zooopreme

Sterling is a known racist and I'm surprised Doc decided to make a deal with that guy.

Way to make your way up the ladder, Doc.

At first, I thought Dwight was a franchise player but the more I got to thinking what his contributions were, he became exactly what you just said. He's more than good but I can't see his skillset being that of a franchise player especially with the roster the Lakers are offering him now.

At this point, I think the Lakers should start lining up their options because it's not looking good for them. Harden and Parsons are two young players that have game I could only imagine the sales pitch they've been swinging in front of Dwight's face. And they're probably not the only two trying to recruit him.

I truly wish that he makes the right choice because with or without him, I think the Lakers are so fucked for this season, haha.

As July 1 comes up, here's a list of FA's:

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/85...ents-2013-2014

FRpilot

There’s rumors that Doc got fed up with dealing with Rondo. I’m reading that it got as bad as Rondo saying “fuck” in some ways towards Rivers at one point during the season that it almost led to a fist fight.

Sterling probably spends his days in the office staring bewildered at pictures of Blake Griffin, trying to figure out whether he liked him or not.

But yea, Not only is Donald Sterling a racist, he justifies being cheap as if people would not get paid any other way and considers himself as their savior and they should be grateful that he is paying them at all, demeans and thinks the purpose of women are to serve him as whores, and pretty much considers everyone beneath him.

He’s pretty much a tyrant. I have no idea how anyone could be happy to work for him or why the NBA disregards him for ruining their image has given him a pass for so long, yet want certain owners like the Maloofs out ASAP.


I think Houston is a great fit for him. Parsons can play SF/PF (depending of Asik plays alongside Dwight or comes off the bench) and shoot 3s from outside, Dwight can play inside, and Harden and Lin can handle the ball. Eventually, they may want to upgrade PG and move Harden to be an ultra versatile swingman.

I don’t mind seeing Dwight on the Clippers with Chris Paul either. Dwight needs any good PG help he can get if they offer Griffin in the sign and trade. Plus, I don’t think you can have 2 athletic freak of natures with no basketball IQ or fundamentals on the same front court. We all saw how well the Blake Griffin/DeAndre Jordan combo did.

__________________

Gnnr

__________________

SimpleSexy180

Never had an injury during a play in sports,(ok, football TWO times)(tackling hurts me to do). kobe bryant has crunch time with his hands. shane batier runnin away, pharcyde passin me by wth.

acslater9

Wow Paul Millsap AND Al Jefferson's going to be FA's, Well knowing that the Jazz wont let those 2 leave there probably going to stay. You never know though.

Gnnr

Denver Nuggets agree to hire Brian Shaw as head coach, according to sources - ESPN

Bout damn time!

__________________

Riq

FRpilot

Before, when Paul Millsap was a promising young player with lots of potential, the Jazz would have never have let him leave. That’s why it took them 7 days to think about it before matching the offer Portland gave him even though they already had Al Jefferson and Mehmet Okur in the front court.

Now that they have both Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap in the frontcourt for a while now and they have been doing just okay, I think they realized they can’t have two hard working, but undersized guys starting at PF and C. They will probably let one of them go.

__________________

zooopreme

Huge congrats to Brian Shaw and boo for him not implementing the triangle! It makes sense though, assuming the roster stays the same, the triangle wouldn't fit their identity well.

5 more days, gents (and any ladies reading), real excited to see the moves teams make.

Also, draft night is coming up soon. Since Stern is retiring, is he still going to be the gremlin to say "and the #x pick..."

Gnnr

Yes, he will. One last booing for good measure is in order.

__________________

zooopreme

Sorry if the pic is big:



Looks like we've resorted to begging and small market pity schemes. Times have been rough for us Laker fans. :T Thoughts?

FRpilot

You are on the money with the small market tactics...




And I can see the same aftermath if D12 leaves:

__________________

Gnnr

__________________

zooopreme

It's come down to this: Los Angeles Lakers not likely to re-sign Dwight Howard, sources say - ESPN Los Angeles Thoughts?

Firing Mike D'Antoni isn't going to fix this. Hiring Phil won't either. This Laker organization shot itself in the foot and are going to feel it come July 1.

I wish Dwight the best and to hell with this Mike D'Antoni phase. Laker fans acting all naive when they should know it'll be a while until we bounce back.

Gnnr

The Lakers are drowning in a glass of water. The situation is not that dire. They just need to act quickly and swiftly. Do a sign and trade of Howard to Clippers for Blake and changing the coach and they'll be miles ahead of where they are. There are PLENTY of good coaches out there right now. Some moves and some trades, they'll be fine.

__________________

FRpilot

Sorry for your suffering, but I find the comments of distaste and hated towards D'Antoni from New York and LA fans funny.

LA might be better not signing Howard to a $118M contract. Even if D’Antoni gets fired, he won’t be happy playing in Kobe’s shadow. If I'm the Lakers and Dwight is not signing, I WILL work with the Clippers and do the sign and trade deal for Blake Griffin + bonuses. That's way better than letting him walk and getting nothing unless you think it is more important to sooth your ego because you don't want to help a cross town rival.


According to that ESPN report, Dwight wants a lot of things:
1. Coach who can use his skill set with a system that features him
2. Team that is not uptempo or perimeter orientated
3. Be the star and not play second fiddle to anyone


I think Dwight wants a system that was similar to Shaq’s Lakers in the 2000s. To be THE guy with a good swingman sidekick like Kobe. We all know how that turned out when Kobe was just too good. Dwight is not as good as Shaq even if he thinks so. Good luck finding a swingman sidekick who isn’t better than you. If he goes to Houston, James Harden will be the star and it might turn into another Kobe/Shaq feud.

D12 is not a franchise big man like Tim Duncan and he’s not smart/skilled enough offensively to be a part of a big man tandem that works like Zach Randolph/Marc Gasol. He's an athletic freak of nature with low bball IQ like Blake Griffin/DeAndre Jordan so the best thing for him is to find an unselfish PG to help him be THE GUY.

__________________

Dutchmalmiss

Agreed. Just create a deal to land Blake Griffin or Iggy and/or Josh Smith (preferably Smith AT LEAST). Not of a fan of D'Antoni, but I have to admit he deserves a chance with a full summer camp plus season.

Nash, Meeks until Kobe returns, Metta, Griffin/Smith, Pau would IMO be an improvement over last season's squad.

Dwight should at least satisfy the Lakers for holding them hostage like this.

__________________
Pignose, biaaatch.

FRpilot

Brooklyn talking to Boston for a KG + PP package. Reports says both sides are pretty serious with this deal and the rumor is KG & PP for Gerald Wallace, Tomike Shengelia??, Kris Humphris' expiring deal!!, and 3!! first round draft picks.

That is a serious offer and I'd take that if I was Boston. 3 first round draft picks for two 36 year olds!? Maybe trade Wallace' contract to a contender for more picks? And if it doesn't work out for Brooklyn, PP $15M comes off next year and KG $12M the year after that. $27M freed up in cap space in 2 years and go after LeBron.

I don't know how KG and PP feels about having Jason Kidd as their coach, who is barely older than them and I don't know if KG would waive his no trade clause but the starting line up looks good enough that he might change his mind:

Deron Williams
Joe Johnson
Paul Pierce
Kevin Garnett
Brook Lopez

Williams and Lopez can take most care of most of the scoring load with the three old guys filling in. KG can "inspire" Lopez how to play defense and use his size correctly like he did with Perkins.

__________________

enkei2k

On paper it looks good, but I'd rather Pierce retire a Celtic and play out his contract. Just pick up the 15 mil and let him play out his contract and retire a Celtic. He's a rare commodity in that he's stuck with one franchise for all of his career.

Draft Night tonight...I don't understand why they include the Knicks in the mock drafts anymore. When was the last time they actually went with it? Ex: Iman Shumpert, Renaldo Balkman, etc...

__________________
Ask enkei2k

xquizitditz

FRpilot

I would like that too, but I don't see that happening. If Ainge can get value for him, he will. Plus, I think Pierce will want to play after next season too.

__________________

Gnnr

From everything I've been hearing on sports radio today, it comes down to that KG and Pierce do not want to play for the Celtics now that Doc is gone. Perkins, Allen and Doc are gone. Time to split.

Anyways, there's a bunch of crazy rumors flying around right now as far as moves. This has peeked my interest for tonights Draft. With the CBA and the penalties that loom, teams are going to be making moves to stay within the cap. It seems like ever since the summer of 2010 the amount of moves done during the during the offseason and trade deadline tend to be much bigger. I'm excited!

Looking to see where Tim Hardaway Jr. and Shane Larkin go tongiht.

__________________

FRpilot

Waiting on draft day deals and blockbusters.

__________________

Phlip

This draft is crazy

__________________
And I write too!

Gnnr

Twitter makes this draft better, focusing on Woj right now

https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA

__________________

Gnnr

I enjoyed this 1st round of the draft oddly enough. Stern getting booed and embracing it is lulzy. Love how they ended it with Hakeem, Stern getting cheered, and the deputy getting booed now that he is the new commish. lol.

Also, cherry on top to the night

Will be interesting in the East next season.

__________________

zooopreme

As a Laker fan, I'm not an anti-Boston guy but they didn't do so poorly with that KG/PP/JT trade, they got Wallace and Humphries. Not ideal guys but they put up decent numbers. Not bad for a rebuilding team.

You're looking at this all kinds of wrong. The problem with your proposition is that it's not LA's choice. It's Dwight's choice.

Do I care what Dwight wants? No. Players should never dictate choices made if they are not franchise players. Dwight is great but I'd rather not have to deal with him anymore. To me, his indecisiveness and unwillingness to adjust proves that he's a real sore to any franchise if he doesn't get his way.

Hypothetically, what if the Rockets choose to go another direction with their roster for years to come, who's to say that Dwight is going to be okay with that and all of that jazz? I see a huge problem and it's Dwight's lack of adaptability and acceptance.

I'm most upset that Dwight blamed the fans for his distaste. The Lakers are a winning culture and have been throughout the Buss era. Fall anywhere short with sub-par effort and you're going to be criticized. We didn't win 5 NBA championships in the 00's-10's easily.

Under Kobe's shadow? He's playing in the league for another 2 years at MOST. If there's something I wish Dwight looked at it's that Kobe is the epitome of a Native American warrior that he really should mold his emotions and mentality into. Nobody knows what type of player Kobe is going to be like coming off this injury. It's safe to say there won't be much "shadow" to stay under.

Mike D'Antoni is not a good coach. PERIOD. I've seen and studied the sets he runs and they are not effective with the roster they have. With the roster that is projected for next season, the Lakers STILL won't fit D'Antoni's style of offense and most of them SUCK on the defensive end. His lack of adjustability is enough for me to question why the Lakers are still keeping him.

At this point, I think the Lakers need to just stay composed and pick up forwards that can defend and shoot. I could give a shit if Dwight stays or leaves at this point. So assuming he leaves, enough with this point guard bullshit. If Mike D'Antoni is staying, they need to build a team that fits the style of play.

Again, outrageous and unlikely trade scenarios. The Lakers have damaged goods and not many teams see this roster as an asset to trade their assets with.

acslater9

Did you guys hear in the Draft last night that Dwight Howard is interested in going to the Mavs and the Rockets.

I could understand why he would go to the Rockets but the Mavs?! Really?

Phlip

Now for the "this shit ain't fuckin logical" section of the free agency dealings...

Report: Knicks acquiring Bargnani in trade with Raptors - NBA News | FOX Sports on MSN
Well... this IS the Knickerbockers, who are apparently the most expertly-run organization in the history of the NBA. They'll contend again when "Boom Dizzle" comes back.

Source: Mavericks, Celtics to talk about Rajon Rondo trade
And we're supposed to believe they're making room for Howard, lmao

__________________
And I write too!

acslater9

To add to that "Bargnani deal", Knicks showing interest in Monta Ellis.

Sources: Knicks express interest in Monta Ellis - CBSSports.com

enkei2k

Knicks - what do you expect? I mean, it sort of is a decent deal. Optimistically, Andrea did put up decent numbers a few seasons ago. Got rid of Novak who sucked as soon as he got his contract money and Camby who's going to retire anyway.

Pessimistically, Andrea put up good numbers on a shitty team (like Bosh before him) so it's hard to see how he actually does on a different team and is expensive as hell. And giving up draft picks is never a good idea for the Knicks, but they seem to love doing it.

Not happening. Ellis gave up way more than the Knicks can afford to pay.

__________________
Ask enkei2k

xquizitditz