The Rockets Daily – July 10, 2013

Dwightmare: Alternate Reality Edition – What would have happened if David Stern never vetoed the Pau Gasol trade? If Chris Paul had gone to the Lakers? If we were spinning forward in a new time stream a la J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek? NBA.com’s David Aldridge slipped through the wormhole (the “singularity” for you Trekkers) and found out:

JULY 10, 2013

LOS ANGELES — Dwight Howard could not contain his glee. The smile that had disappeared from his face for the last two years had returned. Standing alongside his new teammates, Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul, and with a tanned, rested and ready coach Phil Jackson by his side, Howard announced “there’s a new sheriff in town,” putting a Lakers cap on his head and ushering in what promises to be the next great era of Lakers basketball.

The lesson, as always: Father Stern Knows Best. Your move, Adam Silver.

Stop Me If You’ve Heard This OneESPN’s Israel Gutierrez compares Dwight’s move to LeBron’s decision two years ago, pointing out  the similarities in the criticism each man has endured. The most fascinating statements in Dwight’s defense against his critics came from his old coach, Stan Van Gundy: 

“He led the league in rebounding. What did he do? The ball just came to him? A lot of it just doesn’t add up.”

Stan Van Gundy wasn’t surprised at Shaq’s comments, saying O’Neal is “unnaturally obsessed with Dwight.” And he expected any Lakers fan to agree with Shaq.

“That story was written already,” Stan said. “If he decided not to come back to L.A., that was going to be the story they wrote. Because for Laker fans, it’s tough to admit the other side, which is, somebody could look at their team and see a team that’s not going in a positive direction.

“What, exactly, other than the extra $30 million [that the Lakers could have offered over other suitors], would’ve been the reason to pick L.A. over the other teams?”

Opportunity Cost - ESPN reports that the Rockets’ comments on Dwight’s decision cost the team a $150,000 fine. Well, fine.

Attaboy – Not only is Isaiah Canaan the Rockets’ only draft pick this year, a prolific scorer and a deep, deep range shooter, he is also a nice guy. He gave up his starting spot on at Murray State for one game so that a hometown walk-on could have his moment in the sun.


Summer League Latest - The Rockets smoked the Jazz 85-71 in a very unremarkable game in which no Rocket scored more than 11 points or grabbed more than 7 rebounds. Terrence Jones had the closest thing to a remarkable day with 3 blocks, but offset them with a putrid 1-7 from the floor and 4-8 from the line.

Can’t Get EnoughOver at SI.com, Ben Golliver has what is probably the most exhaustive list of quotes and links on the internet about Dwight’s decision. Putting off that thing at work? This link is for you.

Got any sweet links or suggestions? Email them to [email protected] or message me on Twitter @EbyNews.

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Total comments: 4
  • RollingWave says 3 months ago

    I hope Ford is right, but I'm skeptical, and Ford just like anyone else been wrong A LOT (he LOVED Darko for one.)

    I see Canaan, I see a guy who can push his way to the rim, but can't finish thee because he's very short and not ultra fast. (and really, if you struggle to finish at the rim in college, it bolds very bad for you in the NBA.) that's a problem, he's also not been much of a passer, maybe that's the lack of quality teammates, maybe it's just him not seeing the floor well due to him being small.

    His one tangible skill is shooting, which is obviously great, if you can shoot you'll stay in the league, the problem is that college shooting is not a guarantee to translate into NBA shooting, especially not right away. and 3 shoot in itself tend to fluctuate, very few people shoot 40% plus year in and year out, even the best once will have several years where they don't do it, I should note that Glen Rice Sr. who was the most absurdly awesome college shooter of all time in his final college season (shot 51% from 3, from 3!!) , shot 25% from 3 in his rookie year, and didn't become truly exceptional shooter until he was 27.

    We'll see, but I'm willing to bet that he gets less than 300 minutes in the NBA next year. Will play most of the season in the Vipers. Jeremy Lin may not be our starting PG next year, but there's no way Canaan would be.

  • Dan G says 3 months ago

    As fun as that "wormhole" David Aldridge went into, there was no way we were gonna get Dwight his last year had the Gasol trade went through. It is common knowledge we were gonna sign Nene after getting Gasol. Not only that we wouldn't of had anything to give Orlando for Dwight post Gasol trade. But it made for a nice story I guess.

  • Sir Thursday says 3 months ago

    Something good for you to include next time John - on the latest BS Report Bill Simmons and Chad Ford were chatting about the draft and Chad Ford reckoned that Canaan was likely to be the best 2nd round pick selected. Lots of complements about how Morey had 'done it again' with his second round selection.

    ST

  • Steven says 3 months ago That's the only way Jeremy Lin will start this year. Canaan going to Coach McHale and letting Lin start game 82.