This weekend on Twitter, Dwight Howard told his followers he planned to take over Andrew Bynum‘s spot in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar‘s Post Science 101 class as soon as doctors cleared him to resume basketball activity. Kareem says that’s cool… once he meets Howard. Yep, Dwight is taking up residence as a Laker pretty quickly, making plans with Abdul-Jabbar without even actually meeting him (UPDATE: The two were able to finally sit down this weekend and discuss working together. Howard tweeted a picture of the two of them with the words: “…For many years to come.” *Cuts to Laker fans fist pumping and screaming*). If they are ever able to get in the gym at the same time – and Kareem says he’d love to teach Howard – we’ll be curious to see how they work together. Howard improved a little bit under the tutelage of Hakeem Olajuwon. Hopefully, Kareem can further the process … Howard also did the politically correct thing and attempted to mend fences with all of the snake-bitten Orlando fans by printing a Love, Dwight letter in the newspaper. We doubt it worked, and the Magic organization is quickly moving along without one of the best players in franchise history. The team’s brass will make Superman 2.0’s No. 12 available this season for anyone who wants it. They also did the same thing with Shaq, Penny and Nick Anderson, so this isn’t all that surprising. More than anything else, it just reminds us of how every breakup Orlando has is excruciatingly bitter. Seriously, O’Neal left them almost overnight, promising to stay faithful and jetting for the prettiest girl in school (L.A.). Penny bitched and moaned about everyone, and was a shell of the man who’d once seemed so promising by the time he left. Tracy McGrady quit on the team, and then almost threw down the gloves against the new hockey GM (John Weisbrod) who came in to make a big splash. And now here’s Dwight, who dragged everyone along for nearly a year. If this stuff all happened in Cleveland or Boston, they’d write a song about it and coin a memorable catch phrase. But because this is Orlando, no one is cursed… rather, people just pin the fault on the Magic … Current Orlando head coach Jacque Vaughn told The Orlando Sentinel he has no preconceived notions about what his rotation will look like this year. Jameer Nelson will probably start at the point with Arron Afflalo at the two and Hedo Turkoglu at the small forward. Then in the frontcourt, we’re guessing it’ll be Al Harrington and possibly Glen Davis or Gustavo Ayon. It looks like they’ll be starting one decent player, like 54 pounds of excess fat and enough wasted money that would keep Kim Kardashian happy. Good luck, Jacque … And Damon Jones, formerly one of the cockiest three-point snipers in the NBA, now says he is “officially” retired as if we didn’t already know that. We’ll miss his All-Star Weekend suits. He’s also the all-time leader in inciting “WTF?! How does he keep getting those seats?” comments … Keep reading to hear which under-the-radar player wants to have a major breakout season this year …
Rajon Rondo didn’t grow up wanting to be the most self-assured player in the NBA. He grew up wanting to play football for the Packers. Rondo didn’t watch much of the NBA as a kid, and instead was centered on becoming a quarterback with his favorite football team. While he played QB in high school and credits the position with making him a better point guard on the hardwood, he eventually decided on basketball because he found he had the best chance in that sport of going pro. As only Rondo could put it: “I was starting to dominate and I don’t want it to sound like I’ve got a big head but the competition around me was easy.” At Oak Hill, he played next to Josh Smith, who was a big-time star. Rondo was considered nothing more than a really interesting top-level college prospect. Funny how these things work out right? … Xavier Henry says he’s ready for a breakout season in New Orleans after knee surgeries derailed his first two years in the NBA. The backup two guard told the Lawrence Journal-World that he’s hopeful he can finally play a full season after having arthroscopic knee surgery this summer to clean everything up. We still remember Henry as a high school senior getting hype as the best player in his class, and he hasn’t come close to fulfilling that. In college, he was solid but unspectacular, and in the NBA, he’s been almost nonexistent. Even in high school, he wasn’t as dominating as his hype would’ve had you believe. So here are a few reasons why we’re skeptical about his “breakout” this season, and not all of them have to do with his skills. First of all, it’s hard to breakout when you’re backing up one of the three or four best off guards in the game (Eric Gordon) and must contend with another high draft pick (Austin Rivers) for minutes, AND when you don’t have a legitimate point guard known for having great court vision. It’s also never a good thing when multiple knee surgeries before the age of 22 comforts you. We’re not experts in that field, but we’re pretty sure that’s a bad thing … And free agents Mickael Pietrus, Kenyon Martin, Tracy McGrady, Michael Redd, Leandro Barbosa, Josh Howard, Derek Fisher and Gilbert Arenas are still without teams. Outside of Arenas – who we think is done in the NBA – and Pietrus – who says he will sign overseas if he doesn’t get more than a minimum deal – we think all of these guys will eventually find homes. But where? Howard seems to be the only one drawing legitimate interest at this point, and even though that can be expected sometimes with older veterans, it’s still a little shocking to see the market dwindling for people like K-Mart, Barbosa and even Redd. How sick would a team of these dudes be in 2005? T-Mac running the point forward next to Fisher, with Redd on the wing canning jumpers and Martin underneath the hoop clotheslining people and fouling the hell out of everyone. Add in Arenas, and they could do some serious damage … We’re out like “the best shooter in the world.”
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