1. You've got to be crazy to rather have Bynum over Howard and I'd be willing to bet a lot of money that Dwight does indeed resign with LA.
Exactly. Everyone seems to forget that Bynum is a HUGE liability. He just put together his first complete season (and it was only 60 games, don't forget) since his sophomore campaign. He's an injury waiting to happen and has had extensive knee problems at an early age. On top of that, his behavioral issues had become almost intolerable over the past couple of years. Howard, unlike Bynum, will give you 100% effort every night AND is a more-skilled player overall. In fact, he's widely-regarded as the #1 Center in the NBA. It was an upgrade all-around.
2. Houston was all talk and never would have pulled the trigger on a straight up deal for Howard because there was no chance he was going to resign there.
Very true. The Lakers are confident that they can resign him after he experiences a winning culture, which he certainly will. I'm sure they'll have (at the least) a deep playoff run. Howard will most likely resign once he sees what life is like in LA and how playing with Kobe, Nash, and Pau is.
3. I'll take this deal for Orlando over the Brooklyn deal. This deal saves Orlando more money because they don't have to take on $15 mill a year with Brook Lopez. They are also essentially getting the same 4 first round picks because Moe Harkless was the 15th overall pick in the 2012 draft and obviously has never played a minute in the NBA. With Howard in Brooklyn the Nets become a contender in the East so those first round picks wouldn't have been in the lottery either.
Brook Lopez isn't the prize that people are trying to make him out to be. He's a guy who will never be an All-Star and is just above-average. I'm sick of hearing that the Magic got robbed. They handled this whole process terribly, and they got stuck in this corner late in the summer. If they were smart, they would have traded him for a premium well before he signed that ludicrous opt-in extension. But their backs were against the wall, and the Lakers pulled the trigger. If anything, blame the stupidity of the Magic and the fact that they dragged their feet.
If Orlando made the deal with Brooklyn then Brook Lopez would be their best player and the face of the franchise. How did that go 2 years ago for the Nets? Oh that's right they won a total of 24 games. I'd bring up last year but Lopez only played 5 games because of ankle and foot injuries. I'd rather save more money then make a trade where you have to give a number two option $15 million when you don't even know if he'll be able to stay healthy. Lets also not forget the Magic got a $17 million trade exception in this deal with LA/Philly/Denver.
Yeah, as I said, Lopez isn't anything special. The Nets are now an overrated team without Howard, the Magic are in rebuilding mode, and the Lakers were the clear winners of the 4-team trade (anyone saying otherwise is crazy). The Lakers are in win-now mode for the next couple of years, and hopefully these investments pay off for them. But now they have a piece that they can build around for the future after the Kobe-era, as Kobe said himself. They didn't have that with Bynum.
The Lakers are now in the top 3 teams in the NBA (along with the Thunder and the Heat). If you remember, a big reason why the Thunder beat the Lakers was due to the fact that the Thunder got so many easy lay-ins due to their speed up and down the court, and the fact that Bynum couldn't stop them in the paint. Howard will be an upgrade and a presence that will stop this. His addition immediately makes them more viable against the Thunder, as it does against the Heat as well. No one could stop James and Wade from going to the basket in the playoffs. But then again, they never had to storm the basket against Dwight Howard.
