A look at how the Magic front office messed things up
Hell those bad moves really stack up, Hennigan was probably told to get what he could for Howard with the Lakers driving the trade and finding a team to take Bynum and then Denver no doubt came in to take Iggy.
Dave Aldridge on NBA.Com questioned why Orlando didn't take Bynum or Pau Gasol, we can understand them not wanting Gasol who is 32 now and on a huge contract if they are going into rebuild but Bynum was put down to durability issues. Even if Bynum walked they would have been no worse off than if Howard had walked.
Also I'll throw in, would Orlando have considered Iggy, we know he has a big contract but he made All Star game this year and is on team USA so that shows his playing level. When Denver traded Melo they did get an excellent young piece in Gallinari whilst Orlando have got unproven youngsters and a couple of solid veterans.
My final point is did Orlando ever contact Donnie Nelson at Dallas as Dwight had said he would sign for them if he was an FA and neither Nets or Lakers were available. With the Nets out the picture then it was now between Dallas and Lakers for Dwight, and we know that Mark Cuban would have sanctioned deals so speaking to Dallas could have drawn a rival bid out and brought in other teams who would not help the Lakers in a trade or at least maybe boosted up what Orlando got back from the Lakers-Philly-Denver deal..
The Magic never really recovered from losing Shaq. At least now they get SOMETHING for Dwight Howard. Teams never get anything close to full value when trading a legit super star, especially a center. But, I think they could have gotten more in the way of good draft picks which I don't think they will get. That is usually the key to these trades -- getting some really good draft picks to rebuild with.
Next year's Sixers pick might have been a good one, but that is going to Miami. The picks from LA, Philly, and Denver won't be that great probably. But, the team did ok if their young guys turn out well. Aflalo is a very solid two way guard who should complement JJ Reddick perfectly (with DeAndre Liggins as another 2 guard/small forward). Moe Harkless should be good and Nikola Vucevic looks serviceable. Andrew Nicholson and Kyle O'Quinn looked good in summer league so I expect them to do pretty well. At the other spots, Big Baby Davis, Al Harrington, and Hedo add scoring, rebounding, and front court depth.
That's not a great team but it is not a bad team either. Although a lot depends on those young guys. I wouldn't rule out them contending for the eight seed. Right now I have the Heat and Celtics at the top with the Pacers at 3. The Knicks, Sixers, Bulls, and Nets at 4-7 in some order. The Hawks look like the team to beat out for the eight seed but this Magic squad has some decent enough talent to make things interesting. The Magic are close to the Bucks and Raptors and look like they are a bit deeper at the forward spots.
Dude, this is a 30 win team. You are looking at Summer League guys and rookies and expecting them to go out and carry an NBA franchise. Reddick and Afflalo play the same position. Jameer Nelso is fine but not compared to the stacked PGs all around the league. Nikola is a second year player who's ceiling is probably back up Center (and he needs a couple of years to get there). Ayon is also a second year player.
Baby, Al, and Hedo are past their prime. Baby never really had a prime. He is a career 44% shooting PF. That does not win you games in the NBA.
But you may have a point about them getting into the playoffs. If they really really gell, maybe. I think 40 wins will get you into the playoffs next season in the East. The Thunder, Lakers, Nuggets, Spurs, Wolves all got better. The Grizzlies and Clippers stayed the same, good. The Mavs still have Dirk. Portland still has Aldridge. There are some weak teams in the West, but really only Phoenix nuked themselves in this offseason.
of a trade like Lin (sign and trade), Amare and tyson for dwight and some of those bad contracts to make the money match as a potential trade?? but i guess they would be in the lower tier of playoff teams but my and my boy were talking about his and why wasnt this even talked about?? really wish ny was as smart as LA to get great bigs pennies on the dollar, even though bynum is great you guys know what i mean lol.
I am surprised how bad a deal Rob Hennigan got.
He wasted too much time holding out for the "best deal".
I think the Magic would gotten more if they just pull the trigger before the 2012 draft and try to get a package from Houston Rockets than to send Howard to the Lakers for pennies.
Great post love the reasearch you did, but one thing is that you said that Stuckey would be the best player of the Dwight era, which isn't true. Steve Francis was still averaging 21, 6 and 7 during Dwight's rookie season, Hedo averaged 19 ppg for one season and was really, really good, hitting huge clutch shots in huge moments. Rashard Lewis was decent the first two years of his monster deal, averaging 18 ppg, Carter was still scoring buckets his first season in Orlando. Ryan Anderson was amazing this past season. So although teh Magic have done a terrible job building around him and haven't given him a championship supporting cast, there have been several players on his team better than Rodney Stuckey.
Good point, Steve Francis was a star at the time but at the time he was their franchise player not Dwight. What i was trying to say is that if they had drafted Stuckey stuckey could have been their best player in the Dwight era. Stuckey was a superb talent and the reason he hasnt been so good is the pistons have been misusing him. Theyve been swapping him between positions when it was clear he was a 2guard. He also would have been a great compliment to Jameer.
Denver coming in for Iggy still doesn't quite add up unless Philly would only release him for the trade if they got Bynum. We had often talked on here about Iggy going to Lakers and if Philly had been interested in Pau Gasol then it could have maybe been done with Bynum going to the Lakers.
In the overall trade, Orlando haven't got great assets back and the picks are two to five years off, maybe Harkness is the best long term asset they get. Lakers could only lose out if Howard did walk and Bynum would have definitely stayed. Philly could again lose out if Bynum does walk but as with Howard they can offer a much better deal so have the upper hand on other teams. Denver who were the last team brought on board have perhaps get the best back for what they gave up with Iggy as his contract is worth roughly what Afflalo and Harrington are due over the next two years and Denver have only given up the worse of their 2014 first rounders available.
How do people see the Magic's depth chart being next season as they now have experienced guys at SF and SG and a load of guys still on rookie deals in the Front Court.
A look at how the Magic front office has faired since drafting Dwight Howard on June 24th 2004.
June 29th 2004: Traded Tracy McGrady(elite player 28 6 and 6) Juwan Howard(17 and 7,30 yrs old), Reece Gaines(year befores 15th pick), Tyronne Lue(11 and 4) for Steve Francis(17 and 6, great talent) Cuttino Mobley(14 and 4 knockdown shooter) Kelvin Cato(6 and 7 nice big). It doesnt look that bad until you realize what they traded the pieces they got for.
brace yourselves magic fans
January 10th 2005(23 games into the season) the Magic trade Cuttino Mobley for a 34 year old Doug Christie. He would average 6ppg in 21 games before being waived.
February 22nd 2006: Magic trade Steve Francis(main piece to trade and only a season and a half into francis' tenure) for a 34 year old Penny hardaway and little known 2nd rounder(Trevor Ariza). But wait it gets worse
February 24th 2006: Magic waive Penny Hardaway!! They traded their franchise player for a 2nd round pick!
I dont understand it.
other deals
July 24th 2004: Magic trade Steven Hunter(3 and 3) Drew Gooden(12 and 7) draft rights to Anderson Varejao for 2 2nd round picks(neither would ever play in nba) and Tony Battie(5 and 5). Really bad trade Varejao and Gooden alone each is better then 2 2nds and Battie.
February 15th 2006: Magic trade Kelvin Cato(4 and 3) and 1st round pick(Rodney Stuckey!) for Darko Millicic(1.5ppg) and Carlos Arroyo(3ppg). Trade a bench player and a 1st that turns out to be a good player for two scrubs.
November 20th 2007: Magic trade Trevor Ariza(8.9ppg 4.4rpg) for Maurice Evans(8ppg) Brian Cook(7ppg). Nice young players for two good role players.
February 19th 2009: Magic trade Adonal Foyle(2 and 3) Mike Wilks(3ppg) Brian Cook(3ppg) 2009 NBA 1st (Demare Carroll) for Rafer Alston(12ppg 5apg). Pretty good trade bunch of role players for a solid point.
June 25th 2009: Trade Rafer Alston(12 and 5) Courtney Lee(8.4ppg as rookie) and Tony Battie(5 and 4) for Ryan Anderson(7 and 5) and Vince Carter(17ppg). Solid deal. Anderson turns out to be great and Carter was still good
December 20th 2010: Magic trade Vince Carter(15ppg) Marcin Gortat(4 and 5) Mikhael Pietrus(9 and 4) and a 2011 1st(Nikola Mirotic) for Hedo Turkoglu(10 and 4, bad contract) Jason Richardson(19ppg turned into bad contract) and Earl Clark(3ppg). Horrible trade. They send Carter Gortat who turns out to be a top notch big a nice role player and a young guy with a lot of potential for two bad contracts and a worthless youn guy.
December 20th 2010: Magic trade Rashard Lewis(14ppg) for Gilbert Arenas(17ppg). Both were bad for their teams but its bad for the magic when you realize that Lewis was moved for Ariza and Okafor while Arenas was waived.
December 12th 2011: Magic trade Brandon Bass(11 and 6) for Glen Davis(12 and 5). Fair value for both teams.
July 11th 2012: Magic trade ryan anderson(18 and 8) for Gustavo Ayon(6 and 5). They didnt want to keep Anderson so they sent him for a role player.
If you look at their trades as a whole you can see that the Magic have done a god awful job building around Dwight.
Now to look at the draft
2004: Drafted Dwight and Anderson Varejao(who they traded for nothing)
2005: Took unknown Fran Vasquez with the 11th pick. Players like Villanueva Hakim Warrick and Splitter have all been mocked to orlando thanks to google search. Biggest one was Danny Granger who was a supposed lock in the top 10 and the magic could have snagged him but they took vasquez and let Granger fall all the way down the draft board. Granger was mocked to Orlando in one mock i saw.
2006: Took JJ Reddick with the 11th pick. The draft was horrible and this pick turned out to be good.
2007: Traded their 15th pick for Darko and arroyo. It turned out to be Stuckey who probably wouldve been the magics best player of the Dwight era.
2008: Courtney Lee was a good pick. Batum was available but in hindsight it was still a good pick.
2009: 1st round pick was traded ended up Being Demare Carroll
2010: Daniel Orton was picked 29th. He is no longer with the team.
2011: Pick was traded turned out to be Nikola Mirotic who is a valuable young guy and 2 time euroleague rising star of the year.
Looking at the big picture the Magic GM was absolutely horrible and i dont fault Dwight for wanting to leave.