The Lakers have leverage and can waive Howard and move on to Joakim Noah or someone else quickly if things do not pan out. But how did it even get to this point? How did Howard — who did his annual summer media tour saying "I have changed, I am taking the game and my conditioning seriously, I just want a chance" and league observers shrugged because they have heard the same thing for years — convince the Lakers to roll the dice on him again?