ORLANDO, FL - FEBRUARY 26: Dwight Howard #12 of the Orlando Magic and the Eastern Conference fights for the opening tip-off against Andrew Bynum #17 of the Los Angeles Lakers and the Western Conference during the 2012 NBA All-Star Game at the Amway Center on February 26, 2012 in Orlando, Florida. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)Dan Patrick asked me at the end of our nine-minute chat on his show Thursday morning who the favorite in the Western Conference is now that the Lakers have secured Steve Nash to play the point.
It’s still Oklahoma City, as exciting as the Nash acquisition is for the Lakers. I said that Dwight Howard is still out there as the true game-changer for the Lakers, who still could be so much better with Howard’s absolute dominance on defense. Nash will certainly perk up the Lakers’ offense with his passing and pick-and-roll prowess and make Andrew Bynum look even better, but Howard is a far more important piece than Nash — as I asserted in my column back on Tuesday (which feels like forever ago in NBA terms) about the Lakers having reached the sweet-spot moment to trade Bynum for Howard.
Patrick and I talked about Howard on the air also and the possibility he wants to play with Nash on the Lakers, but we laughingly acknowledged that neither of us is at all comfortable trying to suggest what Howard wants.
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