Lakers strike gold in trade for Howard

As a Celtics fan, one of the worst things that could happen is when something good happens to the Lakers.  So as you can imagine, this has been a nightmare.

The long, drawn out saga of Dwight Howard's trade demands finally came to an end with a four team deal that sends the disgruntled super star center to Los Angeles.  Howard can finally be happy now that he's finally gotten his wish to be shipped out of Orlando, while all the teams involved should also be thrilled with their involvement in the deal.  Well, almost everyone.

Let's see how the deal breaks down for each team.

Los Angeles Lakers
Acquired: Dwight Howard, Earl Clark, Chris Duhon
Traded: Andrew Bynum, Josh McRoberts, Christian Eyenga, 2017 lottery protected 1st round pick

Laker Land must be ecstatic with this deal.  They basically upgraded from Bynum to Howard for the low cost of a future lottery protected draft pick and two throw ins from the end of their bench.  Bynum is a great player, but Howard is on another level.  He's the most dominant big man of this generation and arguably the league's second best player, after LeBron.  He's an elite defender that will protect the rim and help mask the issues of Steve Nash trying to stop quick point guards from getting into the paint.

Best of all, they manged to do the deal without having to give up Pau Gasol.  Earlier this week, when rumors of this proposed trade began to swirl, Gasol was included in the package going to Orlando.  Sacrificing both of their talented big men would be a steep price to pay, but still worth it to acquire Howard.  When all was said and done, Gasol ended up staying put.  The Lakers will now roll out a Big Four of Howard, Kobe, Gasol and Nash.  Try stopping that!  It's an expensive team, with the payroll expected to climb over $100 million this season, but their deep pockets can afford it.  Picking up the contracts of Duhon (owed $7.25 million over the next two seasons) and Clark (expiring deal for about $1.2 million) will just add to their outrageous luxury tax bill, but if Howard helps bring a couple more titles, he'll be well worth the price.

Imagine how pumped Kobe must be about this.  Filling their void at point guard with Nash had already made this summer a success.  Now this?  He'll now get to say that he played with both Shaq and Howard, the two most dominant big men in the past 20 years.  He also has a legitimate chance of equaling or even surpassing Jordan's 6 titles.  This has to get him excited enough to take another trip to Germany for more of that miracle treatment for his aching knees.

Depth may continue to be an issue for this team, but as Miami just proved, you can win with a top heavy team when the top is this star studded.  Barring major injuries or a drastic drop in production from some of their aging stars, the Lakers are set to be a top contender for at least the next two years.  Yes, Howard will still be a free agent next summer with the potential he will leave after one season, but the same could be said for Bynum.  Therefore the move was well worth the risk, knowing full well that a year in LA should be enough to charm Howard into committing to stay long term.

It was fun watching the young OKC Thunder team grow up into contenders last spring.  This was supposed to be their time to flourish into title favorites after falling just short last season.  Their exciting climb may have just been halted, as those bullies from Los Angeles once again found a super star that fell in their laps.  Must be nice to be a team in a glamorous warm weather city.

Philadelphia 76ers
Acquired: Andrew Bynum, Jason Richardson
Traded: Andre Iguodala, Nikola Vucevic, Moe Harkless, 2015 lottery protected 1st round pick

The Sixers made a splash by acquiring Bynum, who now becomes the best center in the East.  He's a player they are hoping they can build around for the future.  It's a bit risky, considering Bynum can become a free agent after this season, but the team is hoping that their young core of Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner and Thaddous Young will be enough to entice him to stay long term.  The fact that it puts him back on the East Coast (he's from Jersey) can't hurt their chances of re-signing him.

They had to part with All-Star forward Andre Iguodala as part of the deal, but he was never a great fit for this team and had long been rumored to be on the trading block.  He's a good player, but not one capable of carrying this team to a title.  His departure opens up more of a role for Turner, the former #2 overall pick who has yet to flourish, in part because his game is considered too similar to Iguodala's. 

Jason Richardson may be on the downside of his career, but he adds some much needed outside shooting.  With Bynum drawing attention on the inside, J-Rich should find himself open for plenty of shots.  His production slipped last season, but that may have been more to do with the chaos that surrounded the team that dragged just about everyone down.  Perhaps a change of scenery to a young team on the rise will rejuvenate him.  If he plays close to his potential then that $5.8 million price tag won't seem quite that bad.

The one puzzling aspect of this trade for them is it goes against everything they have worked for this off-season.  Had they known they were getting Bynum, there's no way they would have given a 2 year, $13 million deal to Spencer Hawes or a 2 year deal to Kwame Brown worth just under $6 million.  They would have been better off keeping Elton Brand (cut with the amnesty clause earlier this off-season) to pair with Bynum to form an imposing front court.  It's too late now to take back those earlier mistakes, so the team was right to not use those earlier moves as an excuse to pass on the chance to acquire a star player.

Denver Nuggets
Acquired: Andre Iguodala
Traded: Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, 2014 lottery protected 1st round pick

I really like this deal for Denver.  They exchanged some of their depth for a legitimate All-Star in Iguodala. He's one of the game's best defensive wing players, as well as a very good passing forward that can create on offense without having to be a scorer.  Denver has enough firepower on it's roster with Danillo Gallinari, Ty Lawson and Wilson Chandler that it doesn't need Iggy to carry the load like he did at times in Philadelphia.  That will allow him to play at his best by focusing on the other things that he does well.  Watching him flourish in the Olympics shows how good he can be when put in the proper role.  His athleticism will also make him a great fit in the Nuggets speedy transition attack.

Afflalo and Harrington are coming off nice seasons, but Denver may have just sold high on their value.  While their combined salaries come close to matching what they will pay Iggy for the next two seasons, they are owed a lot more money long term.  Denver saves as much as $23 million in the long run with this deal.

Denver is an improved team after this deal.  Too bad they had to help the Lakers get better as well in order to do it, which likely crushes their chances of becoming a legitimate title contender anytime soon.  If the rich were going to find a way to get richer anyway, they might as well join in to benefit themselves.

Orlando Magic
Acquired: Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Nikola Vucevic, Moe Harkless, Josh McRoberts, Christian Eyenga, 3 future lottery protected 1st round picks
Traded: Dwight Howard, Jason Richardson, Chris Duhon, Earl Clark
It boggles my mind how poorly Orlando played this out.  Granted they were put in a tough spot by a super star that was trying to force his way out of town, but it's hard to be excited about the return for Orlando.  Seriously, this is all they got?

I like Afflalo, but with 4 years and $30 million left on his contract, he's hardly a bargain.  Harrington is overpriced (3 years left for about $21.5 million), but Orlando can cut him after this season to save some money, as the last two years of his deal are only half guaranteed.  Neither of them are All-Star caliber players, despite being the best talent they received in return for the game's best big man.  The other players they received are cheap with some upside, but not likely to become stars, while the lottery protected draft picks they obtained aren't likely to provide anything more than solid role players or future trade assets.

I've said all along that while Orlando was being forced into a position that they had to trade Howard, they couldn't do it unless it allowed them to quickly re-build.  Part of that plan was to unload a few of their bad contracts that they stuck themselves with while desperately trying to throw together a contender that would entice Howard to stay.  They did manage to get rid of Duhon and Richardson, but those were hardly their worst contracts.  How did they allow this trade to go through without at least forcing a team to take on Hedo Turkoglu or Glenn Davis' contract?

While we're at it, why didn't Orlando insist on getting Pau Gasol in the deal?  At least then they would have a legitimate All-Star player to show for the loss of their franchise player.  Maybe a 32 year old that is owed over $38 million over the next two years isn't the ideal player to build around, but he's a lot better than what they got.  Plus, by taking on Gasol's salary they could have forced the Lakers to take back some combination of Turkoglu, Davis and Harrington.  That would clear almost all their bad contracts and save them a ton in salary cap space.   If they didn't want to build around Gasol, there are plenty of teams that would be willing to trade for him with a better return than what they got stuck with (Houston fans are quietly nodding to themselves).

The worst part of all this is that Orlando waited too long waiting for the perfect deal that they missed out on several better offers.  The package Houston had offered last month (Kevin Martin, Kyle Lowry, Louis Scola, plus a combination of rookies and draft picks) was far better than what they ended up with.  Even Brooklyn's offer (Brook Lopez, Kris Humphries, Marshawn Brooks, plus draft picks) easily trumps this deal.  Both of those deals would have acquired better talent and allowed them to dump more of their bad contracts.  They passed on both offers and ended up settling for an inferior deal. 

A Pu Pu Platter this poorly thrown together should at least come with a free side of rice.  Orlando didn't get nearly enough in return for their franchise player, but at this point I'm sure they are just happy this drama can be put behind them.  Perhaps their plan is to just bottom out and collect multiple high draft picks in the next few years, while waiting for those bad contracts to run out.  That would explain why they accepted so little in return while also failing to free up much immediate cap room.  There is no worse fate in the NBA than being stuck in the purgatory of mediocrity.  Not good enough to contend, but not bad enough to get a top draft pick.  It's a tough cycle to break out of once you're in it.  If the Magic couldn't get back a super star player in return, perhaps they think they can tank their way into drafting one.  That's the only way to make sense of this trade from their perspective.