Completed Dwight trade talk II

[AntwanBoldin]

Hope Dwight's back falls off 

[PetroNet]

Nets : listen, we'll give you Lopez, Brooks, Humps, and three unprotected first round picks in the next five years plus the rights to all our stashed Euros for Howard,and all your bad contracts such as Duhon, Turk, JRich and anything else you want to float out there...

Magic: no, I'll just take Afflalo, Harrington, Vucevic, Harkless and a 2017 lottery protected first rounder, a 2015 lottery protected first rounder, and one other lotter protected first rounder....and only dump one bad contract in the process

Hawks: listen, I can offer you Horford, Teague, Jenkins and two future UNPROTECTED first rounders for Howard and Turk (or any other bad contract of yours).

Magic: no, I'll just take Afflalo, Harrington, Vucevic, Harkless and a 2017 lottery protected first rounder, a 2015 lottery protected first rounder, and one other lotter protected first rounder....and only dump one bad contract in the process

Houston: listen up, I give you Lamb, White, Patterson, Morris (all rookie contracts), Martin and 5 draft picks for Howard and as many bad contracts as I can pay under NBA rules.

Magic: no, I'll just take Afflalo, Harrington, Vucevic, Harkless and a 2017 lottery protected first rounder, a 2015 lottery protected first rounder, and one other lotter protected first rounder....and only dump one bad contract in the process

[Rerisen]

WT: Kobe "Superman has found a home."

Shot across the bow to Shaq.

[BarnabyJones]

Just heard that Tyrann Mathieu was traded to the Lakers as part of the Dwight Howard deal.

[Dr Positivity]

It's not a bad trade for the Magic at all

1. I think most of us thought the best move was to get young players/draft picks and tank. Worst thing they could've done IMO was get Bynum and be a 30 W team + deal with his unrestricted FA status. Max out Lopez would've also been ill advised.

2. So if it comes down to a draft pick deal, it depends on what Houston was offering really. I have to assume Houston didn't blow away this offer. If HOU was offering TOR 1st, Lamb, White, Jones and Motiejunas and taking contracts, ORL obviously would've taken it. If it was just TOR 1st, DAL 1st, White and Jones as an offer? I'm not sure that's better than essentially 5 1sts including Harkless/Vucevic (none as high as TOR but quantity adds up) and Afflalo.

Overall I still think getting the TOR 1st would've been too hard to pass up if I was ORL even if the rest wasn't a great offer from HOU. But this isn't bad for ORL, they get to be absolutely god awful next year while stocking up on picks and capspace and have 3 young players (Harkless/Nicholson/Vucevic) picked in the teens to try out

[Zedders]

This will make for a fun season next year... if LA meets Miami in the Finals, I wonder if LeBron will wind up matched up with Pau a lot, that would be pretty amazing. If the rebounding isn't there Miami would have to play Haslem instead of Battier though, which would hurt our 3-point shooting.

Nash - Allen
Bryant - Wade
Artest - Battier
Gasol - James
Howard - Bosh

That would make for one fun series.

That small ball line up may have worked in the playoffs last year against teams with no real post presence (Boston, Thunder) who had to match up to you and go small themselves, but that won't work against the Lakers. You'll be forced to play Joel Anthony for 20 minutes a game, which will hurt your offense and spacing. Bosh can't be expected to guard Howard. LeBron might be able to do it on some possession but it'll take a lot of energy out of him.

Lakers are a horrible match up now for both the Heat and the Thunder.

[Rich Rane]

Orlando press conference in 10 minutes
http://www.nba.com/magic/magic_live_stream.html

[ieatchildrenraw]

Still don't understand why Orlando didn't take Houston's offer.

1. Lakers don't become a super team

2. They still get same amount of good prospects.

3. They get a lot of Houston's draft picks because Morey was getting nervous and after Howard leaves after the season they become pretty good lotto picks for a few years since they would've been unprotected.

Orlando could've built a contender with Houston's offer instead they will either go OKC and get super good through the draft (tough to do) build a medicore playoff team that will never get past the first round (If they draft and sign decent players) or be stuck in hell with teams like the Sacremento Kings because no one wants to play in Orlando and never be able to put the draft picks together into a system.

[3gbrrrfkyt]

So how long until he starts crying about not getting enough shots? I say 10 games.

[AntwanBoldin]

So Orlando sheds all talent and sheds no salary .

They're paying the same in salaries to be a joke .


You can tank with Lopez or Bynum, they're not #1's and they aren't taking that d-league roster anywhere .

Oh, cap room in 2 years? To sign whom exactly? Did anyone significant change teams this summer ?

They couldn't even get a dollar in cash. They got their panties in a bunch over Brooklyn only to let Los Angeles bend them over

[SOUL]

Bynum or Lopez would absolutely make us compete. Not playoffs I don't think, but we would not be top lottery.

[StojkoVrankovic]

Trolling Celtics fans and reading their blogs/forums has been the most satisfying part of this whole thing. God I love being a Lakers fan.

You know what is satisfying to us Celtic fans? The Lakers claiming another teams championships as their own to be in the conversation with us.

That is flattering.

[TheXFactor]

pass the courvoisier

[eatyourchildren]

Trolling Celtics fans and reading their blogs/forums has been the most satisfying part of this whole thing. God I love being a Lakers fan.

You know what is satisfying to us Celtic fans? The Lakers claiming another teams championships as their own to be in the conversation with us.

That is flattering.

Aw, that's cute, hanging onto some 40 year old legacy. We'll see you in the finals.

Oh wait, no we won't.

[bebopdeluxe]

I wouldnt be betting money on Lakers even getting the Finals, they still have to deal with that team from OKC with Durant, Harden, Westbrook, Maynor and others. If they cant deal with them then getting to Final wont happen.

i cant see okc even being competitive with this laker team. nash will expose westbrook and with kobe on the floor you cant really throw sefelosha on him the way they did with parker. isnide, they will get dominated. id assume lakers in 5

Nash will expose Westbrook? Wut?

Last I looked, Nash is THIRTY-EIGHT FREAKING YEARS OLD.

He is a great pickup for the Lakers...but the thought of a early June WCF matchup where a THIRTY NINE year old Nash will have to contend with Westbrook should lead to many sleepless nights for Mike Brown.

The Lakers got better - no question. But until Nash shows me he can play at an elite level against a team with the athleticism and speed of the Thunder, I remain skeptical.

[eatyourchildren]

We must live in an alternate universe where Steve Nash still has to prove something to anybody.

[junot111]

Rob Hennigan looks happy in the press conference

[StojkoVrankovic]

Trolling Celtics fans and reading their blogs/forums has been the most satisfying part of this whole thing. God I love being a Lakers fan.

You know what is satisfying to us Celtic fans? The Lakers claiming another teams championships as their own to be in the conversation with us.

That is flattering.

Aw, that's cute, hanging onto some 40 year old legacy. We'll see you in the finals.

Oh wait, no we won't.

17>11

[WOX_69]

17>11

Oh God, this nonsense again? Get over it already.

[PetroNet]

1. I think most of us thought the best move was to get young players/draft picks and tank. Worst thing they could've done IMO was get Bynum and be a 30 W team + deal with his unrestricted FA status. Max out Lopez would've also been ill advised.

only they didnt get one good prospect with all-star potential. they also added an older player in harrington with a large contract. and the draft picks they got are awful. years out, and lottery protected. im not seeing a 2016 #24 pick putting orlando back on the map

2. So if it comes down to a draft pick deal, it depends on what Houston was offering really. I have to assume Houston didn't blow away this offer. If HOU was offering TOR 1st, Lamb, White, Jones and Motiejunas and taking contracts, ORL obviously would've taken it. If it was just TOR 1st, DAL 1st, White and Jones as an offer? I'm not sure that's better than essentially 5 1sts including Harkless/Vucevic (none as high as TOR but quantity adds up) and Afflalo.

dallas/toronto picks and taking on salary alone would have been WAY better then what they jsut got. hell at least those picks have potential to be in the lottery and be impact players. lettin alone adding white to go along with it. 3 future lottery protected picks???

Overall I still think getting the TOR 1st would've been too hard to pass up if I was ORL even if the rest wasn't a great offer from HOU. But this isn't bad for ORL, they get to be absolutely god awful next year while stocking up on picks and capspace and have 3 young players (Harkless/Nicholson/Vucevic) picked in the teens to try out

orlando got an awful awful awful deal. no other way to slice it... if the plan is to get young players and picks, it just a giant fail. sure they will suck, they will get to use their own lottery picks, and will eventually have cap room. but that doesnt excuse not een gettingONE unportected pick and not gettign ONE young player drafted in the lottery -- despite giving up by far the best player in the deal and having 4 teams involved.

If you cant get 1 lottery pick, or 1 lottery player for dwight howard, you need to really find a new day job