Rumor: Dwight Howard to stay in ORL?

[chambers]

not buying it.
He would've signed already.

He's obviously going to listen to offers.
There's no way his agent is letting him sit there and re-sign with that terrible management team with all those garbage contracts and money locked up for years.

Everyone has a shot at this guy.
NBA is a business and Dwight realises that his team cannot compete with the Heat for another 5 years the way they are.
Only way they have a chance is if CP3 or Deron go to Orlando somehow.

[wdleehi]

Makes sense.

Get an extension done now before the new CBA.



Howard likely can sign for more.


Orlando keeps him. 

[jdz101]

If that was his feeling all along why has he waited until now??

Why not sign already. Wouldnt the Orlando management have made offers to him?

[CelticsFanNC]

  Didn't LeBron James hold the Cavalier's hostage for 2 years by continually hinting around that he would stay in Cleveland when IMO he never had any intention of staying there.  This is probably the same thing going on.

  If Howard pulls a Carmelo and says he's leaving then Orlando is going to trade him to the highest bidder and that might not be somewhere Howard wants to go.  If he strings them along then he assures his own Free Agency and option to chose the next team he plays for rather then Orlando choosing it for him. 

  He still has the leverage either way because his new team would have to sign him but there are teams out there willing to take the gamble with no assurance he will resign with them like New Jersey did with Deron Williams.  Also with a new collective barganing agreement on the horizon Howard doesn't want to tip his hand to Orlando until it all shakes out and he sees where the players stand as far as ability to move around, franchise tag, etc...

  This is the way the game is played now.

[rondohondo]

Interesting that he would sign a 2 year contract extension

If it's true that would make him an UFA in the summer of 2014

The same summer the Lakers will have a bunch of salaries coming off the books ......


 

Orlando would also have a ton of cap room that year with and empty roster , isn't blake griffin a free agent ? Orlando's only hope is to attract a big name free agent in 2014 to team up with Dwight if he signs this 2 year extension


If he ends up in LA in 2014 for nothing I will be p---ed

 

[nickagneta]

I will believe it when I see it. I think he's stringing Orlando along until the lockout occurs. After that, he will use the lockout and new CBA as a reason for not wanting to stay in New York.

[Roy H.]

I'm curious what they spent the weekend negotiating.  The years and contract value are capped by the CBA (2 years, max salary), and there's already a uniform player contract dealing with most other provisions.  What's left?  Payout structure? 

That's probably my own ignorance of the intricacies of player contracts, but I can't imagine something like this would take a full weekend to negotiate.  More like his agent and the team sent a couple emails back-and-forth, I wold imagine.

[Cman]

Well, at least he's no going to the Lakers.  And also, it means we don't have to keep seeing these ridiculous Howard to Celtics posts.

On the other hand -- really, really dumb move by Dwight Howard.

True on all three counts...

[LilRip]

I'm curious what they spent the weekend negotiating.  The years and contract value are capped by the CBA (2 years, max salary), and there's already a uniform player contract dealing with most other provisions.  What's left?  Payout structure? 

That's probably my own ignorance of the intricacies of player contracts, but I can't imagine something like this would take a full weekend to negotiate.  More like his agent and the team sent a couple emails back-and-forth, I wold imagine.

Roy, if i were a guessing man, which i am, i would guess that DH12 is also talking about management about their future plans. I think it's obvious this guy wants to play for a winner (or at least, a team that has potential to win) and i do think he's loyal in the sense that if Orlando had a plan, he would give them the first crack at resigning him.

So maybe what had happened was they "negotiated" the contract while also talking about the general direction the team was going, which is an integral part in making Dwight agree to the extension. Because right now, Orlando looks pretty lost since their cap space is all tied down to Turkoglu, Arenas and JRich (or something like that).

[scaryjerry]

Way more likely than tthe pipe dream hes coming here

[ManUp]

I hope he's serious about staying in Orlando. I just want to keep him away from the Lakers. The Lakers can still trade for him, but I doubt Howard would force a trade after signing an extension. This also frees up the Celtics who no longer have to stand pat waiting to see what happens with Howard.

[coco]

"I'm not trying to run behind nobody like Shaq or be behind somebody else," Howard said, referencing Shaquille O'Neal's decision to leave the Magic following the 1995-96 season and sign with the Los Angeles Lakers."

I wonder why he didn't call LeBron out as well.

[StartOrien]

I don't know how accurate this tweet is, as I'm unfamiliar with all parties included but this could be very important:

adamosgp Adam Papageorgiou
 
@BullsBlogger Ping's sources are crap 90% of the time. We pray he's right for a change. He's kind of overdue. #Magic

http://twitter.com/#!/adamosgp

[wdleehi]

I'm curious what they spent the weekend negotiating.  The years and contract value are capped by the CBA (2 years, max salary), and there's already a uniform player contract dealing with most other provisions.  What's left?  Payout structure? 

That's probably my own ignorance of the intricacies of player contracts, but I can't imagine something like this would take a full weekend to negotiate.  More like his agent and the team sent a couple emails back-and-forth, I wold imagine.

Discussion of the teams plan to improve around him?


That's the only thing I can think of.  "This is how we get Paul"

[MBz]

I think something a lot of us are forgetting is that he's comfortable there.  He grew up in Atlanta, hes a southern guy and I honestly think he enjoys playing in Orlando.  Obviously sometimes that always isn't enough to make you stay, I mean look at LeBron, but it'll def play in to Howard's decision.  The issue is I dont think it's even possible for Orlando to have a plan going forward.  The have some real bad contracts and I'm just not sure anyone is going to want them.  Jason Richardson is up this year, but Arenas and Turkoglu are on the books til 2014.