[Tuthmosis]

He joins Steve Nash, Kobe "I Banging Olympic Swimmers" Bryant, and Pau Gasol--who the Lakers, get this, hold onto.

Whether you're a Laker Hater or a Laker Homie, the official prognosis--if you know anything about basketball--is this: it's on like goddamn fucking Donkey Kong.

(Full story.)

Quote:

Rapid Reaction: The Lakers acquire Dwight Howard

For the second time this summer, the Lakers have stepped to the plate and knocked one out of the park.

First, it was the sign-and-trade deal bringing Steve Nash to Los Angeles in exchange for ... nobody.

Now, the Lakers have acquired Orlando's Dwight Howard, a truly elite player who at 26 is only now entering his prime, and have done so at as small a cost as could possibly be expected -- Andrew Bynum and a future first-round pick. The four-team trade, which also includes Denver and Philadelphia, will be submitted for league approval Friday morning, sources told ESPN Thursday night. And it will not include Pau Gasol.

Allow me to summarize the analysis you'll see below in two words: It's on.

In other words, get ready for more of this:

[the chef]

fuck man. big franchises stay winning like always .

1/3 of the teams in the league are insanely entertaining to watch. the rest of the teams are god awful. i'm not so sure how i feel about this.

[at350zguyy]

this is ridiculous. everything the NBA lockout was all about has just gone to waste. competitive balance, my ass.

[UgSlayer]

I don't watch much basketball but I'm assuming big guys like Howard are pretty injury-prone. Holding onto Pau may have been a good move to reduce the number of minutes Howard has to play.

[jerome]

If your a Lakers friend this is a steal, and a huge upgrade at center.

I still don't understand why Orlando did this trade? Who did they get? nothen!!!!!

How does the Lakers get great players for nothen, i.e., Pau gasol for kwame brown.

They almost got Chris Paul last year.

WTF is going on with Lakers trades....

[R Smoov]

Now I like the Lakers and all this is how I feel now that my hometown has Andrew Bynum.



We don't even need Igodala anymore. He was ass to begin with.

[Zebra_Cakes]

(08-11-2012 07:50 AM)jerome Wrote:  

How does the Lakers get great players for nothen, i.e., Pau gasol for kwame brown.

They did send Memphis Marc Gasol in that deal, so, they did alright on their end.

[Timoteo]

(08-11-2012 09:36 AM)Zebra_Cakes Wrote:  

(08-11-2012 07:50 AM)jerome Wrote:  

How does the Lakers get great players for nothen, i.e., Pau gasol for kwame brown.

They did send Memphis Marc Gasol in that deal, so, they did alright on their end.

Large market teams benefit from small market, or losing teams needing to dump salary. Pau Gasol was an all-star on a losing team in Memphis, and his salary prevented them from being able to essentially start over. They were more interested in getting his salary off the books than actually getting good players in return. If anything, they wanted to clear salary that would allow them to make moves in the future. That deal actually allowed Memphis to build into the playoff team they are now.

[jerome]

(08-11-2012 09:36 AM)Zebra_Cakes Wrote:  

(08-11-2012 07:50 AM)jerome Wrote:  

How does the Lakers get great players for nothen, i.e., Pau gasol for kwame brown.

They did send Memphis Marc Gasol in that deal, so, they did alright on their end.

Yes its true they got Marc Gasol.....

Usually you want to build your team around a center, not trade him away....

I just hate how they lakers always get the better players compare to the rest of the league.

[Tuthmosis]

(08-11-2012 05:22 PM)jerome Wrote:  

I just hate how they lakers always get the better players compare to the rest of the league.

That's because the Lakers let the dollars flow. If you have management committed to winning--and a world-class city to offer your players--you can secure talent.

If you had Dwight Howard-like status and money, which pussy buffet would you pick?

[kosko]

The NBA is rigged.

NFL starts in a month.. thank god.

[jerome]

(08-11-2012 05:36 PM)Tuthmosis Wrote:  

(08-11-2012 05:22 PM)jerome Wrote:  

I just hate how they lakers always get the better players compare to the rest of the league.

That's because the Lakers let the dollars flow. If you have management committed to winning--and a world-class city to offer your players--you can secure talent.

If you had Dwight Howard-like status and money, which pussy buffet would you pick?

I don't fault Dwight....It is a great opportunity for Dwight, financial and socially.

I just think its rig...i.e. Los Angeles Clippers and New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets.

Those NBA teams have comparable lifestyle.

What I don't like is how teams like Orlando keep trading with the Lakers. They don't have to send him there......

[at350zguyy]

whats crazy is i think the magic had a better offer coming from the nets. my friend is in the nets front office and was working the phones for a potential dwight howard deal to brooklyn. orlando got nothing from this deal. it will end up being a bunch of late first round picks.

the new gm in orlando, rob hennigan, is trying to replicate what sam presti has done in oklahoma city. building through the draft and building cheap. sure, you can find tony parkers late in the draft, but how many times are you gonna hit on those late first rounders? i suppose with that since orlando will be a bad team for some time, those guys will have ample opportunities to show what theyre made of, but this is a rookie mistake by hennigan IMO.

[Goldin Boy]

(08-10-2012 12:26 AM)UgSlayer Wrote:  

I don't watch much basketball but I'm assuming big guys like Howard are pretty injury-prone. Holding onto Pau may have been a good move to reduce the number of minutes Howard has to play.

Yeah, Howard is coming off April back surgery. Pau is a Power Forward and Howards a center so they'd be in the starting 5 together most games.

[Sourcecode]

[Timoteo]

You guys are all forgetting that Dwight Howard essentially had the power in all of this, despite his indecisiveness and flakiness. He made it clear he didn't want to be in Orlando, even though he flip-flopped. He tried to steer himself to a certain destination by threatening NOT to resign with any other team if they acquired him (remember, he'll STILL be a free-agent after this coming season. The Lakers will still have to re-sign him, and don't put it past Dwight to shop himself on the free-agent market). Even when he stupidly forfeited his immediate free-agency by not opting out, and stating he would play out his final year in Orlando, the Magic's hands were still forced. He made it clear he didn't want to be there, and either they had to still trade him, or he would have walked away for NOTHING, just like Shaq did. They couldn't allow that to happen again.

If you remember, at the beginning of this fiasco, Dwight claimed he didn't want to go to the Lakers because he didn't want to follow Shaq's path. Fuckin' stupid. Do you really want to win? If he had gone to Brooklyn, he wouldn't have been able to win right away because the roster would have been depleted in the deal. They still would have had to build around him. The Lakers ALWAYS offered the ability to contend immediately. If Dwight hadn't refused initial deals to the Lakers, the Magic could have ended up with Andrew Bynum. I can't really lay this at the feet of Magic management, because they were faced with the possibility of losing him for nothing, and other teams were reluctant to tear apart their rosters to acquire a player that wouldn't sign an extension with them. The Magic essentially remade their whole organization because of Dwight's foolishness (Coach Stan Van Gundy, out. GM Otis Smith, out.). They also have other free-agents that can't make decisions because of this (Jameer Nelson, Redick, etc.). Finally, the Magic were forced to simply start over. Dump salary, and take picks and low-cost players in return instead of doing a deal to try to contend now. Any deal that didn't net them Bynum gave them NO chance of getting near equal value for Dwight, so for them, I think this is the way to go. Now it's all about whether or not they have and organizational plan and can pull it off.

[kosko]

These small market teams are forced to play the Draft while the 6-8 DHV teams can do fuckery like this. This is why I root for the OKC`s of the league because its a real team of real dudes whom came up together. The biggest winners out this deal seem to be Gasol and Mike Brown Kobe has a legit team now of course, but now Mike can implement even more stringent defensive packages and Gasol does not have to bang inside and can just set-up plays and take holes like he has always done well. The Lakers now with this move are older on paper then they were with that botched Malone, Payton and Co. experiment. They are still a old and slow team but they have tons of talent, not much depth though still. On paper they look great but a OKC to me is still more well rounded even though the Lake show is fuking staaacked.

[Tuthmosis]

(08-12-2012 08:20 PM)kosko Wrote:  

The Lakers now with this move are older on paper then they were with that botched Malone, Payton and Co. experiment.

That experiment only failed because Malone spent a big part of the season injured--for the first time in his career. Even when he came back, he was at 60 percent, at best. Big Ben Wallace was able to out-body him, and that made all the difference. Lakers shoulda won the title that year. They opened the season like 20-2 or something--with the Big Four each averaging in the 20s. That was an All-Star team.

They could have played some teams 4 on 5.

[Timoteo]

(08-12-2012 08:20 PM)kosko Wrote:  

These small market teams are forced to play the Draft while the 6-8 DHV teams can do fuckery like this. This is why I root for the OKC`s of the league because its a real team of real dudes whom came up together. The biggest winners out this deal seem to be Gasol and Mike Brown Kobe has a legit team now of course, but now Mike can implement even more stringent defensive packages and Gasol does not have to bang inside and can just set-up plays and take holes like he has always done well. The Lakers now with this move are older on paper then they were with that botched Malone, Payton and Co. experiment. They are still a old and slow team but they have tons of talent, not much depth though still. On paper they look great but a OKC to me is still more well rounded even though the Lake show is fuking staaacked.

Small market teams will always have a smaller window to win. A lot depends on whether or not you get very high picks during those losing years. Then it depends on how good the players in that particular draft are, and you drafting the right guys. Then you have to progress quickly with those players. At some point, those rookie deals will need to be extended, and you won't be able to keep them all (OKC faces this dilemma regarding Harden and Ibaka). OKC got to the finals slightly ahead of schedule, and will probably be able to keep Durant and Westbrook, but the other pieces around them will constantly be changing. Harden will command a huge contract on the market, and will probably want to start somewhere else. OKC can't afford to keep him. Ibaka is probably doable, but his value has been inflated a bit also. OKC may only have this next season to win a title with the current lineup before one or more of their rotation moves on.

[Cr33pin]

HEAT is still the team to BEAT

[Timoteo]

(08-13-2012 08:56 AM)Cr33pin Wrote:  

HEAT is still the team to BEAT

That's true. In the EAST. If you look at how the Heat matches up with the Lakers on paper today, it's a going to be a problem for them if they meet in the Finals.

[hoops330]

(08-13-2012 08:56 AM)Cr33pin Wrote:  

HEAT is still the team to BEAT

And lets not forget that they still have to beat OKC in the West who now have finals experience. Serge Ibaka can hold his own defensively against Howard and as aggressive as Westbrook and Durant are in getting to the rim they will put a lot of pressure on Howard in keeping out of foul trouble.