I know the obvious answer on clutchfans,but realistically,how would you deal with the situation? This is a strange,strange situation, but its something we've seen happen in the nba before. Moses,kareem,even shaq had similar situations. I don't think its an easy thing to deal with,but I'm gonna stab at what I think should happen. We know howard just had back surgery, so despite the recent twitter news,if you want to call it that,he has that trump card. From the outside,it might look like he's milking it,but who knows how healthy he is with that back. To me and hi long term future, that should be his priority. If not, that back thing can linger and reduce his career. That being said,here is what I would do. http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/magic.jsp I've looked at their roster/money break down and honestly, its not that bad. The worse contract they have is hedo and he only has this yr and next. Not to mention they haven't used their amnesty clause. After this year,they will only have 32m committed to salary. Jason richardson is making 6m per for about the next 4 or so,but he's still a productive player. Now that the salary situation is in the open,time to move forward. There are a couple of teams I would call right now real soon,like now. Warriors,Bulls,Suns,and Lakers. The common componet is all 4 have good big guys and 3 of those are top 6 media markets which is kinda what howard wants it seems. http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/warriors.jsp http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/lakers.jsp http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/bulls.jsp http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/suns.jsp I'll start with GSW. They have 2 really good,young players in the backcourt with thompson and curry. I know they just traded wright,but they still have good players on the frontcourt with bogut and biendrens when healthy and lee. They also drafted barnes who looks like he might be a pretty good player. The bay area is the 6th tv market in the nba. The existing talent and tv market will give them a chance to resign howard. What do I want as the gm of orlando? Bogut,biendrens and a 2014 top 5 protected. Why would orlando take this package? Both players expire in 2 yrs which setups up fine with the other expirng contract of hedo. Why would gsw do this? It makes them a real threat in the west and makes them relevant while moving to the new arena. If he leaves,they would have either a 19m tpe or cap room. If he stays, they are a serious threat. Next up,chicago. The bulls make too much sense other than they're in the east. The bulls can really win in this and they can start by matching asik. Asik would be the insurance to howard leaving. If I'm orlando, I'm asking for noah,rip,and gibson + 1st rd picks in 2014 and 16. Why would chicago do it? Rose,?,deng,boozer,and howard is a championship team. It doesn't matter who you put at sg, rose healthy with howard is ring material. Chicago is the #3 tv market also. They sell out the place every even when they were sorry. That's another place howard might resign at. If he bolts,they can amnesty boozer and have about 25m in cap room along with still having rose,deng,and asik. Why would orlando do it? Noah is a very good big guy. He defends in space like a guard,high energy player,with ok offense. Rip deal expires in the same year as hedo and gibson is a young pf who is getting better. The 2 1st rd picks will be in the 20s,but combined with their pick and the cap room,they're moving forward. Next up,phoenix Phoenix has a couple of things going for them in a howard trade. They have capspace for starters and a couple of prospects. One of those prospects used to be with orlando in gortat. Since they have the capspace,they can intake more than they're sending out. I'm orlando, I'm asking for gortat,warrick, and 2 1st rd picks. I doubt howard resigns with phoenix, nor would he make them a serious threat in the west. The suns getting scola tells me they still want to compete for the playoffs. Howard on that team puts them around the 5 seed. The 2 1st rd picks can be staggered. Why would orlando do it? Gortat is a good big who is cheap and warrick has this yr plus a team option in the next season. Again, orlando is staying in that window of capspace for summer 2014. Next up,the dreaded lakers. Man,where do I start? It seems like the lakers can be ,the lakers again. I've read where lil buss wants to trim payroll and that's why they gave away odom. Thing is,it always flow back to rings in la. They know kobe and nash have about 3-4 more all star caliber years left. They have probably the best availible combination of players and prestige. The balance for la is this, do we really want to do this? If yes is the answer, here is what I'm asking for if I'm orlando. I will give you howard,hedo,and davis in exchange for bynum and gasol, that's it. Why do orlando do this? Bynum,gasol,richardson,nelson is a 3 seed in the east. Bynum is a ufa after the season and pau is ufa next season. They could resign bynum to max money and have a huge expiring in gasol after the season. They could also break gasol contract into smaller pieces and it even better. Why would la do it? The clock is ticking. I also think howard really wants to be in la anyway for his brand. It makes a lot of sense unless your team plays in the west and hates the lakers always getting the best players. Again,chime in,jmo.
I'm frankly totally confused by your ideas. First, Orlando did use their amnesty on Arenas. Second, you seem to think Orlando should aim for a Miami style free agent coup in 2014. However, the first and obvious question is.... with what free agents? There's a lot of good free agents in 2014. There's no great ones that would actually leave their teams to sign in Orlando. None at all. And I do think Orlando would be wary of such a strategy given that they did try it over a decade ago, and it was a disaster. Is this what you think Orlando should do? Frankly, given your past, I would have figured you would have argued that Orlando should tank for a star. Furthermore, I think all of your deals are terrible for Orlando, with the exception of the Lakers deal, which is terrible for LA. The GS, Chicago, and Phoenix deals are all basically "Trade Howard for an inferior version of Howard and junk, and don't even bother asking for any prospects." What's that going to accomplish for Orlando, aside from some 2014 FA idea? Now if you ask me what Orlando should do, it's difficult, because to me the linchpin is the relationship between them and Orlando, which is something which no one on this board can really define with certainty. If there is any chance that Howard could be mollified, I would argue that the Magic should just gamble on Howard resigning with them. But if the relationship is well and truly drained, I think Houston honestly is the best bet, unless the Lakers can actually take back a lot more contracts than I think they can.
Clear as many bad contracts possible. Get expirings, worthwhile picks and youngsters, and tank for two years. Getting Noel/shabzz and wiggins would put them back on the map.
Buy a time machine, go back to 1994, and keep Chris Webber, rather than trading him for Anfernee Hardaway.
I forgot about arenas,but my point is still the same. Think about when they traded mcgrady. It was a series of moves that allowed them to get enough money to overpay lewis. The key in that trade was trading francis contract for a yr shorter contract in penny. The money was the same,the yrs wasn't and that's how they had enough to offer lewis max money. Summer 2014 is when they can become relevant again. They can have a lot of capspace and threaten a team like ok city for their young players. Getting guys in exchange who don't go past next season is a long term strategy. You will not recover from trading a big block like howard in a yr or even 2. Its going to take a long term approach to get back. Its fine you don't like it,no problems. I said that's what I would do and I asked what you would do.
If I'm Orlando I try to get picks, don't worry about trying to get rid of bad contracts. Your goal isn't to compete in the FA market anyway, your goal should be to get high upside prospects and let them get a lot of PT, so what if Turkoglu rots on the bench. Obviously, if someone offers to take them then you jump on it, but, if someone makes you choose between a pick/prospect or taking back Turkoglu you jump on that pick.
I might just wait if I am ORL. What is the big rush? It's not like they need to do anything yet. Let other stuff happen around you and let everyone else do their thing. At that point they may have an even better deal. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some deal with a team like minnesota portland and 76ers. Something that you just didn't expect same way you are saying phx. There are just too many options when you have howard and howard might be giving a laundry list of teams he is down with to 'do the right thing' and 'help the magic' with that in mind, I dont see anything happening until a bit before preseason. Otherwise I wouldn't be surprised at all if he as moved before trade deadline. I am no bimathug or aelliott ,but seems to me it is to ORL disadvantage to keep the contracts of howard, hedo and co. for too long? What point in this season does having howard,and hedo not make sense anymore? Verdict: wait and get best deal.
Honestly, seeing what the Rockets are willing to give up, I would string them along and get as many pieces as I could. Take my pick of the talent available and take as many draft picks as I could. There is no way you can get equal value for him.
If I'm Orlando and DH is still on the roster near the start of the season, how do I market the team to my fans? "Under Construction: Please excuse our mess!" You are going to have an empty stadium most of the time without players to showcase. "Big Baby is True Blue! How about you?" If I'm Orlando and I've waited until the last weekend (before season starts), I ask for Chandler, Montejunas, KMart, TOR pick, DAL pick, and choice of: JRich for MMorris - or - Turkoglu for PPat - or - Duhon for JLamb.
To me, in nba dollars, 6m is not a bad contract. Even hedo at 10 because its only for 2 more yrs and the last yr is partial,but jmo. Davis can be a 3rd big on a championship team and richardson can be a starter on a ring team.
Amnesty him. No but seriously, without getting into all the finances & multiple team trades... I would first make sure everyone in the office has the same mindset: Dwight must be traded by the start of the season AND we will not be very good this year but we have to set ourselves up to be great in the future by getting draft picks and youngsters. I would then call all teams that we think are interested, in this order: Atlanta: We want Horford, Teague, your rookie Jenkins, and 2 first round picks. In exchange for Dwight and whatever bad contracts you can handle. Houston: We want EVERYTHING. In exchange you get Dwight and 3 overpaid worthless assholes. L.A.: http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=85cuu45 Plus whatever picks, trade exceptions you got laying around. Dallas: Just calling to say **** Off.
I'd want a lottery pick, another 1st, two young prospects, and at least one bad contract gone with Dwight. I wouldn't care too much about unloading ALL of the bad contracts because I'm not going to be very good for a while anyway, so max cap flexibility for bringing in free agents wouldn't be very useful. From the Rockets, I'd demand: Toronto pick Dallas pick Lamb or Motie Patterson or T Jones K Martin for Howard J Richardson
honestly, not because i'm a rocket fan, if i was orlando i'd take the rockets offer ofyoung players, picks, and cap space. anytime you want to rebuild after losing a superstar, those are the 3 things you need. no other team is offering as much of those 3 things as the rockets are. mostly because no other team is willing to take dwight without an extension while the teams he wants to sign with can't make that type of offer.
Hedo and Duhon aren't that bad due to that buyout option. I agree with you on that. But Davis on the books for 18mil for 3yrs is too much for what he does and Richardson's declining fast and has that player option. I'm not saying any of those contracts are STAT or JJ terrible, but if you can get the chance to move any of those contracts, you do it.
The point I'm making with your strategy is....there are no free agents with which one could actually base a contender around in 2014, and who would actually leave for Orlando. None. Durant's up in 2016, Westbrook's up in 2017, and OKC will extend Harden in 2013. Dirk's a free agent, but God knows how good he will still be in two years and I doubt he leaves Dallas. Same with Kobe, and same with the Miami trio. There's a lot of good ones - Deng, Granger, Lowry, but no great ones. So what will happen is something aka to the Pistons in 2009, when they massively overpaid for mediocre free agents because they had no other choice. Even though I've never been one to endorse tanking or draft picks because I think they're seriously overrated, I think that is Orlando's best bet. Get young prospects and try with them, whether it's Klay Thompson or Royce White. Not Andrew Bogut.
Get as many draft picks as possible. I wouldn't care about offloading contracts because by the time your rookies develop they will be gone anyway. In all honesty, Howard and Hedo/JRich to Houston for a few randoms and as many draft picks as possible. Hell I wouldn't even care about putting together a real team, assuming Orlando still has their own picks.
1. Trade him for Bynum. 2. Call his bluff and bring him back next season. 3. Trade with the Rockets. One, is the smartest, two is the funniest, and the third is the most likely.
