Dwight Howard Dreams Disappearing For Lakers
Right about now the odds of Kevin Smith winning an Oscar for Clerks 3 seems better than the odds of the Lakers landing Dwight Howard. Not that there was ever much hope of a mega-move bringing Superman II to L.A. was ever a reality but the dream is pretty much dead.
Chris Broussard cites “league sources” claiming that the Orlando Magic have indicated that they’re staying the course with a disgruntled Howard. That means the Dwightmare will continue into the regular season. It also means trade talks are likely off until the next trade deadline nears.
This would mark the second time in as many attempts that Mitch Kupchak has been denied a blockbuster trade. At least the Chris Paul debacle could be pinned on Commandant Stern. The Howard ordeal has too many guilty parties involved to start pointing fingers of blame.
Obviously at the top of Mount Crushmore is Howard who engineered one of the all-time great contract catastrophes. By the time he grasps the concept of leverage we’ll have found a way to fold space enabling David Stern to put a franchise on Mars.
The Magic themselves are as guilty as ever too. Like Howard they refused to take a stand and commit to a plan. With all other trade avenues leading to dead ends the Magic are relegated to begging teams to take bad contracts off their hands yet somehow are willing to take on Anderson Varejao…huh?
Lastly we have the Lakers to blame as well. They had no hand in engineering the Howard cluster Kruk but they certainly haven’t done Pau Gasol or Andrew Bynum any favors. Both of the Laker bigs have been twisting in the wind amid these trade winds. For Gasol it’s going on nearly two years running of being an unwanted commodity in Los Angeles.
So, what have we learned from this entire mess?
For one, putting all your eggs in the Howard basket is as ill advised as sinking all your cash into Curt Schilling’s video game company.
More importantly, pursuing an indecisive diva like Howard will likely result in one conclusion…a conclusion we’re still waiting for…and waiting for…and waiting for…