First of all, the Lakers are liars. Reports all year have been coming out that Dwight Howard goes 40-40 from the line in practice. Well last night the Magic welcomed him back to Orlando they only way they knew how: To hack away at his bionic(correction: formerly bionic) arms.
(OH SO SMOOTH!)
Here are a few stats from last night's box score that you won't see everynight:
Dwight went 25-39 from the FT line last night. He took 22 more attempts than the whole Magic team, and made 16 more than Orlando.
While completely unrelated, but interesting, Dwight's +/- was the same amount of that made FT differential between him and the Magic, 16.
By going 25-39, he shot 64% from the line. That is 15% higher than his season average, which currently sits at 49% after last night. By shooting this much better, he improved his season average by over a point(47.8 to 49), which is extremely rare to do in one game this late in the season.
Dwight took 39 free throw attempts, and just 13 attempts from the field, meaning he shot three times as many free throws.
Dwight in total attempted 53 shots, which is just 17 less than the entire Magic's starting five FG attempts.
With the Magic slowing the game down so much by fouling Dwight, there were only 11 fast break points in the whole game(7 by LAL, 4 by ORL.)
Kobe Bryant finished with just 11 points, and was 4-14 from the field. Makes sense seeing as he had no rhythm with the ball never getting across half court.
In the next three weeks, "Expiring Deals" may be one of the most commonly used phrases in google searches among NBA fans. The deals have value for both sides. Players on a new team will play hard within a three month rental to earn a new contract, while the teams can cut ties at no cost if they feel as though it's not a good fit. With so many expiring deals showing up in the 2012-2013, here is a quick list of guys who could be coveted as February 21st, 3:00 PM EST comes closer.
(Chris Paul should be the most coveted free agent this summer.)
Note: Only contracts $5 Million or more were included.
1. Chris Paul, Los Angeles Clippers: $17.78M 2. Dwight Howard, Lose Angeles Lakers: $19.54M 3. Manu Ginobili, San Antonio Spurs: $14.11M 4. Andrew Bynum, Philadelphia 76ers: $16.89M 5. Josh Smith, Atlanta Hawks: $13.2M 6. Al Jefferson, Utah Jazz: $15.0M 7. David West, Indiana Pacers: $10.0M 8. Kevin Martin, Oklahoma City Thunder: $12.44M 9. Paul Millsap, Utah Jazz: $8.6M 10. Mo Williams, Utah Jazz: $8.5M 11. Stephen Jackson, San Antonio Spurs: $10.06M 12. Chris Kaman, Dallas Mavericks: $8.0M 13. Lamar Odom, Los Angeles Clippers: $8.2M 14. J.J. Redick, Orlando Magic: $6.19M 15. Samuel Dalenbert, Milwaukee Bucks: $6.7M 16. Tyreke Evans, Sacramento Kings: $5.25M(Restricted) 17. Jose Calderon, Detroit Pistons: $10.56M 18. Kyle Korver, Atlanta Hawks: $5.0M 19. Jarrett Jack, Golden State Warriors: $5.4M 20. Nick Young, Philadelphia 76ers: $5.6M
After last night's debacle in Boston(quick homer note: Any season the Celts make the Lakers look like that is a good season), the Dwight Howard sweepstakes seems more and more possible by the day. The Lakers are now 23-27, and 3-2 on this road trip which is their fifth "start of their season". While many people believe that Gasol could be the fall guy, it seems as though if Kobe gets his way(which is what happens in LA), Howard will be the player on the outs.
(High School pals could be on the move.)
But Howard isn't the only superstar on the move in this hypothetical trade. Josh Smith has proven he is very unhappy in Atlanta as well, and it is well known that he has very little intentions of re-signing. Could this three-teamer between LA, Phoenix and Atlanta be a solution for all parties?
Why it works for Phoenix:
-Phoenix gets a star in Josh Smith, and it is more of a no-loss situation than you would think. If Josh Smith decides to resign in Phoenix, they have a franchise guy they can rebuild around. If he doesn't resign, the Suns open themselves up for a large amount of cap to try and lock down acquisitions this year, and more importantly in the big free agency class in 2014. Unlike other bottom feeder teams, Phoenix has the warm weather to attract newcomers. They also get a young piece in John Jenkins who has taken advantage of the added playing time since the Lou Williams injury.
Why it works for Atlanta:
-Atlanta gets Howard in his hometown as a rental for the remainder of the year, and then can try and convince him to stay their long term. While one of his biggest pulls to Atlanta was originally Josh Smith, Howard has to look at the big picture and realize that Atlanta could contend with the right pieces. A nucleus of Howard, Horford(who has the athleticism to play at four) and an up and coming Jeff Teague is a pretty solid team in the Eastern Conference. More than half of the Hawks roster is on expiring deals, Dudley meanwhile, is an all-world locker room guy who will bring the type of attitude that Howard wants; laid back outside of games, intense inside of it. Plus, he's a pretty solid wing player who could play either the two or three for them.
Why it Works for Los Angeles:
-The Lakers end the Howard saga, and show some kind of loyalty to Pau Gasol who could still help them if played in the right position. Gortat is a solid backup Center who could fill in right away while Pau is hurt, and is definitely looking for a new situation. While Channing Frye is out this year with an enlarged heart(we hope he's recovering well), he reunites with the coach he thrived most with if he is able to come back. He spaces the floor better the any big man the Lakers have right now. While Lou Williams doesn't necessarily fit into the Lakers starting lineup, he gives them some much needed scoring for the Lakers for the future.
Why it might not work:
-The Lakers aren't getting back enough for this year. While Williams and Frye are solid pieces, neither will step on the floor again this year. If something like this is about to go down, you have to assume that the Lakers are cutting ties with this year. But with every game that Howard turns in like the one he turned in last night (9 points, 9 rebounds in 28 minutes before fouling out), his trade stock goes down. Maybe it is time to pull the plug and set yourself up for next year, which could be Kobe's last in LA.
-BFord
Check out our other Trade Rumors:
Check out the other posts in our February Trade Rumors Series:
Entering Wednesday night's games, the Lakers were 15-19 after 34 games, roughly 40% through this year's schedule. No longer do the Lakers have the excuse of "it's still the beginning of the season." They have been above .500 just once(6-5 after a win against Brooklyn on 11/2), and at worse have been five games under, just one game below where they sit now. Dwight Howard is out for an unknown amount of time with a torn labrum, Pau Gasol is out with a concussion while also dealing with plantar fasciitis. Even Jordan Hill, their back up plan, is day to day with a hip injury. Their emergency plan at big Robert Sacre looked average last night, but looked lost whenever he was forced to make a decision in isolation. ESPN LA "The Forum" claims that the Lakers are most likely a 6 seed who will lose in the first round of the playoffs. Here is the link to that video here.
(The Lakers have had alot of looks like this one this year.)
But how does that happen? They are four games out right now, and have lost four straight. It simply is becoming less and less of a reality that this team can make the playoffs, nevermind contend for any type of title. It doesn't help that teams like the Clippers, Warriors, and Rockets have all established themselves as playoff teams and will look to take spots taken before by the likes of the Lakers and Mavericks. In the past 10 years(not including last years shortened season), the eight seed in the West has averaged 45.6 wins. So if the Lakers had to get to 45 wins to make the playoffs, that means they have to finish the season going 30-18 to get to a 45-37 overall record. Impossible? Certainly not. Will it happen? Not without a little luck.
With the Lakers on their worst official start in the last ten years, I wanted to take an in depth look at what they had left on their schedule. So far, the Lakers have had a little bit of unlucky fortune besides all of their injuries. They have played the 9th toughest schedule in the league, and have played four more games on the road than at home.(Of course one of those was against the Clippers in the Staples Center, in which Chris Paul was getting booed on his own floor.) They have also lost seven of their 19 losses by six points or less. However, the future doesn't seem to favor the Lakeshow. Here are some stats regarding the Lakers remaining schedule:
Out of their remaining 48 games, 28 of them are against teams who currently have winning records.
The Lakers still have to head East to play 7 out of the 8 remaining East playoff teams(as of today's standings). That is road games against the Bulls, Heat, Celtics, Hawks, Nets, Pacers and Bucks.
The Lakers have still have two games to play against the following teams; the Heat, Celtics, Bulls, Grizzlies, Thunder, Clippers, Warriors, Spurs, Mavericks and Trailblazers.
They will finish their season with three at home, yet those three will be against Golden State, San Antonio, and Houston(all of whom could be fighting for a playoff spot as well, or even home court.)
(You have to wonder if this is ever going to work.)
ESPN's Hollinger odds currently has the Lakers finishing 9th at 41-1, with a 30.5% chance of making the playoffs. But when you look that all is above, can you even expect that? You can't expect that even when Gasol and Howard return that all four stars will finish off the season playing every game together. And if this continues to go downhill, do the Lakers trade Pau, or even Dwight and admit that this was a failure? While there is still plenty of basketball played, and the Lakers stress that they will turn it around, the purple and gold may be running out of time.
