NBA Rumors: Dwight Howard Won't Solve Lakers' Problems

The Lakers have given up on trading for Chris Paul, instead turning their attention to an ill-fated Dwight Howard deal.

It's certainly understandable why they bailed on the CP3 trade. All parties involved were getting sick of the league offices blocking the deal. It was becoming increasingly apparent that the NBA wouldn't consent to the Lakers getting Paul while maintaining the pieces to obtain Howard.

That decision was understandable. But it blows my mind that LA would then flip Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks for nothing more than an $8.9 million trade exception and "unspecified draft considerations."

Now they will likely try to send Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol to Orlando, then use their trade exception to acquire additional assets. However, I think this would be a big mistake.

Howard is unquestionably the league's best center, but the Lakers have much more glaring needs. Unless they upgrade at point guard, the twilight of Kobe Bryant's career will be mired in mediocrity.

I love Derek Fisher, but let's not forget just how awful he was last season.

Of all point guards who appeared in at least 40 games, only six had a worse player efficiency rating than Fisher. His PER of 8.93 ranked behind guys like Carlos Arroyo, TJ Ford and Earl Watson.

Simply put, if you can't outproduce somebody whose Wikipedia page is shorter than this article, you shouldn't be in the league anymore.

Also, trading Bynum and Gasol for Howard won't improve the Lakers. A lineup of Kobe, Odom, Gasol and Bynum is better than Kobe, Howard and whoever they can pick up with the trade exception.

Everyone in Lakerland seems to want Howard, but the front line of Odom, Gasol, and Bynum was seen as the biggest advantage in basketball just seven months ago.

Now they've shipped Odom to their Western Conference rivals and still aren't in a position to acquire a point guard.

General manager Mitch Kupchak better have some sweet tricks up his sleeve, because he's making some very questionable decisions.