(John Raoux / Associated Press / January 20, 2012)
Andrew Upshaw
The Dwight Howard drama is finally over. The Orlando Magic traded Dwight to the Lakers who got Denver and Philly to help out and send Aaron Affalo, Al Harrington and a couple dudes I’ve never heard of to Orlando. Philly gets Andrew Bynum, the second-best player in the deal and Denver gets Andre Iguodala. Overall it’s a good deal for every one, except Orlando. For the lakers it’s a great deal. I have no idea why the Magic decided to trade Dwight for so little but at the very least they get a clean slate to start over. In my opinion they would have been better off trading Dwight for Bynum straight up. Its cool though.
I’ve said before that Dwight is a major upgrade over Bynum. To recap, Howard is the best defender in the league while Bynum was slightly above average. Both Bynum and Howard are great rebounders but Dwight is slightly better. Offensively many people feel that Bynum is better because he has more of a conventional big-man post-up game. Dwight is much better working off of pick and rolls and cutting than Bynum is. Passing wise Dwight is used to hitting the open man, something Bynum hasn’t mastered yet. Adding all that up I say that Dwight is a better fit offensively for LA and a great pick and roll partner for Steve Nash. This trade makes the lakers legit championship contenders. I can’t call it. The Heat look great and Ray Allen is very good addition. The Thunder can still improve in the short-term but Dwight puts LA right there with both teams in terms of talent. Now we just have to play the games.
Dwight has been chilling in LA since he had back surgery in March and will probably miss the early part of the season. What are you gonna do? The Lakers still have other holes to address but damn man they STAY WINNING. A lot of other NBA owners are mad as hell right now especially after that lockout which was supposed to make it hard for superstars to leave their teams and make things easier for the little guy NBA owners(whatever the hell that means). That mentality is part of those OTHER team’s problems though. The Lakers go hard, all of the time. Unlike most other owners, Jerry Buss and family don’t have any other business ventures. Their business is basketball and that makes all the difference. Many teams complain about being a small market and the fact that the Lakers go over the cap to sign stars. While its true that many players prefer a big market to a small market that’s not the only factor in the Laker’s continued success. The lakers make trades and sign players to take on more money than other teams are willing to. It’s really that simple. Players who want to win(and that’s everybody) are going to come to LA. The small market argument is funny to me because most of these dudes are billionaires. Billionaires. The market matters a bit but if want to build a team for real you gotta put some of your OWN money up. Or get smarter like The Thunder, or Spurs or any other successful team (The Knicks put plenty of money up but their problem is that they’re dumb as hell). Complaining ain’t gotta get them anywhere. The Lakers are smart (Mitch Kupchak) and willing to ball if needed( The Buss family) plus competitive(they make the playoffs every year and aren’t satisfied with anything less than a championship). Take Mark Cuban who used to run the Mavericks in similar fashion to the way The Lakers run things. After the new CBA was passed Mark changed up his approach and The Lakers did too for a minute but after losing in the second round the Lakers did what they had to and got Steve Nash and Dwight Howard. The Mavs didn’t bother to defend their 2011 title. I’m not saying mark Cuban is wrong and he has done a great job running the Mavericks, but the Lakers were in the same exact position as Mark and pulled this trade off in spite of the financial penalties ahead (penalties that other teams pushed for specifically to fuck the Laker’s shit up). The Lakers don’t care about penalties though, just winning.
Philly and Denver got a little win out of this but the other big winner in this trade is Dwight Howard, NBA superstar. Superstar players stay winning too no matter how hard the other owners try to slow them down. The Stars are why fans tune in and why the teams matter. The owners can act like they’re all in this together during a lock out but as soon as a superstar is available, all bets are off because a great player can carry a franchise. Dan Gilbert talked all that shit about Lebron but Lebron was the main reason for all the success he’s had thus far as owner of the Cavs. The Cavs have bounced back a little and are hopeful for the future. Why? Cuz they have a potential superstar in Kyrie Irving. And other teams will want to take Kyrie for the Cavs. But are they willing to go as hard as they Lakers just did? Cuz that’s the bar for continued NBA success.
4 HOOPS HEADS 