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| (Photo Courtesy: chicagotribune.com) |
After many months of speculation, deliberation, and analyzing, the Orlando Magic have finally traded Dwight Howard in a blockbuster, 4-team, 12-player trade......to the Los Angeles Lakers. I shall break down the trade for each team involved:
Lakers Lose: Andrew Bynum, Josh McRoberts, Christian Eyenga
Lakers Receive: Dwight Howard, Chris Duhon, Earl Clark
The Lakers are the obvious winners of this trade. They swapped their all-star center Andrew Bynum for the best center in the league, Dwight Howard. This trade makes them serious contenders.
The role players that they lost shouldn't end up being a huge factor. McRoberts struggled last season, his first and only for the Lakers, and though Eyenga is only 23 years old and has some potential, he wasn't a great fit with Los Angeles. He only played in one game with the team and served as a benchwarmer.
Clark and Duhon are both servicable. Clark is young, 24 years old, and hasn't gotten a lot of playing time in his career yet. The former McDonald's All-American could end up finding some good minutes with the Lakers, but could just as easily end up riding the bench all season. Duhon has had some flashes of greatness in his career, but has also had long spells of mediocrity. Though he averaged 10 points and 7 assists as a starter for the Knicks in the 08-09 season, he's spent the last two seasons with the Magic not playing as well with inconsistent minutes.
I think Clark and Duhon are both wild cards. Clark could end being a Cinderella starter and Duhon could be a great back-up point guard to Steve Nash, but they could very well end up sitting on the end of the bench next to each other the whole season.
Nuggets Lose: Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington
Nuggets Receive: Andre Iguodala
I'm not sure how I feel about swap of players that the Nuggets made. Afflalo averaged 15 points a game last season as a starter for the Nugs last season and is in the prime of his career right now. Harrington is past his prime, but averaged 14 points and 6 rebounds off the bench for Denver last season.
Iguodala is a great player, don't get me wrong, and all of the NBA analysts I've seen on TV seem to think he'll fit in well in coach George Karl's system, but I don't know if he'll make up for the losses of Afflalo and Harrington. The Nuggets had a good team last season and I don't think that shaking up the roster like this will help the team win more games.
76ers Lose: Andre Iguodala, Moe Harkless, Nikola Vucevic
76ers Receive: Andrew Bynum, Jason Richardson
There is some risk for Philadelphia making this trade. Bynum is a 2-time NBA champion, was an All-Star starter last season with the Lakers, and should be an All-Star for years to come, but he has had problems with injuries in his career so far and his contract ends at the end of the season. Jason Richardson was a borderline All-Star back in the day, but is getting older every day while he'll keep getting paid more and more every year until 2015, assuming he picks up his player option. However, he could end up being rejuvenated as a starter or 6th man.
The 76ers gave up some valuable assets in this trade. Iguodala had played his entire career in Philly since being their first-round pick in 2004. He was an All-Star last season and is competing in the Olympics with the men's basketball team currently. Iggy was the face of their franchise after Allen Iverson left. He was a veteran leader and glue guy who was an important piece to the 76ers.
Harkless is an unproven rookie, but is only 19 years old and has some crazy potential. He averaged 15.5 points and 8.6 rebounds as a freshman at St. Johns last season. Vucevic is also young with a lot of potential. The 21-year old from Switzerland averaged about 5 points and 5 rebounds as a rookie for the Sixers last season in only 16 minutes a game.
This trade could pay off for Philadelphia in a big way, but on the other hand, it could end up disastrous for them. I personally liked the 76ers team that they had before with Lou Williams and Elton Brand.
Magic Lose: Dwight Howard, Jason Richardson, Chris Duhon, Earl Clark
Magic Receive: Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Moe Harkless, Nikola Vucevic, Josh McRoberts, Christian Eyenga
Dwight Howard leaving the Magic was inevitable and so the Magic were planning on trading him so they could get another star player in return to cut their losses. A flurry of swaps were talked about that involved the Magic getting Andrew Bynum, Amar'e Stoudemire, Brook Lopez, Monta Ellis, and Pau Gasol, but management in Orlando knew that they wouldn't get a player as good as Howard in return. So considering that the Magic weren't contenders even with D12, it was pretty much certain that they would be worse and even more mediocre than before with whatever star/franchise player(s) they got in return.
So they decided to go another route and used a different trading strategy that most people don't seem to understand, but I do. They traded almost entirely for the future. First off, they made sure they received a boatload of draft picks (first and second round), which they did.
They received 6 players and not all of them will be great for them, but I'm sure the Magic knew what they were doing when they traded for the players they did.
Al Harrington is 32 years old and past his prime, but is still serviceable right now and is coming off a good season. He will also serve as a veteran leader and should look to guide the Magic's 2012 first round draft pick, power forward Andrew Nicholson, and Kyle O'Quinn, the team's other rookie power forward, along with young big men Gustavo Ayon, Glen Davis, Nikola Vucevic, and Josh McRoberts.
Arron Afflalo is in his prime and is coming off the best season of his career so far. He averaged 15.2 points a game as a starter for the Nuggets and helped lead them to the playoffs where they forced a Game 7 against the Lakers. He should be a starter for the Magic this season and a team leader.
The only way that Affalo won't be a starter is if Moe Harkless has a stellar rookie season. There is a good chance that they will be starting together at shooting guard and small forward, especially since Jason Richardson is now gone and overpaid Hedo Turkoglu is a year older. Harkless is 19 years old and has a lot of potential. He could end up being an All-Star and has a bright future in the NBA. Since the Magic are probably gonna be a playoff team this season, Harkless should be given good minutes and develop nicely.
Nikola Vucevic is coming off a decent rookie season in Philly and should be helpful. He is young and could develop into a great player. Josh McRoberts is coming off a rough season with the Lakers, but played well the year before with the Pacers. Maybe he'll find a good niche with the Magic. Christian Eyenga is young and has played fairly well in his career so far. While he probably won't develop into a star, he could develop into a solid NBA contributor.
To sum it up, the Lakers made a great trade and will be one of the top teams in the NBA this season. I don't think this trade was a good move for the Nuggets, but I could be wrong. I think that this trade is risky for the 76ers. I think that the Magic did as well as they could have trading Dwight Howard.
Have any thoughts on the D12 trade? Leave a comment below and tell me what you think.
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