Kobe Bryant was his unflinching self during the crucial free agent meeting with Dwight Howard this week. The focus of the Los Angeles Lakers’ presentation to Howard was on winning championships and creating a lasting legacy, but according to reports, Howard wasn’t a big fan of Bryant‘s approach. Per ESPN: “Bryant and (Steve) Nash told Howard that while other teams may seem better positioned to win in the immediate future, only the Lakers had players who actually had won multiple championships and knew what it took to win them. Howard, who is hoping to have a decision by Friday, repeatedly stressed in the meeting that his main goal is to win titles, sources said, and Nash and Bryant argued that while they are both older than the Houston Rockets’ James Harden and Chandler Parsons, as well as Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, only his teammates in Los Angeles actually have ever won anything. Bryant told Howard he needed to ‘plant his roots in one place and grow.’ He said there always would be issues to deal with in whatever city he plays but that he would be better able to deal with them once he commits to one team and one city, sources described. Howard, at one point, asked Bryant and Nash how healthy they truly would be next season, sources said. Bryant assured Howard that he believes he will return to an elite level. Nash told Howard that he is confident he will get back into the kind of shape he was in before breaking his leg in the second game of the season. He also asked Howard to give this group of players another chance to make up for an injury-riddled 2012-13 season. […] Sources close to Howard tell me Kobe’s reported pitch in Tuesday’s meeting about teaching D12 how to win will be a ‘complete turnoff’ to D12.”
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