reNew Orleans
Clubbin' with Rasual Butler
[video=youtube_share;wOZSAXuSJkQ]http://youtu.be/wOZSAXuSJkQ[/video]
dwight could learn from these fans about some real passion.
dwight could learn from these fans about some real passion.
2013 Nba offseason news and notes
- Thread starter CASH
- Start date
Alex Kennedy @AlexKennedyNBA<small class="time" style="font-size: 12px; color: rgb(187, 187, 187); position: relative; float: right; margin-top: 1px;">2m</small>
Dwight Howard has changed his Twitter icon to a picture of him in a Houston Rockets jersey. He'll be giving quotes soon. It's official.
Dwight Howard has changed his Twitter icon to a picture of him in a Houston Rockets jersey. He'll be giving quotes soon. It's official.
Kevin Negandhi @KNegandhiESPN<small class="time" style="font-size: 12px; color: rgb(187, 187, 187); position: relative; float: right; margin-top: 1px;">6h</small>
So..a year later, Dwight undecided, Iggy leaves, Bynum never played.. Congrats Magic on winning a trade with Moe Harkless and Nik Vucevic
L
Lareux
Guest
I still don't know what this clip is supposed to be showing us. Are you posting it because of the fans chanting in the background? They aren't really that loud or passionate, but maybe I'm missing something.
reNew Orleans
Clubbin' with Rasual Butler
youre not picking it out?
call and response
usa we bring the ruckus
usa aint nothing to fuck with
call and response
usa we bring the ruckus
usa aint nothing to fuck with
L
Lareux
Guest
I guess not. I hear something about the USA bringing the ruckus, but it's probably about 1/4 of the crowd who is chanting it so it's not that easy to decipher.
L
Lareux
Guest
Fair enough.
reNew Orleans
Clubbin' with Rasual Butler
gets drown out but think its audible to start. either way. point being
dwight is a douche, pos, passionless twat
dwight is a douche, pos, passionless twat
reNew Orleans
Clubbin' with Rasual Butler
also we dont have a lot of good soccer stadiums in the US
L
Lareux
Guest
Agreed.
Most any club's fans from over in Europe may prove the "passion" point a little better than a US soccer crowd.
L
Lareux
Guest
:shake:
Which is so sad seeing as how we held a World Cup. Any other country seems to be building stadiums from scratch for the World Cup but you know us 'Mericans...what we have is already good enough; of course we are the US after all. lololol
reNew Orleans
Clubbin' with Rasual Butler
weird thing was that game was held at Qwest or CenturyLink, whatever the hell its called now even though the Sounders have a really good soccer staidum. i dont know why that happened.
L
Lareux
Guest
I thought I heard it was held there because the Sounders have a 'field turf' stadium and that isn't allowed in International soccer. I think they had to bring in temporary sod to play at Qwest (or the Link) anyway, which made for poor field conditions. Not to mention they could have just done the same thing at the Sounders stadium if that's what they needed to do.
The rule needs to be looked at (no "turf" fields) since the field turf is nothing like the old Astroturf fields where the ball would just roll forever if you let it. The new 'fake grass' fields pretty much react the same way a 'real grass' field does.
I have the rockets as favorites out west if they get Smoove, don't see a team who will beat them 4 out of 7. Without Smoove, just another good western team, 3-5 seed. A lot of you guys have been behind the curve on Houston in general, recall a ton of folks rolling around laughing here last October about how shitty the 2012-2013 team was gonna be after the harden trade. They have the league's best gm, top 5 scouts who have found multiple contributors in the 2nd round of the draft, and they have a coach who players respect. On top of all that, they were the first team to ever successfully steal a player from the lakers that the lakers actually wanted to keep. This franchise, and this team are for real, and will continue to be legit for many many years. The inside out, 1 big and athletes/shooters everywhere else game they play is suited fantastically to Dwight. He singlehandedly creates the most space in the entire league except for maybe when Lebron and melo post up on the low block. Smoove wouldn't need to score there, it's a good organizational culture and a perfect role for him where he would just have to defend wings, grab some boards, do offensive thing x on a given night depending on matchup, and just get easy buckets in transition. If they get him, I think they're the west's best team. And btw guys, writers just needed twitter fun tonight, including the high and mighty Woj. Dwight chose Houston and flew into la to tell the lakers to their faces. For once he handled this the right way, the blame lies with every writer except for amick who tried to be some genius scooping a story that didnt exist.
W
wadegarrett
Guest
D Howard can fit perfect with hou
ask him to board n block. Avg 17ppg 16rb n 3,4 blocks.. beast like n he dont need the ball ever...
ask him to board n block. Avg 17ppg 16rb n 3,4 blocks.. beast like n he dont need the ball ever...
braves
Pretty much a regular
bad blow for the Lakers.
He could have and would have brought more talent in next years free agency class. Now the Lakers are stuck with having to bring multiple players in, not easy at all.
Blow it up mode for lakers..They should amnesty Metta, and try to get rid of Pau for something
He could have and would have brought more talent in next years free agency class. Now the Lakers are stuck with having to bring multiple players in, not easy at all.
Blow it up mode for lakers..They should amnesty Metta, and try to get rid of Pau for something
divol
The Spurs can suck my manhood
I can't say that I'm happy about Dwight leaving the Lakers. He is the best Center in the West (maybe Hibbert can challenge him) and it's not like Lakers now have any cap room for a big sign.
But, I didn't like him too much (though he is a major upgrade over Bynum) and if Lakers will manage to get rid of Nash before next year's free agency, I think that it can be a blessing in disguise.
We will be able to judge how this move effected the Lakers, only in 2014 summer, because this season Lakers wasn't going to get anywhere regardless of Dwight's question.
If Lakers will be able to build a contender in 2014, this was a good move for the Lakers.
But, I didn't like him too much (though he is a major upgrade over Bynum) and if Lakers will manage to get rid of Nash before next year's free agency, I think that it can be a blessing in disguise.
We will be able to judge how this move effected the Lakers, only in 2014 summer, because this season Lakers wasn't going to get anywhere regardless of Dwight's question.
If Lakers will be able to build a contender in 2014, this was a good move for the Lakers.
reNew Orleans
Clubbin' with Rasual Butler
mavs going after bynum
braves
Pretty much a regular
The Lakers didn't lose a center, they dodged a bullet.
Take a hike, Dwight, and don't let your cape hit you on the way out.
Dwight Howard has been formally chased out the door of basketball's greatest franchise by its legacy, its pressure, and, apparently, a rousing recruiting challenge from Kobe Bryant.
PHOTO GALLERY: Dwight Howard and the Lakers
Does a city of starry expectations want its favorite basketball team built around somebody who doesn't have the shoulders for it?
It's a good day for the Houston Rockets, but a great day for the Lakers, who will watch Howard walk to the Rockets for less money, lower expectations, and probably four more years of mediocrity.
All together now: Whew!
Gone is perhaps the biggest one-year disappointment in Lakers history, an All-Star center who arrived here last summer bearing a championship promise he quickly broke with a lack of consistent intensity, a shortage of competitive focus and an absence of any sort of measurable refusal to lose.
His first play as a Laker perfectly summed up the dream that was D12. It was a thunderous dunk. His last play as a Laker perfectly summed up the reality that was Dwight Howard. He was ejected from the final loss in a four-game sweep by theSan Antonio Spurs, abandoning his short-handed teammates and disappearing through the tunnel as an injured Kobe Bryant was hobbling out.
He spent much of the season recovering from back surgery, but even when he was close to 100%, his intensity was still 50-50. He played through pain, except when he didn't. He wanted the Lakers to be his team, except when it was his team. When Bryant suffered an Achilles' tendon tear, Howard also disappeared.
For two years, this column space pushed and prodded and finally begged the Lakers to acquire Howard, then celebrated when it did. The line for suckers starts here.
"The Lakers figured it out, they always do," I wrote after Howard's acquisition last August.
It turns out, I could write the same thing again with Howard's departure. Eleven months after the Lakers figured out how to trade for him, here's guessing they also figured out that he wasn't really worth risking a five-year title abyss to keep him.
Yes, they offered him the maximum contract of $118 million over five seasons, nearly $30 million more guaranteed than the Rockets' four-year offer. Yes, they put up these silly signs all over town and General Manager Mitch Kupchak said all these silly things about Howard being the franchise's future.
But in the end, it all seemed like an expensive game of chicken. For the sake of appearances, the Lakers had to make a very public pursuit of a player they really didn't want to catch.
There will be talk nationwide that the Lakers' failure to keep a star in the prime of his career for the first time in franchise history is indicative of the organization's dysfunction and eventual downfall in the wake of the death of Jerry Buss. And, certainly, there are huge front-office problems that sponsors and season-ticket holders will need addressed, such as, who is actually running this thing, anyway?
But don't kid yourself. If the Lakers really wanted to keep Dwight Howard, they would have kept him.
If they really wanted Howard, they would have fired Coach Mike D'Antoni instead of allowing him to sit in the room for their final pitch. That's right, the biggest barrier to Howard's re-signing with the Lakers was actually brought in to sell him on the Lakers.
If they really wanted Howard, Phil Jackson would have been the coach in that room, instead of escaping to Montana while communicating to Howard through Twitter.
If they really wanted Howard, they wouldn't have attempted to dissuade Kobe Bryant from telling him the truth. While the Rockets were undoubtedly convincing Howard of his greatness, Bryant was making a final pitch in which he challenged Howard to follow his lead and strive for that greatness. If Howard was truly fit to be a Laker, he would have grabbed at the shine of those five rings instead of cowering from it.
Finally, if the Lakers really wanted the glitter-obsessed Howard, they would have sold him with Hollywood, bringing in some of their courtside heavy hitters to close the deal. The problem was, the surprisingly Hollywood fans didn't want Howard either, and that reportedly includes Jack Nicholson.
The Lakers have won 16 championships on backs much broader than the one adorned with No. 12, with a winning ethic much more serious than the one showed by a guy who laughed and joked even after losses, with leaders who acted like leaders.
Howard was not that guy. He knows it, the Lakers know it, and it was confirmed to the world during an exit news conference in which he whined about the tough Los Angeles fans and heavy Lakers pressure.
So what happens now? Patience happens now. To frame this as a big loss for the Lakers is hugely wrong. To think of this as an ending ignores the possibilities that are just beginning.
The Lakers will enter next season led by a limping Bryant and a nine-lives Pau Gasol, which means they will not contend for a championship. But guess what? Even with Howard, they were not contending for a championship next season.
This is all about 2014, and the team now having enough cap space to build a team around a potentially star-studded free agency class led by LeBron James. This is all about the Lakers now having the potential to tap into a 2014 draft class with at least five guys who would have been No. 1 picks this season.
The wait between championships in the Shaq-Kobe era and Kobe-Pau era was seven years. This next pause won't be nearly as long, and a lot shorter than if Howard had remained.
Sometimes you have to lose a bit of yourself to find yourself. The Lakers are about 7 feet shorter today, and their ceiling is again limitless.
Take a hike, Dwight, and don't let your cape hit you on the way out.
Dwight Howard has been formally chased out the door of basketball's greatest franchise by its legacy, its pressure, and, apparently, a rousing recruiting challenge from Kobe Bryant.
PHOTO GALLERY: Dwight Howard and the Lakers
Does a city of starry expectations want its favorite basketball team built around somebody who doesn't have the shoulders for it?
It's a good day for the Houston Rockets, but a great day for the Lakers, who will watch Howard walk to the Rockets for less money, lower expectations, and probably four more years of mediocrity.
All together now: Whew!
Gone is perhaps the biggest one-year disappointment in Lakers history, an All-Star center who arrived here last summer bearing a championship promise he quickly broke with a lack of consistent intensity, a shortage of competitive focus and an absence of any sort of measurable refusal to lose.
His first play as a Laker perfectly summed up the dream that was D12. It was a thunderous dunk. His last play as a Laker perfectly summed up the reality that was Dwight Howard. He was ejected from the final loss in a four-game sweep by theSan Antonio Spurs, abandoning his short-handed teammates and disappearing through the tunnel as an injured Kobe Bryant was hobbling out.
He spent much of the season recovering from back surgery, but even when he was close to 100%, his intensity was still 50-50. He played through pain, except when he didn't. He wanted the Lakers to be his team, except when it was his team. When Bryant suffered an Achilles' tendon tear, Howard also disappeared.
For two years, this column space pushed and prodded and finally begged the Lakers to acquire Howard, then celebrated when it did. The line for suckers starts here.
"The Lakers figured it out, they always do," I wrote after Howard's acquisition last August.
It turns out, I could write the same thing again with Howard's departure. Eleven months after the Lakers figured out how to trade for him, here's guessing they also figured out that he wasn't really worth risking a five-year title abyss to keep him.
Yes, they offered him the maximum contract of $118 million over five seasons, nearly $30 million more guaranteed than the Rockets' four-year offer. Yes, they put up these silly signs all over town and General Manager Mitch Kupchak said all these silly things about Howard being the franchise's future.
But in the end, it all seemed like an expensive game of chicken. For the sake of appearances, the Lakers had to make a very public pursuit of a player they really didn't want to catch.
There will be talk nationwide that the Lakers' failure to keep a star in the prime of his career for the first time in franchise history is indicative of the organization's dysfunction and eventual downfall in the wake of the death of Jerry Buss. And, certainly, there are huge front-office problems that sponsors and season-ticket holders will need addressed, such as, who is actually running this thing, anyway?
But don't kid yourself. If the Lakers really wanted to keep Dwight Howard, they would have kept him.
If they really wanted Howard, they would have fired Coach Mike D'Antoni instead of allowing him to sit in the room for their final pitch. That's right, the biggest barrier to Howard's re-signing with the Lakers was actually brought in to sell him on the Lakers.
If they really wanted Howard, Phil Jackson would have been the coach in that room, instead of escaping to Montana while communicating to Howard through Twitter.
If they really wanted Howard, they wouldn't have attempted to dissuade Kobe Bryant from telling him the truth. While the Rockets were undoubtedly convincing Howard of his greatness, Bryant was making a final pitch in which he challenged Howard to follow his lead and strive for that greatness. If Howard was truly fit to be a Laker, he would have grabbed at the shine of those five rings instead of cowering from it.
Finally, if the Lakers really wanted the glitter-obsessed Howard, they would have sold him with Hollywood, bringing in some of their courtside heavy hitters to close the deal. The problem was, the surprisingly Hollywood fans didn't want Howard either, and that reportedly includes Jack Nicholson.
The Lakers have won 16 championships on backs much broader than the one adorned with No. 12, with a winning ethic much more serious than the one showed by a guy who laughed and joked even after losses, with leaders who acted like leaders.
Howard was not that guy. He knows it, the Lakers know it, and it was confirmed to the world during an exit news conference in which he whined about the tough Los Angeles fans and heavy Lakers pressure.
So what happens now? Patience happens now. To frame this as a big loss for the Lakers is hugely wrong. To think of this as an ending ignores the possibilities that are just beginning.
The Lakers will enter next season led by a limping Bryant and a nine-lives Pau Gasol, which means they will not contend for a championship. But guess what? Even with Howard, they were not contending for a championship next season.
This is all about 2014, and the team now having enough cap space to build a team around a potentially star-studded free agency class led by LeBron James. This is all about the Lakers now having the potential to tap into a 2014 draft class with at least five guys who would have been No. 1 picks this season.
The wait between championships in the Shaq-Kobe era and Kobe-Pau era was seven years. This next pause won't be nearly as long, and a lot shorter than if Howard had remained.
Sometimes you have to lose a bit of yourself to find yourself. The Lakers are about 7 feet shorter today, and their ceiling is again limitless.
Coverdatspred
Curious About George Costanza‘s Modeling Career
I agree with Plashke in that article posted above. No matter what Dwight says this is not about winning. There is only two teams in the league that have proven over and over again that they know how to build a winner. The Lakers and the Celtics. This is about Dwight not being able to live up to expectations. He knows it, the Lakers fans know it and the Lakers brass know it. I'm not so sure the Lakers were bluffing but I'm pretty sure that they collectively know they dodged a bullet now that the dust has settled. Dwight is not a guy to give the keys to the organization to.
guaranteeed
Pretty much a regular
if the Lakers are in the lottery next year they are winning it
so they might as well miss the playoffs for MJ
so they might as well miss the playoffs for MJ
cudder
Pretty much a regular
Coverdatspred
Curious About George Costanza‘s Modeling Career
crawdads
Fairway to Heaven
He took a team to the finals with the second best player being Jameer. He was injured all of last year. Interesting theories everyone has on Dwight.
crawdads
Fairway to Heaven
Bingo. If Metta is on the roster this year, Kobe should just retire.
Coverdatspred
Curious About George Costanza‘s Modeling Career
In the season Dwight "led" his team to the finals the Magic played 24 post season games and Dwight was the leading scorer in 9 of them. Dwight's high score in the finals that year was 21 Pts and the Magic lost in 5 games. That run was sparked more by the shooting of Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu as well as a ridiculously weak eastern conference. The teams they beat that year? The sixers led by Elton Brand and Iguodala. The Boston Celtics missing an injured Kevin Garnett. The Cleveland Cavs led by Lebron and nobody else.
To say that the second best player on that team was Jameer Nelson is incredibly short sighted. Rashard Lewis was far and away the second best player on that team and if you remember correctly he only played five games in the playoffs that year. Rafer Alston was the PG.
Coverdatspred
Curious About George Costanza‘s Modeling Career
and he was so injured last year he averaged a whole one point less than his career average and nearly right on his career average in rebounds.
Coverdatspred
Curious About George Costanza‘s Modeling Career
The guy is the best center in the league, don't get me wrong. I'm just saying, that doesn't say much nowadays. When you go down the long list of great centers that have played in the NBA his name won't come up for a long long time.
crawdads
Fairway to Heaven
So, i never said he was going to average 30 a game. How many points did Russell average? Post his rebound and block shots.
Marcus Thompson @gswscribe<small class="time" style="font-size: 12px; color: rgb(187, 187, 187); position: relative; float: right; margin-top: 1px;">3m</small>
Jarrett Jack is signing a four-year, $25 million deal with Cleveland, source says
Jarrett Jack is signing a four-year, $25 million deal with Cleveland, source says
divol
The Spurs can suck my manhood
It was the team that Casspi wanted to get to for years now...
nbafan88
Pretty much a regular
Best post of the entire thread.
CASH
Pretty much a regular
just destroyed a team that had some potential with monroe and drummond..
CASH
Pretty much a regular
lot of hate for howard....
I haven't read anywhere that he said this or said that.. everything was from a "source".. the POS should be the media with their someone close to his camp and Brousard with his source,,,, when howard made his decision he tweeted it,, no more no less.
nbafan88
Pretty much a regular
how can you make that conclusion? The guy has been on a perennially underachieving atlanta hawks team for his entire career... he has had very little direction and has not been challenged by his teammates/coaches like he should have been.. absolutely no authority in atlanta.... and when there was with Mike Woodson the two of them didnt see eye to eye.... jsmooves prime is the next 2-3 years... think he is a fabulous and surprising addition to the pistons
CASH
Pretty much a regular
my conclusion has some proof,,,The guy has been on a perennially underachieving - he is in the top 3 of lowest IQ basketball players ,, ,,, he might be in his prime doesn't mean anything and calling it fabulous and surprise has nothing to do with drawing a conclusion...
he will be on sportscenter - they will show 2-3 very entertaining passes for alley oops,, but they won't show, the idiot decision to take a contested 3 point jump shot or the behind the back pass that ends up in the 5th row...
nbafan88
Pretty much a regular
oh no i fully understand his stupidity level, trust me i get that 110% but that was a result of him being too comfortable on the team and a pretty awful coaching staff... i dont know i just think there is good potential there for him to bring a lot more to the table than what they paid for him
there's something about atlanta teams that is really strange to me... is it just me or do they all underachieve and no offense to anyone but they have some awful fans as well.. bandwagoners all the way
there's something about atlanta teams that is really strange to me... is it just me or do they all underachieve and no offense to anyone but they have some awful fans as well.. bandwagoners all the way
CASH
Pretty much a regular
ok, we agree he is dumb,, i don't disagree about Atlanta and I don't disagree with his untapped talent i just don't think Smith will ever learn or even wants to..