With all Dwight Howard trade action — to the Rockets, to the Lakers in a three-team deal with Cleveland, to anyone — in a holding pattern, speculation is starting to run wild.
Not rumors. Not “hey, GM X talked to the Magic to put in a bid.” But rather random, rampant speculation from the media and fans about things that are never going to happen.
Case in point, some fans and media are running with what John Rhode of the Oklahoman wrote.
OKC could throw its name into the Howard hopper and offer Kendrick Perkins, James Harden and Eric Maynor in a Howard sign-and-trade with Orlando, but doing so would abandon the Presti Plan and give the perception he had gone about things all wrong.
Then again, it potentially could result in an NBA title or two with a starting lineup of Howard, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Thabo Sefolosha and Serge Ibaka, not to mention a season record for blocked shots and a high-dollar existence above the league’s luxury tax. Presti is booking that slow and steady eventually will win the race to the NBA crown, which is why the Thunder is a tortoise in a league filled with hares.
Rhode’s piece is just saying that the Thunder have stuck to their plan — a plan that has worked out pretty well. If there are Thunder fans not happy with how things are set up in Oklahoma City I know 28 other fan bases who would trade spots with you. Tomorrow. Sorry if it wasn’t fast and sexy enough for you, but what you have now is the model most teams try to build on — smart drafting of a powerful core. Each year they got better and this time made it to their first NBA finals.
OKC, you have not had a team for that long, so let me give you some advice — enjoy the journey. If your mentality is “title or bust” you’ll come off as arrogant, entitled Lakers fans. You have as good a young core as there is in the game, good players and good people who are fun to watch. Savor that, it is too rare. The titles will come. They will. Let them and enjoy the journey because that is the fun part, not the end result.
As for the people who want to jump on this idea, know there is no way this happens. No. Way. It will not even be discussed. Because neither side would do it.
First, you have title chemistry in OKC and that is hard to get, and there is no way GM Sam Presti blows that up to go way over the cap to win. Does that mean you don’t get to play the game like the Knicks financially? So what, how has that worked out in NYC? The NBA is not the MLB — smart drafting and management wins, not buying a team. (And don’t say the Heat bought a team, they drafted Wade and took a huge risk stripping their payroll to make their play. Are you going to tell me Pat Riley wasn’t the smartest guy in the room?)
Secondly, the Magic wouldn’t do this.
What does Orlando want in a deal? Well, that’s been a little hard to tell, but apparently it is cap relief, young players and picks. OKC doesn’t have a lot of great picks. And while Harden is good and Maynor is nice, but the Magic are not taking Perkins back. And they want you to take on Jason Richardson and or Hedo Turkoglu in a deal. This isn’t about getting talent for Howard, it’s about stripping the team down to the foundation and rebuilding. Using the Thunder model. This deal doesn’t offer that.
We’re going to see a lot random speculation now as the Magic have let this drag on and on and on. I just hope it ends soon. I fear if the Mayans were right, the world could end before this saga does.
