Howard, Paul, Other?

[King Glorious]

Here in LA, there is a lot of talk about the Lakers trying to work out a deal to bring Dwight Howard here from Orlando. Everyone seems to think that a deal that gets them Howard in exchange for Bynum and possibly Odom would be a good deal. I wouldn't do it. In fact, I wouldn't exchange Bynum for Howard straight up if I was LA. I think that Howard is better defensively but that Bynum has an edge on offense. It's not fair to compare the numbers because Bynum plays in an offense with Bryant and Gasol which means that at best, he's a third option while Howard is a focal point of Orlando's offense. I think that Bynum has a more diverse game in the post with the ability to step out a little and shoot from 10-12 feet, a very nice drop step move, and he's pretty good shooting over either shoulder. A big advantage is that you can go to him late in games and he's not the liability that Howard is. On the other end, yes, Howard has the advantage but one area he's always had a problem with is moving his feet and not reaching and if he was in LA, unless the Laker perimeter players find a way to stop their men from driving around them at will, I could see Howard getting in a lot of foul trouble trying to help out. Also, back on the other end, if Howard is there with Bryant and Gasol, his numbers will drop as he will also be a third option like Bynum is. I feel like Bryant's got two, maybe three years left. After that, is Howard the one you want to be building your team around? It didn't get them a title in Orlando.

If I was LA, I'd be much more interested in going after Chris Paul. Since they are going to be abandoning the triangle offense, they might be in need of a more traditional point guard now. Having Paul, you'd have one of the best. You could offer up Odom and Gasol to New Orleans in some kind of package. Paul helps out defensively and even though I love Odom and his ability to bring the ball upcourt, I'd rather have Paul doing that. He also relieves much of the pressure on Kobe because now Kobe doesn't have to guard the other team's best perimeter player all the time and he also can spend a lot less time initiating the offense from the top of the key, which makes him a lot easier to defend. He'd be free to play the wing more which is what he prefers anyway and it's easier for him to attack from there. By giving up both Odom and Gasol, you'd be giving away a lot of rebounds and Bynum would really have to step up in that area and they might be able to pick up someone else somehow. I think that I'd rather have a threesome of Bryant, Bynum, and Paul over one of Bryant, Howard, and Gasol. As I said, in a couple of years, Bryant is gone and I think the Bynum/Paul combo is a better one to move forward with and they'd have the age advantage also.