Wednesday, February 1, 2012

FBTotD: Making Dwight Howard's Decision For Him


I think there have been approximately one billion trillion articles written about the Dwight Howard situation. Should Orlando trade him? Should they wait out this season and see if he stays around for another contract? Does Dwight want to stay?

The answer is simple. Dwight is not going to stay. He's going to do the same thing to Lebron (although on a smaller scale) and leave Orlando in his rearview to go play with another star. Or two. So following that, the logical step is to ask, "Why the hell haven't the Magic traded Dwight Howard yet?!"

Because they can't find an acceptable offer?

Well as you may know from yesterday's post, I'm all about solving problems in the Fictional Basketball Trade of the Day posts. Check it, and it's a doozy:




Orlando Receives: PG Beno Udrih, G Marshon Brooks, F Jon Leuer, PF Drew Gooden, C Brook Lopez, C Mehmet Okur
New Jersey Receives: SG Stephen Jackson, C Dwight Howard
Milwaukee Receives: PG Jameer Nelson, SG Anthony Morrow, SF Hedo Turkoglu, PF Ryan Anderson


Got all that? Basically:

  • Orlando downgrades at center (Howard-Lopez) and forward (Turkoglu/Anderson - Gooden/Leuer/Quentin Richardson) but gets a lot of young talent (Brooks, Leuer). They also flip point guards (Nelson-Udrih) and get Okur's expiring $10 million contract. Wiping that and Turkoglu ($11 million per year for the next three years) off the books helps long-term. Given that Marshon Brooks is one of the top rookies in the league and Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles doesn't use Leuer to his full potential, I like this for the Magic. 
  • Milwaukee keeps the battery of Brandon Jennings - Andrew Bogut and flips Jackson for Turkoglu, Udrih for Nelson, and Gooden for Anderson. That's slight loss-push-moderate upgrade in my book. Especially when you consider that Nelson is better suited as a backup point guard and the only reason he starts in Orlando is because they don't have anyone else. Giving up Leuer (a really good prospect) hurts but he doesn't fit into Coach Skiles' gameplan anyway. Overall, I think they benefit. 
  • New Jersey guts their team to put Howard and Jackson (who are friends, according to an article on Grantland (link here) and would like to play together) on the court with Deron Williams. That's enough star power to move the team to Brooklyn, right? If that's the end game, then they will have their star power. But they'd be playing with Kris Humphries, Jordan Farmar, and a lot of guys that aren't even worth me listing because they are so non-famous. I think New Jersey has proven that they value star power over smart, well-balanced teams. Else why would they have traded everyone and everything for Williams? At the very least, they need stars to sell tickets in NY. Williams is a star. Howard is a star. Jackson once brawled with fans in the stadium - always a big ticket seller. Humphries - woof. 
So now I'll ask the question that you know I'm going to ask - which team, if any, says no?

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