Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni doesn't know why Dwight Howard left for the Houston Rockets, but the coach assumes it was just in Howard's DNA. D'Antoni spoke on ESPN Radio about Howard's departure, Kobe Bryant's health and the team going forward.
"It's hard for me to sit here and criticize or even to understand why he left a place like L.A.," D'Antoni told ESPN on Tuesday. "That's kind of mind-boggling a little bit, but that's in his DNA and what he wants to do."
D'Antoni didn't fault Howard for leaving, nor did he try to speculate Howard's thought process.
"Everybody has got to make that decision," he said. "You can debate it all you want. Only Dwight knows. Obviously he didn't think he would be as happy here as he will be in Houston. That might be the case and he had to make that decision. There will be a lot of speculation, we tried it, it didn't work out and we go forward. So be it. You hate it. Dwight's one of the better centers in the league and it would have been a long-term thing, but I looked at it like, 'OK, you don't have Dwight but you got Pau.'
"So, we'll see. In the short run, we'll see what happens. In the long run, obviously 10 years from now Dwight might still be playing and maybe Pau is retired, but everybody has got to do [what's best for them]."
A large part of whether D'Antoni is successful in his first full year as the Lakers' coach hinges on the health of Bryant. The perennial All-Star is making progress in rehab from Achilles' surgery and believes he'll be back for the season opener, but it's anyone's guess what shape Bryant will return in.
"I wouldn't put anything past him but nobody knows. We'll just have to wait and see in a month or two," D'Antoni said of Bryant. "Having said that, Kobe is a competitor and ocne he is back on the floor - Father Time does march on and things happen - I don't know if you can say he's going to average 25 [points], he's going to average 30, he's going to average 18, nobody knows, but one thing I do know he'll give it his all and it will be interesting to see. It will be a heck of a battle, that's for sure."
Steve Nash and Pau Gasol are also recovering from injuries, but both are expected to participate in training camp. After a rocky first season, D'Antoni will now have the benefit of camp and a full season to get his team in to playoff contention.
