SH Blog: Lakers’ Scott adds fuel to Dwight-Kobe rivalry, Dirk reminds Parsons who runs Dallas

Game 1 of TNT‘s season-opening doubleheader on Tuesday is headlined by the businesslike Spurs receiving and celebrating their championship rings in front of Mark Cuban and in-state rival Dallas. Game 2, on the other hand?

That one, appropriately for the network, is all about the drama.

Though the Lakers faced former teammate Dwight Howard and the Rockets three times a season ago, Kobe Bryant missed all of those meetings with injuries. Tuesday night is the first time for those two to actually play against each other since Howard departed for Houston in July 2013.

Mike D’Antoni, the coach who contributed to some of Howard’s misgivings about Los Angeles, is now gone. New coach Byron Scott is in, and prior to the game, he wasn’t shy about fanning the flames of the ongoing tension between Howard and the Lakers.

“My outside perspective is Kobe is a real serious guy and wants to win championships,” said Scott. “I don’t know if Dwight is that serious about it. I know No. 24 is. I think that probably was the clash.” Scott also predicted that Howard would “love to beat the crap out of us.”

Howard, meanwhile, has generally stayed quiet on Lakers’ topics while letting his play do the talking. The Rockets won two of three meetings against the Lakers a season ago, with Howard averaging 18.3 points, 13.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game in those outings. Additionally, for all the talk about being serious and playoff basketball, Howard was an absolute monster for the Rockets in the postseason, averaging 26 points, 13.7 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game against a big Portland front line.

Nonetheless, those around the Lakers haven’t forgotten the sting of Howard turning down their legendary franchise, and it all started with the well-known feud between Howard and Bryant. Now, almost 16 months after Howard left for Houston, they can finally start settling things on the floor.

For better or worse, the direction of the 2014-15 Lakers will depend on Bryant, with recent stories painting him as the reason marquee free agents such as Howard have decided against the Lakers in free agency. In a season where Bryant and the Lakers desperately want to flip that narrative, it seems only fitting for Bryant to open up against perhaps his biggest adversary.

NOWITZKI WON’T LET PARSONS FORGET HIS DISCOUNT

The other half of Tuesday’s doubleheader, of course, is the Texas showdown with the Spurs and Mavs, which also serves as the Dallas debut for Chandler Parsons. Cuban and the Mavs snatched him away from the Rockets in the offseason with a near-max contract over three years, loaded with bells and whistles like a player option after Year 2 and a trade kicker that Houston refused to deal with.

But it wouldn’t have been possible for the Mavs to even have the room had franchise icon Dirk Nowitzki not taken a massive paycut. Unlike Bryant, who resigned with the Lakers for nearly $25 million per season, Nowitzki took a huge discount to his market value and signed for $25 million total over three years, thus giving Cuban the flexibility to go out and add someone like Parsons.

And while Dirk is happy with Dallas’ presumably-improved roster, he hasn’t forgotten that Parsons is the one actually receiving checks like a franchise player. Via Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas:

“I told him every dinner on the road this year is on him,” Nowitzki said, “because it’s my money anyway.”

Parsons, who averaged 16.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists with the Rockets a season ago, took the jab from Dirk in stride.

“He’s the ultimate teammate,” Parsons said. “I’m very humbled and glad that he did that, because I wanted to be here and I wanted to play here, and I wanted to play with him. That just shows you how much he wants to win. He’ll take that big of a pay cut to try to bring a guy like me to try to help him win a championship.”

As a result, Parsons knows that even though he has the biggest contract in Dallas, it’s the 36-year-old Nowitzki that remains the face of the franchise for the foreseeable future.

“One day, that would be great and that would be ideal, but this is Dirk’s team,” Parsons said. “Dirk made this team. He’s done so much for this organization, so it’s hard to even talk about filling those shoes because they’re huge shoes to fill. “He’s got three years left. Hopefully I can make it longer than that. I’d love to play with him for a long time, but whatever he’s got left, I’m going to try to absorb everything from him.”

Parsons just turned 26 on Saturday, so should he choose to remain in Dallas over the long haul, he’ll undoubtedly have his time to carry the team. But that time isn’t today.

OTHER NEWS FROM AROUND THE NBA

The NBA season kickoff wouldn’t feel complete without outspoken analyst and Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, one of the stars of TNT‘s studio coverage alongside Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith. But fans need to enjoy him while they can, because Barkley may not be on television much longer.

In media comments captured by Sean Deveney of the Sporting News, Barkley said he could walk away when his contract expires after the 2015-16 season.

“I love my job, I love the people I work with,” Barkley said. “My big decision is, I’ve got two years left on my deal. That’ll be 17 years. That’s a long time to do a job. I would rather leave too early than stay too long. And 17 years is a long time. I told Ernie when I took the job, I was only going to be here four years. Now 15 years later, I’m still here. I’m leaning heavily toward it, toward finishing my two years and leaving on a good note.”

Barkley did leave the door open to change course, telling reporters he might stay for an even 20 years. He also expressed interest in potentially going after an NBA general manager job.

 

With the Oct. 31 contract-extension deadline looming this Friday, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reports the Minnesota Timberwolves could be closing in on an extension with fourth-year point guard Ricky Rubio.

“Still not done, but sounds close,” Kyler tweeted, adding that he believes Golden State’s Klay Thompson and Utah’s Alec Burks are the “dominoes” that need to drop to set the value for the remainder of the extension class.

The 24-year-old Rubio, who averaged 9.5 points and 8.6 assists per game a season ago, reportedly was not satisfied with Minnesota’s four-year, $48-million offer earlier this month. One report said Rubio was hoping for a five-year, full-max contract.

If Rubio wants to be a max player or anywhere near it, his shooting needs to improve dramatically from the 35.7%, 36.0% and 38.1% he’s posted over his first three NBA seasons. He did raise it to 43.5% this preseason, but it remains to be seen if that’s enough evidence to give Rubio the leverage he needs.

Ben DuBose is a veteran sports reporter who has followed the Houston Rockets and the NBA since Hakeem Olajuwon was Akeem Olajuwon. He writes for both SheridanHoops and ClutchFans, an independent Rockets blog. You can follow him on Twitter.