Official Speculation Thread (Pt.XXXIX Off-Season Edition)

[Bensational]

http://www.thedreamshake.com/2012/7/16/3163395/rumored-dwight-howard-twitter-dm-leaks-drops-asking-price

Now, this is going off of quite an assumption here, as things like this can easily be photoshopped or forged, but thus far no one is denying the validity of them. But if they are true, one has to wonder how greatly Dwight Howard just dropped his market value to teams like the Rockets who are interested in trading for his services.

The photos are large, so I'll place them after the jump.

Thinking realistically, does anyone really think that any team, including Houston, would agree to a trade without even knowing that Dwight can't even run yet? There is just no situation that I could reasonably imagine where a team would forgo a medical evaluation on a player who is recovering from a serious back injury prior to agreeing to a trade. I can't even see any team getting into any type of negotiation without looking into this first. I'm not saying that it's untrue that he can't run yet, I'm just guessing that any team interested in trading for him probably already knows he can't run yet. So I just don't see this as a big deal to anyone except people like us who are not involved in the actual talks.

he's still in rehab. he's got until November to be ready for the start of the season, and longer if need be.

remember, we signed Grant Hill who's foot was still in a boot.

[InFlames]

of course they tried. but how serious were they about making changes? not serious enough to actually make them.

i think the Magic were more preoccupied with dealing with whether or not they'd trade Dwight, rather than making other trades. i also think we had a GM in place who thought he'd put a winner on the court and didn't feel pressured to make moves, and wasn't going to be pressured by his star player to make moves. it all comes back to arrogance with the Magic FO.

do you want to assume the Magic did everything within their power to keep Dwight happy and keep this team successful? c'mon now...

Of course I do. He's the 2nd best player in the league, once in a generation type. To think the Magic didn't try to make changes to appease him, and do everything in their power to make him happy is silly...especially during the most important season of our franchise. You are doing nothing but speculating with absolutely no evidence. I can at least use logic to support what I am saying.

[OrlandO]

Didn't someone post a pic of Dwight in a gym (basketball court) recently?

[TDJacksonville]

magic should claim Hasaan Whiteside. dude got size and length and shouldnt hurt to add more top young talent

[T-Rob]

FACT: Dwight Howard will lie to make himself look like the victim. Take anything he says with a grain of salt.

[timgator]

he's still in rehab. he's got until November to be ready for the start of the season, and longer if need be.

remember, we signed Grant Hill who's foot was still in a boot.

Yeah, but we knew he was still in a boot. He visited Orlando while he was still in crutches. That's why I don't think it's that big of a deal. People draft or trade for injured players quite often, knowing the risks involved.

[Bensational]

of course they tried. but how serious were they about making changes? not serious enough to actually make them.

i think the Magic were more preoccupied with dealing with whether or not they'd trade Dwight, rather than making other trades. i also think we had a GM in place who thought he'd put a winner on the court and didn't feel pressured to make moves, and wasn't going to be pressured by his star player to make moves. it all comes back to arrogance with the Magic FO.

do you want to assume the Magic did everything within their power to keep Dwight happy and keep this team successful? c'mon now...

Of course I do. He's the 2nd best player in the league, once in a generation type. To think the Magic didn't try to make changes to appease him, and do everything in their power to make him happy is silly...especially during the most important season of our franchise. You are doing nothing but speculating with absolutely no evidence. I can at least use logic to support what I am saying.

the proof is in the pudding - WE MADE NO CHANGES.

how do you deny that? you chalk it up to "oh, well they tried at least". of course they tried, it's their job to try. but they clearly weren't serious about making changes, BECAUSE WE DIDN'T MAKE ANY.

there are plenty of ways we could have made changes last year, that don't involve bringing back talent that's beyond our ability to obtain. addition by subtraction (would have benefitted from this in the case of Turk, Duhon and JRich). coaching change. sign players who have come off of waivers (Diaw, etc). trade for overpriced veterans (SJax). change the offense - give Dwight more touches in the 4th like he asked.

did we do these things? no. these are pretty minimalistic things, but we didn't do that. so, again, i ask you - how serious were we about making changes? so serious that one of our team's first responses to Dwight's trade request was for Otis to line up a deal that would have brought us Lopez and Wallace - and then Otis was stripped of all powers to actually make deals. and you think HE was serious about making changes to keep Dwight happy?

using logic doesn't excuse you for being ignorant to everything else.

[timgator]

Regarding the DMs, has anyone realized that parts of the conversation have been deleted? You can see in the 3rd screencap that MagicMarkee responds at the bottom at 3:02pm but it's not there in the 4th screencap. Several of Dwight's messages also don't appear to make any sense unless he was answering a question or responding to one of MagicMarkee's messages. Who knows how many messages were deleted and what was being said in those deleted messages...

http://www.thedreamshake.com/2012/7/16/3163395/rumored-dwight-howard-twitter-dm-leaks-drops-asking-price

[BadMofoPimp]

Magic didn't make changes because Otis likes this team.

[InFlames]

of course they tried. but how serious were they about making changes? not serious enough to actually make them.

i think the Magic were more preoccupied with dealing with whether or not they'd trade Dwight, rather than making other trades. i also think we had a GM in place who thought he'd put a winner on the court and didn't feel pressured to make moves, and wasn't going to be pressured by his star player to make moves. it all comes back to arrogance with the Magic FO.

do you want to assume the Magic did everything within their power to keep Dwight happy and keep this team successful? c'mon now...

Of course I do. He's the 2nd best player in the league, once in a generation type. To think the Magic didn't try to make changes to appease him, and do everything in their power to make him happy is silly...especially during the most important season of our franchise. You are doing nothing but speculating with absolutely no evidence. I can at least use logic to support what I am saying.

the proof is in the pudding - WE MADE NO CHANGES.

how do you deny that? you chalk it up to "oh, well they tried at least". of course they tried, it's their job to try. but they clearly weren't serious about making changes, BECAUSE WE DIDN'T MAKE ANY.

there are plenty of ways we could have made changes last year, that don't involve bringing back talent that's beyond our ability to obtain. addition by subtraction (would have benefitted from this in the case of Turk, Duhon and JRich). coaching change. sign players who have come off of waivers (Diaw, etc). trade for overpriced veterans (SJax). change the offense - give Dwight more touches in the 4th like he asked.

did we do these things? no. these are pretty minimalistic things, but we didn't do that. so, again, i ask you - how serious were we about making changes? so serious that one of our team's first responses to Dwight's trade request was for Otis to line up a deal that would have brought us Lopez and Wallace - and then Otis was stripped of all powers to actually make deals. and you think HE was serious about making changes to keep Dwight happy?

using logic doesn't excuse you for being ignorant to everything else.

Just because there were no changes, doesn't mean they didn't try to make changes. I'm not sure how I can make this any more clearer. Making petty changes just for the sake of making a change isn't smart or right. Even then, if Dwight endorsed any of these speculative changes, and they were realistic, they would have happened.

However, I am fine with you saying nothing changed with the coaching or management or whatever, I agree with that.

[InFlames]

Magic didn't make changes because Otis likes this team.

The Magic didn't make changes because we had no assets.

[cb1115]

Magic didn't make changes because Otis likes this team.

The Magic didn't make changes because we had no assets.

!!!

[BadMofoPimp]

Magic didn't make changes because Otis likes this team.

The Magic didn't make changes because we had no assets.

That too. But, I think they could have made trades but I don't think Otis was that respected around the league to deal with.

[The Effect]

Damn man, why did this **** have to waive his ETO??? Cant wait for the day hes off the team

[fbeye343]

White, Lamb and Montjo are all great young prospects. How does orlando say no to that if it can also get a lottery pick and clear their gap. If you do a deal like that Orlando has great young prospects and tons of cap space for next summer. Instead of looking at a multiple year rebuilding project, your looking at a one year project

[arkknight1988]

my prediction: orl/hou/la 3 way trade on friday. too many signs point to this

[TheMagicOne]

Dwight Howard must be the Baby of Vince Carter & LeBron James, there is no other logical explanation.

[EvilKoko]

http://blacksportsonline.com/home/2012/ ... ed-photos/

anyone see these yet?

-edit nm see they were already posted

[The Effect]

White, Lamb and Montjo are all great young prospects. How does orlando say no to that if it can also get a lottery pick and clear their gap.

Seriously doubt this is being offered

[TSKD000]

If it is true that Dwight does not want his dad involved in his trade talks anymore and that he has not spoken to him in weeks, then that is truly very, very sad. I hope that is not true at all. That is way worse than anything he has done to the Magic or Magic fans or Stan or teammates....wow, what happened to him?