We are a mere two hours from NBA free agency being official, and this summers biggest haul, obviously, is Dwight Howard. According to SheridanHoops’ Moke Hamilton in his must-read Top 50 Free Agents piece, Howard comes in at No. 1.
He is the top domino, and things won’t start to fall into place until he has made his Dwecision. But there are an awful lot of dominoes lined up behind him.
Free agency is a ticket by which some of the league’s on-the-fringe teams can snag a difference maker and help put themselves into the conversation of contenders.
One of those “on-the-fringe” teams is the Houston Rockets, who have done everything in their power to prepare themselves to make a serious run at stealing Howard from the Lakers.
They have long been considered a realistic suitor, but took another giant step closer tonight when they traded Thomas Robinson — last years No. 5 pick in the NBA draft — to the Portland Trailblazers to clear more cap space. They are considered by many to be the favorite.
W/Portland taking Thomas Robinson from Houston, the Rockets will bring more than $20 million in cap room to their meeting tonight w/D12.
— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) July 1, 2013
Houston will be the first team to meet with Howard, and are scheduled to do so at 12:01 a.m. on July 1st, followed by the Mavericks, Warriors and Hawks. The Lakers will get the last crack at Howard, by request, which is scheduled for Tuesday. It has been reported that Kobe Bryant will be part of the Lakers’ pitch to Howard.
Y! Source: Kobe Bryant plans to be a part of the Lakers presentation to free agent Dwight Howard on Tuesday. http://t.co/J735UKKrOz
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) June 30, 2013
Surprisingly, Howard has been unusually quiet this offseason and appears to understand the implications of how damaged his reputation has become over the past two seasons. He would like to make his decision by weeks end, and avoid all of the drama that surrounded LeBron James back in the summer of 2010, which Moke notes made Howard jealous at the time.
He was jealous of LeBron James and Chris Bosh in 2010, he never got traded to the one team he most wanted to join — the Brooklyn Nets — and he is faced with the choice of re-signing with the Los Angeles Lakers as they try to rebuild while Kobe Bryant recovers from a torn Achilles, or taking his talents to Texas.
Other rumors according before free agency begins
Linkage to Detroit pursuit of Iguodala: http://t.co/cxgKuGhFVu
— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) July 1, 2013
Breaking: The NBA did not approve the Bargnani to the Knicks deal tonight. We’ll have to be tweaked in order to make it work after June 30th
— Frank Isola (@FisolaNYDN) July 1, 2013
Another possible landing spot for Jeremy Lin is Detroit, source says. Rockets would acquire Jose Calderon in sign-and-trade in such a deal.
— Ken Berger (@KBergCBS) July 1, 2013
Link to @sam_amick‘s story where Martin is going to hear from the Wolves, Bucks, Mavs, Pelicans, Pistons, Blazers: http://t.co/CKZOY0K1f0
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) July 1, 2013
Ben Baroff is a basketball journalist who blogs for SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter here.