Insider: Howard to miss start of season

[Dulce]

Howard to miss start of season
4:02PM ET
Dwight Howard | Magic err Lakers



The Los Angeles Lakers will tip off their 2012-13 campaign against the Dallas Mavericks, who very desperately wanted to trade for Dwight Howard. However, it appears that the Mavs won't have to witness Howard's game up close Oct. 30, because multiple sources have told ESPN that Howard will not be ready for the start of the regular season. He will still be rehabbing his surgically repaired back.

Obviously, the Lakers aren't too concerned about his long-term status or they wouldn't have pulled the trigger on Friday's trade. His short-term status, on the other hand, is up in the air.

We'll have to wait to see exactly what sort of timetable the Lakers' training staff place on their new center before we can speculate on what sort of statistics he can pile up in his new digs. He may well be worked into the mix slowly with limited minutes once he's cleared for game action. Playing alongside scorers like Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, combined with the status of his back, will make it difficult to predict exactly what we can expect from Howard as a scorer this season. However, so long as he gets back to 100 percent, we do know that he'll dominate the glass and block a ton of shots.

- Tom Carpenter

[Dulce]

Depth still issue for Lakers
1:22PM ET
Los Angeles Lakers



Looking forward to the upcoming season, Bradford Doolittle of Basketball Prospectus thinks that once you look past the elite players on the Los Angeles Lakers' roster, the team is too thin to be considered the team to beat in the Western Conference. In fact, both projection systems used by BP leave the Lakers in the same spot as they were prior to the Dwight Howard trade, fourth and fifth in the West.

"Beyond [the starters] it's ugly," Doolittle wrote. "Jordan Hill, Steve Blake and Josh McRoberts are the only reserves that project to add even a single win to the bottom line. Hill and McRoberts will battle to be the third big man, while Blake will be the third guard. The Lakers are relying heavily on Antawn Jamison, an exceedingly inefficient player ill-suited to be a role player.

"Right now, we've got the Lakers pegged as the ninth-best offensive team in the league and fifth-best on the defensive end. That's not chopped liver, but it's also not the kind of forecast that has the Heat shaking in their boots. And one could argue that given that the Lakers project to be the oldest team in the league, the solid defensive projection has nothing but downside."

Things may not even be that bright, as SI.com's Sam Amick cited a source today who said McBob is expected to head to the Magic in the final version of the trade.

The bottom line for the Lakers likely will be health. Can Howard fully recover from his back surgery? Can Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace fight off Father Time?

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Sorry. Didn't mean to turn SpursReport into LakerReport.

[Mombear]

doh!

[MichaelWi101]

"However, so long as he gets back to 100 percent" I wonder how many players do come back at 100 percent?

This is what I see when I look at the squad, Nash bad back,Howard bad back, Kobe still a force, but slowing and it shows, World Peace not mentally stable, Gasol, well he's Gasol,sometimes great,sometimes nowhere to be found.....after than nothing, they're not a Juggernaut

[spurduncan21]

Originally Posted by MichaelWi101

"However, so long as he gets back to 100 percent" I wonder how many players do come back at 100 percent?

This is what I see when I look at the squad, Nash bad back,Howard bad back, Kobe still a force, but slowing and it shows, World Peace not mentally stable, Gasol, well he's Gasol,sometimes great,sometimes nowhere to be found.....after than nothing, they're not a Juggernaut

Reminds me of what everyone used to say about the heat lack of depth. If healthy la will not only be a championship contender but also favorites to come out of west

[clovisnmspurfan]

Yea but Miami is a younger team.

[JuanCaca]

we have the habbit of dismissh every team who manage to retool or improve by signings or trades..

boston, miami, dallas... now the lakers...

i hope this time end well to us :-)