After a wild day that saw speculation that Dwight Howard would waive his early termination option, reports have surfaced that multiple league executives believe that the Magic will now look to deal the center before tomorrow’s deadline.
The Rockets must now push all of their chips to the table. If Howard walks in the summer, leaving $28million on the table, so be it. But they must now swing for the fences. This is what they’ve accumulated these assets for in the first place.
The team can offer Orlando some combination including Kyle Lowry, Kevin Martin, Marcus Morris, Patrick Patterson, Donatas Motiejunas, Sergio Llull, and the New York Knicks’ draft pick, while still leaving enough of their veteran core intact to make a run this season. If Howard left, they could finally rebuild and dislodge from mediocrity. This is a bold move the Rockets must now make.
UPDATE:
Adrian Wojnarowski just reported that the Magic are working to trade Howard; while I’d imagine other teams are in the picture, the Nets and Rockets were the only two specifically named, both in this report and in others I’ve seen.
It looks like this may come down to a classic bidding war with the Nets able to offer Brooke Lopez, Marshoon Brooks, and draft picks, while the Rockets hold, as a reader put it in the comments, “the cornucopia of young talent” I mentioned above.
Three things that I think the Rockets have in their favor:
1. Potential spite: I could see the Magic taking a marginally lesser deal (caveat: only if its marginally lesser) just to not acquiesce into giftwrapping Howard to his preferred destination.
2. I could see the Magic not wanting to keep Howard within the conference and facilitating the creation of a star duo whom they would have to face for years.
3. I could see the Nets not wanting to put all their chips on the table, knowing they could also have a shot at Howard in the summer. The Rockets, on the other hand, would be more willing to go all in as they know this is their only shot – he wouldn’t pick them in outright free agency.
This is getting crazy.
The catch 22 involved with giving up Lowry to get Howard is that Lowry is the second best reason for Howard to stay (best reason is ownership/management).
@Jeby is it? they could have just as much success this year in my opinion with a lee-dragic backcourt.
@rahathuq @Jeby More success, IMO. Dragic and Lee are slightly less productive offensively, but their combined defense is vastly better than a Lowry/Martin combo. With Dragic, Lee, Parsons, Scola, Howard we have one of the best defensive teams in the league(Never thought I’d say that while we still had scola…)
@Jdon76 @Jeby i feel kind of silly saying it, but I agree. i think a team of lee/dragic/parsons/scola/howard could make enough of a run to convince dwight to stick around, especially with the added bonus of deron williams joining.
@rahathuq correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Lowry’s ability to pass into the post one of the reasons he was brought in to play with Yao? I know it was a reason for bringing Shane. I’m not sure if Dragic has the same ability. Dragic is a dynamic player, but his ability to mesh with bigs isn’t what he’s known for.
@Jeby i’ve never heard that but you’re right, he definitely would fit in better than dragic. dragic is very turnover prone. i would prefer to keep kyle. but as kyle has higher trade value, if it came down to it, i’d deal him without hesitation to rent dwight.
so the way i see it, while their production is probably similar, lowry has much higher trade value.
The Rockets definitely have a cornucopia of young talent to offer the Magic, but with Jameer Nelson on the hook for 8 mil this year and next I don’t know if they would be looking at Lowry as the keystone of a trade. I guess we’ll see how much the Magic think of the Rockets assets tomorrow, because I’m sure Morey will offer up everyone other than McHale.
Lets do it… Love lowry and patterson, but why not. it wouldnt hurt.
This is definitely more exciting than last year.
Lifelong Rockets fan that does not want this to happen….Howard, in my opinion, is over-rated, uncoachable, and a prima donna. He is a superstar, but more in the celebrity sense than the basketball one. His free throw shooting is atrocious. He doesn’t make teammates better. He is completely ineffective outside of 10 feet. Yeah, he can jump really high and swat the ball into the 10th row, but after that…..yeah, his stats look great, but I think they are over-valued. It was Hedo that got them to the finals–not Dwight. If we can get him for the cost… Read more »
First of all, the Astros reference…Did you forget they went to a world series inbetween thetrade and sucking now?…anyways, I find you argument against Howard a bit ridiculous. You really think the Magic player aren’t better because he plays with them? You’re joking right? Without him Nelson never makes an all-star game, they never sniff the playoffs, they’d be the Bobcats without Dwight. This is the player we’ve been building up assets for and if we fail to cash in this deadline will be a failure. Kim English….-__-
@UncleCaveman i dont think thatd be an issue. when youre blowing it up like this, you dont worry about positions. you jsut get the most talent possible and then sort it out later. they could trade lowry themselves in the summer if nelson turned out to be unmovable.
i’ll have to respectfully disagree with you on this, sir. regarding the astros, that trade was made in 98…they made the world series in 2005. unless you feel john halama and freddy garcia led to the team’s demise.
as far as dwight, i agree that he is far from perfect and a huge risk….but you say they need to try and snare a “real stud.” who do you have in mind, if not dwight? durant, rose, james, etc. aren’t walking through that door..
@RedNinetyFour @luke1luk just dropped 24 points on LeBron James. New strategy for Rockets: only sign Bellaire HS graduates. Championship.
🙂 I do recall the astros world series trip…I guess in my mind it started the trend of dumping farm players for older talent that ultimately left us with nothing…it was a “push the chips all in” move that almost worked. I respect it, but it’s not my style. Your point about Nelson being better with dwight is true…I guess I see that as more of an indirect effect that happens since teams don’t respect Nelson and focus on shutting down dwight to beat the magic. Huq, you’re right. There are no stars walking through that door. I… Read more »
@Jdon76 Oh, and the fact that the Randy Johnson trade was in ’98 makes me feel old….that feels much more recent…
i think theres certainly merit to your stance. a very good chance he leaves if we get him. and he’s no hakeem olajuwon either. but he IS dominant, you have to admit. he’s basically single handedly kept the magic contenders during his time.
myself and others just want to take a risk and go for it. too many years of mediocrity. but yes, i would have preferred a sure thing like bogut myself.
@rahathuq I know, i found myself pining for Hakeem a little while ago while thinking about this…we got so spoiled.
My fear is once the dust settles, and we put Dwight with the pieces we have left we will become the “Magic of the West”. Essentially the same team he was already on with different names on the jersey….and third/fourth best : (
Do you think our pieces are that much better than Orlando’s?
absolutely. one thng that daryl morey has proven is that he can fill a roster with solid role players. the one thing he hasn’t been able to do is get a superstar because that requires luck. if he had a superstar in place, i have no doubt hed be able to surround him with the necessary talent.
@rahathuqCan’t argue with that….Think there’s any chance of getting Lamarcus Aldridge? I’ve been a longtime fan of his and feel he is under-valued (although finally starting to get some proper recognition).
I like a starting five of him, dalembert, lowry/dragic, lee, and patterson/parsons.