Deron Williams vs. Dwight Howard: Does a Lakers Deal for Howard Miss the Point?

I'm not sure if Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum has played himself out of trade talks involving Orlando Magic superstar Dwight Howard, but his recent performances do suggest the Lakers may be better served focusing their attention elsewhere.

Through eight games, Bynum is averaging 17.1 points per game, 13.9 rebounds and shooting 51 percent from the field. With numbers like that, the Lakers might find it difficult to justify dealing Bynum, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't aggressively pursue other candidates.

New Jersey Nets point guard Deron Williams would be a good place to start. 

It's no secret that the Lakers are in desperate need of backcourt help, and they thought that help had arrived before NBA commissioner David Stern inexplicably nixed a deal for former New Orleans point guard Chris Paul.

But it's not like the Lakers would be settling for the next best thing by pursuing Williams. In fact, Williams may be an even better fit for these Lakers than Paul.

Williams is listed as 6'3", and combined with Kobe Bryant, the Lakers would have the biggest and just maybe the best backcourt in the NBA. The duo's size would certainly be intimidating to opponents, but Williams' greatest impact would be on the defensive end of the floor.

The Lakers are so far a better defensive team under new head coach Mike Brown, but their overall improvement in that category is overshadowed by their inability to defend opposing point guards.

In the Lakers' four losses, they have been torched by the likes of Derrick Rose, Marcus Thornton, Ty Lawson and Raymond Felton.

By no means is Williams a great defender, but he does have the strength and quickness to at least provide some level of resistance against dribble penetration and, more importantly, he can also make other point guards exert energy trying to defend him.

No one is afraid of Derek Fisher or Steve Blake beating them off the dribble, and it's not too difficult to stick a hand up on the perimeter to challenge a jump shot.

But Williams is a master at using his size and strength to create advantages in the paint, and he may be one of the better post-up point guards in the NBA.

Defending a player like Williams who can beat you on the perimeter, off the dribble or in the paint, creates tremendous pressure for opposing defenses and it doesn't hurt that he is still a pass-first point guard.

Bryant leads the Lakers in assists with 5.7 per game, which is almost more than Fisher and Blake average combined.

It's incredible that the Lakers are 8-4 at this point in the season with both of their point guards averaging less than eight assists per game, but imagine how good they could be with Williams' 8.2.

And those 8.2 assists happen to be Williams' lowest average since his rookie season.

I'm sure his assists totals would be higher if Williams had someone to pass the ball to in New Jersey, and fortunately for him, Williams wouldn't face that same dilemma in Los Angeles.

Bynum and forward Pau Gasol have arguably been the NBA's most dominant post tandem since Bynum's return from injury, and that's without a dedicated focus on feeding them the ball in the interior.

With Williams running the show, the number of shots from the field by Bryant would likely go down, but his shooting percentage would go up, and the team's offensive focus would rightly be shifted to the interior.

In all fairness, pursuing Williams does come with a few risks since the Lakers would still probably have to part with either Bynum or Gasol. If they decide to keep Bynum and he is injured again, the plan could blow up in their face.

But ironically, chasing Williams over Howard may also serve another purpose since Howard could feel compelled to join Williams in Los Angeles.

Most people assume that Howard would have been the Lakers' next target if they had managed to land Paul earlier, and the same could be true in this instance.

Lakers president Jim Buss has been pretty quiet as of late when it comes to upgrading the team's roster, but I think it's pretty safe to assume there is some type of deal looming on the horizon.

The question is, will the Lakers focus on improving the team they have by chasing Williams, or begin their transition to the future by pursuing Howard?