The Dwight Saga Found an Ending: Thoughts from a Magic Fan

Dwight Howard 2004

This is going to be an opinion piece for the most part, because I am a fan of the Orlando Magic first and will give my thoughts to what happened here.  Dwight Howard, I saw him grow into the most dominant center this era, such raw power and he can control the paint on the defensive side of the ball.  I was one of many who questioned it when we drafted Howard over a proven center in Emeka Ofakor that came from a powerhouse in University of Connecticut who was the National player of the year and won the National Championship in 2004.  I had Ofakor's picture printed out, ready for him to be in a Magic uniform.  I remember working a summer camp in Tennessee that year, so I couldn’t catch the draft, and could not receive calls so I decided to buy the Tennessean newsprint only to see an 18 year kid drafted out of Atlanta, GA.  I heard briefly about him but I was so disappointed that I started to have visions of Kwane Brown running thru my head, knowing how hard it is to develop a big man coming out of high school.  As I started to watch footage of Dwight Howard in the summer league, I saw potential but I wanted to wait for the end result.  The franchise had just recently traded Tracy McGrady who was our franchise player at the time, so for the most part, many Magic fans were still recovering from losing the hometown kid.  Dwight Howard eventually put the Orlando Magic back in championship status, recovering from the Shaq/Penny era, no disrespect to Tracy and Grant Hill but we really never saw what that could have been, at one point, this team was planning to relocate to Kansas City, then we built the Amway Center, Dwight’s home to stay in Orlando.  It’s funny, the kid I saw the last few years didn’t enjoy being around these parts anymore.  The relationship between him and the front office grew sour, to a point where the relationship could not be repaired.   Let me review this blockbuster trade, from what I perceive to be the Magic’s point of view.

Arron Afflalo

Orlando has acquired Aaron Afflalo and Al Harrington from Denver, Maurice Harkless and Nikola Vucevic from Philadelphia, as well as Josh McRoberts and Christian Eyenga from the Los Angeles Lakers. The Magic have also acquired five additional draft picks over the next five years. Orlando receives: a second round pick from Denver in 2013, a first round pick from either Denver or New York in 2014, a conditional first round pick from Philadelphia and a conditional second round pick from the L.A. Lakers in 2015, and a conditional first round pick from the L.A. Lakers in 2017. Included in the trade was a 18 million Trade Player Exception

Orlando is clearly looking to the future with this trade, along with Howard, they got rid of bloated contracts in Jason Richardson and Chris Duhon which will set up Orlando to be major players in the 2014-2015 season in free agency.  Based on early estimates, the Orlando Magic will be around $30 million under contract during 2014/15.  The old saying is you must take a step back to move two steps forward, needless to say, Orlando is a lottery bound team for the next few years.  As far as the talent coming back in, Afflalo comes in being a solid wing defender that can knock down open shots, could be a solid piece, Al Harrington could be a trade piece in 2014 as a expiring contract, Maurice Harkless, the St. John’s product was highly touted by Hennigan and staff before the 76ers picked him with the 15th pick.  McRoberts is noted as a banger, and Eyenga, very athletic but still labeled as a extremely raw talent.  Which i will do further analysis of the players on a season preview coming within a few months. (Hennigan's Press Conference)

I've seen many responses that indicate that this was the worst trade in NBA history but many people are not looking into the future and hindsight is apparent.  The last transaction that was lopsided was the Memphis Grizzles trading Pau Gasol and 2nd round pick to the Lakers in 2008 for Kwane Brown, Javaris Crittenton and Aaron McKie.  Years later, they have a playoff team at the moment and are back in playoff contention with Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol anchoring the frontline along with swingman Rudy Gay, the point being, under the right management, the moves were made to be relevant again and this Dwight Howard trade should be judged in a few years and not at the moment.

Jacque Vaughn and Rob Hennigan

I will be forever grateful for what Dwight has done for our franchise however there were some things he could have handled and said better but he’s a kid and honestly I would not know how I would act with money and attention coming my way either.  It’s no secret that I do not like the Lakers, it’s the history with Shaquille O’Neal that gets me but that’s a whole another segment. I have no beef with Dwight right now but If he signs that extension with the Los Angeles Lakers I will lose all respect for him. He once said, “I don’t want to follow in the footsteps of Shaq.” Well, he is known for flip flopping, right?