Comments on: Did Orlando blow Dwight Howard trade? Too early to tell.

By: sdlakerfan

sdlakerfan — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 16:30:45 +0000

2nd best center? If so, therea ‘s a wide gap. DH abused Bynum consistently in the matchups I watched. Don’t recall Bynum being able to stay out of foul trouble. Bynum rebelled against his own team and didn’t pay attention during huddles. Don’t even recall DH stooping to that level. Also committed terribly violent totally unnecessary flagrant fouls that got him suspended and hurt the team. If character matters, and I believe it does, Hibbert would be my choice as 2nd best center. Bynum has a great touch but can be taken out of his game by a physical center. Also dreadfully slow getting up and down the court. DH is arguably the greatest athlete ever to play the center position. And Bynum has had a total of one season when injuries didn’t thwart his development. When we look back in a few years, I’m betting we will see it as an insanely good deal for the Lakers. Why does everyone think the Lakers are now title contenders, because of Nash alone?

By: 1historian

1historian — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 13:13:53 +0000

And the Heat who just won the title with a core group of players around their peak years added Ray Allen who signed for 1/2 of what the Celtics offered him and another guy whose name I forget but who fits the description of a guy who’s getting up there and who wants a ring and will be a valuable guy off the bench.

The Lakers have added 1) a PG who is near 40 and was being eased out in Phoenix and 2) a hot dog who’s never done much more than make a PITA (figure it out) of himself and has a bad back. Their star is 37 years old and by playoff time next year he will have been playing pretty much straight out for18 months without much of a break at all.

The Heat have a starting 5 which is pretty darn good and just won the title and they have strengthened their bench with two quality players.

And OKC learned an awful lot in the finals this year.

FYI – I hate the Lakers – in a dignified, respectable way of course, but I do hate them. I congratulate them for having the cojones to make the moves they made in the off-season and I sincerely hope they implode next season.

By: saint1997

saint1997 — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 01:36:27 +0000

don’t leaving me hanging man what are you!

By: wingsfan40

wingsfan40 — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 20:35:25 +0000

Who did the magic get?

By: deadeyedesign23

deadeyedesign23 — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 18:45:25 +0000

If small markets don’t like it they shouldn’t be investing in podunk towns. You can’t keep your star player and no one wants to sign in Orlando? Well that’s probably because there shouldn’t be a team in Orlando.

By: dls612

dls612 — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 18:22:52 +0000

That’s the illusion! The real winner is the Lakers! who is most likely to win the finals out of the three that was involved in this trade?The Lakers put themselves in contention for the next couple of years considering Kobe keeps playing. Sixers will be a good team but thats just it ,good! There is a huge road block! Teams like Miami, Boston, Pacers, Knicks, and the Bulls are above being good teams. And I don’t see the Sixers being contenders for a title anytime soon. And the Magic Will be struggling for quite some time. And the nuggets wont get past the first round.

By: abasketballthing

abasketballthing — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 18:13:03 +0000

Unless you’re the Thunder or Spurs, and manage to build a top 5 team in a small market. Or the Pacers, fielding an equal or better team than both NY teams. Or Miami, having a Big Three while being a mid-market team in an attractive city. Or the Warriors, sucking in a top 10 market. Or…

By: reggietfromda623

reggietfromda623 — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:55:09 +0000

Tennethrill that’s just dumb to say

By: birdsflynorth206

birdsflynorth206 — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:23:48 +0000

This trade is a win for all teams involved.

By: Chris Fiorentino

Chris Fiorentino — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:14:10 +0000

Uh…I don’t agree at all. When you say it like that, it sounds good. But there’s a major chasm between Howard and Bynum. Howard is an all-time great Center today. He’s one of the top 5 players in the league. Bynum may be in the top 20, with the chance to improve, but he isn’t in the class of Howard yet. Not even close. One year does not a career make. Howard(18/13) gets 5 more rebounds a game than Bynum(12/8) for his career. 5 more rebounds. That’s a ton.

By: rjlink1

rjlink1 — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:59:51 +0000

So remind me again what the point of firing Van Gundy was?

By: dls612

dls612 — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:39:28 +0000

It won’t be a cake walk in the West for that over size toddler. He definitely will be earning every point, the clippers, spurs, okc,, and memphis all have guys that can bang with him. And if he’s not deep under the basket then what? He can’t create his own shot. He may catch a alley every now then, but it wont be enough. Those guys are not gonna let him come over and dominate the west. He in for a battle!

By: chiadam

chiadam — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:29:52 +0000

Um, yes. Yes they did blow it.

By: theawesomersfranchise

theawesomersfranchise — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:19:08 +0000

Yes you can totally judge Orlando now, you do not need to wait.
They traded assets and got assets back. Time to judge if they received enough.
The fact that they may or may not draft well is after the fact.

Howard has value, did they receive proper value is the only question

By: mikey1977

mikey1977 — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:08:04 +0000

Yes they did get something out of this initial crap sandwich…the Magic will have 30 mil in cap space by 2014.

By: pudgalvin

pudgalvin — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:57:44 +0000

The magic got nothing out of the deal except turning into a bad team? Not exactly what I call great value for who i think is the third best player in the league. 3 all stars and the two best centers in the league switched teams and the magic get moe harkless and their own bad draft picks in the coming years? Not to mention they let Bynum, the one player with somewhat comparable value to howard who could have been a building for the future go to a team in the same conference. I think you’ve got to do better.

By: wlubake

wlubake — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:54:49 +0000

They used it on Arenas.

By: wlubake

wlubake — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:54:16 +0000

That’s actually as close to equal value as I can imagine. Get the best center in the league for the 2nd best center in the league, who is younger and still improving.

By: eerock41

eerock41 — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:48:30 +0000

they used it on the washed up agent 0.

By: hystoracle

hystoracle — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:34:52 +0000

The ECHL Solar Bears don’t excite you?

By: hystoracle

hystoracle — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:32:47 +0000

Doesn’t look like the New CBA changed anything does it.

By: pop562

pop562 — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:22:26 +0000

The lakers gave up their 2017 first round pick to the magics and Bynum went to Philly…Jason Richardson contract went to the phillies as well and I also read that lakers are getting Chris duhon and earl clark… Which means lakers are taking over duhons contract…the only toxic contract left is turk, unless they amnesty Turk if they havent used it yet.

By: Chris Fiorentino

Chris Fiorentino — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:13:43 +0000

I asked on another thread, but I’ll ask again here as well…how in the world did the Lakers get Dwight Howard for Andrew Bynum…basically straight-up??? That’s just insane.

By: nyyankeedave

nyyankeedave — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:12:10 +0000

No Bynum. No Gasol. 3 useless, late round draft picks from 3 playoff teams – yeah, I’d say the Magic blew the big one. For the L.A. Lakers, the Orlando Magic – not Disneyworld, has truly become the happiest place on earth to visit – first Shaq, now Dwight. Fantastic.

By: merchie89

merchie89 — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:10:13 +0000

ohh I forgot that Dwight Howard and Kevin Durant players are in the draft every year. So 4 years to get to 4 lottery picks. Remember the lottery means nothing according to order stupid trade, stupid trade

By: merchie89

merchie89 — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:06:54 +0000

And more crap spewing from mouths of PBT writers….this deal was crap and will be crap.

Protected lottery picks…..and a backup SG. great deal not really

By: udtfrogmanvet

udtfrogmanvet — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:06:12 +0000

That brand spanking new Amway with nothing to see…what a shame…it’ll be nice to see how DH reacts not being the top dog of the city. Hope he gets what he deserves, misery!

By: Phil Young

Phil Young — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:02:13 +0000

I didn’t know Matthew Fox was the new Magic GM…

By: tannethrill

tannethrill — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 14:52:49 +0000

So this is what they’ve been waiting for?

Really?

This seems like the biggest sequence of mistakes I’ve seen in a while. Real winners are the Nugs and Sixers.

Got a feeling the Lakers may have just gone too far with personalities on the court.

Dwight is not going to be easy to manage if this isn’t what he wants. Throw in Artest being an influence, Kobe being Kobe and Gasol struggling for touches and I see a problem. That’s without even considering Nash is a clown too who will be struggling with Kobe as to who has the ball in their hands.

Reminds me too much of the Payton, Kobe, Malone and O’Neal team from back in the day. Just as many dominant personalities but now with jokers too.

Ron Artest will prove to be the piece left that either influences Dwight negatively or rubs Nash the wrong way. Kobe will be left to smooth it out and will end up creating a divide one way or another. Gasol will never touch the level he once played at with this much fluff going on around him.

My guess is the Lakers know this and are no where near done shaking up the roster.

Best guess is they see this too and Artest and Gasol will be moved for cap space and youth.

If they can create a balance among their stars this could work and if they can lean on Dwight then they could conceivably extend the careers of Kobe and Nash.

Someone get Phil on the phone, this dude Brown is another issue is this equation.

By: wlubake

wlubake — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 14:41:03 +0000

OKC and San Antonio say “what?”

Smart GMs and ownership will always win out. That’s the problem. The Lakers are not only big, but smart. Miami and Pat Riley were smart. Dallas is smart. But so are OKC and San Antonio.

The Knicks, Nets and Houston are big markets, and they don’t have much to show for it.

In the end, being in a big market or having a owner willing to spend will help, but it takes a smart front office to utilize those assets. Orlando can position itself for the future and build a winner, and having a small market won’t matter.

Had Orlando avoided contracts like Lewis, Richardson, Arenas and Davis, they could have built a better team around Howard. With a perennial contender, Howard doesn’t demand a trade.