Monta Ellis or Dwight Howard – The best option for the Los Angeles Lakers - NBA Feature (Part 1)
After the getting routed by the current NBA champions Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 Western Conference Semifinals, the need of a solid player at the point guard position was the talk of the town at the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers need a player who can spread the court more effectively and also take some scoring responsibility, in case Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol fail to deliver.
However, the point guard position was not the only weak link.
Andrew Bynum, the Lakers centre also created a bit of situation midway through the series, when he raised the trust issues in the teams and also demanded a bigger role on the offense.
Given that Kobe is not exactly on good terms with Bynum – he publically demanded Bynum’s ouster in 2007 - there have been rumours that the last season’s meltdown proved to be the final straw and Kobe and the Lakers now want Bynum
to give way.
The ideal option, rather even better, to replace Bynum is the Orlando Magic big Dwight Howard.
For that very reason, the Lakers have been seriously pursuing Orlando Dwight Howard for quite some time now. Howard is rated as one of the best in NBA when it comes to rebounding, scoring in the paint and blocking. He is the three
times reigning defensive player of the year and as such, at present there is no one in the league who is as dominant on the post as Howard is.
Apart from that, Howard has guided the Magic to three division titles and has once led to the conference title. In his last season, he put in numbers of 22.9 points, 14.1 boards and 2.4 blocks. In short, there is no doubting his
brilliance.
However, in my opinion these stats wouldn’t make him a perfect fit for the Lakers roster.
The reason behind it is that Howard would come at the cost of both Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum. After the LeBron James “The Decision” saga, team managements have became more cautious about high profile trades and now they always
look to get as much as they could, in exchange for a superstar.
Definitely, Howard is a way better player than Bynum and Odom combined, but losing these two for Orlando’s centrepiece wouldn’t be a wise move for the Lakers. Bynum and Odom have been at the centre of L.A’s game plans for the last
7-8 year and trading these two will leave a huge gap.
Then there is the fact, that Howard’s high-salary will curtail the Lakers from acquiring good role players and down the lane, this can be detrimental to the championship run.
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