The Dwight Howard Story

So we are now nine months into the Dwight Howard saga and it is finally over. First reported by Yahoo Sports, the Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers, Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers reached a deal sending the best center in the league, Mr. Superman to Lakerland. In the deal the Lakers will receive Dwight Howard, the Magic will get a first round (lottery protected!) pick from each of the other three teams as well as Nikola Vucevic, Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, and first round pick and St. Johns standout Moe Harkless. The Nuggets will receive small forward and USA basketball member Andre Iguodala, and the Philadelphia 76ers will receive Andrew Bynum as well as Jason Richardson. So, now that the deal is over everyone can finally breathe right? Wrong, this deal is a catastrophe for the Magic, but I guess that's what this whole process has been.

The Orlando Magic found themselves in quite a situation once the lockout was settled last December. Howard had made his first trade demand and listed three teams as possible suitors, the Lakers, the Nets, and the Mavericks. Howard had all the reason in the world to ask for a trade, the General Manager at the time, Otis Smith, had made multiple bad deals since the team lost to the Lakers in the 2009 NBA Finals. They acquired terrible contracts such as Gilbert Arenas, Hedo Turkoglu, and they overpaid for players like Jason Richardson, J.J. Redick and Glen Davis. Howard also had reason to be upset with the team because the team never listened to any of his suggestions and they lied to him. For example, at the end of 2010-2011 season CEO of the Magic Alex Martins invited Howard to his mansion in Michigan and asked Howard what he wanted. Howard gave a list of players he wanted to play with which included Deron Williams, Monta Ellis, Anthony Morrow, and Stephen Jackson. Howard insisted on Jackson, specifically. Draft day rolled around and Howard was brought into the Magic draft headquarters where Martins and Smith told him that the Milwaukee Bucks were not willing to trade Jackson. Sure enough that night Jackson was traded. Howard was irate; it was another example of the Magic not listening to his suggestions. The Magic then also asked Howard to sign an extension and it was in that moment that Howard realized these guys don't value him, they just want his name on a paper so they can make money, they don't care about winning. This all brings us back to his trade demand request in December. The Magic were offered deals from the Nets and Lakers, but nothing was imminent.

The trade deadline finally rolled around and the Nets became Dwight's number one option. Since the Olympic games in Beijing, Dwight has wanted to play with Deron. Dwight had all the leverage at the time; if he wasn't traded he could just sign with the Nets in the summer as a free agent and he and Deron could team up. But Dwight was foolish and saw what happened to Lebron after "The Decision" and he truly cared about how people thought about him. So, when Alex Martins brought in Dwight's parents and told them how if Dwight went to a big city he would not be the same kid, Dwight's parents begged him to stay in Orlando. Dwight retaliated by doing the worst thing he could have done. He opted in to his last year in the deal, meaning that he still had no guarantees in the future and that this situation could just repeat again next year. In his press conference Howard said he was "too loyal" to leave.Nothing changed after that opt-in, in fact things got worse especially between Dwight and coach Stan Van Gundy. Van Gundy called Dwight out in front of the media telling everyone that Dwight had been trying to get him fired. Before we all knew it, it was May and Van Gundy and Otis Smith had been fired and Howard had a bad back that would force him out of the whole playoffs. The Pacers would knock the Magic out in the first round.

So we move to the Summer and Howard has demanded a trade again, this time the Nets are the only team he has interest in. However, Dwight has now lost all leverage because he signed the opt-in. Furthermore the Nets had made deals for Joe Johnson and Gerald Wallace, so the only way they could acquire him was through a trade.The Magic first hired new general manager, Rob Hennigan, one of the assistant GM's in Oklahoma City where he learned from the man who created the Thunder, Sam Presti. The "Sam Presti Model" for building a championship team has three parts, you receive draft picks, good ones,you get rid of all bad contracts, and you try to add some young talent that has been in the league who are not cheap. The Nets were offering Brook Lopez, a center who missed all but three games this year because of a foot problem, but who was a 20 point per game scorer the year before. People have always deemed Lopez as "soft" which is fair, he is not a beast on the boards like a Howard or Bynum, but I think his "softness" is exaggerated. They were also going to include rookie shooting guard Marshon Brooks who had a very solid year. The Nets were also willing to give up four first round picks and take on four of Orlando's bad contracts, meaning Glen Davis, Jason Richardson, Chris Duhon, and Earl Clark. Lopez was a restricted free agent and was about to get a big pay day, so that was unappealing to Hennigan. In addition, rebound machine Kris Humphries was going to be part of any deal, but he was most likely going to be sent to a third team. In this case, the Magic received picks, not great ones, but picks, they got rid of all their bad contracts besides Turkoglus and receieved young talent in Lopez and Brooks. It's not a great deal, don't get me wrong, but it solved a lot of the Magic's problems.

Then the Rockets became big players, they compiled three draft picks in the 2012 Draft and picked Jeremy Lamb, Terrence Jones and Royce White, three mid round picks who have a lot of potential, but no star talent. The Rockets also traded their young point guard Kyle Lowry for an unprotected Raptor pick in next year's draft as well as they amnestied Luis Scola. So, the Rockets had young talent, picks, as well as room to take on Dwight Howard and a lot of bad contracts. Only problem, Howard was not willing to sign an extension with Houston, so Houston if they were to strike a deal with the Magic would have to try to convince Howard to stay, which they quickly realized was difficult. As the Rockets as a partner lost steam, the Nets also fell out of the running because no deal was reached with the Magic, so they had to sign restricted free agent Brook Lopez. Because Lopez was just signed he cannot be traded until January 15th, 2013.

So, the Rockets and Nets had lost steam as Howard's landing spot, but still hovering above water were the Lakers. Howard initially said he would not sign an extension with the Lakers, but he eventually added the Lakers officially as a team he would sign with. Howard had taken the Lakers off his list after he had a talk with Kobe about joining LA in March and Kobe told Howard he would be the third option on the team or the Tyson Chandler of the crew. Howard was hurt and felt disrespected by Kobe's comments. However, Kobe had a chat with Howard and modified his statement.
The Lakers have coveted center Andrew Bynum as well as forward/center Pau Gasol, who they were willing to trade. The Lakers immediately realized they couldn't work out a one-for-one deal with Orlando, because Bynum who is also scheduled to be a free agent at the end of the 2013 season showed no interest in signing long term. The Magic, Lakers and Rockets began to work on a three way deal, with Bynum and Orlando junk going to Houston, all of Houston's assets going to Orlando, and Howard going to LA.  However, this deal quickly hit a snag because with no guarantee from Bynum that we would sign long term the Rockets did not feel like giving up all their assets on a gamble. The Lakers and Magic also engaged in talks with Cleveland, but those also never had legs. Going into the Olympic games, it seemed Dwight Howard would be in a Magic uniform come training camp.

But yesterday, in typical Laker fashion, they did it again. The Lakers were able to acquire the best center in the league since Shaq and consequently Howard can follow in the footsteps of Shaq, Kareem, Wilt, and Mikan. My issue with this transaction is the Magic took the worst deal they were offered. Arron Afflalo has four years and 30 million dollars left and Al Harrington has three years and 21 million dollars left. Also neither of these players are young. Secondly, the only bad contract the Magic gave up was Jason Richardson. Third, they received three picks which were all lottery protected. Afflalo and Harrington valued as better than Brooks and Lopez is incredibly questionable? How is this the deal you get after months of saying no to deals, for the third best player in the NBA and the best defensive player in the NBA. Barring injury, Howard is a first ballot hall of famer and you receive two overpaid mediocre players, bad picks, two young players with little upside and almost no cap relief. Everyone involved in this deal lost besides the Magic. Let's take a look closer, the Lakers did Bynum and a pick for Howard, the Nuggets did Harrington and Afflalo for Iguodala, and the Sixers did Iguodala for Bynum and Jrich. Every team got a good deal, except the team that needed to get the best deal.

It honestly would have been smarter for the Magic to play out the whole thing and let him leave. Now the Magic are left with more bad contracts and mediocre picks. What's not talked about at all is that the Magic received more players who are good enough to win you some games, which will make their lottery chances worse. In the Nets or Rockets deal you were completely starting over. I understand that the Rockets wouldn't budge because the Magic were asking for so much with no guarantee from Dwight, but if Orlando took one less young player and kept one more bad contract it would have still been a better deal then the one they got tonight. I am still shocked that this deal is going to happen.

Why didn't the Magic just realize that the best deal was and can still be with the Nets, they just have to wait until January. The notion that the Magic couldn't go the next five months with Dwight Howard on the team is ludicrous. Sure it would be a circus again, but that's a short term problem. Having bad contracts or making a bad trade, that's a long term problem, that stays. The Magic could have made the same deal they would have made with the Nets in January. They would receive Lopez, Brooks, four picks, and they would give up Howard, Glen Davis, Jason Richardson, Chris Duhon and Earl Clark. There is no way the deal they got today was better. The Magic had already endured a circus for a 3/4 of a year, why not make it a little over a year. To be honest, it would have been bad publicity for the Magic, but I thought all publicity was good publicity. ESPN would have been around the team, the prices of tickets would remain the same and attendance would remain the same for a few months cause Howard would still be on the team. This new deal makes zero sense. The Magic were patient, patient, patient, and then caved. I am totally surprised this is what Rob Hennigan settled for. Orlando will go into the dark ages and the city of Los Angeles will turn as bright as it did during the Shaq-Kobe era.