Sunday, August 12, 2012

How Dwight to the Lakers Shakes Up the League

The saga has ended. For now. At this point in time, nobody really cares.

Dwight Howard is set to be the next big center for the LA Lakers, after being dealt in a four team trade that included the Nuggets, Sixers and of course the Orlando Magic. What would have been a mind blowing front page story last year is now somewhat of a backstory leaving most people thinking "its about time".




Howard heads to LA along with Earl Clark and Chris Duhon, while the 76ers received Andrew Bynum along with Jason Richardson and his hefty contract. The nuggets made out well in acquiring Andre Iguodala, while the Magic received Aaron Afflalo, Al Harrington (from the Nuggets) , Moe Harkless and Nikola Vucevic (from the Sixers) and Christian Eyegna and Josh McRoberts (from LA).

It is strongly perceived by many that a coup was pulled on Orlando; they gave up a franchise player and most likely future Hall of Famer, for a bunch of spare parts that they may not even keep. Moe Harkless may turn into a solid scorer, and Aaron Afflalo can put up decent numbers, but outside of those two, the Magic may not keep the other four. One has to look at the trades Orlando passed up earlier, trades that could have made the Magic a playoff team in 2012. The Magic had a shot at a stockpile of talent in Brook Lopez, Kris Humphries and Mashon Brooks or up to three of four first round draft picks. This trade wreaks of desperation on the part of the Orlando front office. It will take a minimum of five years for this team to be competitive, and a star Orlando center has flown the coup, yet again.

On the other hand the Nuggets got a significant from Afflalo to Iguodala, an outstanding defender who still may have his best ball ahead of him. Iguodala puts the Nuggets at around the five seed, seeing as thought they already have quality pieces in Ty Lawson, Kenneth Farried and Javahle McGee.

The Sixers part of the deal may be overlooked because of the hype behind D12, but Andrew Bynum to Philly is a big deal! The Sixers could make some serious noise in the EC playoffs this season, as they now have a star big man in Bynum as well as young players like Jrue Holiday, Thad Young and Evan Turner. Philly hopped into the upper echelon of the East along with the likes of Indy, Boston and Miami, and will be expected to challenge Boston for the Atlantic division title.

The big part of the trade is obviously Howard finally moving to LA, and this certainly does not bode well for the rest of the NBA. Howard to the Lakers gives the Lakers a big three of their own in Kobe, Nash and Howard. This will most likely pit the Lakers with the Thunder for the Western Conference Title. The only concern I have with the Lakers is that they have little depth on the Wings. Ron Artest is no longer the player he was and rarely puts in a good offensive contribution. The Lakers desperately need a good small forward, but won't likely find one for at least another year. That means Kevin Durant will likely roam the perimeter stroking threes like he has been. Not to mention Steve Nash isn't fast enough to contain someone like Russell Westbrook. The good news is that we won't have to listen to anything regarding Dwight Howard trade/free agency rumors...at least for a year.

Image Source:
http://www.businessinsider.com/lakers-dwight-howard-luxury-tax-2012-8


1 comment:

  1. You should post this on the LAL site. That should give you more exposure.

    ReplyDelete