DONE DEAL: Dwight Howard to Lakers, Bynum to Philly, Iggy to DEN, Garbage to ORL

Three ways to get a super star, draft, trade, free agency, but drafting a super start almost always requires "rebuilding". Since Les apparently refuses to "rebuild", the Rockets effectively reduce their opportunities from three to two. This is important, because other teams keep all three options open, which means the Rockets, by choice, place themselves at a disadvantage.

And yes, of course LA, NY, and Miami have the advantage of being glamorous, so they can afford the luxury of not not having to "rebuild" (Lakers say hi), but Houston isn't in that position.

To summarize, by refusing to "rebuild", Morey is entering the ring with one arm tied behind his back.

Is it any wonder that we come up short?

Example, what if we had "rebuilt" a couple of years ago and had gotten Rubio or John Wall. Don't you think Orlando would have given us more consideration if we had offered a young star?

So while the Rox may not have the advantage of being LA or Miami or NY, Les-More certainly don't make it any easier on themselves.

And that pretty much sums up my entire beef with the Org. I think they are making something already impossibly difficult even more difficult than it has to be.

Or to put the problem into three words,

Les is Drayton.

 

Great post. As others have stated, this trade creates 25 washington generals, with only 3 real contenders along with a couple of dark horses.

 

So the big story next season will be to see if Kobe can get as many rings as MJ, now that the Lakers are reloaded, and whether Nash and Howard can get their first. They will be the sentimental favorite, cause Kobe/Dwight are still more likable than LBJ and Wade to most people (I'd reckon). Everyone will be watching to see if the Lakes have chemistry or not, see if Howard's back still works, and see if Kobe, Nash and Pau can stay contemporary.

 

The Knicks are also a pretty big story as well. A lot of pressure for them to win. They will probably be the most talked about team in the East.

 

I love the rockets, but I am over the NBA

 

Not Miami? For sure NY media will put pressure/scrutiny on Knicks. But remember NY media will be split between Nets and Knicks this season. The story lines will be Lakers in West and Heat in the East with Knicks coming a close 3rd.

The most interesting story line in my opinion - Does D12 in West mean the end of Duncan's effectiveness? He might retire sooner than previously anticipated (most interesting cause I have so much respect for Duncan).

 

No I don't think Miami will get as much hype. LBJ has had a successful year, two MVP's a ring and a gold medal. The spotlight is definitely on the Knicks as well as the Lakers. The nets are getting way overhyped they are not that good of a team. They will make the playoffs but I don't see them making it far. The Knicks have a lot of pressure partially because of the whole Lin fiasco but also because Melo has yet to do anything of major significance in the NBA (ie winning a ring). The hot seat is on him. The Lakers have a lot of spotlight as well because of there incredibly loaded team. I doubt the media will crate a story line about Howard's effect on Duncan. Don't get me wrong I love Duncan but the media rarely gives the Spurs the attention they deserve.

 

I'm really annoyed that Lakers didn't have to give up Gasol as well.

How could Stern block a trade with us involved last season,m but find this to be ok? The Magic aren't getting anything back that they wanted. Very late 1st round picks??

Contracts that are just as bad (if not worst) than J-Rich?
They essentially traded dwight for those 3 low-ball picks. That is nothing!!!

Hornets for CP3 would have at least got Scola, Martin and better picks. However, I guess I'm happy we didn't get Gasol. I like how our team is shaping up over the next 3 years.

Is the reason for no block simply because the NBA doesn't own any of the teams involved? Or is this just another ploy to hoist Lakers back up to the top to make Stern more $$$.

 

Because the league owned the Hornets.

 

All the lock out accomplished was to throw a little more money to small market owners so they wouldn't whine about the NBA becoming a three city league.

 

All this noise for nothing.... till the next lockout

 

The NBA has become a farce, a joke of a league, run by powerful agents who essentially dictate where their players want to play.

The Heat versus the Lakers will sure be entertaining to watch in the playoffs and regular season games, but how fun will it be to watch Charlotte versus any of these super teams?

The have-not teams are so bad now that our brand new Houston Rockets team, whose players have never played together in a real NBA game, has a better chance to win the title than 15 other teams. Either we are more talented than last year or the bottom half has gotten worst. I suspect a little of both, for Vegas odds makers to justify their team rankings (to win the 2013 NBA title).

I will renew by League, not to watch goliath versus David games, but to cheer for our young players. I hope Morey and Les rolleyes commit to the development of these young players rather than engage in their annual folly attempts to get a superstar who does not want to be here.

 

Maybe if we offered Fortson, Morris, Forbes and a lottery protected pick Magic would've been more interested in our deal, they obviously weren't interested in getting even a penny to the dollar back in the trade...

I'm still flabbergasted at this trade...Dwight Howard for Afflalo and Al Harrington?

Serious?

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

 

^^ Rob Hennigan fencing against Mitch Kupchak.

 

The Lakers traded Bynum and got Howard in return. The number two center for the number one center who very likely will start the season on the injury list. The Lakers gave fair value for fair value in return.

Why would they be required to put more in the deal, much less Pau Gasol? It's not their problem that the Magic decided they needed something else out of the deal besides Andrew Bynum.

 

I have to somewhat agree with this. I wouldn't say Bynum is fair value for Howard, but Howard did kill his trade value around most of the league. Kupchak got a steal because Howard drove offers into the ground from any team not named the Nets or Lakers. When you take that into consideration, the Lakers gave up Bynum, a meaningless first rounder and ate Duhon's contract. That isn't a great offer, but not a terrible offer either, and is probably somewhere on par with the value of whatever we were willing to give up for him. It's just mystifying that the Magic didn't get Bynum in the deal! He constitutes at least 80% of the value of their offer!

So, as we all know, Orlando decides they don't want to keep Bynum, and so decided to bring in Denver and Philly to get rid of him. All this time, the Rockets are trying to jump in the deal and take Bynum off their hands as a consolation prize. I imagine that their offer for Bynum was considerably less than their offer for Howard. We haven't yet heard what our Bynum offer was but apparently it was less than a haul of 2 crappy protected first rounders, Afflalo and Harrington--unless the Magic were at this point simply operating out of spite and ignoring our offers.

So, not only did Orlando get taken to the cleaners on Dwight Howard, they got ripped a second time when they flipped Andrew Bynum! Doesn't take a genius to figure out they should have just taken our offer for Howard to begin with. It's absolutely mindblowing. I just don't understand the unbridled eagerness to commit organizational suicide on the Magic's part. Any way you slice this deal, it's difficult to not end up at the same conclusion: There is no logic or method to this transaction. Can a management team really be that irrational in this day and age? There has to be more to this story that we just aren't being told. Has to be.

 

This article explains a little more of why the Magic made the choices they did

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/e...c-rejected-offer-that-included-andre-iguodala

However, Hennigan strikes me as someone who does not believe he can make a deal.

So you acquire Iggy..... are you telling me that you couldn't flip an All-Star, Olympian gold medalist into some young players and lottery picks???

Houston alone probably would have given you Dallas' pick and K-mart; possibly even T. Jones, PPat, or Morris.

Instead, you accept Afflalo and Harrington's contracts????

Hennigan really is shaping up to be a worse GM than Smith for Orlando.