Howard is no longer a number 1 guy on a championship team. So you cant pay him like he is. If he wants that money he's not getting it from Ainge.
Plus, he is 30 and declining, Ainge wants a bigger championship window this time. If he could get him for 16 a year he would consider it.
The plan is to get him for cheap. We have disposable assets, like the picks that the team doesnt want to use all of them, Sullinger that wants a contract the Celtics wont pay, same with Amir, Jerebko and Zeller fo different reasons. Maybe one of them is on the long term plan, but everyone is replaceable. So he could get him for assets than are not on the team's plan, and make a run in the playoffs and try to convince Howard that he can be great here for a lesser price.
You can say the same about almost everybody in the NBA.
Is westbrook the #1 guy on a championship team? What about Draymond Green? What about Kevin Love? Blake Griffin? John Wall? Kyle Lowry? Klay Thompson? Deandre Jordan?
If you thing any one of those guys would get any less than a max deal with the stats they're putting up this season, youre dreaming.
When you have a $90m Cap and almost every team in the league has cap space, you dont med to be the #1 guy on a championship team to be worthy of a max contract.
Dwight Howard is an elite defensive player, an elite rebounder, is a very productive offensive player who can dominate that end of the floor some nights.
Like it or not, that is EASILY a max contract player in a league where Tristan Thompson and Greg Monroe are on max deals.
Howard's max is way more than those guys cause he has played in the league more. And no, he doesn't deserve that, and any team paying him that will not be a contender, since you are basically giving him money to be your best player.
That is quite flawed logic.
Kevin Love is no better a player than Howard is right now, he's just as injury prone, he has just as many personality question marks, and he has declined FAR more than Howard has (production wise). The only argument to defend Love is that the Cavs aren't using him right and he's buried behind Lebron, which is dropping his production...and you could make the exact same argument for Howard / Harden. Even moreso in fact, since Harden is even more of a ball hog than Lebron is.
The only difference is that Howard has PROVEN that he can carry a team deep in the playoffs, while Love hasn't even proven he can carry a team TO the playoffs.
Yet Cleveland paid Kevin Love a max deal which was pretty much just as high as Howard's max would be, the Cavs are CLEARLY a contender.
People here give Howard far too little credit. All this talk of his dramatic decline, etc. What is this based on?
Dwight Howard this year is averaging only 8.8 FGA Per game and he's averaging 14.6 PPG. That's a scoring production of 1.66 Points Per FGA.
For his career he's averaging 11 FGA and 18 PPG, which equates to 1.64 Points Per FGA...so he is scoring at the exact same rate (if anything, slightly higher rate) as he has over the entirety of his career.
His Free Throw Rate this year is 81.1%, versus his career rate of 81.5%.
He's shooting 75% inside three feet this year, versus 71.5% for his career.
He's average 13.4 rebounds Per 36 this year, versus 12.9 Rebounds /36 for his career.
His turnovers (2.7 TO /36) this year are the lowest since his sophomore year, and below his career average (which is 3.1 TO /36).
His fouls, assists and steals are all dead on par with his career averages.
The only two statistical categories in which Howard's numbers have dropped significantly are scoring (16.3 Points Per 36 this year vs 18.2 for his career) and shot blocking (1.6 Blocks Per 36 this year vs 2.1 for his career).
Both are pretty modest drops, and the scoring drop entirely due to the fact that his field goal attempts have dropped by 1.5 Per 36 compared to his career attempts (this easilly explains the extra 1.9 points Per 36).
There is absolutely ZERO statistical evidence to indicate that Howard has declined significantly when compared to his career production. His numbers simply don't look as impressive because he's playing second fiddle to the greatest ball hog since Kobe Bryant, and because his minutes are down by some 3 MPG versus his career.
You put Howard on a team like the Celtics (which has a roster makeup not unlike the Orlando teams Howard carried to the Finals and ECF) and you're absolutely insane if you think having Howard on this team would be anything less that a complete difference maker.
With the extra touches he'd get here his numbers should instantly rise back up to 18/12 guy he was in back in the Lakers days, and when he's putting up those numbers there is absolutely zero argument about whether he's a max contract guy.
I really don't get how people argue that Dwight isn't a max guy, but seem to have no problems trading for Love (on his max deal) or extending Horford (which would take a max deal)...and when just about everybody on here was utterly in favour of signing Marc Gasol on a max deal.
Howard at his best is far more dominant than any of those guys. He's also a more proven winner, since he's the only one of those four guys who has ever led his team deep in the playoffs as their #1 guy.
The ONLY valid arguments against trading for Dwight are personality concerns and injury history. They are both fair arguments, but if you use the personality argument then you need to apply that to Love as well...and if you use the injury argument then you need to apply that to Love, Horford AND Gasol.
At the end of the day it's blatantly clear that personal bias (i.e. not liking the guys personality) is ultimately the one thing holding people back.
That's fine as an excuse to not want to trade for him, but you can't use that to argue whether or not somebody is good enough to deserve a max deal. Howard is, and that is absolutely 100% undeniable. He is on par with ANY center in the NBA right now not named Demarcus Cousins.
Topic: Zach Lowe: C's "recoiled" at price for Dwight,may still have interest.... (Read 29305 times)