Revisionist History: The Dwight Howard Trade

            

Who Really Won the Dwight Howard Trade?

With the news that Andrew Bynum has been traded to and cut by the Chicago Bulls and will be on his 4^th team in 3 seasons, it is time to revisit the blockbuster trade of the NBA in the summer of 2012. It has been 15 months since the Dwight Howard blockbuster occurred and this article was written about winners and losers and now it is time to revisit the winners and losers of the trade. To recap on August 11^th 2012, the Los Angeles Lakers received Dwight Howard, Chris Duhon, and Earl Clark from Orlando.

The 76ers got Andrew Bynum from the Lakers and Jason Richardson from Orlando. The Nuggets got Andre Iguodala from the 76ers. The Orlando Magic got Aaron Afflalo and Al Harrington from Denver, Nikola Vuevic and Moe Harkless from Philadelphia, Josh McRoberts and Christian Eyenga from the Lakers as well as 3 first rounders and 2 second rounders over the next 5 years. Just 15 months later only 3 players remain on the team they were traded to and thus we have new winners and losers of the trade.

Winners:

Orlando Magic

Crazy to think that the Magic could trade away one of the 5 best players in the NBA at the time and end up a winner, but they did. The Magic in the deal got much younger and much worse quickly. Without the trade, the Magic would not have been one of the worst teams in 2012-3 and would not have landed Victor Oladipo with the 2^ndpick in the draft. Also the Magic got a starting shooting guard in Aaron Aflfalo and center in Nikola Vuevic as well as a solid rotational player in Moe Harkless. While the team may not compete this year, they should have two lottery picks in the crowded 2014 draft (their own and the less favorable of the Nuggets/Knicks pick).

Oklahoma City Thunder

While on the face of it Dwight Howard going to the Western Conference should have left them worrisome, the 2012-3 Lakers were nothing that anyone expected and the Thunder benefit from that with an easy 1^st round series. Dwight Howard’s injured back never fully healed until it was too late for the Lakers to gel and truly reach its potential. Instead the Lakers were poor man’s version of themselves the whole season and Oklahoma City benefited with a walkthrough first round series against the Lakers.

Los Angeles Lakers

Yes 15 months later the Lakers are winners but for completely different reasons than before. The Lakers like many other teams have nothing to show for the Dwight Howard blockbuster other than one less first rounder in 2017. The fact they have nothing to show might be their biggest gain. Without the trade, the Lakers would have had no choice but to give Andrew Bynum a max deal after the 2013 season.

He is the Lakers only lottery pick of the last 18 years and was most likely player to pass the torch as the face of the Lakers after Kobe. The problem is Andrew Bynum does not want to play basketball. He is on a year prove-it contract and he does not want to play. Imagine if they Lakers invested 5 years and 100 million dollars in the guy who then decided he does not want to play. The fact that this trade saved the Lakers of Andrew Bynum makes them a winner.

Losers

The NBA’s new CBA

Dwight Howard left and the Lakers got nothing for him. The NBA wanted to prevent players from being able to take an extra year if they left their team in free agency via the sign and trade. With Dwight Howard unable to sign and trade, the Lakers got nothing from the Rockets in return for the potential superstar leaving just so he could grab the extra year and 30 million dollars.

Unlike in the summer of 2010, when both Lebron and Chris Bosh were sign and trades to end up in Miami leaving Cleveland and Toronto with future picks from the Heat, the Lakers got nothing. The NBA was trying to convince superstars to stay where they were by providing financial incentives to not leaving via free agency, but as Dwight proved even the new CBA will not stop them.

The 76ers

The 76ers thought their best chance to compete in the East was becoming a big physical team that could beat up Miami and slow down the game, much like the Celtics and Magic teams that beat LeBron in Cleveland and the Celtics and Pacers who slowed down the Heat in the 2012 playoffs. The 76ers traded their franchise player Andre Iguodala for another in Andrew Bynum. The problem is Bynum never played a single minute for the 76ers in 2012-3. He battled constant knee injuries that never healed and created such a divide in Philadelphia with the fans that they were forced to let him go in free agency.

The Denver Nuggets

The 2011-2 Denver Nuggets were a 6 seed that lost in the first round and the 2012-3 Denver Nuggets were a 6-seed that lost in the first round. The biggest difference between those two teams was the addition of Andre Iguodala instead of Aaron Afflalo at shooting guard. Aaron Afflalo had an extremely team friendly 5 year 36.1 million dollar deal that had 3 years and player option left at the time of the deal and Iguodala was entering the final year of his deal. A year later the Nuggets were unable to re-sign Iguodala and rather than entering the 2014 draft with likely two lottery picks and Aaron Afflalo, the Nuggets instead just have 1 lottery pick to show for it.

Dwight Howard

Dwight Howard’s image took an even bigger hit from the trade. Dwight Howard went from one of the most liked, marketable NBA players to one who is simply disliked. The Dwight Howard time in LA and free agent saga was referred to as a Dwightmere. Dwight Howard suffered the same issue that LeBron did; in trying to make everyone like him he instead made everyone hate him. Dwight led teams along even though almost everyone knew that he was going to end up in Houston from the moment free agency started. While Dwight might be happy in Houston now, his image took an even greater punishment as he switched teams for the 2^ndtime in 2 years.

Choosing Players II: Keeping Franchise Players Happy

Thunder Superstar, Kevin Durant

For the first article of this series, click HERE

In the NBA, every elite team seems to have at least one "superstar" that serves as the face of the franchise.  Names such as Carmelo Anthony of the Knicks, Dirk Nowitzki of the Mavericks, and Kevin Durant and Russel Westbrook of the Thunder are just a few that come to mind.  In fact, when looking back at the championship teams of the past few years. all seem to have one thing in common: a dominant player.  It was LeBron James for the Heat, Dirk for the Mavericks, Kobe Bryant for the Lakers, and Paul Pierce for the Celtics.  In the NBA today, perhaps the biggest discrepancy among NBA teams is the presence, or lack thereof, of these superstars.  It seems that the main decision a team must make, after weighing costs and cap space, is either compiling a "supporting cast" for one or more superstars or choosing instead to develop a well-rounded squad without a star player.
Looking at the New York Knicks: their appearances in Madison Square Garden, controversial front office decisions, and bi-polar season records could merit them as one of the most interesting teams in the league.  In 2010, the Knicks traded for Amar'e Stoudamire, looking to begin a new, and hopefully more successful, era of Knicks basketball.  In February 2011, they traded for Carmelo Anthony. After injuries to Stoudamire and Carmelo's "superstar" aura, it seemed that the Knicks could currently be considered "Carmelo's team."

Following the model of looking to build a successful team around a superstar player, it seems the Knicks began to make moves within the organization that built the team up around Anthony.  It also seems, though, that these moves favored Carmelo over others players on the team.  For example, in December 2011, the Knicks were involved in a trade that brought Tyson Chandler to New York. The Knicks saw Chandler as a defensive presence and another big man to have down low, clearly an asset to Carmelo.  But throughout the year, it does not appear that Amar'e Stoudamire has benefited much from his presence.  In fact, while Carmelo had no problem getting off around 25-30 shots a game with Chandler, Stoudamire's offense seemed to be negatively affected.  He averaged 17.5 points a game in 47 games last season, down nearly four points from his career average.

After a mediocre start to the 2011-2012 season, Knicks coach Mike D'antoni resigned midway through the season.  He and Carmelo Anthony were clashing at the time, and Carmelo was rather open in expressing his preference for Mike Woodson, the Knicks current coach.  Towards the end of that same season, Jeremy Lin and "Linsanity" rocked New York Knicks basketball.  I hope that we don't need a refresher on Linsanity, as Lin burst onto the scene helping the Knicks win several games and the whole world was made aware of the events.  Interestingly enough, the Knicks, who had initially planned to match any offer up to $1 billion for Lin in the 2012 off-season, made no move after the Rockets presented Lin with a deal.  Instead, they signed Raymond Felton, bringing him back to the Knicks after stints with Denver and Portland.  After these events transpired, talks surfaced that Carmelo did not necessarily want Lin back on the team.  Perhaps Carmelo felt threatened by Linsanity, and the Knicks front office, as in all three of the events listed above, was acting to keep their beloved superstar happy.

A team that serves as perhaps a contrast to the Knicks is the Orlando Magic.  Last season, the Magic faced some internal discord as superstar Dwight Howard expressed his displeasure with playing in Orlando.  He was definitely not a fan of head coach Stan Van Gundy, and he did not seem content with the direction of the team.  But rather than fire Van Gundy to keep Howard happy, or close out deals (such as one with Chris Paul) to make Howard more optimistic about the team and his teammates, the Magic let Howard leave.

Howard may have left Orlando regardless of what they did to try to keep him there, or perhaps they had made moves but Howard was still not interested in staying.  While the Knicks have taken many measures to seemingly keep Carmelo Anthony happy and keep the Knicks as "his team." the Magic did not do the same for Dwight Howard.  Unlike the Knicks, who seemed to make moves to keep Carmelo Anthony happy, the Magic traded Howard away to the Los Angeles Lakers. It appears the Magic are either waiting for another superstar to bring to the team, or are in fact content with a team composed of role players like Glen Davis, JJ Redick, and Aron Afflalo.

Teams with superstars on their rosters undoubtedly reap the benefits of these players' performance on the court and image off the court. Superstars consistently put up big numbers in games, and advertisements and promotions featuring these players can help the financial well-being of their respective teams.  However, as a superstar serves as one of the focal points of an organization, it seems that they can often sway some front office decisions.  It is ultimately up to the organization to decide just how far, if at all, they are willing to allow this influence to go.