Is Dwight Howard intentionally playing below his ability?

finnegan · Post #1 » by **finnegan** » Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:03 pm

My conspiracy theory is that Dwight is playing poorly intentionally, so that he will have an excuse to sign with the Nets. For example, if he continues to play like "Kosta Koufus", then the Lakers would be less likely to tie him up with a Max contract for a lot of years. And if this is true,, then yes I do think that Deron is in on it.

I realize that this is a little far fetched, but if my theory has no truth to it, then when Dwight was asked a few weeks back if he knows which team he is going to sign with this summer, why did he just respond "Yes" instead of "Yes the Lakers"?

HolyToledo12 · Post #2 » by **HolyToledo12** » Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:19 pm

No, he had back surgery and I said from beginning of the season that it would take at least 2 years for him to return to his old self if he is able to. He may never return to his old self.

red4hf · Post #3 » by **red4hf** » Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:48 pm

He can't just sign with the Nets, they have no cap space...... And they can't clear any cap space either......

Post #4 » by **FJS** » Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:55 pm

HolyToledo12 wrote:No, he had back surgery and I said from beginning of the season that it would take at least 2 years for him to return to his old self if he is able to. He may never return to his old self.

That.

He should be fin in LA. Nets are a mess.

finnegan · Post #5 » by **finnegan** » Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:58 pm

red4hf wrote:He can't just sign with the Nets, they have no cap space...... And they can't clear any cap space either......

You may be right on that, but if the Nets are willing to go into luxury tax territory for him, couldn't they do that?

Also if the Nets wanted to dump Joe Johnson or Gerald Wallace for cap space, I think that there would be plenty of takers.

red4hf · Post #6 » by **red4hf** » Sat Dec 29, 2012 7:01 pm

finnegan wrote:
red4hf wrote:He can't just sign with the Nets, they have no cap space...... And they can't clear any cap space either......

You may be right on that, but if the Nets are willing to go into luxury tax territory for him, couldn't they do that?

Also if the Nets wanted to dump Joe Johnson or Gerald Wallace for cap space, I think that there would be plenty of takers.

No, they are over the salary cap, they can only offer him the mid-level exception...... And he's not settling for that......

No team is going to trade for either Johnson or Wallace...... Absolutely none...... The Nets are stuck with their roster for the next 3 years.......

finnegan · Post #7 » by **finnegan** » Sat Dec 29, 2012 7:03 pm

HolyToledo12 wrote:No, he had back surgery and I said from beginning of the season that it would take at least 2 years for him to return to his old self if he is able to. He may never return to his old self.

Don't be misled. You want to know what the surgery was? A very precisely placed cortizone shot on the ailing nerve in Dwights back. Dwight clearly did not have any disks fused as he would not be playing right now.

How do I know this? Because I went through the cortizone injection procedure myself, and the next option was fusing disks. Unfortunately there are not a lot of options in between.

BTW the Corizone shot was a miracle drug for me, but didn't work at all for my mother in law, so she had to get disks fused.

kebutah · Post #8 » by **kebutah** » Sat Dec 29, 2012 7:25 pm

I think it a combination of what Finnegan said and the following: NBA centers weigh more than average and take a physical pounding with the jumping and running. It is difficult for anybody to overcome these back issues quickly.

There is an interim procedure, which my wife had. They cauterize the nerve end to stop it transmitting. They did this after the cortisone and before attempting the fusion.

QuantumMacgyver · Post #9 » by **QuantumMacgyver** » Sat Dec 29, 2012 8:28 pm

red4hf wrote:
finnegan wrote:
red4hf wrote:He can't just sign with the Nets, they have no cap space...... And they can't clear any cap space either......

You may be right on that, but if the Nets are willing to go into luxury tax territory for him, couldn't they do that?

Also if the Nets wanted to dump Joe Johnson or Gerald Wallace for cap space, I think that there would be plenty of takers.

No, they are over the salary cap, they can only offer him the mid-level exception...... And he's not settling for that......

No team is going to trade for either Johnson or Wallace...... Absolutely none...... The Nets are stuck with their roster for the next 3 years.......

^ Exactly. The only reason the Nets traded for them was to appease D-Will. No one will take them, nor Humphries.

Why wouldn't Dwight just play well and then simply sign anywhere he wants as an unrestricted free agent? Not like he has to find away out of LA, all he has to do is sign elsewhere.

QuantumMacgyver · Post #10 » by **QuantumMacgyver** » Sat Dec 29, 2012 8:30 pm

finnegan wrote:
HolyToledo12 wrote:No, he had back surgery and I said from beginning of the season that it would take at least 2 years for him to return to his old self if he is able to. He may never return to his old self.

Don't be misled. You want to know what the surgery was? A very precisely placed cortizone shot on the ailing nerve in Dwights back. Dwight clearly did not have any disks fused as he would not be playing right now.

How do I know this? Because I went through the cortizone injection procedure myself, and the next option was fusing disks. Unfortunately there are not a lot of options in between.

BTW the Corizone shot was a miracle drug for me, but didn't work at all for my mother in law, so she had to get disks fused.

I don't know much about his surgery, but I know there was a "one inch incision", Do they make incisions for cortizone shots? I don't know much about them.

finnegan · Post #11 » by **finnegan** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 4:03 am

Maybe it was the procedure that kebutah's wife had. Mine was not a one inch incision.

Seems that cauterization would cause loss of feeling in the affected leg, which is what Dwight was describing. So maybe I am totally wrong about him.

Neon Black · Post #12 » by **Neon Black** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 6:03 am

Why is "kosta koufos" in quitations? Are you implying that the guy on the court is an impostor?

finnegan · Post #13 » by **finnegan** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 6:36 am

Neon Black wrote:Why is "kosta koufos" in quitations? Are you implying that the guy on the court is an impostor?

Exec: Dwight Currently Playing Like Koufos
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/225231/Exec_Dwight_Currently_Playing_Like_Koufos

DeadlyTreeStump · Post #14 » by **DeadlyTreeStump** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 1:49 pm

You know your center is good when he averages 17 / 11 / 2 / 1 / 2.5 on .57% shooting and people complain that he's playing terribly. He's now playing less minutes on a team where he is not the first offensive option and that was not build around him.

If he's intentionally trying to play at a low level, he doesn't have very good acting skills.