In retrospect, did Orlando come out a winner in the Dwight Howard trade?

[Thebesteva]

Everyone was unanimously shitting on Orlando for trading Dwight Howard away and not acquiring Bynum or Gasol. You only need to Google Dwight Howard trade and there are dozens of articles destroying the Magic for this trade that made no sense for them. Of course, the infamous Mitch Kuptchak meme's followed about how the Magic 'surrendered' their franchise player for nothing.

The organization was HEAVILY criticized by local media as well for not going after a package deal which would include Gasol and Bynum. Instead, the Magic were thinking rebuilding, and recieved Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Nikola Vucevic, Moe Harkless and three protected future first-round picks. Gasol looks done in LA, Bynum looks done in career ending fashion, and at the moment Dwight Howard is not even half the player he once was.

They got some expiring contracts, 3 future first picks and look like a boss right now TBH.

[Cry Havoc]

Honestly depends on how the first rounders work out. If they draft really well it could absolutely be good for them. Otherwise, you gotta think they could have gotten more for Dwight. So basically the jury is still going to be in recess for a while.

[StrengthAndHonor]

Its a good scenario for Orlando, not the best one. I remember the offer from Brooklyn was a resigned Brook Lopez, Marshon Brook and a resigned Humphries. Awful package for a rebuilding team. Houston's rumored offer was great though. But with Vucevic becoming as the main centerpiece of the deal, Orlando at least have a prospect they can build around, and No I don't mean he''ll be the cornerstone but he's definitely a huge part of the puzzle. Plus he's so cheap. His ceiling is 16ppg and 12rpg. That's solid.



If Hennigan plays his cards right he can turn Orlando into an OKC like team by drafting right.

[ElNono]

I'm not sold Gasol is done. I think he definitely needs a change of scenery. Orlando could and should've done better. The picks are great, but it's still a lottery. There's a multitude of cases of picking wrong, or picking relatively well, but still not showing great results (ie: Blazers).

[slick'81]

they got their center in vucevic i think they r fine

[LnGrrrR]

I think this falls into the category of the whole "Lakers Gasol trade was fair because Marc Gasol turned out to be good!" At the time, it was a shitty trade. It looks better right now, but if Dwight ever gets his head out of his ass (big If), then it will look stupid as predicted.

[blkroadrunners]

Too soon to say, tbh. Denver is probably the "winner" as of today just based off the other 3 teams records and who the Nuggets gave up. For Orlando though, it really depends on who they draft and how they'll rebuild.

[spurraider21]

You could argue Vucevic is the guy you want from the 3 centers. Bynum has his chronic knee problems as we all know of, Dwight is overpaid, an impending free agent, a drama queen, and a shell of his former self. On the flipside Vucevic is averaging better than a double double and is dirt cheap.

If you think about it, its possible the Sixers lose Vucevic, Iguodala, and Bynum in a 1 season span :lol

Keep in mind Afflalo is a heck of a player, the loads of impending cap space, and a slew of first rounders, and Orlando did well.

The deal would have been sweeter for Orlando if they somehow knew Earl Clark was this hidden gem and they managed to send some other bum and kept him

[Mal]

I think this falls into the category of the whole "Lakers Gasol trade was fair because Marc Gasol turned out to be good!" At the time, it was a shitty trade. It looks better right now, but if Dwight ever gets his head out of his ass (big If), then it will look stupid as predicted.

No, that trade was a robbery. Trading your best player for a guy, who could become important in 5 years. Plus Gasol wasnt going to be UFA a the time.

Howard was already gone. Whole season would be a tragedy. They got talent, picks, decent role players, they will clear salaries once Hedo and Nelson are gone. New coach, new begininnig. Going with Nets offer, they will fall in mediocrity, since Lopez, Hump, Reddick, Nelson would have been enough for 6-10th place in East. A Bynum was also going to be UFA.

I wouldnt call them winners, but that was reasonable thing to do, since that team wasnt going anywhere.

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

Keep in mind Afflalo is a heck of a player, the loads of impending cap space, and a slew of first rounders, and Orlando did well.



What cap space? They didn't get any cap space. They don't have much of it. They've actually added salaries in the trade and didn't include any of their bad contracts in it. They could have robbed Houston for much better assets. And Afflalo is not a heck of a player, especially with $24 million left on his contract after this season.

[Latarian Milton]

they could've got more from the deal imho, at least they could've demanded lakers' first round pick of this year's but they apparently didn't know it would turn out to be a lottery pick :lol

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

they could've got more from the deal imho, at least they could've demanded lakers' first round pick of this year's but they apparently didn't know it would turn out to be a lottery pick :lol

Lakers had already dealt it in the Nash trade.

[FlaSpursFan]

This Orlando Magic team is trash. The only way this even comes close to working out is if they can get a Superstar in the draft soon because I see not even a single building block for the future on the current roster.

[Raven]

the funny thing is that philly came out of this trade thinking they made a no risk-big reward trade when instead they had just destroyed their franchise..

[racm]

The Magic look to have their starting C for the future (until the Lakers come knocking once his defense improves) and also look to be in the best position to get a top 3 pick, with Washington finally righting their ship after Wall's return.

Denver sacrificed floor spacing for better D and another playmaker and is jostling for the 4th seed with Memphis.

The L:lolkers have yet to figure it out tbh, and Pau losing time will hurt.

The Sixers got 0 minutes from the purportedly second best big man in the deal.

[Latarian Milton]

bynum would be the real deal if he comes back and stays healthy tbh. iggy isn't a franchise player and philly is set to rebuild, so there's a good reason for sixers to shed his contract and starts to build for the future. it wouldn't hurt the team too much even if bynum fails to impress, bynum has an expiring contract so it gives them financial flexibility at least.

[Danny.Zhu]

I think this falls into the category of the whole "Lakers Gasol trade was fair because Marc Gasol turned out to be good!" At the time, it was a shitty trade. It looks better right now, but if Dwight ever gets his head out of his ass (big If), then it will look stupid as predicted.

This.

[SpursIndonesia]

bynum would be the real deal if he comes back and stays healthy tbh. iggy isn't a franchise player and philly is set to rebuild, so there's a good reason for sixers to shed his contract and starts to build for the future. it wouldn't hurt the team too much even if bynum fails to impress, bynum has an expiring contract so it gives them financial flexibility at least.

Agreed, Philly is going nowhere with Iggy as the highest paid player, the rolled the dice with Bynum acquisition, but they were already starting from a much lower position and expectation, they might lose but not exactly making a fatal blunder with that trade. They didn't send out any picks, right ?

[Clipper Nation]

Can't really blame the Sixers for their part in the deal.... they made the kind of trade they had needed to do for years, bringing in a legitimate star player, and it blew up in their faces simply because of bad injury luck....

Denver got incrementally better, but if Andre Iguodala is your franchise player, you're not going very far... the Lakers are a mess, and Orlando is a shitty lottery team...

Probably the most cursed trade in sports history :lol After seeing how Brook Lopez has improved a lot this year, the Magic should have taken the Nets' deal instead.... the Rockets' deal is also still better than what they did....

[AaronY]

No, that trade was a robbery. Trading your best player for a guy, who could become important in 5 years. Plus Gasol wasnt going to be UFA a the time.

Howard wasn't either.

[Mel_13]

Howard wasn't either.

Howard was entering the final year of his contract. Gasol had 4+ seasons remaining on his deal.

[StrengthAndHonor]

Orlando's real failure was their inability to find a way to package Hedo in that deal tbh.

[Mel_13]

As to the question posed by the OP; the Magic were always going to come out a loser in a Howard trade. They were forced to trade away their franchise player and start all over again. It's a legitimate debate as to whether they should have taken a deal for Lopez rather than the package they decided to take, but comparing what they got compared to what Houston may have offered is revisionist history. Go back through the threads from last summer. The supposed offers from Houston changed frequently and there is absolutely no way of knowing what they would have actually been willing to do. Brooklyn, otoh, was clearly willing to move any asset they possessed other than Williams.

[AaronY]

:blah
Howard was entering the final year of his contract. Gasol had 4+ seasons remaining on his deal.
They had until this years trade deadline to deal him after he opted in. They had no gun to their head. Had months and months to seek a better deal

[Mel_13]

:blah
They had until this years trade deadline to deal him after he opted in. They had no gun to their head. Had months and months to seek a better deal

Ok.

[Richie]

A bunch of lottery protected picks that they won't get for 5 years? Not a great deal for a top 5 player IMO, considering the Lakers gave the Suns 2 unprotected 1sts for Nash.

[AaronY]

Didn't mean to put that emoticon in there tbh

[Latarian Milton]

lakers paid two unprotected 1st rounders for the dead corpse of a canadian faggot :lol