Rockets or Magic, which team is better positioned moving forward?

Which team do you like better moving forward, the Magic or the Rockets? Both teams are in a definite rebuild mode but the Magic had Dwight Howard as a trade chip to kick start their rebuilding effort while the Rockets did biggest trade this off-season was the Kyle Lowry trade. Both teams are in year 1 of their rebuilding effort and both teams look to be lottery bound for next summer’s draft. So if you could choose either the Magic or the Rockets to move forward with which team would it be?

Orlando Magic

Key Assets:
Aaron Afflalo – 26 year old 6’5” SG, very good player
Moe Harkless – 20 year old 6’8” SF, a rookie that would likely be a top 10 pick in next year’s lottery and is building block piece.
Andrew Nicholson – 22 year old 6’9” PF, a rookie with good upside as a scorer
Nikola Vucevic – 21 year old 7’0” C, could be a nice role player but not a high upside player
76ers 1st round pick – lottery protected
Nuggets 1st round pick – In year 2014
Lakers 1st round pick – In year 2017
Orlando’s 1st picks – They are likely to be very early lottery picks over the next couple of years

Other Assets:
Al Harrington – 32 year old 6’9” PF, very solid role player but not likely to be around when the Magic are good again.
Cap Room – Not sure how much but I heard one radio announcer say that they have the ability to sign a max free agent next summer

Probable Starting Line-Up in 2012:
PG – Jameer Nelson (Thanks to "Rockets_4_life" for the correction)
SG – Aaron Afflalo
SF – Hedo Turkoglu
PF – Glen Davis
C – Al Harrington

Key Reserves:
Andrew Nicholson, Moe Harkless, Nikola Vucevic, J.J. Redick, Quinton Richardson

Houston Rockets:

Key Assets:
Jeremy Lamb – 20 year old 6’5” SG, rookie with very high upside as a scorer
Donatas Motiejunas – 21 year old 7’0” PF / C, rookie with very high upside
Chandler Parsons – 23 year old 6’9” SF, young player with elite level defense
Jeremy Lin – 23 year old 6’3” PG, played at superstar level for a 10 game stretch last season, has all-star potential
Omer Asik – 26 year old 7’0” C, is a legitimate center with size that plays defense at an elite level
Royce White – 21 year old 6’8” SF / PF, rookie that would have likely been a top 10 pick in next year’s draft with very high upside.
Terrence Jones – 20 year old 6’9” SF / PF, rookie with high upside that could be a double / double machine during his career.
Kevin Martin – 29 year old 6’7” SG, when healthy he scores at an all-star level but he is not always healthy. It’s hard to see him in Houston’s long term plans and he has value as an expiring contract or a trade asset.
Toronto 1st round pick – Lottery pick, top 10 possibility
Dallas 1st round pick – Top 20 protected until 2017 and unprotected after that
Charlotte’s 2nd round pick – Likely to be one of the first 5 or 10 picks in the 2nd round
Houston’s own 1st round picks – There is a good chance it’s a top 10 pick or better next season.

Other Assets:
Patrick Patterson – 23 year old 6’9” PF, after showing promise as a rookie did not do much as a sophomore. Will likely be a journeyman type of player.
Marcus Morris – 22 year old 6’9” SF, pretty bad as a rookie but was a lottery pick last year
Cap Room

Probable Starting Line-Up in 2012:
PG – Jeremy Lin
SG – Kevin Martin
SF – Chandler Parsons
PF – Donatas Motiejunas or Patrick Patterson
C – Omer Asik

Key Reserves:
Jeremy Lamb, Marcus Morris, Royce White, Tony Douglas

Even though both teams are in year one of their rebuilding plans and even though Orlando had Dwight Howard to jumpstart their effort, it appears with my very biased eyes that Houston is substantially further along in the rebuilding process than Orlando.

- Houston as a team is much younger than Orlando, 29 year old Kevin Martin is the grey beard of the Rockets while Orlando has multiple players in their 30s.
- Houston has more youth and high ceiling potential at every position including the reserves than Orlando has.
- Houston has better draft picks than Orlando. Personally I would not trade either the Toronto pick or the Dallas pick by themselves for all of the picks Orlando received in the Howard trade. Both teams have a legitimate shot at landing a top 3 pick with their own picks.
- Houston has better cap flexibility.

Obviously, Houston’s high potential rookies have to develop into top level players and if Orlando wins the lottery and drafts the next Michael Jordan then all bets are off. Orlando does have some nice pieces to grow their team with (Harkless, Afflalo, Nicholson). Having said that I think Houston is in much better position than the Magic at this time.