It's hard to be sure if it would have made a difference in the end, but if the Los Angeles Lakers had honored Dwight Howard's request to hire Phil Jackson, perhaps the team wouldn't have lost out on the most coveted free agent of the summer.
According to Alex Kennedy of Hoopsworld.com, Howard said shortly after he agreed to sign with the Houston Rockets on a four-year, $88 million deal that he had asked the Lakers to hire Jackson as the team's head coach last season.
For anyone paying attention throughout the 2012-13 campaign, this isn't really news.
Howard made his feelings on the Zen Master known almost immediately after Mike Brown was fired last November. In fact, based on some of Howard's phrasing at the time, it sounded as though the big man was convinced that a Jackson hiring was a matter of "when" and not "if."
Howard's affinity for Jackson dates back to his days with the Orlando Magic, as Kennedy noted shortly after Brown got the ax in Los Angeles.
Of course, the Lakers never relented to Howard's requests. L.A. flirted with Jackson after cutting Brown loose, but due to som ...
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Article written by Grant Hughes
Dwight Howard Asked Lakers to Hire Phil Jackson
July 6th, 2013 by Grant Hughes Leave a reply »
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