The Los Angeles Lakers are installing a hybrid of the Princeton offense this season.

Dwight Howard has been shown by the coaches how the system will create new scoring opportunities for him.

Dwight Howard is targeting the Los Angeles Lakers' regular season opener as his return from back surgery, according to sources.

Sources say Howard has made progress in recent weeks to increase the possibility.

Howard claims that his back is now 85 percent returned strength.

The Lakers have advised Howard to maintain a cautious approach as he has yet to engage in five-on-five situations.

The Los Angeles Lakers have signed center Ronnie Aguilar.

Aguilar, a 7-1, 250 pound center, played two seasons at Colorado State before transferring to California State Dominguez Hills.

Steve Blake suffered a puncture wound to his left foot after stepping on a spike strip in a parking lot.

Blake will be prohibited from participating in any impact exercises for approximately three weeks.

Dwight Howard prefers to wait until completion of this coming season before considering an extension with the Lakers.

Howard has one year left on his contract for $19.5 million.

"I think the best thing to do is talk about it at the end of the year," Howard said Thursday afternoon at the Lakers practice facility. "We just went through that last season, basically, and I don't want to go through it again or see anyone have to go through it.

"This is going to be my decision, and I'm going to wait till the end of the year. But I'm happy to be in L.A. This is a great place. I love the coaching staff and I love the organization for everything they've done for me since I got traded here.

"Hopefully I'll have a long career here in L.A."

Howard is thankful for the opportunity to compete for a championship.

"Coming here to play with Kobe, Steve, Pau, and Metta (World Peace) is the ideal situation for me," Howard said. "All those guy are great players, and there's something I can learn from each one of them, and hopefully I can blend right in with everyone.

"I'm not going to come right out and guarantee that we're going to win a championship. But I can assure every Laker fan out there that we will bring our "A" game with us every time we step onto the court."

Chris Paul said in an interview that he preferred being traded to the Los Angeles Clippers over the Lakers.

"They had the better pieces," Paul said. "And winning with the Clippers would be legendary."

Paul also enjoys living in Bel Air.

The Anschutz Co., run by Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz, said it is seeking a buyer for its AEG subsidiary, which owns Staples Center, the Los Angeles Kings and the Los Angeles Galaxy pro soccer team.

“Given the success of the management team and employees in establishing AEG as one of the premier real estate development, live sports and entertainment platforms in the world, as well as the value AEG has created with the strategic assets that comprise its platform, this is an appropriate time to transition AEG to a new qualified owner," said Cannon Y. Harvey, Anschutz Co. president.

AEG has been pursuing plans to build an NFL-ready stadium next to Staples Center.

The Los Angeles Lakers could spent nearly $200 million on player payroll and associated luxury taxes during the 13-14 season.

The Lakers already have $79.6 million committed to eight players for the 13-14 season. Assuming they re-sign Howard next summer to a maximum contract that calls for him to make $20.5 million in the first year, they will then exceed a payroll of over $100 million.

The Lakers still have their amnesty provision, should they decide to use it next offseason.

"Whenever I've talked to [Buss] about a budget, it's always kind of, 'Well, Mitch, we have a budget, but tell me who you're thinking about and I'll tell you if I want him,'" Mitch Kupchak said. "So yes, the budget and tax threshold is something we're going to pay attention to, but he's always understood the value and allure of a superstar and a team that wins."

Dwight Howard said his indecision on whether or not he would stay with Orlando was the result of trying to keep everybody happy.

"That's one of the lessons that I learned, you know. I can't make everybody happy," Howard told Ric Bucher during ESPN’s "Sunday Conversation."

"And it was a tug of war between my feelings and the fans and everybody else and their feelings and what happened to LeBron. And I saw him -- everybody hated him for leaving Cleveland and what he did," Howard said of LeBron James' free-agent move from the Cavaliers to the Heat in 2010. "I never wanted anybody to hate me, you know. I wanted everybody to love me, you know, like me, for sticking around and doing what they wanted me to do. And making everybody else happy. And that was a valuable lesson for me, you know.

"I can't make everybody happy."

Howard acknowledged his previous desire to be traded to the Nets.

"That was a team I wanted to go to," Howard said. "I felt like I could go there and write my own history. I was worried about what people would think, you know. 'If you go to L.A. everybody's going to say you're like Shaq. Everybody's going to say this about you.' And now I'm at the point where, so what, who cares what people say. This is my destiny, this is where I want to be, this is what I want to do with my life. I can’t worry about what everybody else is saying."

Doc Rivers isn’t concerned about the Lakers and their recent acquisitions of Steve Nash and Dwight Howard.

“Honestly, I don't care about the Lakers,” Rivers said. “My honest thought as a coach right now…I have my eye squarely on Miami. I come up to my players during the year -- they're in the facility now -- I bring up Miami every single day to them. I want them to hate them. I want them to beat them. That's got to be our focus.

“I think the Lakers are better,” Rivers continued. “I’m actually not one that thinks they’re way better. The guy they traded, (Andrew) Bynum, we struggled to guard him. Dwight is a great player, but we’ve guarded him pretty well.

“Offensively, the Nash part is different. I look at them and wonder how that’s going to work. I hear they’re going to run the Princeton offense, which I want to see the ball move, I want to see Kobe (Bryant) keep moving the ball.

“But it’ll be interesting. They’re really good.”

Rivers discussed specific points of emphasis for the coming season, and once again his thoughts drifted back to the Heat.

“We have to get to the foul line because when you get to the foul line -- that's one of the big things now in our league -- if you can get to the foul line, you can become a dominant defensive team because you get to set your defense every single time,” Rivers said. “If you keep missing shots against Miami, you're going to let them run back and forth. I told our guys, ‘I'm smart enough to know that if we get in a track meet with Miami, they're probably going to win, but if we get into a thinking meet, we will win that game.’

“When we play them, that’s how we have to turn the game. We want them to think. We want them to play under thought, not with their instincts.”