The Los Lakers lie bottom of the pile of teams stationed -not so much geographically-in the NBA’s Western Conference having amassed a woeful 5 win 27 loss record this season. As it stands, the second most successful team in the world’s greatest basketball league is currently on pace to retain a top three protected pick in next year’s draft. Should they start winning a lot of games in Kobe Bryant’s swansong season, they will miss out on landing Ben Simmons, Kris Dunn, Marcus Paige or any player who has weaseled his way into the top rankings on every network across the U.S.
That pick would end up in the hands of the Philadelphia Sixers who are supposedly in the last phase of their tanking years as they will have the prerogative to choose any standout player from the 2016 pool of talent. The Houston Rockets underwhelming season that has been characterized by sacking head coach Kevin McHale and replacing him with assistant J.B.Bickerstaff, Ty Lawson’s struggles in adjusting to a new system and the inevitable malaise, took another shocking turn the past week. Reports circulated wildly linking franchise second piece Dwight Howard to a move from the Toyota Center.
As a former three-time Defensive Player of the Year recipient, a ton of teams have unsurprisingly been linked with a move for the former Orlando Magic star. Miami Heat, Washington Wizards et al have been penned as interested parties in Howard.
The list above includes the Lakers who will be without Roy Hibbert who is set to be a free agent come season’s end and looks a shoe-in to leave Tinseltown. Dwight on the other hand holds a player option for next season which he will use to renegotiate his contract considering 2016-2017 NBA season will be the first of a nine year $24billion dollar television deal. On hind sight, having the slightest flicker of thought about bringing Howard back to Los Angeles will be analogous to having a top artiste show his genitals live on stage.
In the summer of 2012, the Lakers went all in for Dwight Howard and Steve Nash in two separate smashing moves that instantly put them in championship contention talk. A first round playoff exit, Nash’s injuries condemning him to watch more games than he played and chemistry issues and a season later, Howard moved to Houston. The main reason for leaving according to him was his pursuit of happiness as the 6-11 man sulked while being cast in the shadow of a 6-6 “black mamba” on the offense.
At best, poly sports disciple like me can definitely see similarities with this and what transpired at Kobe Bryant’s favorite soccer team Barcelona. Talismanic 6-5 striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, disoriented with inadequate influence on the offense compared to the Lilliputian Lionel Messi, left after just a year run around at the Nou Camp. Unlike Ibrahimovic, Howard’s return to L.A. doesn’t come off as an estranged thought considering the main architect behind his departure will retire at the end of this season. The Lakers do need a guy with Howard’s skill to man the middle.
In 2014-2015 season, the Lakers averaged 98.5 points per game to place 19th out of 30 teams according to basketballreference.com. However, the team missed out on qualifying for the playoffs as it allowed opponents to average 105.3 points per game and condemn them to a 29th position. A look at a conference rival, the Memphis Grizzlies, shows how big a problem that statistic turned out to be. Although averaging just 98.3 points per game to place 20th, the Grizzlies made it to the conference semi final after falling to the eventual winner Golden State Warriors. In spite of an improved roster due to acquiring Hibbert and Brandon Bass(defensive savvy veterans), in the off season, the Lakers are 28th in the league in offense though last year’s Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams was brought in to give the team more fire power.
It gets worse on the defensive end as the Lakers as dead last in the league as they have allowed opponents to score a whopping 107.3 points against them. Having Dwight in the paint will surely solve a lot on both ends of the court as the recently turned 30 year old is averaging 12.6 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 31.9 minutes. Hibbert is averaging 7.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 26.3 minutes.
The 2016 free agency offered a vaunted collection of top-tier players who were set to be the first beneficiaries of the new but improved league income. The class which once boasted talents like LaMarcus Aldridge and Kevin Love is now shallow with a few first class talents aside LeBron James, Kevin Durant. It gets further shallow when it comes to big men as the available agents are either too old to build a team around or simply aren’t elite anymore. Joakim Noah, Al Jefferson, Pau Gasol and Nene make up this list. Though Dwight Howard is no longer the dominant force he once was, he is still considered a top five Center around the league per cheatsheet.com and ranker.com.
Hasssan Whiteside’s inspired play will definitely fetch him a handsome paycheck but many team executives fear he can be another “Linsanity experience” contingent on his limited number of years at the top. Howard’s immense experience makes him a sturdy option compared to Whiteside’s foul prone and sometimes reckless play for a Lakers team that will still be one of the youngest next season and in need of veteran direction.
The major reason for Howard’s supposed angst in Houston is the limited touches he gets on the offensive end. Alpha-dog James Harden munches a huge chunk of offensive touches in a Houston system tailor measured to fit the trendy three-point oriented NBA. Howard is averaging eight touches per game which is far below what he was used to in Orlando and even L.A. Howard left the Lakers because of Kobe’s “ball hogging” penchant after just a year. As part of the three team trade that sent Howard to Los Angeles, Andrew Bynum offered a piece of advice after being traded to the Philadelphia Sixers in 2012. “Get used to not touching the ball with Kobe around”. Next season, Kobe wont on the roster and with James Harden emulating Bryant more and more, Howard suiting up in the Purple and Gold once more will make the player-team relationship beneficially mutual.
