he wants. If it's the dollars, then he re-signs here. If it's for enjoyment of the game, he goes elsewhere. And this is taking for granted that the front office will even want to re-sign him.

What a mess of a season, we are a complete circus and are the laughing stock of the league, terrible...

Alleyhoops wrote:Depends on what he wants. If it's the dollars, then he re-signs here. If it's for enjoyment of the game, he goes elsewhere. And this is taking for granted that the front office will even want to re-sign him.

Is it a valid thought to think that maybe the Lakers won't want to give him the dollars he wants or commands given his attitude and performance?

we must resign him...its absolute must...he is our cornerstore of the future...screw 2014 plan if we dont resign him this summer...we are having horrible year...but its not dwight fault...if we lose him and clear cap in 2 years i wouldnt be surprised if we finish with couple borderline all stars,we will be mediocre team...but we can build around dwight...and try to get another all star...maybe irving or someone similar who will be free agent...we gave many chances to gasol who is stealing money from us last couple years,bynum who had injury after injury,odom who when played,most time we called casper...so why to give up on player who only played 40g mostly hurt...and still averaged 17-12-2.5...i am sure he will stay if FO shows they are ready to change the way...to get younger and faster...do you seriously think we would be better if we trade him...imagine if we get stuck with lopez who is also injury prone and on good nights he can grab 6reb...we need to keep him and trade gasol for some athletic pf+sf and get some solid role players...and then we are set...if not we will have another bad year...and i cant imagine kobe potentionaly going out in that way...

Yes we need to resign him no matter what. There is no guarantee in 2014 FA.

unthinkable is our record and our play...i really dont give a crap whether he stays or goes anymore...the team is broken and unless something major happens, it will continue to be broken going into next season...whether dwight is here or not, it will still be broken

I'm going to throw an opinion out there. This isn't based on anything I can substantiate so please take it with that in mind. I know people have been saying other things but I really feel like Dwight actually WANTS to be here. I think he digs the Lakers and the opportunities that LA has to offer. I believe he would love to stay here.

But I also believe he is absolutely MISERABLE playing under D' Antoni. So miserable that he had that passive aggressive freak out. He is seeing first hand that D' Antoni is inflexible to a fault. He's seeing that he'll NEVER be featured as a post player while D' Antoni is in charge. He's seeing that the FO picked D' Antoni for no good reason at all instead of the GOAT coach Phil Jackson.

The thing is you simply can't justify that move to the fans or to Dwight. I saw how stoked Dwight got when the possibility came up to play for Phil. He was like a little kid. He was overjoyed. He's never had a coach on that kind of level - especially one he knows will feature him in the post. D' Antoni playing uptempo small ball with no post play? That bummed him out and continues to. He's apologized and he's going to play good soldier when he recovers from this latest injury (he did last night). He'll be contrite because his public persona can't take the abuse again after last season. But that doesn't mean he's happy now or that he will stay.

It doesn't matter what reasoning the FO gives for choosing D' Antoni over Phil. They are all bad reasons. "This personnel fits D' Antoni's run and gun better than the triangle." Well you knew that was pure BS when they forced Mitch to spew it.

More likely it goes back to Jim's running feud with Phil and not being able to put sound basketball reasoning over his emotions there. Or maybe Phil really did ask for what Jerry and Jim considered to be too much, although there wasn't ever a true "negotiation," only a preliminary talk so I think that's been overstated and was a leak in order to justify the Lakers saying no to him.

Regardless, WOJ basically came out and said that if they want to keep Howard they are going to have to change coaches, change the system. The fact that they are even at this point with him is incredibly short sighted on their part. It's not like this system is even close to working. It's failed miserably. So at this point I think you need to insure that Dwight actually stays here. He isn't going to come out in the media ripping the coach again like he did last year. He has learned at least that much. But you have to look into his outbursts and frustration and see that he doesn't want to play under this guy.

Can OP change the title of this thread?

This is starting to look VERY "thinkable".

It is only thinkable in a money sense. Otherwise, it looks pretty much the opposite of unthinkable.

I've already been on record and think he's gone if we keep him past the trading deadline. If he didn't get along with the coach, that'd would be one thing. He doesn't get along with Kobe which is an even bigger deal.

Dwight had a system put in place around him in Orlando and they catered to his style of play. Stan Van Gundy was a good coach; Dwight still wanted him fired. He divided the Orlando organization and the locker room during the whole, "Dwightmare," situation. Now, these reports are surfacing about is immature attitude & behavior; I think he's the source of things wrong in that locker room.

He's never played with another superstar in Kobe. He wants to be the number 1 option. He can't stand that he isn't; and for that reason alone he will leave to a team that will cater to his every need. If he re-signs, I'd be surprised...

^

You are stating some of those things as facts.

dwighthowardsdad wrote:I've already been on record and think he's gone if we keep him past the trading deadline. If he didn't get along with the coach, that'd would be one thing. He doesn't get along with Kobe which is an even bigger deal.

Dwight had a system put in place around him in Orlando and they catered to his style of play. Stan Van Gundy was a good coach; Dwight still wanted him fired. He divided the Orlando organization and the locker room during the whole, "Dwightmare," situation. Now, these reports are surfacing about is immature attitude & behavior; I think he's the source of things wrong in that locker room.

He's never played with another superstar in Kobe. He wants to be the number 1 option. He can't stand that he isn't; and for that reason alone he will leave to a team that will cater to his every need. If he re-signs, I'd be surprised...

I don't think he's exactly in love with Kobe right now, sure. But I do think he loves LA, DHD. And I think he sees and hopes that the Lakers can continue to be the dominant force in the NBA that we've all grown accustomed to.

I think he was genuinely pleased to come here and he stands to make the most money, the most endorsements, and have his best exposure here under this storied franchise.

But I think he has real concerns about the direction of said franchise when they pick D' Antoni over Phil, and won't bend at all to featuring him offensively. As I said, I don't think it's a given that he's gone. He has his friction with Kobe, but I think he also respects him as a player. He knows the guy can get it done. He's been on the receiving end of it in fact.

But he's frustrated with losing. He's frustrated with this crap "system." And he's unhappy with this coach.

If the FO remains stubborn and sides with the coach over the player, yes, he's out the freaking door. But I think that's the biggest crux here. Not playing alongside Kobe. That is actually giving him a chance to win. The system isn't and he hates it to begin with.

They need to do something to make the guy want to continue playing here.

I agree with Lakerjones

What's strange to me is that before the season started we were all excited about the prospect of what should have been world's greatest pick and roll since Stockton/Malone. Not only has that not worked out, but we go get the league's premier Nash/pick and roll guy and it fails MISERABLY.

I don't think D'Antoni gets fired this season, but this summer I can see it happening to placate Dwight and the rest of the team. The only one left that I think has the utmost faith in him is Nash, but even Nash is willing to NOT run his offense if it means everyone is happy and playing together...

How much more damning can it be?

therealdeal wrote:What's strange to me is that before the season started we were all excited about the prospect of what should have been world's greatest pick and roll since Stockton/Malone. Not only has that not worked out, but we go get the league's premier Nash/pick and roll guy and it fails MISERABLY.

I don't think D'Antoni gets fired this season, but this summer I can see it happening to placate Dwight and the rest of the team. The only one left that I think has the utmost faith in him is Nash, but even Nash is willing to NOT run his offense if it means everyone is happy and playing together...

How much more damning can it be?

^^ I know right!

Nashty Gal wrote:I agree with Lakerjones

Thanks Nashty Gal!

Lakerjones wrote:

dwighthowardsdad wrote:I've already been on record and think he's gone if we keep him past the trading deadline. If he didn't get along with the coach, that'd would be one thing. He doesn't get along with Kobe which is an even bigger deal.

Dwight had a system put in place around him in Orlando and they catered to his style of play. Stan Van Gundy was a good coach; Dwight still wanted him fired. He divided the Orlando organization and the locker room during the whole, "Dwightmare," situation. Now, these reports are surfacing about is immature attitude & behavior; I think he's the source of things wrong in that locker room.

He's never played with another superstar in Kobe. He wants to be the number 1 option. He can't stand that he isn't; and for that reason alone he will leave to a team that will cater to his every need. If he re-signs, I'd be surprised...

I don't think he's exactly in love with Kobe right now, sure. But I do think he loves LA, DHD. And I think he sees and hopes that the Lakers can continue to be the dominant force in the NBA that we've all grown accustomed to.

I think he was genuinely pleased to come here and he stands to make the most money, the most endorsements, and have his best exposure here under this storied franchise.

But I think he has real concerns about the direction of said franchise when they pick D' Antoni over Phil, and won't bend at all to featuring him offensively. As I said, I don't think it's a given that he's gone. He has his friction with Kobe, but I think he also respects him as a player. He knows the guy can get it done. He's been on the receiving end of it in fact.

But he's frustrated with losing. He's frustrated with this crap "system." And he's unhappy with this coach.

If the FO remains stubborn and sides with the coach over the player, yes, he's out the freaking door. But I think that's the biggest crux here. Not playing alongside Kobe. That is actually giving him a chance to win. The system isn't and he hates it to begin with.

They need to do something to make the guy want to continue playing here.

Completely agree with you Lakerjones. I firmly believe Dwight was excited to be here and wants to stay in LA and make it work out so that he can get a big paycheck and play in this market. He knows that this organization will spend the money to build a contender. But he is starting to waver a little due to the coaching choice, a system that doesn't feature him in the post more often, and the fact that they're losing when they shouldn't be.

I believe that if there are no major signs of improvement after the All Star break, the team will fire D'Antoni at the end of the season in order to make a last ditch effort to keep Howard. I don't think Howard leaves because of Kobe. He doesn't leave because Dallas looks like a better fit. He wants a market like LA. But he needs to know that this team is committed to him, and that can't be evident if D'Antoni is still here long after the season is done (that is, if they don't start winning at a very good clip by then).

^^ Couldn't agree with you more, Ludachris!

I just hope that firing D' Antoni after the season isn't too late. As I've mentioned probably too many times for posters here, I would prefer that they do it much sooner in order to at least try to salvage some of the season and make a push for the playoffs. Every day, every game makes me more convinced that D' Antoni has lost the team and won't be able to get them playing well enough to win the necessary amount of games. Bernie would be a long shot too, but at least I know that they DID enjoy playing for him, even if it was only for 5 games. I just don't think anyone could do a worse job right now than D' Antoni. Despite all of their foibles, there is still half a season to play left.

Just fire MDA and let Bernie be the HC for the rest of the season.

It still BOGGLES my mind that Jimmy was talking about maximizing Nash! A 38 year old PG. NOT D12, a 27 yr old stud center....THE offseason acquisition. The guy who didn't sign a long term deal.

And the Buss's wanted to cater to Nash? Unbelievable really. What on God's green earth were they thinking.

borri wrote:It still BOGGLES my mind that Jimmy was talking about maximizing Nash! A 38 year old PG. NOT D12, a 27 yr old stud center....THE offseason acquisition. The guy who didn't sign a long term deal.

And the Buss's wanted to cater to Nash? Unbelievable really. What on God's green earth were they thinking.

Its hard to know. The decision seemed immediately wrong, and the reasons given after the backlash from fans seemed flimsy and transparent.

Dark days.