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Dwight Howard

Odds & Ends: Wiggins, Howard, Bynum, Kings

October 25th, 2012 at 3:44pm CST by Luke Adams

With David Stern's retirement at the forefront of talks this week at the NBA's Board of Governors meetings, a number of other topics being pushed to the back burner. One such subject, according to Ken Berger of CBS Sports, is the issue of advertising on uniforms. The NBA's owners have agreed to table the issue for now, and likely won't revisit it until the board meets again in April, says Berger (Twitter links). Here are a few more odds and ends from around the league:

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Odds & Ends: Mavs, Brooks, Suns, Bucks

October 23rd, 2012 at 11:32pm CST by Chuck Myron

Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News believes the Mavs will go "hard" after Chris Paul, and perhaps Dwight Howard, in free agency next summer. That would be no surprise, given the team's effort to position itself to pursue another marquee name next summer after its push to sign Deron Williams fell through. It's hard to envision either turning down a five-year deal in L.A. for a four-year contract in Dallas, especially considering Paul's involvement in the Clippers' offseason moves and Howard's enthusiasm about being with the Lakers, but plenty can happen between now and July. In the meantime, here's a late night look around the Association:

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Mitch Kupchak On Howard, 2014, Nash

October 23rd, 2012 at 7:57pm CST by Chuck Myron

The acquisition of Dwight Howard may have received more fanfare, but Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak believes the sign-and-trade that brought Steve Nash aboard was the linchpin to the team's ballyhooed offseason, citing the enthusiasm others have for playing with a distributor like Nash, as Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News reports. The Nash deal wouldn't have been possible without last year's Lamar Odom trade, but Kupchak said he wasn't envisioning a summer like the team just had when he let Odom go last year. Kupchak shared plenty more with Medina, as we highlight here.

On whether Dwight Howard has told him he'll re-sign next year:

"I have not asked that question nor do I intend to ask the question. I hear he's embraced the city. Certainly, everything he says publicly is positive. But there really is nothing to pursue there from that point of view. It doesn't make any sense for him to do anything other than wait for this summer."

On what the Lakers must do to convince Howard to come back:

"Winning a championship wouldn't hurt. If we didn't win it this year, would that factor into his decision? I don't know. I would think that if he has a great year and there's great chemistry and the city embraces him like I think we do and will, I'm not sure it would be a factor. But that's something that he'll have to decide. He doesn't have to decide that now."

On 2014, when executive Jim Buss says the team plans to "make a big splash":

"Even if we sign back Dwight, we'll have cap flexibility. But I don't know who's going to be available two years down the road. I don't know what will happen in the next year or two. There may be a trade that comes along. Right now, we do have financial flexibility."

On the team's pursuit of Nash this past summer:

"When we were talking about it in the office, we said, 'Steve is on our list.' but I said, 'It's unlikely.' Jimmy said, 'Well, make the call.' I said, 'we'll make the call anyway, but don't get your hopes up.' He took the optimistic approach to it. Lo and behold, the unlikely took place."

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NBA GMs Weigh In On 2012/13 Season

October 22nd, 2012 at 10:48am CST by Luke Adams

The results are in on NBA.com's annual survey of the league's general managers, with all 30 NBA GMs weighing in on dozens of questions about the 2012/13 season and the 2012 offseason. We won't round up all of their answers here, so feel free to check out the full results at NBA.com, but here are a few of the more notable responses:

  • 70% of respondents believe the Heat will repeat as NBA champs, while 96.7% think Miami will win the Eastern Conference. Since GMs aren't allowed to vote for their own teams, that means the rest of the league's 29 GMs picked the Heat to come out of the East.
  • The Lakers are the favorites to come out of the West, earning 60% of the votes. The Thunder (36.7%) and Nuggets (3.3%) were the only other teams mentioned.
  • LeBron James is the player most GMs would start a franchise with, earning 80% of the votes.
  • 86.2% of GMs believe the Lakers made the best offseason moves, with Dwight Howard (70%) and Steve Nash (20%) earning the most votes for the summer addition who will make the biggest impact. Los Angeles' sign-and-trade for Nash was also voted the summer's most surprising move.
  • Besides the Lakers, the other teams receiving votes for the best offseason roster moves were the Nets, Hawks, and Warriors.
  • The Nets (62.1%) ran away with the votes on which team will be most improved, while Andre Iguodala (16.7%) topped the choices for most underrated acquisition — the Celtics' duo of Jason Terry and Courtney Lee also received support in that category.
  • Anthony Davis (76.7%) and Gregg Popovich (80%) were the runaway picks for rookie of the year and the NBA's best coach, respectively.
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Odds & Ends: Howard, Ellis, Barnes, Sleepers

October 21st, 2012 at 7:53pm CST by Alex Lee

The news of the night is that Dwight Howard will make his Lakers debut tonight at the Staples Center against the Kings, tweets Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski.  The offseason's biggest storyline was rumored to be on track to play tonight, but it is now official.  Tip off is just over a half hour away.  Here are some other odds and ends from around the league:

  • Monta Ellis, who was traded to the Bucks for Andrew Bogut this past season, has a new outlook in Milwaukee, writes Shams Charania of RealGM.  Ellis is through worrying about personal accolades, he says, and is concentrated only on winning with his new team.  Charania says that Ellis and Brandon Jennings are building chemistry, while adding that Ellis is expected to opt out of his deal after the year and Jennings could be a restricted free agent.
  • Given the Clippers roster, Matt Barnes didn't seem like the best fit when he signed with the team in September.  But Barnes has been raising eyebrows in training camp and preseason, Broderick Turner of the LA Times writes.
  • The team of writers at HoopsWorld looks at which NBA team will be this years' biggest sleeper.  Believe it or not, all five guys chose different teams.  Here is the list: Raptors, Bucks, Nuggets, Warriors and Wizards. 
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Western Notes: Stephen Curry, Bogut, Spurs

October 20th, 2012 at 8:32pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Here are some rumblings out of the Western Conference tonight: 

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Pacific Notes: Howard, Dragic, Johnson, Warriors

October 19th, 2012 at 11:11am CST by Luke Adams

A Thursday morning report about the possibility of the Lakers pursuing LeBron James in the summer of 2014 resulted in Jim Buss saying the Lakers are indeed hoping to make a splash in '14, and LeBron brushing off the speculation. While everyone wants to talk about the possibility of LeBron eventually heading west, there are other stories coming out of the Pacific Division, so let's round those up right here:

  • The summer's biggest trade acquisition, Dwight Howard, appears set to make his Lakers debut on Sunday against the Kings, according to Marc J. Spears and Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
  • The Suns aren't expecting offseason signee Goran Dragic to replace Steve Nash's production, as coach Alvin Gentry tells Derek Page of HoopsWorld: "We don’t really talk to him about replacing Steve. We could go through the whole league and they couldn’t replace Steve…. We all know what Steve brought to our team but now we’re trying to get ourselves in a situation where Goran can step into a role, where he feels confident in what he’s doing and he can become the best Goran Dragic. That’s what we’re trying to get him to do, which would be pretty good."
  • While Kings president Geoff Petrie says James Johnson's perimeter game needs to improve, he thinks Johnson, acquired this summer from the Raptors, "has the potential to really help us defensively," as he tells Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee.
  • In looking back at the Warriors' offseason, ESPN.com's John Hollinger (Insider link) says Draymond Green was one of his favorite players in the draft, but he's not a huge fan of the team's Carl Landry signing.
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Pacific Notes: Suns, D12, Paul, Lakers, Fredette

October 16th, 2012 at 1:40pm CST by Luke Adams

Let's head to the west coast and round up a few of Tuesday's items out of the Pacific Division….

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Eastern Notes: Nets, Petro, Hinrich, Vesely

October 10th, 2012 at 12:46pm CST by Luke Adams

We've already covered a few stories out of the Eastern Conference today, including Rashard Lewis' desire to play for five more years, the latest on Rasheed Wallace's timetable with the Knicks, and camp cuts by the Sixers and Cavaliers. Now, let's round up another handful of East-related links….

  • In the first episode of NBA TV's "The Association," which debuts next week, Nets GM Billy King says Deron Williams urged him not to wait on Dwight Howard and miss out on other opportunities to improve the roster, according to Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com.
  • Johan Petro tells Lang Greene of HoopsWorld that he wasn't caught off guard by the trade that sent him to the Hawks, though his destination was a bit of a surprise. "I knew Brooklyn was really trying to do something with Deron," Petro said. "I didn’t know half the team would be gone but I knew they were going to try and do something."
  • Though it's been two years since he played for the Bulls, Kirk Hinrich is already feeling comfortable again in Chicago, and his teammates, new and old, are glad to have him on board. Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com has the details.
  • With Wizards owner Ted Leonsis recently conceding that his team is better equipped to develop its own stars rather than recruit them, Washington will be looking for continued growth from Jan Vesely this season, says Michael Lee of the Washington Post.
  • Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald examines Dionte Christmas' quest to earn a spot on the Celtics' roster.
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Pacific Rumors: Paul, Howard, Warriors, Suns

October 9th, 2012 at 4:45pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Lakers were thought to be in the market for an extra big man earlier today, but they found out later that Jordan Hill won't need surgery on his back and should be ready for the regular season opener. Hill, of course, isn't the only Laker post player recovering from a back injury, and the team continues to get encouraging news on Dwight Howard as well. We've got more on him and other news from around the Pacific Division.

  • Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com looks at what it will take for the Clippers to convince Chris Paul, a free agent at season's end, to stay. 
  • Howard has been cleared to go five-on-five for limited minutes in practice, tweets Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times. That seemed to be the final barrier between Howard and his return from back surgery, and it would take a "major setback" for Howard not to be in the lineup on opening night, opines Markazi (Twitter link).
  • Warriors coach Mark Jackson has high praise for rookie Festus Ezeli, who's competing with Andris Biedrins for the backup center job. "He was spectacular. He is the real deal. I can't believe he was there at (pick number) 30," Jackson said, as Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group tweets. Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle passes along the same quote, and adds Jackson's comments about Harrison Barnes, whom the coach also believes is better than advertised.
  • Thompson shares his insight on the competition to start at small forward for the Warriors, which he says is down to Barnes and Brandon Rush, with Rush having the inside track, sources say (Sulia link).
  • Jermaine O'Neal, who signed a minimum-salary deal with the Suns, says training camp in Phoenix is much different from his experience with the Celtics, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic writes.
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