Tag: free agency

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basketball NBA Sports

The Rockets Aim For Three

The NBA free agency period has only been open for two days now and while no serious star has moved yet, there is plenty of word of the stars realigning very soon. A report coming from Sam Amick of USA Today says that if Dwight Howard were to sign with the Houston Rockets, the team would then pursue adding Atlanta Hawks free agent Josh Smith as well.

The Houston Rockets want their own “Big 3” now

Let’s keep this paragraph based all upon “If ‘s“. If Dwight Howard were to sign with the Houston Rockets, he would be locked down for four years and earn around $88 million dollars. This in turn would create a very dynamic duo of up and coming superstar James Harden and All Star Dwight Howard. If that wasn’t enough, let’s say they land Josh Smith via a sign and trade, that’s the only way Smith can come over due to Houston’s financial situation. If this happens their starting line up would be James Harden, Patrick Beverley (Jeremy Lin will start if he’s not traded), Chandler Parsons, Josh Smith, and Dwight Howard; that right there is a line up you wouldn’t want to mess with. Or is it…?

Josh Smith loves to have the ball

Josh Smith loves his touches, loves to rack up a nice score sheet, and loves to shoot. James Harden loves to control the ball, loves to rack up a nice score card, and loves to shoot. Dwight Howard loves his touches, loves being the “go to guy”, and loves to be the number 1 option. See the problem yet? There aren’t enough basketballs in all of the NBA to satisfy all their selfish desires to be the number 1 guy. On top of their needs for more balls comes their immediate lack of depth at every position. Houston has already sent Carlos Delfino and Aaron Brooks packing and currently are offering Jeremy Lin and Omar Asik to any team for something in return. Why would Houston want to stack a heavy starting unit like that and leave a depleted bench, haven’t the 2012-2013 Los Angeles Lakers taught you anything?

Houston has it’s leader in James Harden. Why complicate it?

I am no Houston Rockets fan by any means but this idea of a Big 3 constructed with Dwight Howard, James Harden, and Josh Smith sounds horrible. Sure their talent level will be off the charts but I just cannot see them all meshing together. On top of that Houston shouldn’t rely on their starting core so heavily, we’ve seen that fail countless times before. If I were a Rockets fan, I’d be hoping Josh Smith takes his talents to Detroit rather than Houston.

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basketball Entertainment NBA Sports Television

The Dwight Howard Situation

I will just like to put this out there now, I’m a big Lakers fan so pardon me if this article has any bias based opinions.

Back in August of last year the Dwight Howard to LA trade went down and my beloved Lakers went to the top of the charts and instant favorites to be serious contenders for our next NBA Championship. Our front court had the most dominant center in the league in Dwight Howard, the best passing big man in Pau Gasol; add to that one of the greatest shooters in NBA history in Steve Nash and one of the best to ever play the game in Kobe Bryant. Fast forward to April of this year and we are swept right out of the playoffs, the ones we just barely crept into, by the San Antonio Spurs. Now Laker Nation awaits July 1st when our next “franchise superstar” in Dwight Howard marches his way into free agency. After watching him this season, I say let him go.

How Laker Nation last saw Dwight during game 4 against the Spurs

This years free agency class is highlighted by Dwight Howard (seeing that Chris Paul will most likely stay with the Clippers) and the teams measuring their interest in the big man revolve around Los Angeles, Houston, and Dallas. Only the Lakers though can offer him their franchise max contract of five years with $118 million dollars along with their history of storied big men and the tradition of winning no matter what. Houston can offer four years with $98 million dollars and their young up and coming star in James Harden. Dallas can offer Dwight the same as Houston. From a money point of view the Lakers are the clear-cut winners and from a historical point of view the Lakers also are clear winners; from a pure basketball point of view though Houston are clear winners as they only need a man like Dwight to contend in the West.

Dwight Howard received a lot of punishment from the media for leaving Orlando the way he did, is that bound to repeat?

Statistically Dwight Howard has been declining over, especially over the past season. Between 2008-2011 Dwight took his Magic team to one Final appearance and a 219-102 record; over the past two seasons with the Magic and Lakers he’s finished with a total 75-55 record. Wow. His offensive production has also dipped sharply; in 2011 he averaged 22.9 PPG, 14.1 RPG, and a 59% FG. In 2013 he was averaging 17.1 PPG, 12.4 RPG, while shooting %58 from the field. Dwight has clearly past his peak production and no team should commit such a large amount of their salary cap or build their team around a star who has already started dropping off. Of course..the Lakers are run by Jim Buss so that’s still possible.

Looking past the numbers it isn’t hard to see that Dwight just cannot handle the pressure of playing in L.A. Playing for the Lakers, especially to be the next franchise player, means you must live up to some huge names and live up to the Laker tradition of winning. The Lakers, since 1960, have sent 25 teams to the NBA Finals, won 11 championships, and have had our court graced by the likes of Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, and Shaquille O’Neal. To top that all off the L.A Lakers have had four of the ten best basketball teams ever (’72, ’82, ’87, ’01), have been run by one of the greatest owners in history by Jerry Buss, and have been coached by the future Hall of Famer in Phil Jackson. If all that wasn’t hard enough to live up to as the next franchise player in Los Angeles, Dwight Howard would be filling the void of the greatest Laker of all time in Kobe Bryant. It’s sad to say that faced with any type of pressure a man like Dwight Howard who stands six foot and eleven inches shrinks back to a normal height.

Perhaps the self-proclaimed “Superman” isn’t so “super” anymore

No matter what the media is saying about the pending free agency of Dwight Howard and no matter what team does land the big man, it will be a question if the team wants to roll the dice on Howard or chooses to pass. Houston is the clear basketball choice for Howard as that team is young and ready to make an even bigger splash next season than they did this past season. A James Harden – Dwight Howard combo would be a mighty force to reckon with no matter who they face. As for my beloved Lakers please Jim Buss do not even approach the table and pick up the dice.

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Sports

Yanks Make Offer But Cano Focused On 2013

Yesterday, the Baseball world learned that the Yankees had made a “significant” offer to Robinson Cano’s agent, Scott Boras. Hal Steinbrenner had eluded to the fact that the Yankees were prepared to make an offer. Then Brian Cashman confirmed to members of the New York media that “a significant offer had been made. The question remains, is it significant enough to get Cano to forgo free agency and pledge his career to the pinstripes?

Scott Boras is notorious for instructing his clients to test the market and use free agency to their advantage. Since Boras usually represents the best of the best, that strategy usually works. Cano said today that he does not want to talk about the Yankees’ offer. He stated “I want to focus on the 2013 season and I don’t want my contract to become a distraction for this team.” Cano has repeatedly let on that Boras is in the driver’s seat of these talks and that he is purely focused on Baseball.

Reputable baseball journalist Jon Heyman took to twitter this morning explaining that in his experience, when a team has to tell the media they made a “significant” offer, a deal is usually not close to done. Sweeny Murti of WCBS thinks that Boras and Cano are just a few days away from calling off talks until after the season. I agree with Sweeny. I think that Cano has all the leverage and no matter what the offer was from the Yankees, it’s only a starting number. Cano is the best second baseman in the league and will command at least 8 years and at least $200 million. Do not fret Yankee fans, I think it’s still more likely that Cano stays in pinstripes but a deal won’t be reached until after the season. If a deal was close, the Yankees wouldn’t have to let their fans know that talks were ongoing. Sit tight. It’s going to get bumpy.

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