(1) I think Dwight only stays if Rondo is still here. If so, I feel confident about the C's chances of holding onto Dwight Howard.
(2) They cannot make a reasonable trade offer for Dwight without putting Rondo on the table.
I don't know about that. A trade where Dwight and Metta come to Boston for KG and Pierce, with various other pieces thrown in as necessary, might actually work for both teams. And with Dwight not guaranteed to sign anywhere I'm not sure how much better the Lakers could do than that. KG and Pierce fit in with the rest of the Lakers age and would give them an incredible starting 5 for the next year or so with Nash, Kobe, PP, KG, and Pau.
It would be a hard trade to stomach, especially with Dwight a pending free agent, but I think Boston might have enough pieces (including Rondo) that we might be able to convince him to stay especially with the extra dollars and year we could give him.
Boston would also still be very very competitive this year with Rondo, Bradley, Metta, Bass, and Dwight with a nice bench of Terry, Lee, Green, and Sully.