NBA Trade Rumors: Why the Golden State Warriors Must Pursue Dwight Howard

Dwight Howard is a superstar in the NBA.

The NBA is a superstar-driven league, so when a superstar becomes available and you are in a position to go get him, you do it.

Outside of the 2004 Detroit Pistons (who still had four All-Stars on their team when they won it all), who is the last team to win a championship without a superstar?

If just making the playoffs is fine for the Golden State Warriors, then Howard might not be for them. However, with their roster as it is currently constructed, do the playoffs even look like a possibility?

Dwight Howard has long been rumored—well, he has flat-out asked, to be out of Orlando—and Golden State owner Joe Lacob did the smart thing by announcing that they will heavily pursue him, according to Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Even if a deal doesn’t work out, Lacob let Warriors fans know again that he is committed to doing whatever it will take to build a contender. Also, to the current Warriors players, a clear message was sent that their play, even though it is very early in the season, is just not good enough.

Announcing that they are willing to take on Howard as a rental player and hope that they will be able to sign long-term, the Warriors are taking a risk of losing Howard and whomever they trade to get him for nothing, really. Add in the fact that they will most likely have to take on Hedo Turkoglu’s remaining three-year, $34 million deal, the risk is enormous.

Why not take it?

The Warriors wanted to change their philosophy and brought in Mark Jackson to install a new defensive mentality to the team. The problem with that is all of their players are still offensive-minded guys.

Now they can make that change all with one deal. Sure they would be losing some really good players, but they are players who don’t fit with their new mentality. The Warriors are most likely going to have to rebuild soon anyway—after all they have changed, they still look like a lottery team so they are going to have to do something drastic if they want to win. Plus, if the losing continues, they are risking Monta Ellis leaving in a couple of years anyway.

They can wait until this offseason to get somebody in to help, but what if it turns out to be like this last offseason?  Even trying to overpay for DeAndre Jordan didn’t work, why hold out hope that this offseason will be any different than this last one?

Go for broke and take a shot at Howard. Maybe by being in the Bay Area for even a short period of time will be enough for him to stay.

Plus, doesn’t coach Jackson seem like the type of guy players want to play for? Couldn’t a half of a season playing for Jackson make Howard realize that he is a guy he wants to play for? San Francisco and the Bay Area is a desirable area, too. If he lived there for a few months he may fall in love with the city and never want to leave. Oh, and the Warriors fans may be the best in the NBA—they might also make it hard for him to leave. 

If they go get Howard and he re-signs, the Warriors have a superstar for years to come, and maybe he can recruit someone else this offseason to come join him and Curry or Ellis.

If he doesn’t, the rebuilding starts earlier than expected and at least this way it’s early enough in Mark Jackson’s tenure that he won’t get blamed for losing with offensive guys. Then, Jackson can go get the players he needs to play the type of basketball he wants the Warriors to play, sooner rather than later.

Go Warriors, do whatever it takes to get Howard and dare to be great. Otherwise, just dare to hope to be somewhat competitive.