It's been nearly a month since Dwight Howard spurned the Los Angeles Lakers for the Houston Rockets and Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni is still puzzled by the center's decision. "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 L.A. Now" hosts Mark Willard and Mychal Thompson on ESPN LA 710 radio Tuesday. "That's kind of mind-boggling a little bit, but that's in his DNA and what he wants to do." D'Antoni has avoided the limelight outside of a few brief interviews during the Las Vegas Summer League since Howard informed the Lakers he would be taking Houston's four-year, $88 million offer and leaving L.A.'s five-year, $118 million deal on the table back on July 5. "Everybody has got to make that decision," D'Antoni 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 [Gasol].' 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]." Source: ESPN LA
