Factor in injuries, a coaching change and losses that continued to mount during the 2012-13 season, and it's amazing that the Los Angeles Lakers finished Mike D'Antoni's first campaign without internally combusting.
The latest from NBA insider Ric Bucher paints a picture that Lakers fans everywhere will want to erase before the new season begins.
According to Bucher, Howard reportedly had a list of two demands he passed along to general manager Mitch Kupchak, the Buss family and the rest of the front office that needed to be executed to ensure he would re-sign with the franchise.
One: Please fire D'Antoni.
Two: Please amnesty—or at the very least "muzzle"—Bryant.
Oh, Dwight.
When making these requests, Howard either had to already know he was going to eventually sign with the Houston Rockets and was just pushing the limit for his own personal amusement, or really thought he would come out on the winning end of a rift with a surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer who has played his entire career with the Lakers.
It was likely a little bit of both. Toeing both sides of that line, it's still abundantly clear that the brief D12-Black Mamba experiment was not amicable for either party.
It should also be clear that the L.A. locker room was never as easy going as they wanted us to believe. In true cover-up fashion, I suspect any and all Bryant-Howard exchanges in the underbelly of the Staples Center were as awkward as a sixth-grade dance.
If you look at all the evidence, it's really no surprise that Bryant and Howard were destined for animosity ahead of NBA championships.
For starters, neither have likely ev...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
