Yesterday we saw again how the Houston Rockets like to play the photoshop game.
They took a picture of Jeremy Lin, their starting Point Guard, and superimposed a picture of sought after free agent Carmelo Anthony in his place.
They were doing this to try and impress Anthony, one of the league's top individual stat collecting players, and one of this season's most sought after free agents. Although Anthony has not had much success on a team (Only three playoff series wins in 11 years) he has amassed some serious scoring numbers, so the Rockets, like many other teams, are hoping to be the team that can bring in his big numbers and find success.
That is an old story in the NBA, and if any team should be able to see through the allure of such a shiny, but often unrealized proposal, it should be the Rockets.
But, like they did for Anthony, maybe we can help them see the future by doing some superimposing of our own.
Here are a few selections pulled from Howard's time with the Lakers that we adjusted to help them see a little more clear.
This piece is from the New York Post.
"Howard grabbed Anthony's uniform, put it on, and imitated him in front of all the other players on the West team. He was joking and berating Carmelo' to fellow NBA stars, including the Clippers' Chris Paul and Blake Griffin and Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant. The source added Anthony later arrived in the locker room, "said hello to everyone on the team except Howard, grabbed his stuff and moved as far away from Howard as he could."
Here's one from ESPN.
Carmelo Anthony publicly challenged Howard to return, telling ESPN Boston.com's Jackie MacMullan on Wednesday, "We don't have time for [Howard's shoulder] to heal. ... We need some urgency."
Howard dismissed Anthony's stance.
"That's his opinion, that's it," Howard said. "He's not a doctor, I'm not a doctor. That's his opinion."
How about this from the New York Daily News.
A league source told the Daily News that the Rocket's stars got into a heated exchange following a New Year's Day loss to the 76ers, and Carmelo Anthony went for a low blow - referencing and agreeing with Shaquille O'Neal's criticisms of Howard being soft.
Howard was restrained from going at Anthony, according to the source, and there have been rumblings from the center's camp that he's been unhappy with Anthony since earlier in the season.
Hopefully that's enough to help the Rockets see what they are getting into, and turn them away from the 'fools gold' of an Anthony trade.
Right now they probably have three of the NBA's most unselfish, team-oriented players in Jeremy Lin, James Harden, and Dwight Howard. That comes across very clearly, and we don't need photoshop or anything esle to see that. Houston should give that reality a chance, before they go chasing some make believe golden goose.
