The Official Dwight Howard Everything Thread

[NYCmagic 15]

Little off topic but did anyone catch inside the nba last night? Why does Shaq have such a grudge against Dwight? Any chance he gets he says how Bynum is the best center in the league. Thank god for Barkley having sense and basically calling him a fool.

[YaBoyR 62]

Little off topic but did anyone catch inside the nba last night? Why does Shaq have such a grudge against Dwight? Any chance he gets he says how Bynum is the best center in the league. Thank god for Barkley having sense and basically calling him a fool.

 

I don't know but its starting to get silly

[barnettej 263]

Little off topic but did anyone catch inside the nba last night? Why does Shaq have such a grudge against Dwight? Any chance he gets he says how Bynum is the best center in the league. Thank god for Barkley having sense and basically calling him a fool.

 

Well lets see, maybe Shaq is just jealous because he basically has no home for him to "Retire His Jersey" in that he could say he did it himself. As you are well aware Shaq is very self centered. He wants to be the sole reason for someone winning.

 

Instead Shaq will have to settle for L.A. and to be grouped with other players who won championships in LA, thats not to say its a bad thing, its just not his thing. Shaq-Fu wants to be the supreme ruler.

 

I would go as far as too say that Shaq see's that Dwight can do something he couldnt do and become "The Man" who brought a championship to Orlando. Its why he talks the trash and says what he says.

 

Shaq is simply a pot hole on Orange Blossom Trail compared to Dwight.... for now.

[Skywise316 211]

At this point I want one of two things to happen..

 

1. If Dwight is going to leave, I think we should get Gasol, Bynum, and as much as possible in the way of draft picks. Preferably they'd take Hedo as well. The way Hedo's been playing can't hurt. Bynum comes with much more injury risk, but when right he's easily been the 2nd best center in the league. Not bad, under this pretense, for someone who's walking away. I'd rather get terrible and start over again than take just about any other trade I've heard.

 

2. If the Magic want to go all out on trying to convince Dwight to stay, I think it's pretty clear now what thought process Otis needs to take.

 

Thanks to J.J. Redick and Von Wafer, Jason Richardson has been made completely expendable. they aren't all stars or anything, but they're rock solid in their roles. We trade Jameer Nelson and Jason Richardson for an upgrade at point guard over Jameer Nelson.

 

Dwight is Dwight, Hedo is Hedo, Anderson is at least somewhat duplicating Rashard. Redick has sort of replaced Lee, although more offensively than defensively.

 

If the Magic can keep up the team defense that they have over the last week or so, then this team is really only a "Rafer Alston" away from at least making it back to the Conference Finals, if not the NBA Finals again.

[For the love of the game 56]

QUOTE

 

At this point I want one of two things to happen..

 

1. If Dwight is going to leave, I think we should get Gasol, Bynum, and as much as possible in the way of draft picks. Preferably they'd take Hedo as well. The way Hedo's been playing can't hurt. Bynum comes with much more injury risk, but when right he's easily been the 2nd best center in the league. Not bad, under this pretense, for someone who's walking away. I'd rather get terrible and start over again than take just about any other trade I've heard.

 

 

I agree that Bynum, when healthy is the 2nd best center in the league. That being said, how would we get that much in return (with bynum being the 2nd best center in the league). Next, how does this trade get use terrible and starting over again. At worst, our record would be average (unless Bynum goes down) for several years.

[No1gunna 1]

How epic would it be if dwight grabbed the mike during the all star gameand announced he was staying, great pr for him

[iMagic10 25]

How epic would it be if dwight grabbed the mike during the all star gameand announced he was staying, great pr for him

 

That would be the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life. He would be a Magic legend.

[barnettej 263]

How epic would it be if dwight grabbed the mike during the all star gameand announced he was staying, great pr for him

 

That would mean I could actually breathe again....

[Passenger57 65]

How epic would it be if dwight grabbed the mike during the all star gameand announced he was staying, great pr for him

It would be great...and them we'd wake up. This whole saga reminds me of a Grimm fairy tale, and most of those did not end well. Hopefully, I'm wrong on this.

[Drain-O 369]

The Magic, in short, believe time is their ally. So far it has worked. Orlando (10-4) is tied for the third-best record in the East and fourth-best in the league. Winning can fix a lot, and Orlando executives believe the analysis of the Howard situation has ignored an important consideration: The Magic can request trades too, and make them.

 

League sources say Orlando has not ruled out making a play for Steve Nash in the event the Suns decided to trade the point guard to a contender before the March 15 deadline. Nash, even at 37 and even on a rental basis, could push the Magic back to the NBA Finals at a time when the Celtics are faltering and the Heat are showing signs of wear and tear.

 

As for what happens if the Magic get to March 15 and Howard still has not renounced his desire to be traded, along with the accompanying threat that he could leave outright as an unrestricted free agent? Magic officials have not made a decision of what course of action they'll take at that point, but the options are clear: Trade Howard at the deadline for fear of getting nothing if he walks July 1, or call his bluff. Neither is particularly appealing, but there is one aspect of the Dwight Drama that has been mostly overlooked.

 

As reported by SheridanHoops.com this week, the Clippers have emerged as a potential landing spot for Howard, and for good reasons, league sources confirm. The Clippers are not involved in any way, shape or form in current trade talks with the Magic, nor has Howard or HWNSNBU asked for or been given permission to speak with the other team in L.A. That's because the Clippers are not a trade option for this season, but rather a logical landing spot for Howard via a sign-and-trade after he opts out of his contract July 1.

 

A lot would have to happen -- and not happen -- for the Clippers scenario to gain traction. The Magic would have to hold onto Howard past the deadline and be prepared to enter a complicated and high-stakes game of chicken with their franchise player. Howard would have to turn down the chance to sign a four-year deal with the Nets, who have the cap room and the ability to pair him with Deron Williams in a new Brooklyn arena. He also would have to balk at signing with the Mavericks, who are a couple of moves away from clearing enough space to get both Howard and Williams.

 

The Lakers, Howard's first choice in L.A. and the Magic's opponent Friday night, would have to stop short of offering Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol -- or the Magic would have to believe they could get a better deal.

 

Where could the Magic potentially get a better deal than that? In my eyes, the only team that could offer one would be the Clippers, because the centerpiece of that deal would have to be Blake Griffin.

 

If you're the Clippers, and you have the chance to team Dwight Howard with Chris Paul, you do it -- even if it means trading Griffin. If you're the Magic, and you're losing Howard anyway, what better way to replace him than with perhaps the only young player in the NBA who is as freakishly athletic and dynamic -- and, unlike LeBron James and Dwayne Wade, will continue to have those attributes for another 10 years?

 

Given the alternatives, would a package including Griffin and DeAndre Jordan provide the Magic with enough basketball and marketing assets to walk away from the loss of Howard in great shape on both fronts? You bet it would.

 

And if you don't think the Clippers would part with Griffin in a Howard trade, you disagree with a top talent evaluator I floated this scenario by Thursday. He said the Clippers would do it "in five seconds," and he gave that answer in less than one. From a technical standpoint, scouts are skeptical that Griffin's game will continue to evolve, but it's difficult to think of a player in the league who'd generate as much marketing and fan excitement as Howard's replacement.

 

The only other team capable of making a credible postseason offer to get Howard to one of the markets on his list would be the Knicks, who could offer Amare Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler. (Of course, this would only work if the struggling Knicks made it past the trade deadline with their key pieces intact.) While such a proposal from the Knicks would provide more star power, Stoudemire's uninsurable knees could be a deal-killer. Example from the recent past: At one point, an Eastern Conference team had a deal in place to acquire Stoudemire from the Suns for a top-five pick, and the trade was rejected by the team's medical staff because Stoudemire "might not be playing in five years," an official from that team said. That was four years ago.

 

A couple of things to consider. First, the new collective bargaining agreement provides no incentive for a free agent in Howard's position to work with his team on a sign-and-trade because he can no longer get a five-year deal with max raises that way. So why would Howard work with the Magic on sign-and-trade?

 

One reason is obvious: If Howard is hell-bent on going to a team with no cap room -- such as the Lakers or Knicks -- a trade is the only way he's getting there. The other is more subtle, but equally important: Despite Howard's admission this week that he thought Carmelo Anthony gave him "good advice" by telling him to "do what's best for you," Howard is perhaps the most image conscious of the NBA's top stars. He saw how LeBron became a villain after abandoning Cleveland, and that was after the Cavs got assets in return via a sign-and-trade. Howard doesn't want to take on the same pariah status, and if he worked with the Magic in a scenario that got them a superstar or multiple All-Stars in return, it would remove the sting of his departure and do much less damage to his image.

 

The final point should be obvious to anyone who's walked inside the Amway Center. This is an opulent palace that was built for Howard, and if he leaves, someone with big enough star power needs to replace him. This can't be the House that Draft Picks and Trade Exceptions Built. It must be the House That Fill in the Blank Built. Or better yet, Fill in the Blake.

 

Griffin was the magnet that unexpectedly got Paul to the Clippers, and Paul already has chased the laughingstock status away. Just look at them, beating the Heat and Lakers in consecutive games and then taking down the defending champion Mavs in a thriller Wednesday night. If things break a certain way, and if all else fails for the Magic, these two star-crossed franchises could team up for a stunner.

 

And since it's the NBA, where the absurd happens, stunning might not be the word.

 

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/16944177/postups-as-magic-plot-to-keep-howard-more-trade-scenarios-blossom

[Live or Die Magic 383]

Here's an article on ESPN.com about Deron Williams leaving the Nets if they can't land Howard:

 

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/7484258/new-jersey-nets-deron-williams-list-teams-go-to

 

Now, the article is written by the gloriously incompetent Chris Broussard, so take it with a grain of salt. But I was amused by this line in the article, near the end:

 

If the Nets' nightmare scenario comes to pass and they don't get Howard, sources said they will not trade Williams for marginal players merely to avoid losing him for nothing in free agency.

 

If not getting Howard is the Nets' nightmare scenario, what do you call the Magic's scenario when we lose Howard?

[Drain-O 369]

You know what bothers me about the Nets. It is this general assumption that they are going to get Dwight Howard. I am glad I am not a GM because I would almost trade him to the Lakers so the Nets could ***** off. That has been a piss poor franchise beyond 2 seasons in the last what 40 years. Just because they are about to become the second rate franchise in New York does not mean they have the right to our franchise player. Have you ever talked to a true New Yorker. The Knicks are THE number one franchise in that market. They are absolutely adored especially when they are good. Some Russian billionare is not going to all of a sudden change that with some flashy new building. They also have a GM who saddled the Philadelphia 76ers with multiple bad long term contracts to guys like Kenny Thomas, Aaron McKie, and Eric Snow, etc. which meant they could never build around Allen Iverson like they should have. So Dwight go have fun playing for a coach who has roundly hated by Hall of Famers like Dirk and Jason Kidd and is the true master of panic. Go play for a GM who will almost assuredly saddle that team with bad deals and the wrong pieces. Have fun playing for the 2nd rate team in NY.

 

/rant