The Official Dwight Howard Everything Thread

[iMagic10 25]

I just want to say one thing....

 

WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD START J-POOR OVER JAMES HARDEN?!?!?!?!?!

[KLiQ 14]

There's always Jon Koncak...Remember seeing the guy play but can't remember how good or bad he was...

[KLiQ 14]

 

 

Dwight and Shaq are not the same (surprised... i know). Shaq grew up hopping around from base to base, Shaq essentially was used to being a nomad. Shaq has went from Orlando to LA, from LA to Miami, From Miami to Phoenix, from Phoenix to Boston, From Boston to ?. So where does Shaq call home? Shaq screwed himself because he will never have a city that he can actually call home from a professional level. Dwight is not a nomad, has not moved from city to city to city. His growing up life has been grounded and solid. Dwight understands the importance of creating his own legacy. This is the same guy who wants to replace the Jerry West logo with a Christian Cross. Dwight cannot take the records he has made with Orlando with him, Dwight could never replicate what he has done here with anyone else.

 

 

 

 

Cleveland, Don't forget Sahqs year or two in Cleveland

[Joseph_Kuhr 61]

I just want to say one thing....

 

WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD START J-POOR OVER JAMES HARDEN?!?!?!?!?!

 

hope? lol

[Ryan the Magic Fan 253]

J-Poor is the worst nickname ever thought up on this board. Ever.

[barnettej 263]

Cleveland, Don't forget Sahqs year or two in Cleveland

 

Good Catch KL.... Orlando, LA, Miami, Phoenix, Cleveland, then Boston, 6 different teams Shaq has played for.... None of them will retire his Jersey because he has "sh_tted" on everyone one of those teams.

 

Watch out TNT, Shaq might bang your wife.... ask Gilbert.

[KRISH10 103]

I just want to say one thing....

 

WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD START J-POOR OVER JAMES HARDEN?!?!?!?!?!

 

 

Otis haha :lol:

[Justin Jaudon 221]

Boston can't sign free agents? Wow. Someone better tell Shaq and Sheed.

I will admit they haven't had many big name young players recently, but when did they ever have the cap space to do so. My whole point of using Boston as an example is that they built that team without using free agency. They built it using tradable assets as well as smart drafting. I agree that their formula is not ideal, as I don't want to see Orlando go through years of obscurity. That is my whole point. If we "rebuild", as in wait for dwight to just leave, we will need to wait years and get lucky in drafts to get those things needed to build a competitive team.

 

Relying solely on wooing free agents is foolish. It has not worked anywhere I can think of. Even the dream team in Miami would never have happened if they hadn't already had one of the best players in the league. My whole point on this subject is that good players and picks are more valuable than tanking multiple seasons and getting a lot of cap space.

 

Elite players today want to play with other elite players. Look at every major free agent or upcoming free agent in the last few years. James, Wade, Bosh, Mello, Stat, Paul, Howard, Williams. I love that people talk about KD like he's a saint for signing his extension. He already has a top five PG in the league with him. Why would he want to leave?

 

And apparently I have a higher opinion of Joe Johnson than others here. I think he gives a very similar amount of value as Pierce. I don't know why anyone would think he's not a good defender. He's not Shawn Marion, but he's better than anyone in Orlando now. And calling him a jump shooter like it's a disease is unfair. He has a solid post game, he just hasn't used it in three years. And there are great players who are primarily jump shooters. I think Joe Johnson as a point forward passing to JRich and Meer and JJ is a good thing. I think I may have a higher opinion of Horford than most here as well. I hear a lot about Josh Smith being more valuable, and I don't get it. I think Josh Smith is a good defensive player, but he is an enigmatic player on offense. He is sometimes good, but too often he doesn't understand and play within the flow of the game. Horford is very smart and is a terrific passer and off the ball player.

 

Regardless of how you feel about the Hawks trade, my main point is that trading Dwight is preferable to letting him leave. Getting nothing in return is just stupid. At least get Brook Lopez and some picks.

 

Also, am I the only one who would do almost anything to get Brandon Knight in Orlando. That young man is amazing.

[barnettej 263]

Regardless of how you feel about the Hawks trade, my main point is that trading Dwight is preferable to letting him leave. Getting nothing in return is just stupid. At least get Brook Lopez and some picks.

 

Also, am I the only one who would do almost anything to get Brandon Knight in Orlando. That young man is amazing.

 

Washed Wallace and a washed up Shaq will never belong in the same sentence as a "Good FA".... Well unless you think FA means Fat A--... Then they were both that.

 

Elites want to play with Elites... No, you have it totally wrong. Elites want to play in the "MAIN" markets with other Elites. You look at where the Elites are... LA, NY, MIA,BOS and what do they have in common? They are the current base of revenue for the NBA and will get the deserved treatment with no repercussions. Under the old CBA, players can force their way to one of the main 5 or 6.

 

The new CBA is designed to get away from that because the whole suffers becuause of the dominance of the major cities. Fans see this and have quit their support of their local teams like NO, MIL, MIN, etc. The Elite players have effectively screwed themselves because they are selfish and not about the team.

 

Your main point is a failure. Your job as a GM is to get a team together that will sell tickets and generate revenue in the league and locally. While the "Basketball Goal" is to win a championship, the "REAL GOAL" is too make money.... Nothing else.

 

You offer Joe, Smith, Lopez, etc for Dwight.... Seriously? You don't build a brand new arena and trade the face of your franchise.... That's beyond stupid.

 

Dwight is having a Kobe moment. When it settles, you will see Dwight going the opposite way of leaving to play with talent, too advertising the talent to come here.

 

You really think Dwights dinner with D.Will was about going to NY to be a second class team with a head coach that screams more than ours? I would bet that it was the other way around... D Will coming to the sunshine state.

 

(iPhone)

[Marc Acres 3:16 418]

Boston can't sign free agents? Wow. Someone better tell Shaq and Sheed.

I will admit they haven't had many big name young players recently, but when did they ever have the cap space to do so. My whole point of using Boston as an example is that they built that team without using free agency. They built it using tradable assets as well as smart drafting. I agree that their formula is not ideal, as I don't want to see Orlando go through years of obscurity. That is my whole point. If we "rebuild", as in wait for dwight to just leave, we will need to wait years and get lucky in drafts to get those things needed to build a competitive team.

 

Relying solely on wooing free agents is foolish. It has not worked anywhere I can think of. Even the dream team in Miami would never have happened if they hadn't already had one of the best players in the league. My whole point on this subject is that good players and picks are more valuable than tanking multiple seasons and getting a lot of cap space.

 

Elite players today want to play with other elite players. Look at every major free agent or upcoming free agent in the last few years. James, Wade, Bosh, Mello, Stat, Paul, Howard, Williams. I love that people talk about KD like he's a saint for signing his extension. He already has a top five PG in the league with him. Why would he want to leave?

 

And apparently I have a higher opinion of Joe Johnson than others here. I think he gives a very similar amount of value as Pierce. I don't know why anyone would think he's not a good defender. He's not Shawn Marion, but he's better than anyone in Orlando now. And calling him a jump shooter like it's a disease is unfair. He has a solid post game, he just hasn't used it in three years. And there are great players who are primarily jump shooters. I think Joe Johnson as a point forward passing to JRich and Meer and JJ is a good thing. I think I may have a higher opinion of Horford than most here as well. I hear a lot about Josh Smith being more valuable, and I don't get it. I think Josh Smith is a good defensive player, but he is an enigmatic player on offense. He is sometimes good, but too often he doesn't understand and play within the flow of the game. Horford is very smart and is a terrific passer and off the ball player.

 

Regardless of how you feel about the Hawks trade, my main point is that trading Dwight is preferable to letting him leave. Getting nothing in return is just stupid. At least get Brook Lopez and some picks.

 

Also, am I the only one who would do almost anything to get Brandon Knight in Orlando. That young man is amazing.

 

 

LOL, Danny Ainge must be sending you some serious Kool-Aid. They built that team on 100% luck. If McHale doesn't give KG away to his old team then Ainge and Doc lose their jobs. If Pierce gets sick and tired of watching Ainge fumble around with that team they don't get Allen or KG. They were praying to win the lottery the year Oden came out and they were screwed up to that point.

 

"My whole point on this subject is that good players and picks are more valuable than tanking multiple seasons and getting a lot of cap space." You don't want to spend years in obscurity but you think that we should trade for guys that have never led their teams to anything and picks which may or may not become anything? Do you see the problem there? How does that make sense? If you want to turn things around quick you go after known quantities, you get guys that can lead a team. How long did the Knicks stink prior to last season? They kept trading for guys just to get something and spending money just to get something rather than doing what was necessary, cleaning house and starting over. Once they did that they picked up Amare and as a result of grabbing him they were able to position themselves for Carmelo. Now me personally I don't like that team but they are a heck of a lot closer to contending today than they were trying to just add anything they could.

 

What player that is primarily a jump shooter and avoids the rim like the plague has led a team to the finals? Or even to great success in the playoffs? Our offense stalls right now when our shots are not falling because we don't have a guy that gets to the rim and gets fouled, why would Johnson passing to our shooters fix that? Are they going to hit shots more frequently because he is passing to them? He and Pierce are worlds apart. When the Boston shooters are off, Pierce gets to the line, period. That is generating points when there are none. When Joe Johnson's shot is off you aren't scoring points.

 

You mention the Miami sqaud, if Wade wasn't there Lebron and Bosh would have either teamed up with him somewhere else or they would have teamed up together somewhere WHERE THEY HAD CAP SPACE.

 

I mentioned it earlier in another thread but I was talking with another board member and he brought this up-

 

"Anyone else find it funny that, despite the fact that they'll have at least 30m in CAP space at the end of the season and could have as much as 38m if they turn down Gibson's TO and Sessions opts out, no one believes for one second that any FA is going to Cleveland. Like, that option isn't even being entertained by the media.

 

However: for all the talk of Cleveland being absolutely ruined by Lebron leaving, they're still in a position where 2 years later, they're going to have enough CAP space for 2 max free agents, 2 top 4 picks from the previous draft, and likely another lottery pick forthcoming.

 

THAT is what Orlando should do, particularly since unlike Cleveland, Orlando has proven to be a place in which FAs will actually come to play."

 

2 years later. 2yrs, that isn't wasting away in obscurity for years, that is 2 stinking yrs and they will have whatever role players they choose to keep, high draft picks that could be traded or used on decent players AND room for 2 impact players. You do that here and we get 2 of the better ones out there because theses guys all want to team up now and if they are given the choice between playing in a Cleveland or playing in Orlando who do you think they will pick? You go your route and take the scraps from some other team and we will be sitting here discussing how we all can't wait till Joe Johnson's contract is up so we can try and make a run at someone.

[Marc Acres 3:16 418]

Some further info (because I'm dying of boredom at work).

 

Boston traded Ryan Gomes (who sucks), Gerald Green (not in the league), Theo Ratlif (who at the time was very old), and Sebastian Telfair (who also sucks) and Al Jefferson (who was their own high draft pick) along with a 1st round pick (which would be worthless coming from a team that now had Pierce, Allen, and KG) for KG

 

They traded Jeff Green (their own 5th round pick), Delonte West (who sucks), and Wally Szerbiak (also sucks) to pick up Ray

 

How were they able to acquire 2 HOF's? They stunk and had some high draft picks and had willing trade partners to take their trash in exchange for impact players. They picked them up for 50 cents on the dollar do you think that is a plan or a prayer? Could you plan that out and get the same result? No way, you would have to rely on the generosity of other GM's.

[Justin Jaudon 221]

I am convinced against all trades except New Jersey, now. The mighty members of this board, in particular Mr. Acres, have convinced me that adding Joe Johnson's contract would be a bad idea. I was wrong. It happens occasionally. Perhaps I just really like Horford too much, or something. I see now the error of my ways. I was putting too much faith in Joe Johnson, and I see that.

 

Also, I have seen the fault in my logic on Orlandonot getting free agents. The more I think about it, the more I realize that pretty soon, those big cities will all have their stars locked up, and Orlando is certainly (with the lack of state income tax) a better choice than any other mid-market team. I still think you need a big time player to entice an elite free agent. Stat didn't go to New York to play with Raymond Felton and Danilo Galinari. He came because he knew NY would either get Lebron that year or Mello or Paul later.

 

I still say, though, that if you're certain he's leaving, you trade him and Hedo to NJ for picks and Lopez and expirings. And like i said, wait till NJ's season is so far gone even adding dwight cant save it. If Lopez is really hurt, just don't re-sign him (he is a FA next year, right?). If not, don't overpay him, but he's probably worth solid center money. He'd be a solid piece on a team with a couple of other better players. Even re-signing him, they'd have a lot of money after losing Dwight's and Hedo's contracts. Maybe they could snag Eric Gordon or something.

 

Or maybe they could flip some picks for Brandon Knight. Seriously, that kid is a monster. The more I see of him the more I see a young Sam Cassel.