UPDATES below.
In other tweets, he also says that the Thunder have balked at an Ibaka/Harden asking price, and that trading Howard to the Celtics for Rondo would be Eastern Conference suicide.
If this report is true, it would be a no-brainer, especially given recent developments in the standings. The Rockets could swing for the fences and if striking out over the summer and losing Howard, they’d have a fresh slate with which to rebuild. The mediocrity train would be averted.
UPDATED: I’m pretty skeptical of this report. It’s not saying that “if the Magic were to trade Dwight to Houston, they would prefer Lowry.” It’s insinuating that, in contrasting against a Hawks offer, that they prefer and covet a Houston deal centered around Lowry over anything else in the field. That’s really pretty hard to believe, but stranger things have happened. If I were Orlando, I would take Bynum or just play out the season with Dwight.
In any event, if the report is true, it’s a no-brainer for Houston. Dealing Lowry for Pau is a major risk, and one I probably wouldn’t take, because it potentially perpetuates mediocrity. With this, if Dwight leaves, the Rockets would have a fresh slate, something they desperately need. Right now, unless Les Alexander sells the team or Morey leaves, I don’t see any other way for the team to deroute from this current track. They’re simply too good at talent evaluation to be organically bad. They have to swing for the fences.
Depending on who all would be sent to Florida, you could make a run for the playoffs this year with Dwight, Dragic, Martin, and Scola, hoping to convince the big man of his surroundings. Then in the summer, you fly in Hakeem, dust off the phonebook of Chinese contacts, and pray for the best. If the Mavs are unable to trade Shawn Marion next week, they will not have the capacity to sign both Dwight Howard and Deron Williams.
If the plan fails, the team is lotto-bound, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, given the current state of affairs. If all works out, you could end up with a nucleus of Williams, Martin, Howard, one of Scola/Patterson, and certainly at least one of Lee, Morris, Budinger, and Parsons.
UPDATE: Now that I re-read it, I actually think those two clauses are meant to be taken separately ie: “If Orlando were to take a Houston deal, they’d want Lowry in it.” which isn’t anything we already didn’t know.
