Dwight Howard trade rumours: Rumours continue... Dwight flip flops

[mcHAPPY]

This is what we have to look forward to over the next 72 hours..... reportedly:

The Orlando Magic's strategy for the moment on Dwight Howard, according to sources close to the process, calls for spending the next 48 hours or so making one last hard push to acquire the sort of difference-maker that would encourage Howard to commit his long-term future to the team that drafted him in 2004.

If no newcomer is acquired by Wednesday, sources said, Magic officials plan to spend the final 24 hours before Thursday's 3 p.m. deadline evaluating all of their trade options and then deciding Thursday whether to stick to their long-standing desire to roll the dice and keep Howard beyond the deadline or make the best available trade.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/76...-dwight-howard

[ceez]

hopefully it happens sooner than later, first domino.

[Miekenstien]

howard is looking more and more like a huge douche bag. been reading today that he wants to end the year in orlando now. most people believe and i do to that it is because he doesn't want his next team to trade away all their prospects for him. if that is true what a cock. talk about loyalty and honesty. remember when he came into the league he was the shy squeaky clean christian kid. did money and fame ever get to this guy, if all that i read is true.

[omgsomuchpotential]

howard is looking more and more like a huge douche bag. been reading today that he wants to end the year in orlando now. most people believe and i do to that it is because he doesn't want his next team to trade away all their prospects for him. if that is true what a cock. talk about loyalty and honesty. remember when he came into the league he was the shy squeaky clean christian kid. did money and fame ever get to this guy, if all that i read is true.

Couldn't agree more.

[mcHAPPY]

I officially hate Dwight Howard

Doug Smith nails it in my opinion..... or is BANG ON! as they say:

Let me get this straight:

The Orlando Magic have beaten Chicago and Miami in the last week, they have the third best record in the East and the fifth best in the NBA and Dwight Howard is bleating about management needing to “roll their dice” this summer because he wants to stay past Thursday’s deadline?

You know, I used to like Dwight Howard an awful lot, he played the game with a smile on his face, was very good and it looked like he was on his way to being one of the very best in the game.

Now, he seems to be something of a petulant little spoiled brat who wants his own way right now; he’s with an organization that’s bent over backwards to accommodate him, they surrounded him with all kinds of good players – good enough to get to an NBA Finals – and paid him as much as they could. He has a fawning fan base to adore him and perhaps the nicest arena in the NBA to play his home games in.

And he wants them to “roll their dice” in the summer.

The Magic ought to find one of those “rental” trade scenarios being kicked around – Houston, maybe? – and ship him out and roll their dice with the rest of ‘em.

And sometime next year, when Howard’s taken a huge financial hit and he’s playing Brooklyn for a team that will always – always – be second fiddle to the Knicks in that market, maybe he’ll realize what “rolling the dice” can mean.

http://thestar.blogs.com/raptors/201...nt-pretty.html

[mcHAPPY]

Another emphatic bang on. If Orlando does not trade Howard they deserve what they have coming. Also, it has been reported Howard will not waive his ETO for next season (this is what Chris Paul did). If the Magic can't read the writing on the wall........

At least the trade deadline reached its nadir early, with 36 hours to go, because it won’t get much more ridiculous than this: Dwight Howard told reporters after Orlando’s stirring overtime win against Miami on Tuesday that he has informed Magic brass he’d prefer the team kindly keep him through this season and “roll the dice” on his own free agency. This is like playing Russian Roulette with a friend, only the friend loads the chamber, hands you the gun and ask you to play for his own entertainment. Click the trigger a few times, and maybe he’ll hang out with you again sometime.

Here’s Howard:

“I told them I want to finish this season out and give our team, give our fans some hope for the future. But I feel they have to roll the dice. It might be tough, but I feel we’ve got a great opportunity. But they’ve got to roll it.”

Howard has asked the Magic to take on all the risk without promising any reward, and in doing so, he has opened himself to accusations that his real goal here is for New Jersey to sign him in free agency, without sacrificing assets (Brook Lopez, MarShon Brooks, first-round picks galore–including this year’s lottery pick) via a deadline deal or taking on Hedo Turkoglu’s contract.

Perhaps Howard’s motives aren’t so sinister. He spoke Tuesday about the possibility of winning a title this season, an outcome that would make it very difficult for him to leave as a free agent. As good as the Magic are, a strong third-place in the East and fresh off wins over the two teams above them, all the metrics we have suggest a championship is a very unlikely outcome. Head-to-head matchups in the playoffs introduce a bit of a wild card that doesn’t exist in the macro picture, something the Grizzlies and Hawks reminded us last season, the latter in defeating a Magic team that was probably superior. But it’s hard to imagine this Magic team beating Chicago and Miami four times in seven games, and then doing the same against the Western Conference champion.

The Magic cannot pin their hopes as a franchise on such a low probability outcome, and Howard should know better than to ask at this stage.

Earlier Tuesday, both Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports and Ken Berger of CBSSports.co reported that Howard wants to end up with New Jersey, and that the Nets’ dream scenario starts with signing Howard as a free agent. That dreamscape includes bringing back Deron Williams, re-signing Lopez, set to be a restricted free agent, and generally avoiding any deal with Orlando that might cost New Jersey any assets at all — or involve taking back Turkoglu’s poison pill contract. As I outlined earlier, it would be impossible for New Jersey to sign Howard to a max-level contract, bring back Williams and retain matching rights on Lopez in restricted free agency. The Nets need to cut about $7 million from their 2012-13 salary bill to pull it off, and thus are engaging Charlotte in talks about swapping players with future guaranteed money (Jordan Farmar and others), along with a draft pick, for Boris Diaw’s expiring $9 million deal.

And even if New Jersey gets only part of the way to that $7 million goal, Howard could also sign for less than the maximum for which he’s eligible. Both he and Williams would have to do exactly that in order to sign together in Dallas as free agents.

Regardless, Howard’s comments Tuesday, at the very least, show a lack of empathy for his team. They will stain his legacy as one of the league’s greatest two-way stars and the centerpiece of a team that reached championship-level ability at its peak in 2008-09 and 2009-10. There is nothing wrong with Howard wanting to leave, as I have written many, many times. A team that drafts a star-level player essentially controls that player for at least a half-dozen seasons, often more; after putting in so much time, Howard and anyone else–LeBron James, Chris Bosh, whomever–is absolutely within his rights to chase money, titles, market exposure, or whatever else he might want. He’s within his rights to believe this Magic roster, situated in this Eastern Conference, is not good enough to win a title, though his affection for Glen Davis–and the long-term deal to which the Magic signed Davis–didn’t help in that regard.

But to let a franchise twist like this for nearly a year is another thing. Howard, if you’ll recall, was either dishonest or wrong just 10 months ago when he incorrectly claimed the collective bargaining agreement did not allow him to sign an extension at that time with the Magic. He has since demanded a trade, convinced the Magic to grant him permission to talk with three teams–the Nets, Mavericks and Lakers–and now rescinded that trade demand as the trade deadline bears down upon a team on the verge of long-term irrelevancy. Enough is enough.

http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2012...hes-low-point/

[Apollo]

The Magic are going to get burned. I can start to see the smoke rising as we speak. Similar to when the Raptors lost Carter for a box of Twinkies, the Magic are going to be stuck with a bunch of contracts which no longer make sense and which will delay a proper rebuild. They're going to stink for eons if they don't do something right now. If he really wants to be a Net that Magic probably don't even have much leverage as the Nets are working to clear space.

[Hello]

The Magic are going to get burned. I can start to see the smoke rising as we speak. Similar to when the Raptors lost Carter for a box of Twinkies, the Magic are going to be stuck with a bunch of contracts which no longer make sense and which will delay a proper rebuild. They're going to stink for eons if they don't do something right now. If he really wants to be a Net that Magic probably don't even have much leverage as the Nets are working to clear space.

I know it sucks for Orlando, but should we try and gain some assets from NJ?
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMa...radeId=7bepwaf
Something like that where we get morrow and they get an expiring contract?
Obviously we can not do anything to hurt their chances of getting Howard, might as well improve our team at the same time.

[mcHAPPY]

I know it sucks for Orlando, but should we try and gain some assets from NJ?
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMa...radeId=7bepwaf
Something like that where we get morrow and they get an expiring contract?
Obviously we can not do anything to hurt their chances of getting Howard, might as well improve our team at the same time.

I would do nothing for New Jersey/Brooklyn.

If anything I'd try to get Roddy/Jones/Marion to clear cap space for Dallas to sign Howard and Williams.

If New Jersey gets Howard this summer while keeping Brooks, Lopez, and Houston pick, that will suck for the Raptors over the next 5-6 years.

[Hello]

I would do nothing for New Jersey/Brooklyn.

If anything I'd try to get Roddy/Jones/Marion to clear cap space for Dallas to sign Howard and Williams.

If New Jersey gets Howard this summer while keeping Brooks, Lopez, and Houston pick, that will suck for the Raptors over the next 5-6 years.

I would agree, but seeing as Dwight has said he wants to sign with them in the off season so they can keep their pieces makes me believe his mind is made up.
I would rather make a trade that benefits us and an opponent, than one that only hurts us.

Edit: I also thought about the trade trying to get Dallas expiring contracts, and us getting Beausbois and filler in return, and I think I posted at least one trade in the trade proposals and if the deal benifitted us as well than I would be all for it. But I dont see us taking on any bad contracts to attempt to keep Howard out of NJ as a good plan for the future.

[mcHAPPY]

I would agree, but seeing as Dwight has said he wants to sign with them in the off season so they can keep their pieces makes me believe his mind is made up.
I would rather make a trade that benefits us and an opponent, than one that only hurts us.

Edit: I also thought about the trade trying to get Dallas expiring contracts, and us getting Beausbois and filler in return, and I think I posted at least one trade in the trade proposals and if the deal benifitted us as well than I would be all for it. But I dont see us taking on any bad contracts to attempt to keep Howard out of NJ as a good plan for the future.

I agree. Sorry if I was not clear but I started with, "If anything...." I didn't mean to imply definite.

I would have interest in Roddy and Jones. Definitely not Marion.

[mcHAPPY]

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMa...radeId=6sl8po2

I hope Orlando does something like the above.

They'd also get the Knicks 1st round pick from HOU which looks possible to be a lottery pick.

Except Martin, all those contracts are expring and they lose Turk.

Then trade Richardson to Minnesota for Beasley.

Orlando clears a lot of cap space, gets a young talent this year, and can tank next.

[mcHAPPY]

What a sh!t show

Welcome to the next episode of:

Days of our Dwight

Or

As Dwight Turns

Sam Amick @sam_amick
As first reported by WFTV in Orlando, sources confirm Dwight Howard told teammates & confidantes he will play final option year of contract

Sam Amick @sam_amick
KEY point: sources say he hasn't signed the paperwork, which must be signed by him and his representatives. Magic have not received the docs

I would imagine the backlash over his comments last night MIGHT (as in MAY if tweet is true) caused him to sign up for final year of contract.


I hope he signs the one year and then Orlando trades him..... oh please God let that happen.

[mcHAPPY]

Ken Berger @KBergCBS
This is the commitment -- in writing -- the Magic apparently need to suspend efforts to trade Howard prior to Thursday's 3 p.m. ET deadline.

Ken Berger @KBergCBS
The team has received no such documentation, which would need to be signed by Howard and his agent, Dan Fegan, source says.

Ken Berger @KBergCBS
The #Magic would require written documentation that Howard will waive his early-termination option before deciding against trading him.

Sam Amick @sam_amick
I'll believe it when he signs the papers, but Dwight Howard has informed numerous people close to him that he's staying one more season

,

[mcHAPPY]

Tweet of the day:

netw3rk @netw3rk
Breaking: Dwight Howard says "I don't know, do these shoes match? Should I try on the other outfit? I don't know.."