I think you are mis-informed. Artest is signed until 2013/14 and 2012/13 is player option. Basically he won't leave. But the true "reality" is 2011/12; when it's actually Howard's player option. If he is truly wanting out of Orlando, then he waits another season so he can go to the Lakers? When Kobe is way past his prime? I don't think so. And looking at the year you even suggested, only Bynum and Odom will be off subtracting 24 mil off the books. They are at 67 mil, so that would drop them to 43 mil salary. With the CBA renegotiations, many believe the cap will actually go down. Right now the cap is somewhere at 56 mil. So even if Howard plays another year, then bolts, will he take 13 mil to play with an aging Kobe and no supporting cast?
How about Miami offers Chris Bosh? Less injury-prone than Bynum (by a significant margin) and a lot younger than Gasol or Odom. I doubt Howard would object to that...
You all sound like 12 year olds. None of the shit mentioned here will happen. It's not days of our lives.
I'm watching Atlanta give the Bulls all they can handle. Seems to me Atlanta could offer any two out of Horford, Smith, Crawford or Joe Johnson for Howard and one of the Magic's bad contracts and take a risk that they could persuade Howard to stay. If it's a matter of Orlando just taking the best offer they can get, that would beat the old, overpaid and or injury-prone offerings the Lakers have. And remember where Howard went to high school...
LOL, yeah, Orlando has no leverage. True, for some teams. But they have plenty of leverage over an LA team that has no room to sign him. You trade something good, or you don't get him. And if you're orlando, and he says I only want to go to LA, you say ok, enjoy the MLE. Go fuck yourself. leverage.
I fully expect Howard to end up in LA for virtually nothing. Stern has the NBA set up so that there are maybe 6 franchises that he wants to play for a title. The rest of us are the minor leagues just waiting to feed the big boys. It's getting harder and harder to watch this league unless you are a fan of one of the pet franchises
Nah, Stern will force a wanna be franchise to take on salary from the L*kers so they can sign him to more money
I'm of the same mind. If Howard is going to leave, force him to go for MUCH less money. Don't even entertain a sign and trade. Now, if a team he wants to play for has a ton of capspace, then you likely have to deal with them at least a little.
I think I see Howard going to the Celtics...as a free agent. Picture it- Pierce, Rondo, Howard and whichever of the remaining celtics want to re-sign for whatever is left over. I think Rondo and Pierce are the only Celtics under contract in 2012.
I think it's fucking hilarious that Gasol went from being a "future HOFer" to "soft" and unwanted. Amazing what one bad season will do to you in LaLa land.
It wasn't even a bad season. He was an all-star this year and carried just slightly less of the load as Kobe during the regular season. He just had two very bad playoff series. Apparently that cancels out the previous 16 great series.
Interesting. For some reason I always thought he was from Florida. I hope the new CBA rewards teams for losing super stars.
