The Last Dwight Howard Post of the Summer

I was thinking about it earlier today, and I have no idea why Orlando can't find a deal for Dwight Howard that beats "two average players, a young prospect, and three shitty draft picks." Who cares where Dwight wants to go?

And I get that the hold-up then would be teams don't want to trade for one year of Dwight. True. But in all of the hoopla that's happened, nobody has ascertained what will make DH12 sign long-term with a team. Money? Winning? Fame? Teammates?

Basically, he's an idiot. And I think Orlando should just cut ties with him, even if it's at 75 cents on the dollar. (Or 60. Or 50.) Here's some possibilities.

Atlanta Hawks

• Orlando downgrades slightly at center (slightly), but gets a longer-term deal with a more manageable center and a viable starting point guard. 
• If Howard were to sign an extension with Atlanta, the Hawks may be forced to throw in a first-round pick or two. 
• Ideally, Howard and Teague would both sign extensions, and Atlanta would include their first and Houston's second pick in next year's draft. 

(Note: the Williams-Harris trade already happened, but the Trade Machine doesn't have it - or any other signings - in yet because they aren't official. Sorry. Cap reasons.)

Los Angeles Lakers

• This would include Howard, Bynum, and Martin all signing extensions. (and maybe Redick)
• Look at this trade and tell me which team says no. 
• I don't think anybody says no. 
• Maybe send a draft pick or two to Orlando. 

Oklahoma City Thunder

• This is prefaced by saying that Howard, Harden, Maynor, and Ibaka all sign extensions. 
• Obviously, OKC says no. 

But what I'm getting at here (as evidenced by that third option) is that Orlando needs to be calling around to different teams and testing the market for Howard. I'm sure they are. If not, they should fire their whole regime. It seems like there's no sense of urgency on the Magic's part to get Howard out of Orlando. His stock right now is as high as it will ever be. Ever. Maybe the season starts and he just can't elevate like he used to (and can only dunk on 12 foot rims instead of 13). I wouldn't want to be stuck with him for a year even if he was healthy; he's made the league and the team into a complete joke. 

Bottom line is the Magic are in a really rough spot. Aside from Howard, they have the following ugly contracts:

• 3 years of Glen Davis ($6.4 million), Jason Richardson ($5.8 million), Von Wafer ($1.1 million)
• 2 years of Hedo Turkoglu ($11.8 million), Chris Duhon ($3.3 million), Quentin Richardson ($2.6 million)
• 1 year of JJ Redick ($6.2 million) and some guy named Harper ($762k)

No doubt in my mind that GM Rob Hennigan would cut all those guys and start over if given the option. Maybe hold on to Duhon/Q-Rich/Wafer/Davis.