ESPN: Portland among "favorites" for Dwight Howard in Free Agency

Horford and Dwight have nothing in common with their play on the court. Keep looking at stats to convince yourself Dwight has value because if you watch his impact on a team you'll run away.

 

The first time I read this I assumed you meant fans emotions lead them to believe Dwight was still capable of being an above average center while an objective look at his play and impact on a team would give different conclusions.

 

Great analogy!

 

An objective observer would also take into account the absolute train wreck of an organization Houston has become as well and at least factor that into the equation. More so what I speak of people who automatically say no because he once was a Laker.

 

I and many others don't care about that. We've got two excellent Laker bigs the last two years in Kaman and Ed Davis. Hell I actually think its great; their basically our farm team.

I care about what Dwight is doing last year, this year, and how that projects next year on the court. He has issues clogging the lane on offense, stealing teammates rebounds, slow defensive rotations, lack of skill. Mostly I care about comparable NBA players who also have their contributions based entirely on athleticism. Gerald Wallace went from a borderline all-star to not belonging in the league at the age of 30. I see Dwight on a similar path.

On pure merit you could argue Dwight deserves to be a backup center somewhere in this league. But he's not going to be happy with that roll or that paycheck. There's no way he'd be happy with Mason Plumlee starting in front of him, or Meyers coming in when we need spacing, and thats likely what would happen here next year.

Center and PG are the two deepest positions we have. Now if we could get an elite center sure I'd consider it. Dwight hasn't been one in years and players don't magically recapture those skills after major back surgery on the wrong side of 30. At best Dwight is a marginal upgrade from Plumlee/Ed, at worst he's a clear downgrade, and in either scenario he'll be an unhappy camper. No thanks!

 

Honestly, I think Memphis blows it up, and I would LOVE to get Gasol. I don't know what the cost would be, but he would be amazing.

Conley is supposedly leaving in free agency. Zach is getting old. I think adding Gasol to this team with maybe one free agent scorer, we are a top three team in the west next year.

 

Yeah I'd be very interested in Marc Gasol. He's older than Dwight but his contributions aren't predicated on athleticism. He has so much skill on both sides of the ball. I'd probably give up Vonleh, Plumlee and a first round pick.

 

Yup. I think it would have to center around Vonleh and either Plums or Davis. They definitely need some young talent on that team.

 

If that's all he cost, I'd be for it. A trade like that plus signing someone like Biyombo would be a pretty sweet off-season. While neither player can shoot threes, Gasol can operate in the high post and shoot from mid-range well. Unclogs the middle a little.

 

Our biggest need is a PF that fits with Plumlee and can score the ball. Maybe a tallish guy who can spread the floor.

 

My personal feeling is we are over focusing on Free Agency. I suspect Neil tries to make his splash via trade then use remaining cap space to fill in the gaps. The downside is we don't have a lot of assets to trade assuming Dame and CJ aren't going anywhere.

 

*Enter Meyers Leonard (stage left)*

 

Not at PF.

 

That's why I'm focused on free agency. I agree DameCJ are effectively untradeable in that they are worth more to us than any team would give up. That leaves us with Plumlee, Davis, Aminu, Vonleh, and picks.

Neil has shown a reluctance to trade away productive players. I don't view that as a negative as some posters will though.

Sure its possible we trade; but I think its far more likely the major moves we do are in free agency.

 

That type of player could be useful.

Its about as far away from Dwight Howard as possible.

 

I would have been okay with trading Aminu before this series, but honestly his defense and his ability to switch between positions has been so extremely valuable. Harkless as well. The two of them have changed the nature of this series with their versatility.

I would look to deal Vonleh/Davis if I was going to make a trade.

 

Too bad none of our........wait a minute!

 

As well as the Blazers have done this season, there is still a LOT of room for internal development and improvement: Harkless, Crabbe, Vonleh, Meyers. Heck even Aminu and Plumlee. And maybe guys like Montero and Connaughton work up to be serviceable backups. It's going to be tough deciding when to hold-em, when to trade-em, when to walk away, and when to run.