It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane…. The Dwightmare is OVER

It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane…. The Dwightmare is OVER

Since December of last year, Dwight Howard has been in and out of trade rumors, personal drama with the franchise, and a very awkward press conference where he opted in for a final year with the Magic. Let’s not forget the awkward interview where he puts his arm around Stan Van Gundy after Stan said less than a minute earlier that Dwight asked for him to be fired. Dwight Howard’s past year has looked like an episode of One Life to Live. First he would be a Laker, then a Net, then a Rocket, possible a Hawk, and maybe even a Maverick. Rumors and sources piled up day after day, and it was almost impossible to ignore and not become enthralled by the story. Also we learned how annoying the phrase “no deal is imminent” can be.

Finally after a conference call with the NBA League Office around Noon Eastern on Friday, a 4-team deal was finalized sending Dwight to the Lakers to follow in the footsteps of Mikan, Wilt, Kareem and Shaq (Unfortunately Vlade’s talents are not recognized).

The final 12 man deal :

	Dwight Howard, Chris Duhon, Earl Clark (Magic)
	Aaron Afflalo, Al Harrington, 2013 2nd Round, 2014 1st Round (Nuggets),  Josh McRoberts, Christian Eyenga, 2015 2nd Round, 2017 1st Round (Lakers) Nikola Vucevic, Mo Harkless, 2015 2nd Round, 2015 1st Round (76ers)
	Andrew Bynum (Lakers) Jason Richardson (Magic)
	Andre Iguodala (76ers)

 Winners:

Lakers – They get the Best Center of the League, instantly you would see that as a plus. The Lakers have had trouble defensively in recent years, and this year seemed to be no different. Dwight Howard’s presence in the middle will certainly put the Lakers into one of the better defenses in the league by himself. The Lakers' difficulty keeping players out of the paint, and pick and roll defense should be much more limited with Dwight in the paint. As Dwight said in the press conference, the Lakers brought him here primarily for his defense. Also it gives the Lakers more fluidity on offense. Howard is a post up player, but can also run the pick and roll very well. Andrew Bynum while more polished offensively than Howard, is more rigid on offense opting for very little movement, and strictly post play. With the addition of Steve Nash, Dwight is a much more cohesive piece because Nash has made a hall of fame career on the pick and roll. Another benefit the Lakers see is from passing out of the Center position. One of Bynum’s biggest weaknesses was recognizing, and passing out of double teams. All teams had to do was run help defense on Bynum, and it would cripple the Lakers offense into a Bynum travel or turnover. Howard is a much better passer, and has grown used to the double team being the number 1 option for 8 years. You cannot run a double on Dwight because he can pass out to the open man.  Another component of Dwight Howard in LA is his personality. From his spot on impressions, to giddy smile, he is everything that LA loves. A personality of Dwight's nature hasn't been around since Magic, and Dwight seems to be a perfect fit for LA. He also gives the Lakers a franchise player for a few years after Kobe leaves. As Kobe stated today ""I'll play 2-3 more years. Then the team is his. I'm excited because they have a player that can carry the franchise well after I'm gone." Chris Duhon & Earl Clark are no more than pieces to get the deal done. Clark is unlikely to see much time because he is 5^th on the depth chart in the front court, and Duhon is statistically one of the worst Point Guards in the league. Think Steve Blake, but worse. Maybe Duhon was brought in for his travel call?  Furthermore with the addition of Jodie Meeks for 2 year/ $3mil on Friday evening, the Lakers seem to have filled out their depth chart, and created the best Starting 5 in the league, all while improving their bench from worst in the league to league average.  Lakers look to done making moves as GM Mitch Kupchak stated there are “no more homeruns” but he also said that before he got Steve Nash & Dwight Howard.

Sixers – Got the biggest steal of the entire trade. They traded Andre Iguodala for Andrew Bynum & Jason Richardson. Iguodala is a great player, but with Evan Turner, Nick Young, Thaddeus Young all relatively capable of replacing Iggy, it seemed like a no-brainer to get rid of him and bring in the newly crowned Best Center in the East. The starting lineup of Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner, Thaddeus Young, Spencer Hawes & Andrew Bynum has no player over 25. It was a great move to bring in Bynum to the Sixers because they had no star on the team. They needed to make a move or be relegated to a low seed playoff team for the near future, as their young guys slowly started to leave year-after-year. Bynum has not indicated that he would stay past this year, but it is a risk to take. With Bynum & JRich, the Sixers could have $6mil in cap space next season after re-signing Jrue who is a restricted Free Agent. Unfortunately, I think the Sixers are too young, and will miss Lou Williams too much to be a legitimate contender in the East, but if they play their cards right this was a great long term deal. Look for the Sixers to give a top 4 team in the East a scare in the first round of the playoffs.

Nuggets- This deal seemed to be more about numbers. Afflalo was owed $30.4 mil over 4 years, and Al Harrington was owed $21.445 over 3 years. Iguodala can have cut $40mil+ in contracts, and if he approves his player option to stay on in 2013, it is still at about $25mil saved in Denver. Iggy is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, and amazing transition offensive player that Ty Lawson & Javale McGee ran beautifully in their 7 game series with the Lakers. Nuggets would have continued to be a low seeded team in the West like the Sixers in the East, and needed some shakeup. I don’t believe this makes them significantly better, but the cap space is enough to see this deal as favorable for the Nuggets. I think they have one of the best put together rosters in the NBA, but one thing is holding them back from leaving the first round… They do not have a STAR, or a definite closer. With the cap space in the next couple years, maybe they can finally entice a star to Denver.

The Loser

Magic- Really? This is the deal you held out for? You had dozens of better deals in the past 9 months, and this is what they take. Yes it gave them picks, and young players, and shed some salary, but let’s look at what they got. Out of their 6 picks, every one is protected. The 3 first round picks that they received were lottery protected, meaning if the team is a lottery team in the draft they keep the pick, if not the pick goes to Orlando. Post Lottery Picks are almost always crap shoot. Rarely is a superb talent seen post lottery. Maybe once every couple years do you get a solid rotation player. The young players they received; Aaron Afflalo is a solid SG who can give you 15 a night with the right pieces, but nothing to build a team around. Josh McRoberts is a journeyman in the NBA, who hasn’t figured out his game. Christian Eyenga is an athletic freak, but he is a huge project that needs a lot of development. Mo Harkless is a mixed bag, many think he will be a very good starter, some see him as a role player. Al Harrington is not young, and his contract is worse than Jason Richardson’s. It’s obvious that trading away Dwight should yield more than Aaron Afflalo and Al Harrington. The cap space they dumped by trading away Jason Richardson and Chris Duhon is almost nonexistent. For a team with so many bad contracts they still ended up keeping Hedo. 2014 is when they are banking on making moves as they have $40million in cap space. Yet I don’t expect them to get a star, and the team that signed Rashard Lewis to $20mil a year deal, and in 2012 Jameer Nelson to $8mil a year over 3 years is definitely going to squander all $40mil on bad signings. The Magic got bad picks, bad assets, and didn’t clear cap space any better than had they kept Dwight. Rob Henningan, the 30 year old Wunderkind GM of the Magic was overruled by the owner on this trade, and for whatever the reason, the owner handcuffed Hennigan into taking the worst deal on the table, and having to defend the bad deal all day. Maybe part of the blame goes on Hennigan for constantly moving the goal line on other teams to get Dwight, or maybe all the other deals were as bad, but whatever the case, this was one of the worst deals made when trading away a star.

Trade Grades:

76ers: A+ (Definite Steal. Long Term Move for Contention)

Lakers: A (Instant Favorites, but questions about Howard's back, and taking insignificant role players lessen grade)

Nuggets: B+ (Good move to open up space, and get a player that gels with Javale and Ty Lawson. Still missing a star)

Magic: D- (Could have been worse. But if failing was a 60. The Magic get a 61).

Final Thought

And with your first pick of the 2013 NBA Draft the Orlando Magic select……..?

2020 Breaking News:  Orlando Magic Star Center …… Has just signed a 4 year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers sources from Yahoo Sports are reporting.